"Still, for many anime fans, real-life Tokyo must feel as exotic a destination as Macross City felt for me as a kid. And, come to think of it, most of the stuff I watched back then was set in thinly-veiled fictionalizations of real-life Tokyo, so maybe we’ve just come full circle."
Much to be said here. So much contemporary American discourse on public transit and city building are so often met with the likes of "look at how they do that over in Japan!" and as artists create fictionalized versions Tokyo based on their real experience, those fictional cities have fueled foreign perceptions about seeing Japan as this exotic future in a cyclical manner.
Japanese ukiyo-e artists' skill at illustrating their nation in fantastical ways played a big role in fueling Victorian-era Japonisme. But modern technology lets artists reach more people than any Edo-era printmaker could have ever dreamed. The trend certainly seems to be accelerating these days thanks to the ubiquity of streaming anime.
"Still, for many anime fans, real-life Tokyo must feel as exotic a destination as Macross City felt for me as a kid. And, come to think of it, most of the stuff I watched back then was set in thinly-veiled fictionalizations of real-life Tokyo, so maybe we’ve just come full circle."
Much to be said here. So much contemporary American discourse on public transit and city building are so often met with the likes of "look at how they do that over in Japan!" and as artists create fictionalized versions Tokyo based on their real experience, those fictional cities have fueled foreign perceptions about seeing Japan as this exotic future in a cyclical manner.
Japanese ukiyo-e artists' skill at illustrating their nation in fantastical ways played a big role in fueling Victorian-era Japonisme. But modern technology lets artists reach more people than any Edo-era printmaker could have ever dreamed. The trend certainly seems to be accelerating these days thanks to the ubiquity of streaming anime.