There are plenty of other examples from America, including vintage Ford Mustangs, Winnebagos, Converse tennis shoes and Baseball. I spent a couple of years expatriated to Japan and learned that for a Japanese person to admit they had a hobby or interest actually meant they were expert with it. You wouldn't admit you 'enjoyed playing violin' in your spare time unless you were a maestro. If you were not an expert, you would not talk about your interests. If a Japanese colleague mentioned they had 1966 Mustang, you could be certain it was perfect. For many Japanese colleagues, if I spent enough time drinking with them, I'd find a surprisingly intense sense of pride and mastery in an obscure area of interest. You'd never know about it unless you spent time enough to get past their modesty so they'd talk about it. I'd venture that this is the source of the author's observation about not just copying, but improving.
There were also some pretty twisted counter-examples of not getting Americana quite right. I ran across an outer wear store named 'Violence Jack Off', display windows crowded with black leather jackets.[Edit]
- Taxi doors open themselves (and the drivers wear white gloves)
- Subway maps light up to indicate where you are
- You can hold your table at a cafe by leaving your phone or keys or wallet & nobody will steal it
- Take out coffee often has a piece of tape so it won't spill
- People are friendly & cheerful when you met them (although they are much the same when you get to know them)
- Goods are packaged beautifully (if perhaps excessively)
- Sexuality is much more specialized (if sometimes bizarre)
- French pastries are better than in France
- Even ice cubes are better
- I could go on and on...
While Japan has many flaws almost any "thing" you can point to, if not always better, is usually better. What is perhaps more interesting is the things that are worse.
"What is perhaps more interesting is the things that are worse."
First and foremost I believe is resistance to change. The reasoning of "because that's the way it has always been" and general bureaucracy means change is very slow to come. When change is actually put into motion it occurs with amazing efficiency but initial resistance seems much stronger than many other cultures.
Anyway, my personal counter list might go like this:
- Blatant sexism
- The work emphasis placed on quantity (time) over quality
- Despite a reputation of High Tech, requiring paper (printed) documents for nearly everything.
- Meeting people outside of work/school is so unusual that often you can make someones night by striking up a conversation in a bar. Great for the visiting tourist but seems suffocating for many Japanese.
- Fantastic food often ruined by the people chain smoking right next to you.
Still really enjoy living here, but I fortunately don't have to deal with the Japanese work environment like many of my friends do.
I live in Thailand where most toilets have a handheld sprayer next to them -- part bidet and part firehose. Awkward at first but it's hard to tolerate a paper-only cleansing after you get used to them. While European-style bidets have their charm the furthest expression of this luxury is the Japanese toilet. Push button controlled, temperature regulated and with a drying cycle that's like a spring breeze on your privates. After using one it's hard to understand why they're not the norm.
There is something about Japan that leads foreigners to alternate between extreme admiration and complete negativity. There are varying opinions about everything of course, but with Japan the same person will alternate between the two extremes. One minute you find yourself marveling at how nice, thought out and efficient everything is in Japan, and wish every country could be like that. The next minute you despair about how backwards, inefficient and hopeless Japan can be.
As a contrast, western expats in China seem to be all about the complaining. Except when they suddenly start defending party policies when discussing with a foreigner who is less knowledgeable about China.
Almost everything? These people live in shoe boxes, and you have to be a millionaire to get a parking spot in Tokyo. The men work all day long and then have to get drunk with their coworkers in the evenings. They smoke and drink too much, and you can never get a straight answer out of a Japanese person.
If you're a foreigner there are still a lot of landlords who'll refuse to rent to you. The cops are famous for beating confessions out of suspects.
And local protestations to the contrary, you can't get a good steak in Japan, as if you could afford it anyway.
Is this a joke or something ? I live in Japan, I'm French, and there's no way the pastries you buy over here are as good (or even as cheap) as in France. Or you must have been to the wrong part of France.
If Japan is so much "better", why did birthrates start falling in 1974 without stopping, to the point they are now at or near the "lowest low" from which no society is known to have every recovered?
Besides the immediate problems (including the prefectures dropping on the floor the information necessary for old age pension payments for way too many who didn't work for big companies, those in the high risk/low reward part of the economy), e.g. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan, there will be no Japanese people by the end of the next century, and given the tough neighborhood they live in, "the end" will probably come much sooner.
A remarkably American centric article, in which the author appears to see America as the origin of things instead of just a dot on a long line that has always been weaving back an forth between different cultures and countries.
A casual remark betrays this blind American-centrism: "the new American hipster ideal of Brooklyn is clumsily copied everywhere from Paris to Bangkok".
Seriously? Coming from Amsterdam I have a hard time seeing the American hipster culture as anything other than heavily copying Northern-European lifestyles in a way that strongly reminds me of how Japan so often imitates Western cultures. (Also the same pattern, stuff that is added or reshaped in America appears here again, which may confuse the author. But "clumsily copyied", are you f-ing kidding me?)
Interesting article, but the lack of perspective bothers me.
I visited Stockholm in the 90's and there were many many young people there that were defacto hipsters in they way they dressed, bought vinyl, used old film cameras like lomo's etc. etc. way before I saw the same in London or New York.
I have this view that the individualist fashionistas all around the world are in realtime creating a movement like hipsterism without realising it, and for the most part people think they look like idiots, but every now and again the right person hits the right look at the right time and there's suddenly lots of people copying it, and validating the look creating a movement.
Yes, the Japanese do not have a particular attachment to American culture. They also replicate Scotch whisky lovingly, for example. And there are kissa for all sorts of things.
I feel the Japanese struggle within their overcrowded society and that "specialization" is a way that one can have his own corner of freedom. If you go over there, you will notice that people work extraneously long hours, get paid little, and are constantly playing an intricate interaction model where seniority, class, sex, origins all play major roles. This is why so many went into video games, anime or manga. They need an escape. And just as you find that drive within their work, which is at the most strict expectation level, you can find traces of it in their hobbies.
Is Japan overcrowded? Because I don't think it is. Yes their cities are (I fail to understand the drive to live in a city, I see mostly disadvantages) but they have a large amount of unpopulated areas which, if people spread out, would not be considered overcrowded? Unlike the Netherlands where I'm from for instance, which is basically a big city.
One thing that it's difficult for foreigners to acknowledge is that Japan is so completely different to the western world that it's almost impossible to comprehend. Articles like this, and the musings of western visitors/workers, read more to me as people misinterpreting their surroundings and misunderstanding Japanese culture. I'm convinced that a lot of Japanese have difficulty understanding the current state of their own culture too. The best way I can describe it is that western culture (capitalism/consumerism/democracy) does not mix well with traditional Japanese culture and has resulted in a bizarre chaos. My first-hand experience has shown me that a lot of Japanese prefer the traditional culture to what they currently have and I do not blame them one bit.
What makes you say that it's impossible to comprehend?
I've been here on and off ~8 of the last 16 years. Several non Japanese friends that have been here 10, 15, 20, 25 years. I don't get the impression any of them have a hard time comprehending any of it.
As for some Japanese (not all by a long shot) preferring traditional, first off, those are not all or even most. Many of those that do are similar to people in the west that prefer "organic" or "natural" or "traditional" for arguably no rational reason.
I don't personally know any Japanese that want to go back to any kind of "traditional culture". Heck, I'm writing this from "The Terminal", a shared workspace in Harajuku surrounded by Japanese on notebooks. Hardly "traditional" in any sense.
From my years with my Japanese wife, and the time I've spend in Japan. I've learned that the key difference of Japanese culture from American culture is is that americans consider quantity as the measure of value, and Japanese consider quality to be that measure.
Japanese people will pay more for the higher quality of equivalent goods, and are interested to learn the difference. While americans feel cheated if they pay more for a great meal served in small portions, and consider stores like costco and k-mart to be some of the best shopping choices.
I can assure you if you think Japanese people are missing the point by copying others you are very much mistaken.
They are not making a copy, they are embracing the point.
I think this is far too blanket of a statement given the radical diversity of America in most every respect.
Many Americans certainly will go for the 50% cheaper, 85% as good product. And yet America is the largest market for the iPhone, and it does particularly well here. In the not so distant past, superior Sony products - amongst people I know - used to be heavily desired for their quality.
I don't think very many people consider K-Mart to be among the best shopping choices, quite the opposite in fact; ditto Wal-Mart. Being economical doesn't mean they consider it ideal shopping.
