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When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
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Arryma
06/19/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
Um... anyone who thinks that Japan still does not look like the future needs to actually go to Japan and take a look around. Sure, it may only be 5-10 years in the future, but you will be pretty surprised if you have not visited before.

However, I think that culturally Japan is on a tangent that the U.S. will never fully approach. Well, maybe the 4chan crowd...
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Plague
06/19/09

@Arryma: Hell, all they need to do is walk into Don Quixote in Akiba and see the future. Now.
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namanintx
06/18/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
Let's see; Toyota is now the #1 car company in America. Also, there's a huge manga section in the bookstores and an anime section in the Best Buy. We're eating sushi and (at least on the west coast) Yoshinoya beef bowls.

It's not that Japan isn't the future, but it's now our present. Now excuse me while I watch the latest anime series online...
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/18/09

@namanintx: We were eating Yoshinoya beef bowls in Colorado in the 80's -- their US presence is much smaller now than it was then.
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kimsama
06/18/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
I'd argue that the Serenity/Firefly stuff is not at all supporting your thesis. Whedon is going more for a future influenced by the current perception of China than of Japan. Gritty, ad hoc, with plenty of interference from an all-too-powerful authoritarian government. I'd argue that it's because the show is more modern and influenced by the idea that China is the future (much the way Japan used to be seen as the future). In The Man in the High Castle, Dick created a world in which Japanese and Germany had won WWII, a world in which Americans speak the languages of their conquerors. I think Whedon's going for that sort of future.

Maybe the cute little octopuses in that video are anime-ish, but hey, China's certainly appropriating plenty of the cute-style character design for itself, just the way Japanese animators like Tezuka originally appropriated them from Disney.

And hey, it's a little insulting to imply that everything Asian is Japanese or influenced by the Japanese.
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kimsama
06/18/09

@kimsama: Ahem, I think Whedon's going for that sort of future, but with China as the conquerors.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
06/18/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
Ah yes, A.I.

A movie I hated but learned to love recently.

Yes, even with the aliens...
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Sproing
06/18/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: Those are not aliens.
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Alexis
06/18/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: I don't care if A.I. is really about three separate movies crammed into over 2 hours, I love it.
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Sproing
06/18/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
Two relevant dates:

1. Daisuke Inoue invents the karaoke machine, early 1970s.

2. Gwen Stefani releases the single "Harajuku Girl," complete with a backup dance troupe, November 2004.

Right about ... there.
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Gothamite88
06/18/09

In reply to When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?
Tokyo isn't the future? Somebody better tell Kanye

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Alexis
06/18/09

@Gothamite88: Dammit Kanye, I want to like you for stuff like this, then I take off the mute and we're back to square 1.
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