Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
1) The cultural earthquake that happened when the emperor declared that he wasn't descended from gods in 1945 to end WWII shook Japanin a huge way. Suddenly they were thrust into the modern, international world. 2) This end of Japan vs. the world made, especially young, people interested in the world beyond the islands. Factual or not, it doesn't matter to young boys and girls, as it is all fantasy. LOSING a war brings a unique blanket of mentality on a nation that few of us can fathom.
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interesting point! Losing the WWII did bring a unique blanket, in terms of appreciating more American culture. I only mentioned a TV history, but before the WWII (taisho era & the early showa era), in girls magagines, there were lots of illustrations of fantasy: western scenes, western items, western-like japanese girls (female students). Girl readers admired the images of the West, but in this case, most images that were used were not American, but French or other European countries. It's partly because illustrators had studied in France or liked to use 'modern' images from Europe, not the US.
now that when most japanse image 'the West', they mean 'America' as a collective term by that, but there were surely some layers between American images and European images. I'm not sure, but Miyazaki and Takahata love Europe, not America, which is because , as MMM-san says, something has to do with Lost of WWII.