Sub fans: “Subs are better! It’s more authentic and those English voices are terrible!”

Dub fans: “You don’t even speak Japanese, what do you know!?”

People who can actually understand Japanese: My non-meme, non-intentional strawman take on this subject is that it depends.

If a show or film revolves around Japanese culture, then I’m not interested in anything other than subs.

If it’s a more generic fantasy setting, I can do either. Sometimes both are ear-piercing.

I deleted Twitter off my phone and it honestly made my evening much better and more focused.

Probably going to start cutting off my access to this site past a certain hour. While I'll still be here, you're going to start seeing less of me. I have more important things to do. I've made Substack a priority this year and I'm already at nearly 600 subscribers.

So please follow me there to keep up with my work. And if you want to support my writing, consider a paid subscription.

You'll get access to exclusive, in-depth articles.
foreignperspectives.net

I find it funny how everyone on both sides of the culture war were tweeting last month how "GamerGate 2" was about to happen and... nothing happened.

I dunno what people were expecting. Everyone involved already hates each other and has drawn their lines in the sand. Almost no one from the OG GamerGate days is still relevant now.

No one takes games journalists seriously anymore, so in that sense it was already long over.

The culture war stuff is a new thing every week that people quickly forget before moving on to the next thing.

Interestingly, this is what Capcom previously said about localization, which appears to be a contradiction of what they just posted here.

In fact, it’s still on their official website.
capcom.co.jp/ir/english/csr…

https://twitter.com/capcoml10n/status/1778657301551038721

The above tweet by Capcom is only going to throw more gasoline onto the fire around the localization discourse and there’s a lot there that I disagree with.

See my article from earlier this year which dives into good, bad, and controversial localizations.
foreignperspectives.net/p/ai-is-not-th…

These anecdotal stories don’t tell the whole story of the time period they were in.

Even my dad who hated the Cultural Revolution noted that because life was simpler back then, Chinese people were generally kinder.

Doesn’t mean life was good though. Everyone was dirt poor. If you showed talent for math and science, then you probably didn’t get the worst education in communist China or the Soviet Union.

Those regimes needed scientists and engineers, but everything else taught was propaganda. You’d usually never get the job you wanted anyways.

After the mixed initial reception, I’d be wary too.

I’ll definitely see the film, but I think Francis Ford Coppola lost his touch years ago.

He’s responsible for some of the greatest works of cinema, but he peaked in the 1970s. Coppola is no Scorsese.

https://twitter.com/discussingfilm/status/1777458966441738591

I’ve heard good things about The Rainmaker and Tetro, but they didn’t exactly light the world on fire.

It’s honestly a shame that Coppola has spent the last 30 years making films hardly anyone knows about or sees. This is the guy who directed The Godfather.

That headline is fake.

-Japan expects 820,000 skilled workers over five years
-They are not “inviting” anyone
-The vast majority of these workers can only stay for a max of five years
-Staying longer requires a skills test

Better article here:
asahi.com/sp/ajw/article…

https://twitter.com/steve_laws_/status/1776553803963109600

Immigration to Japan has already increased over the last 20 years.

But the Japanese government is eyeing skilled workers with specific qualifications, not any migrant who wants to come to the country.

To stay more than five years, they have to demonstrate their worth.

The people in the replies telling me Japan is the way it is specifically because it’s a homogenous country are probably the same ones who refused to wear masks or take vaccines during the pandemic.

Guess what? It’s because people follow rules that Japan is the way it is.

https://twitter.com/oliverjia1014/status/1775938022317695447

Japanese people are not inherently better or worse than Americans.

But the social pressures that exist here are different and few people want to rock the boat.

A gun-toting MAGA supporting Christian Republican would never want to live in Japan. And neither would a woke person.

https://twitter.com/oliverjia1014/status/1775821732861165664

Which was the best era of Star Wars? Note: this is specifically referring to the pre-Disney era of 1977-2014. Being born in 1997, the first Star Wars I saw in theaters was Ep. III in 2005, though I watched all the films that existed at the time beforehand.

I loved all six films, went through the phase where it was cool to hate the prequels, then went back to appreciating them all.

Going off this theme of Japan being more of a collectivist society than America, I think there are two major exceptions:

1. People who run their own individual businesses

2. People who are in arts/creative fields

In those cases, you often find more similarities with Americans.

https://twitter.com/oliverjia1014/status/1775821731288236341

The best Japanese media is good usually because it’s made by nonconformist people who go out of their way to criticize Japanese society or standard ways of thinking.

Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Hideo Kojima, etc. are all deep thinkers who have a specific vision.

Agree about America, disagree that Japan hasn’t had a similar debate about its own WW2 actions.

There’s been decades of scholarly debate and media about war crimes, how the war affected both sides, etc.

