“…tourism is rapidly dispelling the previously common stereotype of Japan as a closed-off, xenophobic country. Foreigners can now see for themselves how open, free, friendly, and welcoming of a country Japan actually is”. Sadly I think this is increasingly being challenged. I’ve spent much of the past two decades in Japan and in the past couple of years I constantly overhear xenophobic comments and complaints about the number of foreigners in the country. Perhaps surprisingly, and consistent with voting patterns in the recent election (particularly support for the anti-foreigner Sanseito party) these comments are more likely to come from people in their 20s and 30s than from older people. Declines in various measures, including the number of people studying abroad, learning English or holding a current passport also suggest that interest in the outside world is declining.
Where are you noticing this? I have lived in Tokyo for the last 20 years, have a pretty even split between Japanese and foreign friends, and I have not felt any uptick in negativity towards foreign workers or even tourists, except in the broadest possible terms.
I’m not doubting it exists. Sanseito is proof of that (though at the last rally of theirs I saw in front of Shinjuku Station, I saw many Japanese counter protesters as well.)
I’m just curious where you are picking this sort of thing up, and from what sorts of people (online friends? Office workers? Izakaya pals? Fellow hobbyists? Etc)
I have started to believe it is about more than traditional or pop culture, more than the exchange rate, more than the charm of city and countryside. It's because Japan offers a different and more comforting take on what a modern society can be. You touch on this at the end, but let me go into a little more detail.
Consider that Japan missed many major consumer-facing tech trends of the 21st century -- it failed to lead in the social media, freemium gaming, alogrithmic curation, or AI spaces. In many ways, it feels like a place time stopped. Yet it doesn't feel backwards. Quite the contrary: it feels in many ways a sane, calm alternative to the West, and America in particular, where "disruption" might as well be on the dollar bill at this point. I write about this at more length here: https://blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/super-galapagos
Great article. One more thing for me personally -- Japan is also extremely affordable, especially for the quality of goods or services received. This is of course major function of the depreciation of the Japanese yen, but it still has the effect of making Japan accessible to a huge swathe of the global population in a way that New York, London etc is not (especially in terms of the quality of amenities received -- just compare a $300/night hotel in New York with a hotel half the price in Tokyo)
One of your best, Noah! I was travelling to Japan on business 2-3 times a year for 20 years until Feb 2020 and I sadly haven’t been back since. My daughter complains that I don’t get her tshirts from Harajuku anymore. I absolutely love the place and would add days to my trips to walk around and buy synthesizers & audio gear. Too much. Also my Japanese colleagues loved taking me to some of the best restaurants I have ever experienced in Kobe & Osaka - tiny little places with amazing service and stratospheric beef & local delicacies. I love the idea of specialized & focused FDI that can bring tech like software that Japan isn’t strong in to compliment Japanese machining, optics and materials science that they excel in. And of course they have the Toyota Kanban system which creates an incredible and sustainable supply chain with everyone fully participating and profiting. This is something the Chinese have never been able to master because somebody always tries to defect and drive margins to zero. Their birthrate is still an indictment of their treatment of women, but they still have a chance to correct (especially if they can attract female managers & workers from elsewhere).
Respect for Japanese culture and lifestyles may be increasing, but it's falling for Japanese prowess in technology and manufacturing, Japan is still a major exporter of cars, like Germany, but both are losing heavily to China in the EV revolution. In Japan, the failure is exacerbated by its bizarre commitment to the dead end of hydrogen as an energy carrier.
Noah THIS ONE MADE ME SUBSCRIBE due to our shared mystery of why Japanese still do not fully realize how liked Japan is (and how this can change on a dime//priceless)
I was also amused that I told Yomiuri newspaper that they should interview you (when they interviewed me) and Kobayashi san responded “we already did!!” 今後ともよろしくお願い致します。
While being highly regarded in terms of soft power is fundamentally gratifying and something no one would object to, I remain skeptical about how much it translates into tangible benefits. After all, anime fans won't pick up guns and fight for us. The economic value of the content industry is not that large compared to manufacturing and finance, is it?
What concerns me, on the other hand, is that the perception of Japan, whether positive or negative, is very often not an analysis of us in reality, but merely a projection of the observer's biases. Having observed the English-speaking internet for the past couple of years, I've noticed that we are idolized among a peculiar (though not hostile, I can't find another adjective) right-wing in the West. I worry that this could provoke a negative backlash. Ultimately, direct contact through tourism might resolve misunderstandings, which has positive potential, but it's also true that overtourism is leading to increased anti-foreigner sentiment (much of what is said about the Sanseito party is comical exaggeration, yet they are still a cause for concern, as a political force to the right of the LDP could establish a foothold in the Diet for the first time).
We are an island nation with no resources and require connection with the world. I hope that the current pro-Japan boom will bring about positive long-term results.
People buy food products, clothes, electronics, and all kinds of other goods from Japan because they appreciate the culture. It’s not just media and tourism!
“…tourism is rapidly dispelling the previously common stereotype of Japan as a closed-off, xenophobic country. Foreigners can now see for themselves how open, free, friendly, and welcoming of a country Japan actually is”. Sadly I think this is increasingly being challenged. I’ve spent much of the past two decades in Japan and in the past couple of years I constantly overhear xenophobic comments and complaints about the number of foreigners in the country. Perhaps surprisingly, and consistent with voting patterns in the recent election (particularly support for the anti-foreigner Sanseito party) these comments are more likely to come from people in their 20s and 30s than from older people. Declines in various measures, including the number of people studying abroad, learning English or holding a current passport also suggest that interest in the outside world is declining.
Where are you noticing this? I have lived in Tokyo for the last 20 years, have a pretty even split between Japanese and foreign friends, and I have not felt any uptick in negativity towards foreign workers or even tourists, except in the broadest possible terms.
I’m not doubting it exists. Sanseito is proof of that (though at the last rally of theirs I saw in front of Shinjuku Station, I saw many Japanese counter protesters as well.)
I’m just curious where you are picking this sort of thing up, and from what sorts of people (online friends? Office workers? Izakaya pals? Fellow hobbyists? Etc)
I have started to believe it is about more than traditional or pop culture, more than the exchange rate, more than the charm of city and countryside. It's because Japan offers a different and more comforting take on what a modern society can be. You touch on this at the end, but let me go into a little more detail.
Consider that Japan missed many major consumer-facing tech trends of the 21st century -- it failed to lead in the social media, freemium gaming, alogrithmic curation, or AI spaces. In many ways, it feels like a place time stopped. Yet it doesn't feel backwards. Quite the contrary: it feels in many ways a sane, calm alternative to the West, and America in particular, where "disruption" might as well be on the dollar bill at this point. I write about this at more length here: https://blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/super-galapagos
Great article. One more thing for me personally -- Japan is also extremely affordable, especially for the quality of goods or services received. This is of course major function of the depreciation of the Japanese yen, but it still has the effect of making Japan accessible to a huge swathe of the global population in a way that New York, London etc is not (especially in terms of the quality of amenities received -- just compare a $300/night hotel in New York with a hotel half the price in Tokyo)
One of your best, Noah! I was travelling to Japan on business 2-3 times a year for 20 years until Feb 2020 and I sadly haven’t been back since. My daughter complains that I don’t get her tshirts from Harajuku anymore. I absolutely love the place and would add days to my trips to walk around and buy synthesizers & audio gear. Too much. Also my Japanese colleagues loved taking me to some of the best restaurants I have ever experienced in Kobe & Osaka - tiny little places with amazing service and stratospheric beef & local delicacies. I love the idea of specialized & focused FDI that can bring tech like software that Japan isn’t strong in to compliment Japanese machining, optics and materials science that they excel in. And of course they have the Toyota Kanban system which creates an incredible and sustainable supply chain with everyone fully participating and profiting. This is something the Chinese have never been able to master because somebody always tries to defect and drive margins to zero. Their birthrate is still an indictment of their treatment of women, but they still have a chance to correct (especially if they can attract female managers & workers from elsewhere).
I like to mention this comic in the etymology of the word “weeb” since that’s where 4chan took it from. Good example of semantic elevation!
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/weeaboo/
Respect for Japanese culture and lifestyles may be increasing, but it's falling for Japanese prowess in technology and manufacturing, Japan is still a major exporter of cars, like Germany, but both are losing heavily to China in the EV revolution. In Japan, the failure is exacerbated by its bizarre commitment to the dead end of hydrogen as an energy carrier.
Noah THIS ONE MADE ME SUBSCRIBE due to our shared mystery of why Japanese still do not fully realize how liked Japan is (and how this can change on a dime//priceless)
I was also amused that I told Yomiuri newspaper that they should interview you (when they interviewed me) and Kobayashi san responded “we already did!!” 今後ともよろしくお願い致します。
ソフトパワーの面で高く評価されることは基本的に喜ばしいことで、誰もそれには反対しないでしょうけど、それが現実的な利益にどれくらい繋がるのか依然として懐疑的です。アニメを好きな人たちが我々のために銃を取って戦ってくれるわけではないでしょうから。それにコンテンツ産業の経済的価値は製造業や金融業と比較してそれほど大きくないですよね？
While being highly regarded in terms of soft power is fundamentally gratifying and something no one would object to, I remain skeptical about how much it translates into tangible benefits. After all, anime fans won't pick up guns and fight for us. The economic value of the content industry is not that large compared to manufacturing and finance, is it?
一方で私が懸念しているのは、日本に対する評価は好意的なものであれそうでない場合であれ、結局のところ現実の私たちを分析した結果ではなく、評者のバイアスの投影に過ぎないことが非常に多いことです。ここ二年ほどの間に英語圏のインターネットを観察するようになって、欧米の奇妙な（彼らに敵意はないが、他に形容の仕方がない）右派の間で我々が偶像化されていることに気づきました。このことがよくない反動を引き起こすのではないかと懸念しています。最終的には観光による直接的な接触が誤解を解消する可能性があり、そのことにはポジティブな可能性がありますが、オーバーツーリズムが反外国人感情の高まりを招いていることも事実です（参政党について語られていることはほとんどが滑稽な誇張ですが、それでも彼らは危惧すべき存在です。自民党より右側の政治勢力が国会に初めて定着する可能性がありますから）
What concerns me, on the other hand, is that the perception of Japan, whether positive or negative, is very often not an analysis of us in reality, but merely a projection of the observer's biases. Having observed the English-speaking internet for the past couple of years, I've noticed that we are idolized among a peculiar (though not hostile, I can't find another adjective) right-wing in the West. I worry that this could provoke a negative backlash. Ultimately, direct contact through tourism might resolve misunderstandings, which has positive potential, but it's also true that overtourism is leading to increased anti-foreigner sentiment (much of what is said about the Sanseito party is comical exaggeration, yet they are still a cause for concern, as a political force to the right of the LDP could establish a foothold in the Diet for the first time).
我々は資源のない島国であり、世界との接点を必要としています。今起きている親日ブームが長期的にいい結果をもたらしてくれるといいんですが。
We are an island nation with no resources and require connection with the world. I hope that the current pro-Japan boom will bring about positive long-term results.
People buy food products, clothes, electronics, and all kinds of other goods from Japan because they appreciate the culture. It’s not just media and tourism!