"Japan: high tech image, low tech reality"

[Rydian]

Article here.

The article is basically about how all the high-tech stuff like giant robots and computer toilets is in Tokyo, while the rest of the area uses pretty basic technology for most things.

I would say it kind of reminds me of other countries that put on fronts, but then again with how prevalent technology is in a lot of anime it seems that many people enjoy the idea of it, even if a technology isn't available in their area they still know of it since it's a Japanese thing and incorporate it into their works that are focused on entertainment... so I wouldn't call it a front, simply that the technical stuff is more interesting and thus presented and discussed more (also pride).

Anyways the article also goes into how the Japanese use cell phones as portable computers much more than other people do... when I was a teen I was all up in that RPG Maker and M.U.G.E.N. stuff, and a lot of the sites I visited for both of those really seemed formatted more to fit a cell phone than a PC screen.

 

[Dork]

when I was a teen I was all up in that RPG Maker and M.U.G.E.N. stuff

I'm still into MUGEN, I just love the hell out of that game.

 

[Gahars]

This isn't like my Japanese anime at all!

Wow, that is so disappinting. It makes me think of religious people who are against black’s in the work force or gay’s being allowed to marry. It stinks of silly traditions that hinder and oppress a people. It is shameful and disappointing!

I always thought Japan was like it was in Evangelion, a super duper advanced country!

Oh, comments sections. You never disappoint.

 

[nryn99]

Actually, I thought they had those teenagers fighting teenagers, adults, demons, zombies and mahou shoujos.

 

[Hanafuda]

Despite what the author writes at the end, i.e.

Japan was an advanced, tech hungry country 20 years ago but with its aging population and economic decline it seems that Japan has lost its sparkle. Indeed, it still has many things that would blow your mind: a visit to Tokyo’s electric town or a trip on a bullet train, but your average visitor doesn’t see the real Japan behind its glowing neon lights. They don’t see the bare classrooms, the old computers, the out of date technology clinging on for dear life, which has been long dead in the rest of the world.

I lived in rural Japan 20 years ago and it was no different. The little house I lived in had a non-flush toilet (like an indoor porta-pot) and used a kerosene heater. The school building I taught in dated from the 50's and was decidedly lo-tech in every respect. Infrastructure was absolutely minimal (try no guardrails along the edge of a sheer cliff-face, or while driving alongside rice fields with a good 8-foot straight drop down from the road to the ground). But in the cities, everything seemed like living in the future. I spent one year in a small rural village, and one year living in downtown Hiroshima. It was like living in two different countries that just happened to speak the same language. I think the guy who wrote the article just hasn't seen enough, not just of Japan, but his own country back home. The whole world is like this to some degree.

 

[Costello]

Nice article, but I think it's wrong to state that only Tokyo benefits from the more advanced technology.
I'm sure the massive other cities such as Nagoya/Kyoto/etc the life styles are much different.
IMO what this means about Japan is that it wasn't developed uniformly throughout the country.
And I'm pretty sure this can be said about a lot of countries (I could tell you the same story about China).

 

[Sop]

Article here.

The article is basically about how all the high-tech stuff like giant robots and computer toilets is in Tokyo, while the rest of the area uses pretty basic technology for most things.

I would say it kind of reminds me of other countries that put on fronts, but then again with how prevalent technology is in a lot of anime it seems that many people enjoy the idea of it, even if a technology isn't available in their area they still know of it since it's a Japanese thing and incorporate it into their works that are focused on entertainment... so I wouldn't call it a front, simply that the technical stuff is more interesting and thus presented and discussed more (also pride).

Anyways the article also goes into how the Japanese use cell phones as portable computers much more than other people do... when I was a teen I was all up in that RPG Maker and M.U.G.E.N. stuff, and a lot of the sites I visited for both of those really seemed formatted more to fit a cell phone than a PC screen.

The technology of vending machines in Japan is astounding.

But I like Japan's regional towns.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

I wouldn't expect to find computer toilets or giant robots everywhere in Japan... Just like where I live it isn't a huge rain forest, where humans and monkeys dance samba and play football while we watch naked woman speaking spanish at the beach.

Saying Japan has a low tech reality is exaggerating. Even european countries have some towns/villages just like Hanafuda described.

My friend who lived for a year in a town 20 minutes from NYC complained about how the streets were poorly illuminated compared to brazilian cities, he even said "no wonder there are so many cases of rape in the USA".

 

[the_randomizer]

I lived there for two years and loved it, the technology is crazy in the cities, but normal in the countryside. I lived in Hiroshima and eventually about thirty minutes outside Osaka and enjoyed every minute of it. Those vending machines were crazy!

 

[Sop]

I wouldn't expect to find computer toilets or giant robots everywhere in Japan... Just like where I live it isn't a huge rain forest, where humans and monkeys dance samba and play football while we watch naked woman speaking spanish at the beach.

Saying Japan has a low tech reality is exaggerating. Even european countries have some towns/villages just like Hanafuda described.

My friend who lived for a year in a town 20 minutes from NYC complained about how the streets were poorly illuminated compared to brazilian cities, he even said "no wonder there are so many cases of rape in the USA".

I live in North QLD (AUS) and I can confirm, just as you would expect. That there is huge rainforest everywhere and drunk Aussies everywhere.

 

[kehkou]

Good read! Thanx Rydian!