I'm not a Japanophile but I think it's hard to deny there's a crispness to their cultural institutions that other cultures don't care as much about preserving at high fidelity.
Like, when they have traditional festivals, there's a pretty real effort at doing them right? It's not that the culture itself is "better" but they don't generally half-ass their public traditions and that makes it more fun to observe.
Like I don't want to be mean, but for example American Indian culture in a historical context is fascinating, but it's really hard to find groups that put effort into preserving cultural institutions at more than a "phone it in" level. And that makes it a lot less fun to go out of your way to see/learn.
That “crispness” wears off if you actually live in the culture for a bit and realize it’s just a different way of doing things. It’s really not particularly special.
I’ve been in festivals for Brazilian culture, Taiwanese, etc and they can be just as fulfilling to experience.
The real thing to grapple with is that the tech industry in particular has an almost unhealthy exoticism focus on Japan and it colors and elevates any discussion about it beyond any other culture. Seriously - take a shot every time you see a new Japan-focused article hit the front page of this very site. You won’t be drunk but you’ll finish a bottle faster than you’d think.
> take a shot every time you see a new Japan-focused article hit the front page of this very site. You won’t be drunk but you’ll finish a bottle faster than you’d think.
Do it for California and you'd never stop drinking. Stuff gets posted here based on how relevant it is to the tech community, and Japan being the most developed nation that doesn't have European origins makes it different and interesting.
But still you see a lot of articles about different European countries, China, India etc, I don't think Japan is singled out here its just one of the focus points outside of the American coasts that gets the most attention.
To be fair, Native American culture was the victim of a 200-year genocide, is still actively repressed today for corporate interests, and has virtually no healthy, nostalgic population left to actively champion and revive it.
There were Native American cities with the population of London, they had (ephemeral, regional) writing and counting systems, etc. But aside from anthropologists and a few survivors, all of that culture is dead and gone.
That's true and I don't mean to cast blame on how we got here.
But it's disappointing in practice. My wife and kids are tribal members (technically, albeit at long distance) so we stop by Pow Wows sometimes and I feel like there's a lot of missed opportunity. Mostly ends up being a place to resell commercial trinkets (of course with some exceptions).
Like, when they have traditional festivals, there's a pretty real effort at doing them right? It's not that the culture itself is "better" but they don't generally half-ass their public traditions and that makes it more fun to observe.
Like I don't want to be mean, but for example American Indian culture in a historical context is fascinating, but it's really hard to find groups that put effort into preserving cultural institutions at more than a "phone it in" level. And that makes it a lot less fun to go out of your way to see/learn.