Japan’s View of America
Japan and America are best pals. We’ve been friends for a long time now, ever since we got over that little spat that we affectionately refer to as World War 2. Japan has put up some memorials, we built a monument, we’ve got military bases in their country, and we structured their constitution so that they’re unable to build an offensive army ever again. A truly mutually beneficial relationship.
America has been lucky, really, considering how much it has gained from its former adversary. Americans now read anime and watch manga. We play Japanese video games and eat sushi. Though Japan is a strange and different place, we find ways to exchange culture and ideas across the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean.
Japan, too, has gained from the relationship. Japanese people eat cheeseburgers and mini-pizzas (with mayonaise, blech!), they watch American movies like Indiana Jones and Star Wars, and sometimes they even imbibe premium American beers, like Budweiser. Yet after all this cultural interaction, how much do the cultures really know about each other? This video game map, which is a bit of a cult classic on the web, helps illustrate how some Japanese people may view our country:
Yesterday, I was reminded of this reality when a teacher and I were teaching the students about America. “What does ‘U.S.A’ stand for?” we asked. The students had no clue, but since the question was part of a game, they hastily started flipping through their textbooks looking for the answer. Some of them found it in time, but one group had a particularly illuminating answer.
Generally speaking, Japan refers to the U.S. as “Amerika,” so I wasn’t surprised when they got that part right. But U.S…. what could it stand for? I mean, how many words do they even know that start with the letter ‘u’? ‘Up,’ ‘under,’ ‘umbrella,’ … ‘ They might have mumbled “Upper South America” – that would have made sense in some twisted way, but these students are clever and they reached deep into the pits of their cultural souls to summon an answer:
“Universal Studios, America.” Evidently, America is basically one giant movie studio, full of guns and sharks and crazy scientists that build flying cars:
Normally, I’d laugh this off as a normal mistake, but after coming to Japan I sometimes wonder. I haven’t seen a gun, a shark, a giant explosion, or a movie in a theatre since I got here. Maybe my students were on to something…
I bet many American students think USA stands for Universal Studios, America too! heh :) I’d also love to see the map of “How the US sees Japan”…
oh my goodness…that map of the US. Wow! That’s a bit…off. Especially where Arizona is. Yokohama, Japan is our Japanese sister city here in San Diego! :)
Just to put in my two cents, some thought Hawaii was about right next to Okinawa. Go Japan! (p.s. this is Wen)
As an American this was just wrong, it hurt a little. U.S.A. I think you should tell them what it stands for before they get the wrong idea.
In all honesty, I can’t tell if this article is for the lulz or if it’s meant to be taken seriously.