Al Jazeera is anti-West propaganda, so they’re not interested in nuance.

https://twitter.com/swannmarcus89/status/1774940474018570333

I will be writing an article soon debunking myths that Japan hasn’t apologized for WWII or hasn’t engaged in serious self-reflection about its actions.

The biggest difference though is Japan doesn’t flog itself over the past. That’s a very Western thing, not an Asian one.

Sweet Baby sucks and the game journalists running defense for them are all clowns, but at the same time I don’t want to be represented by jokers like this guy who’s every walking stereotype of anti-SJWs.

Sorry if that makes me a filthy centrist. I just have standards. The average person has zero idea what any of this controversy is.

But if you had to explain it to them, do you really want the shouting manchild to be your best representative?

You might not think optics matter, but they do.

Some are disappointed that Shogun doesn’t feature Blackthorne, Mariko, and the Jesuit characters speaking Portuguese.

Using English as a stand-in for other languages is nothing new for films and shows, but language is actually one of Shogun’s more fascinating aspects.

Thread. As is well-known by now, Shogun protagonist John Blackthorne is based William Adams.

Adams was an English sailor who arrived in Japan in 1600 via the Dutch trading ship de Liefde.

He was the first Englishman in Japan and was given samurai status by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Thoughts on Shogun so far.

As a huge fan of the original novel and television miniseries, I’m pleasantly surprised with this adaptation.

It’s not really a remake of that show, but a different take on the source material. And for the most part, it seems to be working.

Thread. First, it’s obvious that the real protagonist of the 2024 Shogun series is not John Blackthorne, but Yoshii Toranaga.

I was skeptical of that premise, but it does make sense. We didn’t need a pointless retread of the original show and this provides us with a new perspective.

My following has been stagnant for nearly a year thanks to bots and algorithms. I also already know I’m going to lose more followers after announcing who I’d be voting for in 2024.

But I’m not here to win any popularity contests. I speak my mind and don’t say things to be liked.

https://twitter.com/oliverjia1014/status/1761626803045621918

Anyone who has followed me for years knows I’m not on the political left nor am I a fan of the Democrats.

I’m a political independent who’ll vote or not vote based entirely on personal pragmatic reasons. Voting for Biden doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a Democrat or a reborn liberal.

One of my takeaways in visiting Washington DC’s museums was brushing up on American history and slavery.

There are of course many tragic stories, but I was inspired seeing portraits and exhibits of people who pushed to aspire to the ideal of “All men are created equal.” As far back as the founding of America, there were many white people who tirelessly worked to push for the abolition of slavery and equal rights for African-Americans.

They did so at great risk and cost to their livelihoods, but they did so because they knew slavery was evil.

Still can’t believe that in about 24 hours I’ll be on U.S. soil for the first time in over three years.

The last time was at the height of the pandemic to see my father before he passed away.

It was a very hard journey, but I’m glad it’s under happier circumstances this time. A lot has changed since 2020. I’ve changed and I imagine the U.S. has changed.

I expect to experience some inevitable reverse culture shock, but I’m excited to show my girlfriend some of it.

It’s Minori’s first time leaving Japan, so it’ll be more of a great change for her.

I can’t comment on this scene because I don’t play Persona, but stuff like this has been happening in Japanese media for awhile.

There are old movies here that have their dialogue censored for television broadcast because some expressions are considered outdated or offensive.

https://twitter.com/lookatmymeat1/status/1752382034495078702

As I’ve already said, I think that Japan Times article about localizers influencing games is concerning.

At the same time, I think you also need to realize that things in Japanese society change and evolve too. Some creators come to these conclusions on their own.

This week marks ten years since Justin Carmical aka JewWario ended his own life.

It gutted me finding out he was a sexual predator and rapist.

He was one of the original retro gaming YouTubers I watched and I always enjoyed his friendly personality. It was all a lie though. You really have no idea what kind of person a YouTuber is behind the scenes when the cameras are off.

But what’s even worse is knowing that Channel Awesome could’ve done more to reign Justin in or report him to the police.

That era of the internet has some dark stories.

Rewatched Jackie Brown for the first time in over a decade and my opinion on this film has grown substantially.

It's Quentin Tarantino's most grounded work, showing restraint and having a far more laidback atmosphere. Arguably the classiest movie he ever made. What I liked about Jackie Brown is how its characters are all very flawed.

Jackie is at a dead end job, Max Cherry is old and tired, Ordell Robbie is an arrogant loudmouth, and Loius Gara is a washed up bank robber.

Tarantino's writing is what makes them all interesting.

Dunno if this is an unpopular take, but I thought how Quentin Tarantino portrayed Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was fine.

People unrealistically think Bruce Lee was a god, which was never true. Cliff Booth is also a trained killer. In real life Lee would be toast. American stuntmen on the set of Green Hornet hated Bruce Lee because he was always needlessly rough with them.

And we know from those who worked with him that Lee could be hot-headed and arrogant. He was a brilliant martial arts athlete, but that’s separate from real fighting.