It’s probably a universal phenomenon – random Joe from country A is introduced to some cultural detritus from country B, and is quickly smitten by the twin forces of exoticism (either Oriental or Occidental) and feeling like a member of some privileged “in-the-know” inner circle. You see this in American anime fans and assorted other office-chair Japanologists, who as I put forward earlier, pick up miscellaneous wank fodder and the admittedly colorful half-hour-at-a-time attempts to escape a withered husk of a middle-aged life, and hilariously consecrate it as both a valid form of entertainment for adults and a valid and valuable cultural import. Now, I’m not saying all Japanese exports are like these, nor even that all anime is. I’m just saying that only children and adults with child issues watch Naruto or Dragonball here. Unfortunately, the number adults with child issues here is enough for American adults to say “Well, if Japanese adults can watch anime, so can I” with the truth, or at least some of it, on their side.

Much like anime, not all rock is juveline; but it just so happens that the stuff that makes it to Japan and stays popular for far too many years is. Many of the adults I run into profess a love for American rock ‘n roll, even to the point of sweepingly pooh-poohing Japanese music exactly the same way American anime fans dismiss Disney (though I’ve gotten reams of Disneyland or Winnie the Pooh omiyage from students, and only once anything bearing a Japanese character’s likeness). When I ask exactly what they like, it always comes down to two bands: Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. Occasionally Deep Purple gets a mention, but as I was to find out disappointedly a few years ago, this is simply because Deep Purple is part of the pantheon of foreign rock icons lucky enough to have had their songs featured in Japanese commercials; and hence are known to everyone from 6 to 65, whether interested in music or just a rabid TV watcher. Like the Statue of Liberty seen on most hourly-rate hotels, American rock has an image that has a special resonance with people who find no room to display hedonistic or adolescent behavior/act like 10-year-olds/express physical affection in their daily lives.

The conclusion that I’ve come to is that any cultural curio that makes it to foreign shores tends to exploit some need suppressed by the majority culture, and at the same time avoid the stigma fulfilling that need usually brings on by nature of the worldly and learned pretense under which it is enjoyed. The fact that it’s from a foreign culture prevents people from saying outright how obviously silly it is. Between the foreignness of a phenomenon automatically validating it or automatically disqualifying it from consideration, I’d have to say that the former is certainly preferable, but at the same time it sure leads people to pursue very stupid things with very uncalled-for devotion and solemnity.