My wife is Japanese and through her I cam to a realization about this very topic.
My hypothesis is: Japanese do not accept anything less than perfection. The accompanying motto seems: "If you cannot archive perfection, don’t even bother starting.“
To illustrate my point; My wife might ask me to purchase something for her. Whenever I could not get the specific product she asked for, I just bought something comparable. At home she would be disappointed to her core, to the point where she considered the possibility that my intentions where nefarious. Every time this happened I was shocked. Why would I try to bring her harm by not buying the exact same thing, but something comparable? Now I was convinced that her thought-process is rather unique. Yet, to my surprise, almost every Japanese person who I befriended on a deeper level behaved the same way.
To me it seems for Japanese people there is an crucial "line of competency". An average Gaijin (non-Japanese) is seen as incompetent to act according to Japanese customs (rightfully so). Almost everything a Gaijin does, even if it is rather obnoxious, is not judged by Japanese, but accepted as: „Well..., different culture, different habits."
When they allow you in their circle, befriend you, you are seen as to cross the „line of competency“ and your actions will be judged by higher standards.
Now imagine you grew up in a society where everything you do is expected to be done perfectly. And a consequence of not doing something perfect is bringing shame to you and those around you (Japan is a shame based culture, so that is extremely bad). You will not consider starting a task unless you have a very high chance of archiving mastery. If you do a task, you are not perfect in, you better hide it.
Another example: A friend of mine visited me in Japan and quite frequently asked people for directions. To his awe every single one of them went out of their way to help him. People walked for very long distances with him, making 100% certain that he will get to an ATM. In their mind, drawing on a map just did not suffice. They would walk with him all across Shinjuku station (the busiest station on the planet) making sure he will find the right train. To him these were just examples of nice people in Japan. I believe he, unknowingly, tasked these poor people with unreasonably big requests. When asking for the nearest ATM these Japanese did not consider the possibility of pointing in a direction, as this would have left too much room for error. Anything less than walking with him would have brought shame to them. Actually when you ask directions and they „just“ point (it happens) look at their faces. Often thy turn away from you in shame. Or their faces will freeze as if they just did something appalling.
Imagine having a country of 129 million perfectionists. How would the society be run? Trains would always be perfectly on time. Food would always look as delicious as in the ads and taste like you hope it would. People would be very stressed committing to anything they have not done 100 times before. People would feel the constant pressure to live up to insane expectations and if they could not hold up to them, they would be anxious to leave their houses (otaku). — If you are not familiar with the Japanese culture, this is exactly like it is in Japan.
A last point to support the article, I was in Rome and an Italien friend brought me to „the best pizzeria in Italy“. I must say, it was a truly delicious pizza. 3 Days later I was in Osaka and went with a Japanese friend to a „very good “ pizza place. Every single slice of pizza I ate there was pure perfection. It blew the „best pizzeria in Italy“ out of the water. The pizzeria in the Namba Parks is run by Japanese who studied in Italy.
W. David Marx has been doing wonderful analysis of Japan and this phenomenon of trend adoption/synthesis/evolution—specifically with regard to fashion but he's covered many other topics as well—at http://neojaponisme.com for years now.
Don't lose your weekend to the archive. Or, you know, do.
> Dylan is, in fact, the bar’s reason for being: Japanese fans come here to watch his concert videos, listen to his tapes and relive the ’60s in America, a time and place almost none of them witnessed firsthand.
Are there any places in America where one may do this today?
I've found that a lot of (all?) major cities in America have throw-back diners and similarly themed restaurants (I don't know any specific to Dylan mind you).
This is hardly accurate. Cultures regularly "throw away" and then later rediscover (re-popularize) pieces of their own historical culture / identity. It has nothing to do with it being preserved by another culture (such that if it weren't, it could have never existed again).
The focus on material things highlights the problem. They have copied everything, but failed to capture the spirit by not acting like their idols. I would like to see the Japanese people act, rebel, and change the world.
All I see is escapism, ironically similar to the escapism Westerner's find in Japanese culture.
I hope patio11 can comment on this. I've always enjoyed reading his take on Japan. He is extremely well qualified to compare American and Japanese culture: he was born and raised in the US, moved to Japan after graduating and got married there.
The only other country I have been to outside of my own country, is America. And I must say I loved the people and the culture there.
