"Cultural Imperialism"

...recently, I wrote a small paper on the notion of cultural imperialism in Japan. In all honesty, it wasn't very good- I argued against its existence (that is, the idea of foreign cultures displacing local traditions) for the sake of purely being argumentative. I'm like that occasionally. Still, it did somehow manage to get me thinking a bit.

Here in Japan, "Western" items- food in particular- are rather different. Anyone who has mysteriously discovered corn in a sandwich without any particular rhyme or reason will understand what I'm talking about, otherwise it's something you really have to see to completely comprehend. In the paper, I argued that this bizarre assimilation and adaptation was a logical refutation of imperialism, but in reality I'm not so certain. With English writing everywhere, and a bizarre idolization of certain American things, there may be a small amount of truth to the idea.

To get more in depth, I'll have to include an anecdote. Today I was doing a small amount of shopping in the supermarket- nothing big, I needed a few basics. Anyway, I was in the produce section and near the premade salad mixes there was a small bag containing dressing and croutons that claimed "CAESAR SALAD MIX: The most popular salad in America!" Needless to say, I found it to be an odd selling point. Its existence alone seemingly proves that some form of idolization is present, it's like a type of advanced bandwagon appeal. And yet an equal- if not greater- amount of disdain can be seen everywhere in Tokyo. The rational piece of my thought process cannot help but think it's just the result of a generational gap- the elderly/occupation era citizens are less likely to think of the US in a positive light. It seems less predominant among the youth. But perhaps I'm totally wrong- after all, even here in Saitama I stick out like a sore thumb whereever I go.

In any case, it's interesting food for thought, if nothing else. Is Japanese culture subservient, or is the disdain greater than the admiration? There really isn't a solid answer, but again, it's worth thinking about a bit.

A few minor updates

Well, having successfully proven that my own business is going to prevent me from having any sort of regular blogging activity, I hearby revoke all previous column-like promises, and just state simply that I will do them when I have time- it's not as though it's a chore, but in terms of my writing priorites "blog about my relatively ordinary life" is pretty low. I'd much rather be working on a short story, a school project, or honestly even a post on my new literary criticism blog, The Third Shelf Down [/completely shameless self-promotion].

Now then, as to myself, my summer semester has started, and as a result I've been incredibly busy with papers and the like (in fact, I'm actually simulatenously working on a paper right now). In any case, said business has successfully managed to syphon away my free time, I personally blame my somewhat overarchieving attitude in taking a full courseload during the smaller timeframe. I have managed to get a fair amount of reading done, mostly thanks to my ~1-1.5 hours a day spent on the train and waiting for it, and things have more or less continued as normal as a result of that. Indeed, romantic as the notion of living in a foreign country may seem, it begins to feel normal after a while. If nothing else, though, it has manged to greatly expand my comfort zone, so I suppose this is a good thing.

On a less personal front, I'm going to recede into childhood fanboy mode for a quick moment. Growing up I was somewhat of an otaku in purely the Americanized sense (there was a 2 year period or so where I basically lived, slept, ate, and drank anime and manga). I'm still a fan today, though I have calmed down, and my tastes have changed somewhat drastically, preferring the subtle and powerful to the baser instincts (violence; sex) that most of the series these days deal with. Anyhow, I've always, and still to this day remain a great fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I've been eagerly awaiting the second in the quarter of movie remakes. Evangelion 2.0: [You can (not) advance] comes out towards the end of June, I believe, and there's a certain level of hype going around right now. Given my- er- condition when it comes to coffee, I've already managed to secure a complete set of the new UCC evangelion coffee cans, which is both a bit saddening and delightful simultaneously. I suppose I just have to curse UCC for knowing how to make me buy terrible, terrible coffee. I plan to go see it as soon as I can, schoolwork permitting, and I may post a more thorough review at such time.

Well, that's it for now.

Japanese Supermarkets

Supermarkets in Japan are interesting creatures. Local ones close early- sometimes as early as 5 or 6- and the stores are often ruled by "time sales," in which certain items are discounted for a limited amount of time. It's a fundamentally different system than its American counterpart, but one that I feel can be more easily exploited. In essence, grocery shopping here is all about timing, and as a result, I always find myself keeping a few things in mind before I go:

-What do I need, exactly? (changes the most opportune time of day).
-Is it more than I can carry? (due to my car-less-ness here, I must be able to carry all that I purchase back to my apartment. Sometimes multiple trips to different stores are in order)
-How much am I willing to spend at one given time?

etc. etc.

The main rules are quite simple: earlier in the day is better for produce, later in the day is better for premade food, which often results in purchases that I have come to regret. Honestly, this country makes me question how much self-control I have every day- the food is just so good that even my daily running and exercise doesn't quite offset it. I suppose the truth is that I just have to be more conscious.

In any case, there are some items that are exceedingly hard to find. Some of these are obvious- vegetables like, say, parsnips, aren't going to be available. But the real difficulty is with other foods that seem like they should be similar, and just aren't. Peanut butter is a good example, rather than actual peanut butter, the stuff here is more like a sickeningly sweet peanut-flavored concoction. Tomato sauce might as well be ketchup for how sweet it is. These are things best found in either import stores (at greatly enlarged prices) or shipped, or purchased at a military base if you're lucky enough to have a method of access. Or made by one's self, as I've done with salsa a few times to feed a guacamole craving.

The other real differences are simplistic- produce aisles will often not have plastic bags for the vegetables and the like, and they go directly into the basket. Items are bagged by one's self, rather than a bag boy, and smaller quantities are purchased at one time for most- after all, this is close to Tokyo, so not all that many people have cars.

In any case, that's just a short explanation. Maybe interesting for someone who stumbles along here one day, who knows? I'm just curing boredom.