Sunday 11 February 2001

Pic of the day: I have no idea what the text on the screen means, but it certainly looks Japanese.

Thinking of Japan

Today, among other things, I managed to watch a couple episodes of Super Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. Heh. I don't think "nuku nuku" sounds quite the same way in Japanese as it does in Norwegian. There is no Norwegian word "nuku", but it still sounds kind of improper. Nyuk nyuk, as the English say. (Or is that American? I tend to get the two of them mixed up.)

Yes, the anime study proceeds apace. Internet is such a wonderful way to study foreign cultures. Before the Internet, I did not even know that there was a special name for Japanese cartoons. Actually, calling them "cartoons" seems to be regarded as blasphemy by the True Fans, who live and dream and drink and breathe anime. For some obscure reason, many of these fans seem to be female. Beats me. By Scandinavian measures, the females in these drawn movies seem a generation or two behind in sexual equality.

This may not seem obvious to children, but neither fame, magic nor superpowers help when you're caught in ways of thinking that others have made for you. I guess the same applies to us males, now that I think about it.

I think the best of the lot I've seen so far is called "Daa! Daa! Daa!" Yes, I cringe at the name too. But the drawings are crisp and clear. The plot is contrived, but you gotta love a main character who says: "This kind of stuff always happens in manga [comics] or anime [cartoons], why is it happening to ME?"

***

I have to say, the Japanese culture is really lively and vibrant. Not just in their cartoons, they also show a lot of creativity in the inventions they make. When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" meant cheap clones. These days, it usually mean high quality design, and there's a lot of inventiveness going into the new products. I've looked briefly at their computer cell phones, and I have to say that they seem to be a little bit ahead of even Scandinavia in this area. (Not to mention the USA, which for some obscure reason is really lagging in cell phones.) The WAP system for accessing Internet over the mobile phone is not catching on. Oh well, better luck next time.

You know, Norway and Japan are sort of similar in many ways. We're both countries that consist largely of sea and mountains. We both have a past of (idealized) warrior culture (actually it was probably not nearly as fun as living today). The climate is quite similar, and we often compete head to head in winter sports. We both have a high standard of living, and we both try to preserve national agriculture even when it's not competitive. And we're both hunting whales, for some obscure reason. Even our pop music is somewhat similar, I notice. Norwegian bands sometimes go to Japan before they go to America.

Of course there are also lots and lots of differences. Until a few generations ago, we had lived apart from each other since before our ancestors left Africa, looking very different from what both of us do today. Probably. (The Ainu in northern Japan seems strangely similar to my own race, from what I read. I've never met any, of course. I've never been to Japan, and never will.)

***

Japan has been through a decade of economic recession now, well on and off, but overall there's been little or no economic progress since the first crash. The bad news continue, but as always at a slow and measured pace. These people don't panic easily. While there are setbacks in some areas, the advance continues in other. The level of education is still very high, and high technology continues to spread through society. The Internet allows Japan to exchange impulses with the Western world freely; and so they do. And it is certainly not a passive consumption of The American Way of Life. There is also a flow the other way. Perhaps the French have something to learn here, with their fear of American cultural imperialism ...

I still believe that the USA, and the countries that depend on them, will go into a full economic recession any time now. If Alan Greenspan is alive and lucid, he should be able to guide the country down to a soft landing, avoiding a full crash. Still, I would not be surprised if America were to face some years of economic stagnation. Perhaps it is time once more to send people to Japan and study the way they handle things over there. (And my native Norway, as America's loyal poodle, is likely to have some use for this too. Incredible as it may seem today, at the height of our best times ever.)

An economic slowdown seems to not be the end of the world, after all. A nation's greatness is not measured only in its gross national product, but also in its art, its creativity, its ability to hold onto the good parts of its heritage and reach out for a better future.