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Not surprising, but sort of disappointing that the writer thinks that modern Japanese culture so heavily defined by its interactions with the West, esp. from WW
by nihonde 5y ago
Not surprising, but sort of disappointing that the writer thinks that modern Japanese culture so heavily defined by its interactions with the West, esp. from WWII. It's not that it's untrue or incorrect, it's just that Japan is more complicated than that. Lots of old paradoxes and influences that don't really lend themselves to a neat thesis. You're doomed to fall short, like when you try to explain a beautiful dream to someone who didn't see it.
- tauchunfall 5y ago>that modern Japanese culture so heavily defined by its interactions with the West It's maybe a small detail: The hero picture of the article shows Miyazaki in front of his atelier near Studio Ghibli with an old German mailbox ("Postkasten") next to him.
- slightwinder 5y agoIt should be noted that Japan has a very special and long history with German Countries. Germans brought modern western medical knowledge to Japan in the 17th. Century, influencing the country to the point that the language used in the medical sector was German (AFAIK still is today to some degree). In the 19th. Century when Japan was forced to open itself to the world, Japan had a friendship and treaty with the German state Prussia, which helped to modernize Japans industry and society. The whole education-system at the time was basically imported from there, to the point that the iconic look of Japanese pupils today are going back to Prussia. That mailbox is in similar style, it's very old and the design is so classic that the word on it is not even common any more today.
- HideousKojima 5y agoAnd the very name Ghibli comes from an Italian plane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.309 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.309 You'll also notice that the manufacturer, Caproni, is the same guy who shows up in all of the dream sequences in The Wind Rises. Also, IIRC, the engine in Porco Rosso's plane is from a Ghibli.
- Sophistifunk 5y agoThis is a pretty good analogy, because nobody ever wants to hear about your dreams.
- kome 5y agoI usually do like to hear about dreams
- everyone 5y agoSame. Who are these supposed people who don't?
- meken 5y agoI like hearing dreams because it tells me something about the other person’s psyche, which is interesting.
- bckr 5y agoSharing dreams is great and I love hearing them
- bdamm 5y agoAnd five minutes into someone describing what seems like a very boring dream will drive anyone batty.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoNot all dreams are boring.
- mikepurvis 5y agoAnd lots of people understand about effective storytelling. It's not any more dishonest to "focus" and craft a narrative that has a dream as its source material than it is to do the same for any other source material.
- dragontamer 5y agoA lot of USA's current culture is from our interactions with Japan and Germany from WW2. I mean... Capt. America, Superman, Wonder Woman to name a few... but also Rosie the Riveter, Baby Boomers (and their children: the Echo Boomers), etc. etc... It turns out that WW2 was a big cultural event, no matter what side you fought on.
- croes 5y agoWhat do you mean by interactions? Immigration? Because many germans immigrated because of the Nazis and brought their culture to the US
- gambiting 5y agoI would say "being actively at war and shooting each other" counts as interaction.
- croes 5y agoBut is that a kind of interaction that leads to cultural exchange?
- gambiting 5y agoCultural exchange isn't what the parent post suggested though. More that a lot of modern American culture has emerged as the result of the war with Germany and Japan - popular comic book heroes being one of them. Capitan American beating up Nazis wouldn't be a thing if well, you weren't at war with the Nazis.
- dragontamer 5y agoEverything. The creation of Israel (largely as the world reacted to the horrors of the Holocaust). The creation of Atomic weapons. The use of total war upon each other. The damage and/or total loss of cities (not just Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also Tokyo firebombings, Stalingrad, Dresden, Nanking, Manila). The creation of rockets (V2, which directly led to Space technology). The creation of cruise missiles (V1). The creation of Aircraft Carriers. The rise of propaganda around the world. The rise of ideology associated with that propaganda (Capitalism, Fascism, and Communism). Fascism mostly died out but Capitalism / Communism grew stronger after the war. WW1, the "great war", was thought to be the defining moment of the 1900s. Instead, an even greater and bigger war was fought that almost completely overshadowed WW1. ----------- After the war, when peace was finally established, everyone shared in the pain and loss associated with the war.