Japanization

For the past fwe years, well the years that i start paying attention to what happens in the environment around me, I've been paying attention to things that influences the nevironment around me.

I've been noticing lately on the cultural heritage of Japan. This country is a state that is very rich in both history and culture. from the historic events of the culture of samurai, to the Meiji Restoration, to the aftermath of World War 2, to the fact that they closed their state from global economy in the name of restructurization and managed to rebuild their economy in 30 years, there's rarely any other state that is rich in history like Japan.

Look, as good as Japan is they haven't been good samaritans all their lives. The Tokyo Tribunals is a testament of the atrocities that Japan did in the Far East Asia, that includes my country. A lot of the world's society have been talking about whether Tokyo should issue out a public 

formal apology as a repatriation to those individuals that became the casualties of Japanese violence.

But let's part with all the history lessons (i am now a little freaked out as i feel like turning into that history teacher i had in highschool which in my opinion should be listed as a National Historical artefact hahaha)..

In the country that I live in, Indonesia, the remains of Japanese has

 not gone 100%. From food, to comic books, to literature, to cartoons, to movies, to doujins and hentai and JAV hahahahaha Indonesians LOVE the JAPANESE.

I personally love to see Japanese Idols *blush blush* on Danny Choo's lovely website. But this is not about my puchi puchi perks.. ^^

I can't avoid my fascination towards Japanese culture. I'm astonished at the fact that nearly EVERY cultural products of Japan is appealing. From the most simple things of how they assemble their food, how they wear clothes both traditionally and moder, to their music, and works of art, is all compelling!

Indonesia now is even pursuing to apply Geothermal technology to power our electricity; something that Japan's big in! Samuel Huntington might say this is "clash of civilizations", Phillip LeGrain might say this is "the beauty of globalization", but Aditya Rakhman says this is "Japanization"!!!

Now I'm not implying that this is bad, per se, I'm just stating it from what my observation goes. I'm actually trying to question would we ever be like that? Can we promote ourselves as much as the Japanese to the world?

Is our culture "sell-able"?

Profounding. That's what I think of the question. Antagonists to globalization like Naomi Klein or Noam Chomsky might be in critics towards the concept, but i'd agree with LeGrain when he says it's inevitable, people say globalization is the wave of the future; its shiny and brand new. We say it's been here for years, and the existence of non-tariff agreements around regionals around the world proves this. This is also something that Friedman pretty much acknowledges in both "The World is Flat" and "The Lexus and the Olive Tree".

The challenges of today is not making the best product, but making a distinct product.My friend Sani and his theories of "comparative edge in sales" is not merely hocus pocus, it's pretty much true. Now states are pressured to find a thing they can sell that no other states produce. The Japanese has that, no other person in the world wears kimonos and eat sushis and drinks green tea othe than the Japanese.

Would we ever be able to say the same for our blangkons? Would people ever long for the Padang food. Again, I'm not denying that no one does right now. But when you're in a food market and there's a Japanese food stall right next to an Indonesian food stall, it's usually the Japanese one that's bought by lots of people.

Profounding? Yes.

Impossible? No.

Indonesianization. That's the new wave. The only wave we need to make actually.