When did Japan stop being the future? ...

Io9 has an excellent article on how the scifi interpretation of Japan changed over the years. From Blade Runner and Nueromancer to Steven Speilberg's A.I.

U.S. science fiction used to be fascinated with Japan, from Blade Runner to Neuromancer. Everything Japanese was cooler, sleeker and shinier than our grubby American aesthetic, and Japan was destined to dominate. And then, Japan's futuristic status waned. What happened?

Back in the early 1980s, Japan's ascendance seemed assured — there were a host of business books claiming that Japan had lost World War II, but won the peace through superior economic policies. Books like The Enigma Of Japanese Power by Karel Van Wolferen became unlikely bestsellers. Meanwhile, Japanese politicians like Ishihara Shintaro started flexing their muscles — Ishihara made waves with a book called No To Ieru Nihon, or The Japan That Can Say No (to the United States.)

Sadly, Japan's economic hegemony ran out of juice in the early 1990s, when their real-estate bubble burst (sound familiar?) and the country spent an entire "lost decade" mired in stagnation. The vision of Japan as future economic uberpower was replaced by a creeping irrelevance — but Japanese pop culture remained as influential as ever, maybe even more than during the powerhouse days.

I remember the influence of Japan both on futuristic scifi as a teenager growing up in the 80s. I also saw the decline of American manufacturing and then witnessed Japan's economic collapse in the 90s. Scifi has somewhat moved to other things. How many stories have been based in a futuristic Addis Ababa? But the influence of the cyberpunk/Neo-Tokyo continues to resound throughout recent scifi. It will always be there just as Shibuya styled Blade Runner setpieces will influence movies for decades to come.

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The Ramen Girl

Word of this movie has been spreading through the American ex-pat community so I watched the trailer. Some of the word has been disparaging, people knocking it for being schlocky, unrealistic, etc.

An American girl gets dumped by her boyfriend in Tokyo. She searches for a meaning in her life while struggling with the culture clash and decides to try her hand at making ramen. The grumpy chef who trains her reminds me of Pat Morita in the Karate Kid for some reason.

I figured I would at least give in a try, it looks watchable (and since when have Hollywood script writers cared at all about realism?).

I have a tendency to like movies other people trash.

Trailer is linked below:

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Random Photos

The streets in Gion, while we were waiting for the tea ceremony to be set up. This particular area had been kept in cobblestone/brick with storefronts in olden style to give a more traditional feel.

This little cat was so pretty. The neko was also terribly used to gaijin tourists with cameras. He did his best to ignore us and pretend we were not really there photographing him. ^_^

My memory is lapsing and I am totally forgetting the story behind the boy getting his pants pulled down by the dog. Its an iconic image the way the Morton Salt girl is in America.

One of the ubiquitous vending machines. I decided to be a little daring and try the iced coffee in the upper left. Yatashii, I believe, is the name. It was brewed right into the cup and then ice drops in. MMMMmmmmm so good!!

At the Narita Airport, waiting for the bus to take us to our hotel in Tokyo. Sitting down and watching the kanji scroll by on the sign was when I had the first "How are you going to do this?" panic moment when realizing that I could not read the sign. Most of the signs in the airport had enough English on them so that you never got that feeling; however, the kanji scrolled by fast on this sign, fast enough that it induced a panic moment. Never had another moment, even though deciphering the subway ticket system gave me fits at times. (Ok, the second time I got a little panicky was at the Shinjuku Rail Station - the place is a maze)

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