Articles like this about Japan make me feel a bit weird but I kind of wish we were better at fetishising our own produce and practices like we do with the Japanese.
Yes. If not coppicing, than a million other things. It's also not any different than seeing romanticized articles about distilleries in Scotland or Iberico ham or a million other things that we see targeting Americans. The US being so relatively young doesn't get romanticized passed-down-through-history articles written in Europe, but they get plenty about modern American exports like Hollywood, etc.
People like learning about things that are different and it's easy to draw eyes if you add a bit of mystique around a subject that people won't be particularly familiar with.
Was this article was paid for by the Japanese government? I doubt it. The website appears to be that of a business that would like to sell you things, which seems a likely enough motive for them to post articles on just about anything.
You might be interested in Cool Japan[0], which is part of Japan's "overall brand strategy". This sort of national marketing is not unique to Japan, but their various campaigns are a noteworthy successful example.
I would also imagine our government, the UK, promote our culture via the BBC too. I believe it's called "soft power".
I'm OK with it. I actually seek out these sorts of programmes on both NHK and the BBC 'cause I like seeing master craftsmen at work. Anytime I see some guy in London making clocks by hand with a Cowells lathe or a bloke and his son working a hammer in an Osaka forge I'm happy.
> The syndrome is characterized by a number of psychiatric symptoms such as acute delusional states, hallucinations, feelings of persecution ... derealization, depersonalization, anxiety, and also psychosomatic manifestations such as dizziness, tachycardia, sweating, and others, such as vomiting
uhhh, what?? just from being disappointed in a place you're visiting? I had to double check the link to make sure it wasn't some satirical site.
Paris is dirt, aggressive, expensive, with horrible customer service. All things Japanese city has and would never think to include in a tourism pitch.
Japanese Tourists expect Paris to be a Regular (Japanese) City + Romanticism. What they get has no romance, and a city even regular French people consider rude.
How I feel when my favorite bakery in Paris is out of pain au chocolat.
I don't see it in the wiki article, but I wonder if this happens with other cities/locales? And surely this can't be something that only people from east asia feel?
i.e. do mental people visit Paris or does Paris cause mental illness?
Norway was looking for new salmon markets in the 90s and came up with the idea of salmon sushi
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501693/how-norwegian-sal...
Kirin beer was started by a Norwegian brewer in 1869.
Not quite but there is a fair bit of interest in UK culture to a point where there are “England fairs” in department stores and malls time to time.
That being said I’m also kinda sick of people using Japanese words instead of direct translation for some reason. Kaizen and Ikigai comes to mind.
I can understand that though - without the translation, the terms become more specific in English usage. Take Kaizen, or Continuous Improvement. Specifically using the Japanese term shows what sort of continuous improvement you're doing. I notice, however, that it's also apparently a trademark....
Yeah but I find it weird that the meaning of kaizen is now different in that specific lean or whatever context when kaizen just means improvement in Japanese.
Come to think of it, There are many English words that Japanese people use that now mean something different, so I guess it’s just how things are :p
I think I’m just annoyed at these types of articles that puts Japanese words everywhere they can.
My wife likes watching a lot of British YouTubers in Japan and it’s made me want to see more about how the Japanese view British culture.
https://www.ukft.org/hankyu-great-british-fair-2021/
Another fair ran by department store this year:
https://www.mistore.jp/shopping/event/nihombashi_e/british_5...
I’ve never been to one so maybe looking up Japanese YouTubers might be your best shot for this topic.
Except thay Japanese most likely read about London with its exchanges and culture and not about coppicing. Maybe some Scotland pastoral images, since it also sells hard liquor.
They might get confused since Copic is a popular brand of art marker there.
I had to check but apparently the name is because they're designed to work with copier machines, not from this. (https://copic.jp/en/about/history/)
In the Japanese photo, it looks like there are trees growing out of trees. In the UK, a dying bush is growing out of a stump.
Japan like the UK and US is a cultural superpower. When you're able to wield that much soft power no money ever needs to change hands.