You knew that kid in high school, right? The kid who was really into Japan? His bookbag was covered in foreign patches, his shirts usually had anime characters on them and he probably complained frequently about his Midwestern high school’s lack of a proper Japanese language program.
Whatever happened to that kid? Well, he’s probably in Japan and here are five reasons why:
5. Taking Fast Food To A Higher Place
Let me just say that America, as the ostensible inventor of “fast food”, has been resting upon it’s supple laurels while Japan has been creating art. Whereas most countries see a pizza and say “cheese, sauce, carbs, meat, that seems unhealthy enough”, Japan is the only country brave enough to say “let’s cover that pizza in mayonnaise and surround it in miniature hot dogs“.
The picture above features the Mega Mac, which is currently the hottest selling fast food item in Japan. It’s advertising declares “Beef Heaven” and if you’re not impressed by a double Big Mac you may find yourself impressed by the combo options you can pair with your heart attack. The “Special Set” features a Mega Mac, Soda, Fries and five Chicken McNuggets which is a nice touch.
4. Television From The Heart
When it comes to television, Japanese superiority really stands out in a big way. Arguably since the debut of Survivor, all American television has been different flavors of Survivor- Survivor in a kitchen, Survivor with fat people, Survivor with celebrities, ETC. It gets really boring channel surfing through 100+ channels watching the same crap show in a myriad of crappy flavors.
Enter Japan! Japan has had the cojones to produce stellar quality television in a variety of formats and most notable is their treatment of animation and science fiction. They wrote the book on the Power Ranger formula and fed America their cultural detritus with the Pokemon series. In a nutshell, they don’t assume that only kids want to watch a giant robot fight a giant puppy and one could argue that the rest of the world would be better off with the same attitude.
3. Living With Your Parents Is Cool
In America, living with your parents makes you the star of a comedy whereas in Japan, you are merely enforcing a healthy social structure. Basically, an 18 year old kid is useless, what business do they really have being in the scary world? Being faced with so many tasks such as laundry, cooking and making sure your apartment doesn’t smell like your genitals can be daunting for sure. That’s why Japan wins this war by encouraging it’s youth to stay home and mature a bit before being thrust into a scary world where Matthew McConaughey films don’t go straight to video.
2. Vending Machines Are For More Than Snickers
An America vending machine is a pretty vanilla thing, no matter where you are in America. You can be in Los Angeles or Little Rock, Arkansas and likely run into the same selection of chips, pretzels and candy bars as anywhere (really, who is eating those Necco wafers?!). America’s just not thinking outside of the box on this issue and that’s where Japan comes in with a bonsai attack on traditional vending machine setups.
The picture above highlights a vending machine that among other things offers ‘used’ schoolgirl panties. Is this gross to you? Well thats probably a good sign that you still possess “a soul”, but let’s move beyond that for the moment. In addition to buying soiled undergarments, you can buy live flowers, neckties, umbrellas, bread, batteries and even live pet beetles, ALL from vending machines. Things that you actually need, unlike that bag of Cheez-Its from 7E, tubtubs.
1. Giant Robots Everywhere Just Hanging Out
Ever been to Indianapolis, Indiana? The downtown area features a stark tribute to the Mexican war. Many statues abound, dead soldiers, horses, buglers, ETC. Ever been to Tokyo, Japan? There is a giant 1:1 scale statue of a Gundam RX-78-2 for public adoration.
This is great because I don’t have to expound much further to demonstrate the superiority of Tokyo to Indianapolis.
Comments
Ned Hepburn
June 22nd, 2009 - 12:48:54 PM
genius!!!
Marcie R. Cullins
June 22nd, 2009 - 6:05:28 PM
This was a fun read! I enjoyed the insight and the clever comparisons of American vs. Japanese culture. Funny, yet insightful...an uncommon duo on the blog scene! Thanks a lot! Makes me want to book a trip to Japan!!
Brock Penner
June 23rd, 2009 - 6:59:59 AM
"...they don’t assume that only kids want to watch a giant robot fight a giant puppy..." Yes, they do. Or to put it more exactly, they feel that only kids and otaku watch that crap. It is a myth that western people repeat to themselves over and over. The truth is that more "normal" people watch anime in the western world than in Japan. Also, I've been living in Japan for three years and I have yet to see anything worth watching on TV. I am not exaggerating. Japanese TV is over saturated with variety shows of Osaka comedians performing scripted shows as if they were real. The irony is that there is no actual variety. They are always the same. You can get almost everything from vending machines in Japan, this is true. Do you know the one thing that you can't get in a Japanese vending machine? A f!cking Snickers!
Kaiba
July 14th, 2009 - 7:45:26 AM
Hahahahahahahahahaha: http://www.myspace.com/brockpenner
Steven
July 16th, 2009 - 11:12:43 PM
Japanese TV is indeed by and large horrible. The Mega Mac is only about as big as an American Big Mac given the small size of the patties, and the large fry and drink is about the same as the American medium at most. Although there are in fact actual giant robots roaming the streets engaging in battles to either save or destroy civilization. It is pretty sweet.
rich97
July 22nd, 2009 - 5:28:09 AM
I'm moving to Japan in a couple of months, can't wait to see the giant Gundam. :) It's true, Japanese TV is pretty terrible. My fiance is Japanese if she's not watching a game show that is something along the lines of Takeshi's Castle (people making idiots of themselves) then it is some drama where production quality is terrible and the acting Corney. It does have some redeeming features but if you are looking for wit, and good acting then look elsewhere. @Brock: I find it depends on the Anime, stuff like Bleach then yeah, kids younger than 13 and Otaku (I watch but I'm English and considered geek not Otaku :P). But then some stuff like "Tekkon Kinkreet" (my favorite) should not be considered child's programming 10 years in the making, heavily stylized and artistic and the story would go way over a childs head, let alone the violence involved. So while I agree for the most part there is anime aimed at adults, maybe just geek status and not Otaku...?