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Answerman - Why Do Westerners Make Assumptions About Japan Because of Anime?

Wow, just wow, mind blown (not in a good way). I am afraid to ask if similar questions have been asked about lolis -_-;

I always knew why Americans are so narrow-minded in this regard, but those passport and travel numbers are outright depressing, especially for someone like me who tries traveling at least once a year.

I wonder why. Too costly for the license? The actors' talent agencies being a pain to deal with?

Btw, it's not just Japanese TV dramas that rarely get released here. Live-action kids shows, documentaries, and variety shows rarely get released here either. Your best bet to watch them here legally is TV Japan.

Tempest wrote:

??? The USA is slightly smaller than Canada. Canada is the second largest country in the world, the USA is #4. They're almost the exact same size. (~9.5 million square kilometers) True, Canada does not have warm beaches like the USA, and I'm sure that is probably a significant factor...

As a Canadian, the vast majority of the north is frozen over and no one travels up there or lives there. Even skiers generally stay more southern than you'd expect.

So the actual parts of Canada with things to do and see is a lot smaller than you'd think.

As a Canadian, um, no. Just no. We are travelers, Big-Time. Canadians travel everywhere and in many ways, from school trips to cruises to snow-bird flights to sabbaticals.

Yeah, a large immigrant population means we have a lot of people going to old country to see family but immigrants love to travel elsewhere, too; Many immigrants to Canada now have the sort of money they've never had before and travel is high on many people's list of things to spend that on.

Often, the only time other countries make headlines is when something truly awful is happening there, like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. (This might be one reason why so many people are afraid to travel.)

Quote:

Often, the only time other countries make headlines is when something truly awful is happening there, like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. (This might be one reason why so many people are afraid to travel.)

It doesn't help that US media always focuses on any Americans that happen to be caught up in such things. If none are available, then it has to be a really big deal to even get coverage at all. The media apparently (perhaps rightly, I'm sad to admit) thinks that Americans just don't want to hear about anything happening outside the US unless other Americans are directly involved.

Also, it seems the response was more from an American perspective when the question was about the West in general.

To be fair, Philippine news media often make a point of noting whether or not Filipinos were affected by various disasters around the world.

According to a 2014 survey, 76% of us have at least TRIED to use chopsticks!

...it seems the response was more from an American perspective when the question was about the West in general.

You think Europe is safe? Lets all the people in Nice or any other country that has had a large influx of immigrants. I'm sure those America chicks that got acid thrown in their faces will agree.

Again when you talk about Japan's portrayal of America I think of the OVA series Mad Bull 34 which had New York being a crime ridden hell hole, though I know it was based on tons of American action movies released during the 80s.