(Why) does *SELECT Country* reject creative works from *SELECT other Country* spawn

[wco81]

They like iPhones. And Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, etc.

 

[Nesh]

Not sure why it is surprising that Japan would have an anti-western sentiment considering their history. If Japan had occupied the USA until the 1950s no doubt there would be an overriding cultural bias there too.

I believe that western pop culture has been poisoning their own more than theirs have had an influence in the west.

In the USA there was huge racism at one point against asians. *scrubbed*. I think that started right after the Pearl Harbour attack. There are many US consumers expressing negative bias against the asians. Lets not forget expressions such us "chinese communists" and Japanazis which have had an influence from generation to generation.

Of course japanese would be pissed when they were bombed by two nuclear bombs too

 

[NathansFortune]

Not sure why it is surprising that Japan would have an anti-western sentiment considering their history. If Japan had occupied the USA until the 1950s no doubt there would be an overriding cultural bias there too.

That's why Apple are the number one smartphone brand, and Baseball is massive along with a huge number of non-Japanese cultural imports. I don't think you realise just how big the Beatles are/were in Japan.

Japan is not a racist country, however, they do gravitate away from inferior seeming products. Xbox has been an inferior product to PlayStation since its inception either by hardware quality (RROD) or by title availability specific to Japanese tastes. Western companies can do well in Japan, but they do need to have a high quality product or service because standards are much higher than in the west.

 

[JPT]

This is getting a bit OT, but I want to chime in.

In my experience, most societies/cultures think they are the best or superior to others.

USA, meet an average american and they will go on about usa being the best.
France and England, are often thought of as snoobs and they certainly hold their own culture in high esteem.
Same goes for Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, Russia etc etc.

Its not so much focus on not directly liking others, its more that it just that it does not resonate as well as their own culture bias to them. And then add some stereotypes on top of that and the ball is rolling nicely

As for countries being racist, sure this is not the old human xenophobe traits showing up? You are different and that scares me, because I do not understand you and the choices you make.

PS. Norway is the best.....

 

[Nesh]

There are US and Japanese consoles. EU is neither US or Japan. EU seems to prefer Japanese consoles more. One reason of course is related to the fact that just like the majority of the world they have had a long time experience with Japanese consoles from Sega and Nintendo. Then its brand awareness such as that of the Playstation. But another thing that contributes to the preference I believe is also related to historical events, culture, ideologies and education. I feel that UK is more likely to shift towards a US made console than Greece for example. They are closer to the US than Greece is in terms of culture and ideology, relations with the US have been historically different, and they have a different world view of events. People dont think of those directly when they purchase a console but I believe these elements do have an indirect subtle effect on preference. Of course that doesnt mean that if a US console is good enough and the Japanese console fails to deliver that their wont be a significant shift. In Europe we certainly dont purchase consoles based on patriotism

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This probably belongs in the general discussion forum. Maybe that's where the other one ended up? I'm sure we have a 'Japan hates the West' thread somewhere. Mostly just want to get it out of the business and sales discussion.

 

[JPT]

But another thing that contributes to the preference I believe is also related to historical events, culture, ideologies and education.

I agree with this, when you grow up, you get influenced by your culture and its history.

Being very crude and shallow now, but.

IMHO, the USA is a "new" country with shorter tradition of what being american is, its all of newer date. Cowboys might be the american fairytale, while the monkey king is the asian fairytale.
If that is the case, will you not look for and like different experiences when it comes to entertainment. Cowboys -> FPS and Monkey King -> (J)RPG?

 

[Cyan]

Well the incentive for Japanese developers to translate for western markets is a buttload of sales, whereas the incentive for western developers to translate text to Kanji and voice work to Japanese for those sales is less.

But by cultural changes I mean the way things are communicated. In the west, opinions are common but in Japan, communication is less focussed on opinion than it is emotion. Similarly concepts of things like friendship is so unbelievably different it's difficult even to convey. The concept of honour and your word and reputation are still supremely important in Japan, in the west, less so. You'd be surprised how many story-driven elements would need significant translation to a Japanese market.

I remember when I used to draft and send diplomatic communiques regarding international treaties. If I sent something incorrect to North America or Europe, my counterparts would just come back and say "this is wrong". The Japanese however, would just ignore it, which our embassy told me was how it worked. It would be impolite to point out I was wrong. It's a completely different way of thinking about things.

