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more about #commentary bookwench: O good. You mean the young non-dating socially inept guys who spent significant chunks of time and money on real gifts for virtual girls were just kid... more » muppetjedi: I don't really see how American's ideas of Japanese "weirdness" correspond to our fascination with borrowing ideas from East Asian culture to make our... more » StrayChestnutBed: I'd just like to mention that it's a two-way street, something I feel is ignored in this rant for the sake of guilt-tripping PC Westerners as much as ... more » NonElitist: Interesting timing... latest issue of WIRED magazine has a section on Japanese tech and some articles on why, here in the USA, we don't get all the co... more » Tenacious-G: I think this is just another instance of someone manufacturing an excuse to become offended. Personally, I thought shows like Firefly and movies like ... more » Klebert L. Hall: I think the writer is mistaking cause and effect, sort of. People want to have something they can point to as wacky and futuristic. If they don't exa... more » Bigdamnhero: Edited for the purpose of explication: "Why do so many love to gawk at this mysterious, foreign [Other?]... There are plenty of strange things going ... more » Cash907Censored: Not to contradict you here Annalee, but Bladerunner took it's influence from Beijing, not Japan. Listen to the various commentaries on the Bluray, the... more » Cory Gross: I do think that a plausible explanation for why we fetishize Japanese super-futurism is because they themselves nurture it both in their media and in ... more » chakkusu2: Lived there, speak the language, enjoy the culture. Didn't grow up there and don't care. The chauvanism of foreigners who *did* grow up there and thin... more » Grimlockfly: hey, spoilers, goddamnit. more » Bootknife-Jackson: This is a really fascinating and enlightening bit. Thanks io9 more » RocketBoy: I always assumed the prevalence of a "Japanese Future" like those seen in many American works of fiction, had more to do with the American economic pa... more » braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: That's pretty crazy, how people notice strangeness in unfamiliar cultures, but overlook the strangeness of things familiar to them. I've never heard ... more » Chip Overclock: In 1995, I spent a month in China. In 2007, I spent three weeks in Japan. Traveling around in Europe, Australia, and French Polynesia were all amazing... more » MargaretMoony: To be fair, it is only 78%. Actually, to be REALLY fair I think all cultures are weird as hell. more » Anekanta - Go Play!: I have a great deal of respect for Japanese culture and Eastern culture generally, but recognizing that quite a lot of what goes on in Japan I'm not g... more » Bill-Lee: The Japanese are not guiltless. They've fetishized their fair share of Western/American culture. I can think of literally dozens of anime/manga with w... more » Wookie1972: Actually, I had an interesting experience while reading Neuromancer for the first time a few years ago (yeah, I know, pathetic.) Around that time I wa... more » Nivenus: She definitely has a point, but I think she's also missing that there are genuine cultural differences. Hierarchy and gender relations are a lot diffe... more » -
#quoteoftheday
Why Do Westerners Fetishize Japan's Futuristic Weirdness?
Since the late 1970s, a key idea in Western science fiction has been that Japan represents the future. Japan's "weird" culture is a figure for an incomprehensible tomorrow. But commentator Lisa Katayama says this idea reveals common misconceptions about Japan. More » -
#politicalsciencefiction
The Men Who Make Battlestar Galactica Feminist
A recent article in Slate calls Battlestar Galactica a safe haven for "chauvinist pigs." But all you have to do is look at representations of men in this show to see its feminist side. (NSFW) More »