If you look at all the small differences between way of life in America and different parts of the world, you will start appreciating all cultures for what niceties they offer.
The Japanese culture and way of life were systematically gutted during and after WWII, after which they slowly came to adopt American norms. Defeated people have imitated the victors time and again throughout history. This has little to do with how amazing the other culture is.
I find little to celebrate in the Americanization of yet another unique & rich culture.
Japanese culture, though very "western", is not very American. Many essential American cultural elements such as religion, guns, cars, libertarians, feminism, and no sex on TV are missing, and it is certainly not as individualist.
It's not a great place to be a programmer, though - people I know working at pixiv (a modern foreigner-friendly web startup) aren't paid even entry-level US salaries.
But with pixiv you can see one of the good sides of Japan. It's basically DeviantArt, but amateur artists on pixiv have often practiced for years and their art is technically good, whereas DeviantArt posters are all more than satisfied with their weird fetish art they drew in MS Paint.
You could try Korea, which is a lot more like America. Specifically, Texas.
[+] [-] 11thEarlOfMar|12 years ago|reply
There were also some pretty twisted counter-examples of not getting Americana quite right. I ran across an outer wear store named 'Violence Jack Off', display windows crowded with black leather jackets.[Edit]
[+] [-] ANTSANTS|12 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Jack
[+] [-] tomphoolery|12 years ago|reply
Remind me to name my next punk band "Violence Jackoffs".
[+] [-] iterationx|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spikels|12 years ago|reply
- Taxi doors open themselves (and the drivers wear white gloves)
- Subway maps light up to indicate where you are
- You can hold your table at a cafe by leaving your phone or keys or wallet & nobody will steal it
- Take out coffee often has a piece of tape so it won't spill
- People are friendly & cheerful when you met them (although they are much the same when you get to know them)
- Goods are packaged beautifully (if perhaps excessively)
- Sexuality is much more specialized (if sometimes bizarre)
- French pastries are better than in France
- Even ice cubes are better
- I could go on and on...
While Japan has many flaws almost any "thing" you can point to, if not always better, is usually better. What is perhaps more interesting is the things that are worse.
[+] [-] ranebo|12 years ago|reply
First and foremost I believe is resistance to change. The reasoning of "because that's the way it has always been" and general bureaucracy means change is very slow to come. When change is actually put into motion it occurs with amazing efficiency but initial resistance seems much stronger than many other cultures.
Anyway, my personal counter list might go like this:
- Blatant sexism
- The work emphasis placed on quantity (time) over quality
- Despite a reputation of High Tech, requiring paper (printed) documents for nearly everything.
- Meeting people outside of work/school is so unusual that often you can make someones night by striking up a conversation in a bar. Great for the visiting tourist but seems suffocating for many Japanese.
- Fantastic food often ruined by the people chain smoking right next to you.
Still really enjoy living here, but I fortunately don't have to deal with the Japanese work environment like many of my friends do.
[+] [-] mbenjaminsmith|12 years ago|reply
I live in Thailand where most toilets have a handheld sprayer next to them -- part bidet and part firehose. Awkward at first but it's hard to tolerate a paper-only cleansing after you get used to them. While European-style bidets have their charm the furthest expression of this luxury is the Japanese toilet. Push button controlled, temperature regulated and with a drying cycle that's like a spring breeze on your privates. After using one it's hard to understand why they're not the norm.
[+] [-] TorKlingberg|12 years ago|reply
As a contrast, western expats in China seem to be all about the complaining. Except when they suddenly start defending party policies when discussing with a foreigner who is less knowledgeable about China.
[+] [-] tsotha|12 years ago|reply
If you're a foreigner there are still a lot of landlords who'll refuse to rent to you. The cops are famous for beating confessions out of suspects.
And local protestations to the contrary, you can't get a good steak in Japan, as if you could afford it anyway.
[+] [-] ekianjo|12 years ago|reply
Is this a joke or something ? I live in Japan, I'm French, and there's no way the pastries you buy over here are as good (or even as cheap) as in France. Or you must have been to the wrong part of France.
[+] [-] sgdesign|12 years ago|reply
I can't say I agree with that… (source: French person living in Japan).
[+] [-] Natsu|12 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOuumGX-6uc
[+] [-] ekianjo|12 years ago|reply
That's certainly not unique to Japan.
