TFA Wrote:Charlie Chaplin said: “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but aJournalism is also a comedy in long-shot.
comedy in long-shot.” I say: Charlie’s got it the wrong way round with
Japan. In close-up, the country is a comical jumble of geeks in love
with their cats, electronic gadgets or inflatable anime pillow
girlfriends. But in long-shot, the place is doomed to extinction. I read
recently that by the year 3000, there will be only 18 Japanese people
left.
Japan is just a weird place. You can do 99% of the stuff you can do in a Western country no problem, right down to watching American TV. Notable exceptions include a complete lack of concealed carry permits and less cheese on the menu. But it's completely modern. It's a society obessessed with tradition, except for the facts that they build lots of robots and tear down and rebuild most single-family dwellings for new occupants. It's a society obsessed with newness, except for the fact that there are 900 year old family businesses and an honest-to-Kamisama emperor. The last Western one of those was the Kaisar-i-Hind, and England hasn't had that since '48.
So, like any society, easy to build a fake narrative around. And especially so, because Japan like America has an belief in in its own exceptionalism.
But remember that meme in the 2000 decade where France was so peaceful that they wanted to surrender to the terrorists, with the "Freedom fries" and all? You know, the home turf of the Hundred Years' War? The place that to this day sends armies into its former African colonies? Or should I instead talk about the science journalism going on today that inflames a pretend debate about anthropocentric climate change, while running alternating headlines about the health benefits/risk of your favorite vice? Anyway, it's not just a problem about Japan, but one of missing insight throughout journalism.
I enjoy watching Japanese media on its own terms. It reminds me that there are different ways to live -- that accomplish nearly the same thing as our culture because like I said, they have 99% of what we have. And they're not afraid to make Americans the bad guys, which is a good reminder. This is the 125th anniversary of the Wounded Knee massacre, after all. We're just as often the good guys in Japanese media, sometimes in the same show, which is a lot more balance than you're going to get here.
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