Friday, September 30, 2016
Defection from A Negative Empire hr578
I’m a singer-songwriter living in Japan. Yet, I’m totally unfamiliar
with Japanese recent entertainment. As I haven’t caught up with Japanese
pop music, TV dramas and movies for decades, I don’t know any tunes,
any titles and any names and faces of a band, a singer or an actor. I
have lost interest in Japanese entertainment as a whole except for
comedians for a long time. The reason is simple: there’s nothing worth
listening or watching at all. Every single thing I encounter is rubbish
and I have stopped trying to find something good. It seems that as a
nation falls into decay, its entertainment perishes accordingly. The
most common sales pitch for movies in Japan is ‘You can cry hardest.’
The tears in the pitch don’t mean what we shed when we are moved or
touched or happy. They mean specifically the ones when we are sad. The
sadder a story is, the bigger hit a movie scores. As a result, movies
that center only on death of one’s beloved are overrun in Japan. That
kind of movie is what I want to watch least. I prefer foreign movies
which themes exist, touch me, and consequently make me cry. But Western
films are not sad enough for Japanese people and every year the number
of foreign movies that come into theaters shrinks. Even the Japanese
comedy TV shows are aired less and less although they are the only
domestic entertainment I can enjoy. I used to be an avid frequent
visitor of a Disney theme park in Tokyo where I could feel like I’m
visiting America. Sadly, Japanese taste has been greatly increased there
and changed its atmosphere so much that I’ve long since stopped going.
While less Western culture flows into Japan, more and more Japanese
games and animations are going abroad. I’m afraid that the Japanese
negative spirit might brainwash teens and children in U.S. through them.
Thanks to cable TV I recently subscribed, I enjoy TV shows and movies
from U.S. every day. Unlike domestic counterparts, good ones are
abundant throughout the channels and I can easily find myself absorbed
in. Zombies, devils, serial killers and the FBI come at me every night
and I fight against them. That gives me food for thought, and makes my
brain active and me feel positive. I’m duly aware of a lot of problems,
but I can see hope exist in U.S. I suspect that’s the very reason why
Japanese people are inclined more for domestic culture. They have lost
hope and want to share denial of hope with others. They see themselves
die with characters in the Japanese movies. I will stay away such a
negative and would rather wander around cable TV channels from U.S. I
intend to devour good entertainment as much as possible for my own
survival. And I believe that will lead me to create good works of myself
and help them be part of good entertainment. It’s not a matter of fame
and money any more. It’s a matter of life or death. Well, of course it’s
even better to stay alive with fame and money, I admit…