I also think that's the key, the cultural differences seem to be built right in to almost all individuals, except for the fact that it isn't a need, nor instinctive.

If someone with Japanese parents was born in the west, they wouldn't be so different from the people around them.

I am into western movies and not so much into Japanese cinema and stuff, but I gotta admit western movies are becoming very predictable. Most of the high budget titles are about the same.

By that I mean super amazing characters, with resounding sentences and spectacular moves after said sentence. Very Horatio like --from CSI Miami.

It is so boring, so stupid and annoying... I have tons of fun while watching Wild West movies though. The scripts and situations are so fun at times, they make me cry with laughter.

Not to mention how smart are some of the sentences.

Wouldn't it make sense for Americans to fly the Japanese flag and their native country's flag? Are Japanese/American really that offended by the other flag that flying both flags isn't an option?

 

[orangpelupa]

The rejection also can be attributed to different values in what they consider appropriate or not..

For example, in my country sex is something very forbidden. On the other hand, even kids can see movies with blood.

The government have tried to change this since about 10 years now. But generally it have no effect.

It's getting worse (or good?) now, sex and violence content getting more and more unmoderated to kids.

I guess that's what we get for becoming free country that much more free than America*

*The law restricted many things but in reality nobody enforce it.

Back about game and movies, my country mainly just illegally import games and legally import foreign movies. Local movies production mainly focusing on cheap "sex sells " and "ghosts". When local movies do something different and good :

Comic8
The Raid
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PkULMOFpuCo
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg6IiGjJyM4

People in here watch it like mad (long queue on theatres, need to reserve ticket).

But still not as crazy as Hollywood movie where they sometime result in long queue for 2 weeks.

As for anime, there's only 2 theatre in my whole country that show it. Blitzmegaplex and senayan blablabla.

It's a different story for games. The Japanese games selling like hot cakes where I need to pre order quickly or I will never got the game. If the illegal supplier decided to import more stocks, the price will go up considerably.

The West game not selling as good. Even call of duty is not much popular here. Compared to people that play pokemon, final fantasy, etc.

But on the pirated lan party it's the reverse. They mainly play western games.

 

[Cyan]

Are we going to see games like this in Japan? Very very tough hill to climb but Microsoft are going to try changing the image of Xbox in Japan.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/03...trategy-to-change-the-image-of-xbox-in-japan/

 

[Sigfried1977]

No idea whether Japan would wanna play those games or not, but I would. (the first 2 version at least)

 

[Akumajou]

Not sure why it is surprising that Japan would have an anti-western sentiment considering their history. If Japan had occupied the USA until the 1950s no doubt there would be an overriding cultural bias there too.

Poorly studied history can make some people post some really ignorant words on the internetz.

Since the end on WW2, Japan has been a very close ally to the United States of America but again poorly or perhaps biased with bigotry studied history can lead people to think and assume some really ignorant things.

Past history has nothing to do with how game consoles or games sell...the problem may be ignored by bias however.

The x-box 1 built a reputation for "mostly military shooters" that isn't a Japanese game developer's fault or the gaming public. In fact that reputation was real word of mouth from real gamers who bought that console.

Not to mention it's short lifecycle by pulling the plug with some ridiculous excuses. Microsoft was also building first party original devs but they pulled the plug on them too, but bias makes people forget that.

If U.S. gamers who were devoted Xbox 360 fans were complaining about the RROD, imagine how people outside of the U.S. felt.

Plenty of English written forum posts, online articles and people who just went and bought another Xbox 360 to replace the rrodead or disc dead out there...again imagine outside where people may be a bit more upset.

There's also that Microsoft chose to buy or pay off devs to get multi platform games out of PlayStation instead of continuing to build up the first party original devs.

Are we going to see games like this in Japan? Very very tough hill to climb but Microsoft are going to try changing the image of Xbox in Japan.

]

That is such a poor stereotype of what would appeal to the Japanese game market.

Instead of trying to "thinking Japanese" Microsoft should really focus on original content really, instead of trying to imitate or copy or buy the content from a different platform.

Videogames used to have original experiences before last generation of online deathmatch rinse repeat...maybe that's what needs to be done before even U.S. market gamers get sick of the military shooters or gun shooters online deathmatch fest.


