Matt Alt's Pure Invention

Matt Alt's Pure Invention

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The Smile Trade
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The Smile Trade

What our fascination with weird tales from Japan says about us

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Matt Alt
May 30, 2023
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A few weeks back, a newspaper editor reached out to ask if I had any ideas for a story. I pitched an essay about the Western media’s fixation with kooky individuals of all sorts in Japan, and how covering them triggered cascades of copycat reporting that resulted in the appearances of trends where none actually existed. And I had plenty of receipts.

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