[+] [-] not-gro-tsen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hga|12 years ago|reply
Besides the immediate problems (including the prefectures dropping on the floor the information necessary for old age pension payments for way too many who didn't work for big companies, those in the high risk/low reward part of the economy), e.g. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan, there will be no Japanese people by the end of the next century, and given the tough neighborhood they live in, "the end" will probably come much sooner.
[+] [-] bowlofpetunias|12 years ago|reply
A casual remark betrays this blind American-centrism: "the new American hipster ideal of Brooklyn is clumsily copied everywhere from Paris to Bangkok".
Seriously? Coming from Amsterdam I have a hard time seeing the American hipster culture as anything other than heavily copying Northern-European lifestyles in a way that strongly reminds me of how Japan so often imitates Western cultures. (Also the same pattern, stuff that is added or reshaped in America appears here again, which may confuse the author. But "clumsily copyied", are you f-ing kidding me?)
Interesting article, but the lack of perspective bothers me.
[+] [-] richliss|12 years ago|reply
I visited Stockholm in the 90's and there were many many young people there that were defacto hipsters in they way they dressed, bought vinyl, used old film cameras like lomo's etc. etc. way before I saw the same in London or New York.
I have this view that the individualist fashionistas all around the world are in realtime creating a movement like hipsterism without realising it, and for the most part people think they look like idiots, but every now and again the right person hits the right look at the right time and there's suddenly lots of people copying it, and validating the look creating a movement.
[+] [-] justincormack|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WhoIsSatoshi|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] tluyben2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] l0stb0y|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greggman|12 years ago|reply
I've been here on and off ~8 of the last 16 years. Several non Japanese friends that have been here 10, 15, 20, 25 years. I don't get the impression any of them have a hard time comprehending any of it.
As for some Japanese (not all by a long shot) preferring traditional, first off, those are not all or even most. Many of those that do are similar to people in the west that prefer "organic" or "natural" or "traditional" for arguably no rational reason.
I don't personally know any Japanese that want to go back to any kind of "traditional culture". Heck, I'm writing this from "The Terminal", a shared workspace in Harajuku surrounded by Japanese on notebooks. Hardly "traditional" in any sense.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] joshuak|12 years ago|reply
Japanese people will pay more for the higher quality of equivalent goods, and are interested to learn the difference. While americans feel cheated if they pay more for a great meal served in small portions, and consider stores like costco and k-mart to be some of the best shopping choices.
I can assure you if you think Japanese people are missing the point by copying others you are very much mistaken.
They are not making a copy, they are embracing the point.
[+] [-] adventured|12 years ago|reply
Many Americans certainly will go for the 50% cheaper, 85% as good product. And yet America is the largest market for the iPhone, and it does particularly well here. In the not so distant past, superior Sony products - amongst people I know - used to be heavily desired for their quality.
I don't think very many people consider K-Mart to be among the best shopping choices, quite the opposite in fact; ditto Wal-Mart. Being economical doesn't mean they consider it ideal shopping.
[+] [-] emanuer|12 years ago|reply
My hypothesis is: Japanese do not accept anything less than perfection. The accompanying motto seems: "If you cannot archive perfection, don’t even bother starting.“
To illustrate my point; My wife might ask me to purchase something for her. Whenever I could not get the specific product she asked for, I just bought something comparable. At home she would be disappointed to her core, to the point where she considered the possibility that my intentions where nefarious. Every time this happened I was shocked. Why would I try to bring her harm by not buying the exact same thing, but something comparable? Now I was convinced that her thought-process is rather unique. Yet, to my surprise, almost every Japanese person who I befriended on a deeper level behaved the same way.
To me it seems for Japanese people there is an crucial "line of competency". An average Gaijin (non-Japanese) is seen as incompetent to act according to Japanese customs (rightfully so). Almost everything a Gaijin does, even if it is rather obnoxious, is not judged by Japanese, but accepted as: „Well..., different culture, different habits."
When they allow you in their circle, befriend you, you are seen as to cross the „line of competency“ and your actions will be judged by higher standards.
Now imagine you grew up in a society where everything you do is expected to be done perfectly. And a consequence of not doing something perfect is bringing shame to you and those around you (Japan is a shame based culture, so that is extremely bad). You will not consider starting a task unless you have a very high chance of archiving mastery. If you do a task, you are not perfect in, you better hide it.