I do ask, why assume that a game that sells millions of copies in one country is somehow entitled to sell the same in a different country even Japan?

This could become a bigger problem if other Asian regions were accounted for to reveal the ugly truth.

 

[Cyan]

Poorly studied history can make some people post some really ignorant words on the internetz.

Since the end on WW2, Japan has been a very close ally to the United States of America but again poorly or perhaps biased with bigotry studied history can lead people to think and assume some really ignorant things.

Past history has nothing to do with how game consoles or games sell...the problem may be ignored by bias however.

The x-box 1 built a reputation for "mostly military shooters" that isn't a Japanese game developer's fault or the gaming public. In fact that reputation was real word of mouth from real gamers who bought that console.

Not to mention it's short lifecycle by pulling the plug with some ridiculous excuses. Microsoft was also building first party original devs but they pulled the plug on them too, but bias makes people forget that.

If U.S. gamers who were devoted Xbox 360 fans were complaining about the RROD, imagine how people outside of the U.S. felt.

Plenty of English written forum posts, online articles and people who just went and bought another Xbox 360 to replace the rrodead or disc dead out there...again imagine outside where people may be a bit more upset.

There's also that Microsoft chose to buy or pay off devs to get multi platform games out of PlayStation instead of continuing to build up the first party original devs.



That is such a poor stereotype of what would appeal to the Japanese game market.

Instead of trying to "thinking Japanese" Microsoft should really focus on original content really, instead of trying to imitate or copy or buy the content from a different platform.

Videogames used to have original experiences before last generation of online deathmatch rinse repeat...maybe that's what needs to be done before even U.S. market gamers get sick of the military shooters or gun shooters online deathmatch fest.


I do ask, why assume that a game that sells millions of copies in one country is somehow entitled to sell the same in a different country even Japan?

This could become a bigger problem if other Asian regions were accounted for to reveal the ugly truth.

Japanese are intriguing. I just hope Microsoft NEVER ever give up there. Whether you are a big fan of the culture, there is no denial that they very very talented people.

And they made great things. In fact when it comes to videogames they treat the western themes more accurately or interestingly than many western developers. -say Castlevania, stuff in fighting games, classical arcades based on western countries, etc-

They are also great story tellers -and this comes from someone who is used to all western movies and games-, presenting interesting characters where most modern characters in videogames made by western developers is usually your typical know-it-all, smart aleck.

That being said, weeks ago the Xbox One was getting kinda meh' opinions in a poll made for the Japanese public:

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/05...ction-among-japanese-viewers-66-5-displeased/

And now it's placed at the top in Amazon Japan:

http://segmentnext.com/2014/06/23/x...ese-retailers-preorders-start/?utm_source=rss

I checked and Xbox One is in the second place now, but it was first days ago.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsell..._m=AN1VRQENFRJN5&pf_rd_r=05DT799Q346Z0VTMK6RH

Maybe it's just a fad, but giving up on Japan would be a bad idea.

 

[zed]

I checked and Xbox One is in the second place now, but it was first days ago.

MS (and most other companies) prolly want their consoles to fail in Japan, as it seems like if it succeeds in japan it fails elsewhere and visa versa

 

[Strange]

Japanese are intriguing. I just hope Microsoft NEVER ever give up there. Whether you are a big fan of the culture, there is no denial that they very very talented people.

And they made great things. In fact when it comes to videogames they treat the western themes more accurately or interestingly than many western developers. -say Castlevania, stuff in fighting games, classical arcades based on western countries, etc-

They are also great story tellers -and this comes from someone who is used to all western movies and games-, presenting interesting characters where most modern characters in videogames made by western developers is usually your typical know-it-all, smart aleck.

That being said, weeks ago the Xbox One was getting kinda meh' opinions in a poll made for the Japanese public:

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/05...ction-among-japanese-viewers-66-5-displeased/

And now it's placed at the top in Amazon Japan:

http://segmentnext.com/2014/06/23/x...ese-retailers-preorders-start/?utm_source=rss

I checked and Xbox One is in the second place now, but it was first days ago.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsell..._m=AN1VRQENFRJN5&pf_rd_r=05DT799Q346Z0VTMK6RH

Maybe it's just a fad, but giving up on Japan would be a bad idea.

I don't see how a launch sending a new console to the top of the charts is anything surprising, especially without anything big lately.