I think I'm Turning Japanese

I've always enjoyed anime, there is just something about the way the stories tell themselves on the screen that is so far beyond much of what we produce here. Don't get me wrong, I generally like Disney and Pixar (and enjoyed the recent film Hoodwinked), but while technically better than much of the Japanese productions, the stories just don't even come close. In reading the book Anime Explosion I have a greater feeling why and a deeper appreciation for a culture which I once thought alien but is actually much closer to how I was brought up in rural Missouri. In a chapter titled "The Social Web and the Lone Wolf", Drazen discusses the complex web of relationships important to each and every Japanese citizen including:

• Togetherness (primarily because of geography) leading to a person's identity coming from being a part of certain groups.
• The importance of the family.
• The formula of life is summed up in the words on (obligation) and giri (honor).
• The formalization of politeness and codes of respect.
• Social propriety (imagine, a people who can insult without immediately stooping to the use of "four letter" words).

Many of these same points were reinforced in my own upbringing. My parents taught me the importance of family and what it really means to be a part of a family, to keep the promises I make, to always say please and thank you, to address my elders as Mr. and Mrs. or Miss, to say things like "Yes sir" and "No ma'am", and to "bridle my tongue" and "watch my language".

Another difference that adds to my enjoyment of anime is the sense of "myth" they bring. Most anime have broad stories and complex characters. In Anime Explosion Drazen details how many of the anime we see have elements of ancient folktales and moral lessons that are used to provide a sense of continuity to the culture (his discussion of "cultural shorthand" is quite interesting and helped explain some things I had not understood until now). Both Lewis and Tolkien lamented the sense of passing of the idea of myth in their time (and it was one of the reasons that Tolkien created his novels of Middle Earth). My partner and I have had this discussion several times (though he prefers the word "romance" to "myth" the concepts he espouses are the same). Americans (and to some degree the set of first world countries) seem to be trading their "souls" for the more sterile world of technology and "cowboy capitalism" (as I have said before, I believe in free markets and am a bit of a libertarian Republican, but what I see today isn't quite what Smith et. al. had in mind). Our lives seem to be more sterile, more functionally oriented, career oriented, individual, and less rich and interesting than in the past. I think that is at least in part why the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and recent Chronicles of Narnia have struck such a cord, that when presented with those concepts of myth/romance in a deep and well-written manner we sense a little of what is missing in our lives and are drawn to it. Now, if we can only make sure our children can read at least well enough to enjoy the "original" version (i.e. text), we may as a civilization still have a chance.