Changing Impressions

When I first came to Japan, I didn't know what to expect. Well, I mean, I had some idea, but nothing can really prepare you for the real Japan. It has to be experienced to be understood. There's simply no other way. I crammed in a lot of traveling during this semester, which I was thankful to be able to do.


I suppose one way my perspective has changed is that my "romanticized" version is Japan is gone, as it should be. Everyone has it at some point, your own version of what you think Japan is before you get there. Most of the time, it's a positive perspective, perhaps overly so.

I think it's a bad to hold onto such an view, instead one should gain a more realistic perspective through experience. Firsthand experience, I believe, is the best way to study anthropology and the world itself. Japan is a country like any other, with its problems and successes. It's also unique in it's own way, with wonderful things to be experienced that can't be experienced anywhere else in the world. In this way, my perspective has been changed for the better, and I'm on my way to understanding and appreciating Japan even more so than I did before.



Ok, well, admittedly, there's some things about Japan that I will never understand. But that's okay, I am amused all the same.

Japanese Art and Entertainment

On the subject of Japanese art- I see it everywhere. Wall murals are all over, especially in places like train stations, restaurants, and other public areas. I love the overall visual aesthetic that is found in many advertisements, on the sides of trains or buildings, in fashion, at shrines or temples, or even on your plate. I even find some of the graffiti quite... profound. Basically, I'm a fan of Japanese design sense, and you can find it anywhere and everywhere. Japanese visual aesthetic is not just limited to "serious" art, but I appreciate it there all the same.







I could go on and on with the pictures, half of my iphoto library consists of pictures like this.

On the "entertainment" side of things, watching "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" in class was, in a word, painful. It was full of dumb reality show commentary, bad stereotypes, and they managed to somehow make people falling down NOT funny. That's quite a feat.

However, I wanted to point towards a Japanese show that was localized in the right way-MXC. They used footage from the late 80's-early 90's TV show Takeshi's Castle, cut the fat off of the clips so that it could fit in a half hour format, dubbed over the original dialogue and made a new script with silly jokes and puns that fit western humor, and most importantly, kept the sensei and talento personalities intact. The result was something uniquely Japanese, funny in it's own right, yet catered tastefully to a western audience. I wish there were more success stories like this...

Japanese Politics

When I first started walking around neighborhoods in Hirakata back in September, I saw all these posters around. Extremely photoshopped faces of smiley Japanese men. All the smiling and airbrushing made them look unnecessarily creepy. I figured they were probably something to do with politics, and I found later I was right. Something I noticed right away was that in Japan, faces seem to be an important part of the campaigning posters. Back home, all you need is a "Name, Name, Year" with red white or blue somewhere, with some decoration (like "McCain, Palin '08! *stars*). That's it. Maybe Americans assume everyone already knows what they look like?

Anyway, I did some reading on the Japanese political parties. I was surprised to find out that the LDP is the biggest party in Japan (LDP=Liberal Democratic Party, but they're the conservatives. Go figure.), but not so surprised to find out the number of crazy politicians there are in there. Government is wacky no matter where you go, it seems. The more liberal party (The Democratic Part of Japan, not to be confused with LDP!) seems to be the only opposition to the LDP. A two-party system, much like the US. Though I'm fairly sure that no one in Japan under the age of 40 gives a crap about politics, sadly. Political apathy seems widespread here, especially among younger people. Makes me wonder if an Obama-esque politician would have any success here.