Another example: A friend of mine visited me in Japan and quite frequently asked people for directions. To his awe every single one of them went out of their way to help him. People walked for very long distances with him, making 100% certain that he will get to an ATM. In their mind, drawing on a map just did not suffice. They would walk with him all across Shinjuku station (the busiest station on the planet) making sure he will find the right train. To him these were just examples of nice people in Japan. I believe he, unknowingly, tasked these poor people with unreasonably big requests. When asking for the nearest ATM these Japanese did not consider the possibility of pointing in a direction, as this would have left too much room for error. Anything less than walking with him would have brought shame to them. Actually when you ask directions and they „just“ point (it happens) look at their faces. Often thy turn away from you in shame. Or their faces will freeze as if they just did something appalling.
Imagine having a country of 129 million perfectionists. How would the society be run? Trains would always be perfectly on time. Food would always look as delicious as in the ads and taste like you hope it would. People would be very stressed committing to anything they have not done 100 times before. People would feel the constant pressure to live up to insane expectations and if they could not hold up to them, they would be anxious to leave their houses (otaku). — If you are not familiar with the Japanese culture, this is exactly like it is in Japan.
A last point to support the article, I was in Rome and an Italien friend brought me to „the best pizzeria in Italy“. I must say, it was a truly delicious pizza. 3 Days later I was in Osaka and went with a Japanese friend to a „very good “ pizza place. Every single slice of pizza I ate there was pure perfection. It blew the „best pizzeria in Italy“ out of the water. The pizzeria in the Namba Parks is run by Japanese who studied in Italy.
[+] [-] Ryanmf|12 years ago|reply
Don't lose your weekend to the archive. Or, you know, do.
[+] [-] probel|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] null_ptr|12 years ago|reply
Are there any places in America where one may do this today?
[+] [-] adventured|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tiktaalik|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adventured|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] tzury|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] phr4ts|12 years ago|reply
Shame, dishonour, pride.... these are words that stem from the Samurai way.
"Measure twice and cut once."
Advice to those who care, watch a few Samurai films and you'll get it.
[+] [-] sdvn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frozenport|12 years ago|reply
All I see is escapism, ironically similar to the escapism Westerner's find in Japanese culture.
[+] [-] thomasjay|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] davidgerard|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mailshanx|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seanhandley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smprk|12 years ago|reply
If you look at all the small differences between way of life in America and different parts of the world, you will start appreciating all cultures for what niceties they offer.
Do try it :-)
[+] [-] timmyelliot|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bluthru|12 years ago|reply
Or maybe you're just resentful that we dropped extraneous h's.
[+] [-] dodyg|12 years ago|reply
- Pride of national armed forces
- America flags outside houses
- Tailgating
- Extensive participation in volunteering
- Jazz/Blues/Hip Hop/Country
- Stand up comedy
- Improv comedy
- Fortune Cookies
- Deep Dish Pizza
- Sports Watching Craze
- Little holiday
- Guns, Guns, Guns
- 1st Amendment
- Religious
- College sports
- Road Trip!
- Weekend sports
- Hipsters
- Shitty Cable News
- High quality ethnic food/fusion
- NASCAR
- Dive bars
- Addiction to pharmaceuticals
- Friendly, easy smiles
- Cars, Cars, Cars
- Kids Lemonade Stands
- Walmart
- Fields of corns
- Scumbag food corporations
- Keg Stand
- Fake ID
edit: formatting
[+] [-] Second_son|12 years ago|reply
I find little to celebrate in the Americanization of yet another unique & rich culture.
[+] [-] astrange|12 years ago|reply
It's not a great place to be a programmer, though - people I know working at pixiv (a modern foreigner-friendly web startup) aren't paid even entry-level US salaries.
But with pixiv you can see one of the good sides of Japan. It's basically DeviantArt, but amateur artists on pixiv have often practiced for years and their art is technically good, whereas DeviantArt posters are all more than satisfied with their weird fetish art they drew in MS Paint.
You could try Korea, which is a lot more like America. Specifically, Texas.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] oafitupa|12 years ago|reply
Or it has little to do with being "defeated".
Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit.