[SheFliesHigher]

Originally posted by Witochi
America is not 'cool' in Japan anymore, the country which the Japanese have been idolising for the past two years is the U.K. You see, when Japan was a relatively poor country, America was it's role model, a kind of indicator of how they might one day be like if they worked hard. So they did. And they prospered. Prospered so much in fact, that Japan became so undeniably rich, the streets were practically paved with gold (families would throw away perfectly good household appliances in favour of more advanced and up-to date models). Japanese wages were the highest in the world and an industrialised country, there was none of the grime or dirt apparent coming from factories. Streets were safe, clean and on the whole, early everything was of a higher standard than the States. So when, the Japanese finally visited the States, they were appalled, to see that the ENTIRE country didn't look like a plush neighbourhood out of Beverly Hills, poverty was rampant, crime was disgraceful, the education system was bad, etc, etc. Even when Japan was at it's economic height, the people STILL thought Americans were better off. They didn't know that the Americans in general had it worse. And they were disullousined with the place. So they turned to other cultures. The U.K. is what's IN now, David Beckham is enormously popular with Japanese girls (and some boys) and British based popstars are the norm. The balance is more equal now, Japan is nowhere near as wealthy as before, although it is still a long way ahead of the U.S. in terms of development in key areas (education, life expectancy, income, etc.etc) but today, you are more likely than before to find more deragotory comments against Americans than ever before.

That would explain why I see so many UK flags appearing in Japanese pop culture. I double-checked some of the facts you stated, about Japan overtaking the US in terms of some developmental areas, and you are correct. You can check out the CIA world factbook for more info