"John R. Yamamoto- Wilson" <john@rarebooksinjapan.com> wrote in message
news:beasnk$2ifh$1@kanna.cc.sophia.ac.jp...
> Ryan Ginstrom wrote:
> <rant html/start>

<snippity snip snip>

Do the trappings of culture, adopted in a haphazard fashion, and always
through the thick lens of Japanese culture (and if you are a cynic, filtered
by the handful of Japanese who serve as the gatekeepers to gaikoku), to the
point where they are often unrecognizable to people native to the source
culture, mean that the culture has actually come to dominate?

If the Japanese were truly Americanized, wouldn't that mean that an American
should arrive on these fair shores and find plenty of familiar cultural
landmarks, at least moreso than your average Joe Igirisu would? Do you think
this is true? Can you name a few?

By extension, wouldn't that mean that if you plopped a bunch of Spaniards
into Spain Mura, they should feel less iwakan than if you plopped them into
the middle of Tokyo?

Or that if I was in America and took my Japanese guests to a Japanese
restaurant, run by Chinese and specializing in Teriyaki Chicken over
(Chinese) rice, sushi, and pot stickers, with nonsensical/Chinese kanji
scattered across the walls, that my Japanese guests would sit back and say,
gee, these Americans sure have gotten Japanized. I feel like I'm right back
in Japan!

> In response to your other question, Ryan, no I haven't been to Spain mura,
> but one of my students did. She was a returnee from Spain (she and I used
> frequently to chat in Spanish together), and her friends thought it would
be
> a treat, but she spent the whole day in sad despondency, not knowing how
to
> make her friends understand that the Spain she knew and loved was nothing
> like this!

Hey John, don't look now but I think you're on to something!

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom