For those who care, sorry I haven't been writing much lately, but I've resumed work on the sequel to Anoran: "Creator's Tears." I haven't made much time for just plain old writing about Japan. And I'm getting a little tired of Japan. I suppose that's the one-year culture shock kicking in. I'm actually getting tired of rice.

Tonight, I went to a concert in Ayauta. It's an annual concert put on by the Japanese Self Defense force stationed in Zentsuji, and it's free. It was kinda fun. The audience was about 20% uniformed middle school girls (I'm not sure where all the middle school boys were). There were a lot of kids and stuff, too.

They played the Rocky theme. And Indiana Jones. That was stinking cool. American culture is omnipresent and has influenced the entire world a thousand times over. Western culture has influenced Japan so strongly that they probably don't even realize it, anymore. The west invented a method of recording music and a set of instruments that are used the world over as standard music. Clarinets, trombones, and trumpets are being played by the Japanese military and the entire society. Anything else is just seen as traditional and preserving the culture. I am sometimes fascinated by just how strongly and fully the West, and America in particular, has influenced the whole world, making it more and more in its own image.

With the internet now, traditional cultures don't stand a chance. Many are being obliterated in the onslaught of globalization, and for those major enough to survive (like that of Japan), they are being changed so much that they aren't even aware that how deeply they're being Westernized.

I saw a trailer for the next Harry Potter movie on a little screen at the gas station as I filled my tank tonight. You cannot escape the west.

And that's not all bad. I enjoyed listening to the Japanese military play Indiana Jones! Though it was a little ironic, when you think about it.