Superheros To Japan
 

I didn't know where to put this, but: What does Japan think of Superheroes?
EX: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Spider-Man, The X-Men and other heroes? Not the movies, but yeah. What roles do these american icons play in Japan? I mean other than that Spiderman Tokusatsu that came out in the 70s, and Battle Fever J

Outside of the movies, they play almost no role in Japan. They are known as American comic book icons, and the movies tend to do well in Japan, but American comic books are not read in Japan or translated into Japanese for the most part.

I guess that doesn't really surprise me. But, I guess in America we hold Japanese icons uhm... more ?

Really? Like who?

Well, we have Japanese comics translated over here, we have japanese products sold in normal stores. Japanese candy in supermarkets. So, Japan is playing a bigger role for American culture ... From what I can gather.

I would say the number of Japanese familiar with American superheroes is greater than the number of Americans familiar with Japanese comic heroes. Outside of Pokemon and Godzilla, what Japanese icons do most Americans know?

Well we know Zyuranger, as Mighty Morphing Power Rangers which was the icon of the 1990s. And Nintendo :P

But I'm not really the spokesperson for America

I never heard of Zyuranger before now.

I know you are not the spokesperson for America, but you made it sound like Japanese icons are bigger in America than American icons are in Japan, and I think that is probably less true.

Typical US "heroes" are fairly well known in Japan - at least in my experience. Everyone knows who Superman is (and he was even recently used in a series of Toyota commercials)... Along with Spiderman who is known largely through a tokusatsu series. Batman is also fairly well known, I`m not really sure how though.

As for the rest, I really don`t think anyone knows who they are unless they are an American comic fan. (A very rare breed)

For those who are known, it`s all in image - as a character alone. No knowledge of the back story, or wide recognition of the comics - which really aren`t and weren`t read in Japan. There seems to be a general recognition that a character is a US comic book hero simply by looking at it (as the design of a character generally makes it pretty obvious). Other than that, not really any incorporation into culture here.

I would still say that more people would be able to recognize a display of US comic book heroes in Japan that a group recognizing Japanese heroes in the US. I mean, how many people know the Time Bokan series characters at a glance in the US?

If someone saw a Poster of Time Bokan, I'm sure they'd only notice Gatchaman. (Which is known as "G-Force" or "Battle Of The Planets" here in the states)

I think the average person in the states can identify more of the mainstream japanese characters.