It certainly is nice to be back home in San Diego for a brief vacation in between anime conventions, and it gives me a chance to compare the U.S. with life in my adopted country. Whenever it’s election time in Japan, I usually do a post about how strange the country’s democratic processes can seem to a foreigner — candidates in loudspeaker cars, driving all around the city shouting “I will work hard for you!” and “Thank you for your support!” to the great annoyance of everyone, although this somehow manages to get them votes. California’s primary elections are next week, so I’m getting a rare chance to experience the current trends in America’s electoral system, and it’s nearly as annoying. All week long we’ve been getting phone calls from very important people like Newt Gingrich, John Kerry and Gov. Schwarzenegger, telling us about important issues that we should be aware of for next Tuesday. The voices are just recordings, of course, although it’s nice to imagine that we’re important enough for all these famous politicians to call us and give us their opinions…
A wise gaijin once said, you’ve been in Japan too long when, on a visit home, you say “Wow, a dollar buys so much!” and are surprised to find everyone looking at you funny. I’m kind of having that experience now. Last night I went to Vons to get some beer, limes and various munchies — I threw in some celery since it’s very hard to get in Japan — and proceeded to the cash register. A similar purchase back home would probably set me back 3000-4000 yen, so I pulled out two $20 bills, expecting it to cost about the same, but I was pleasantly surprised when the total came to under $15. Everything is relative, of course, but it’s nice to be able to feel that things are priced moderately for a change.
It’s always nice to check out what movies are showing here in the States as well, since, by and large, it will take 6-9 months for most of them to be released in Japan, except for some blockbusters that get distributed everywhere at the same time. I see that Lost in Translation creator Sofia Coppola (who played one of the handmaids to Queen Amidala in Star Wars Episode I, amazingly) had a new film at Cannes portraying the life of Maria Antoinette as a young girl. I immediately wondered if Sofia, who has had a lot to do with Japan during her life, might not have gotten some of her ideas for the film from the animation masterpiece The Rose of Versailles. One of the great classics of Japanese animation from the 1970s, it follows the history of the French Revolution as seen through the eyes of Oscar, one of the Palace Guards safeguarding the young Austrian queen. Oscar is a woman who was raised by her father as a boy since birth, and she is the bravest soldier in France. The bubbly character of young Marie from the anime series seems similar to the one portrayed in the new film, and it’d be interesting to know if Sofia Coppola is a closet fan of the anime series.
