YesWiiCan said: Xbox 360 = American made American made = failure EX: our cars.
Try this on for size. If there is a similar product to what the Japanese already have, they'll refuse to support the ouside brand out of Nationalistic pride. You will buy something that Japan or Asia itself doesn't already make. The only reason the 360's hit one million is because of the JRPG's.
And where do you get that notion of Japanese people not buying something out of nationalism? Are they Xenophobic? To the extent that after spending years and years living with Japanese people, it's very surprising to meet someone who doesn't look like them, and that they're not used to diversity, and are ignorant of outside history. However if Japanese people just "hated" America, then why do they love hip hop? Why do they love the half-Japanese/Black artist Jero whose from Philly?
Why the fuck is there so many Starbucks, McDonalds, etc?
Like another poster said, 360's have been labeled as an Otaku product, which isn't a positive thing. Otakus have made a long way into being a part of Japanes mainstream culture (Densha-otoko, 2ch, etc), but for the most part they're still associated with serial killers, anti-socials, etc which art forms such as Superflat criticizes.
Not every Japanese person is comfortable playing some of the weirdest JRPGs, and dating games. Stuff like panty vending machines aren't being sold on the main street but in otaku infested places.
There was recently a thread asking why Americans don't buy the PS3 because it's Japanese. Why were you guys so outraged over that? For all I know, every car company is bashing Toyota (understandable), and Honda (5th biggest car manufacturer, WTF?). All I'm hearing is people who just say "lol, panty vending machines", say that Japanese are perverts, idiots because of their comedians and tv shows (Japanese people don't take those wacky games seriously, it's SUPPOSED to be wacky and funny), and apply a sub culture to an entire culture.
/rant
You're extremely foolish for doing all that writing. I stated the Japanese will naturally not buy anything out that they have an equivalent to or better. Do they have the Ipod? Starbucks? McDonalds, etc? No! Americans haven't bought the PS3 obviously because of the price. Check out how many PS2's PSone systems were purchased by Americans. How dare you question americans purchasing habits over the Japanese when we have no loyality to our own country as far as purchasing is concerned period. Americans have nearly purhcased 9 million PS3 consoles....stfu about them not purchasing PS3's already. They are destroying Japan in PS3 sales. People are just pissed because they haven't yet passed the 360 and are using America as a crutch because we are the strongest consumer population.
Errr, I don't have any statistics, but I'm sure that iPods are selling well in Japan, and there most certainly are McDonalds and Starbucks.
I never said that American citizens are engaging in boycotting Japanese products, but that certain industries, like the auto-industry are trying to do so. Please don't tell me you haven't seen ONE local dealership commercial saying "Buy American, save American jobs!" (I just saw one here in NJ). I find it really funny how you react so furiously at my extremely rude sudgestion that there is some subtle form of resentment against exports, when you flat out said that "they'll refuse to support the ouside brand out of Nationalistic pride." Our nation's President, Barrack Obama, campaigned against NAFTA and how he'll stop the outsourcing of jobs against China. I'm not saying we're back in the 80's but to say that Americans don't care AT ALL, is absolutely dellusional.
And why're you bringing up the PS3? I only said the word PS3 to refer to a thread someone else said. I never said that people don't buy PS3's in America because of "Nationalistic pride", the OP in that thread did.
"There was recently a thread asking why Americans don't buy the PS3 because it's Japanese. Why were you guys so outraged over that?"- you
It's a badly written rhetorical question, and for that part I appologize. What I was trying to state was "How can you guys calmly say that Japanese people are Xenophobic, ultra-nationalists that'll literally boycott American products, after realizing how offensive such a statement is when you guys are the brunt of the accusation in the PS3 thread".
You know how it feels to be accused of such a thing, it's outrageous, rude, and moronic. So how can you go back, a few months later, and say the same thing with the Japanese on the other end without feeling any remorse or expectations that someone would be upset and offended?
The Japanese are nationalists when compared to American consumer habits. They have more pride in their country's products and more than not take domestic products over an equal brand from the outside. The only time you see actual results with the Japanese is when outsiders export something to their country that they don't have. You even gave examples for me without me even having to really think too much about it. Mcdonalds, Starbucks are perfect examples which you gave. I added the IPOD. Sony has been trying to battle the IPOD, but their product sucks and no one cares anyway.
iPods aren't that great (although I do think that the touch screen in iPhone and iPod touch is awesome). Starbucks aren't that great compared to local places, and McDonalds are gross (less gross in Japan, but still). The reason why those companies succeeded aren't their quality, but how much they were able to market, buy out, price, etc. And how can you really say that Japanese only buy Japanese products if a foreign product is equal? There's 2 questions that arises.
How do the Japanese, as a collective whole judge that "X" brand is better? There's definetly fragmentation in America. Look, we even have Xbox vs. PS3 fanboys that argue that "X" product is better in quality, and they're of the same nationality.
And how much of a difference do the products have to be in quality? I don't think that there's usually 2 products, exactly the same in quality. So what's the line?
I personally think that Sony's products are usually of better quality than most, but it's just that their price over exceeds the value of that slightly better quality right now, and I think it's because they're depending too much on future technology (OLED in their new iPod touch-ish walkman, Cell/Bluray in PS3, etc).
And again, you're still generalizing an entire nation, which is, although not as much as America, fragmented and different. There are liberal people in Japan, and conservative ultra-nationalists in Japan.
I won't go dancing around in victory, but can you please just admit that not everybody in Japan will buy a Japanese product over another equal one over nationalism and that SOME may?
Of course IPODs are great. They were so great it didn't even take but a year for the switch from CD's to MP3 players (which is amazing). As I told you, if Sony cannot control hard formats, they'll lose because they suck at digital download/mp3 programs (Which technically are the future). Why do you have to make this a quality issue? Thats just insulting American companies now. People also flood Starbucks and McDonalds over there. The American economy is now a majority service economy which bases their services on convenience. We are the best at convenience and we probably would've been so much better at cars if we weren't sabotaged by our oil companies.
The Japanese are going to go for quality, based on subjective thinking. The main point has everything to do with, whether they have a certain equal version of a particular product which is already deemed quality or of interest.
Sony's products are better than most, but of course the best are not most.
I'm not generalizing an entire nation. Japanese are a free economy just like us, but their trends have shown that they are culturally more loyal to their domestic products than we are, unless we show them something they don't have or vastly better than their own. I stated in most cases, not all. It's already been deemed at launch the Japanese deemed the 360 a failure....that is until Microsoft whipped out the JRPG's. Japan and America are very different even though the west has greatly influenced them. Japanese are a collectivist society, where as we in America are considered a individualist society.
I give up. Yes, Japan is more Homogeneous than America is, I can't really think of any other country as fragmented as America is. But, Japan still has diversities, especially in mentality, subjective tastes, etc within. A prime example is young Japanese people vs. Old Japanese people. Is it so hard to say that it's in very poor taste to just say "Japanese people are..." Even if you don't mean all Japanese people, the words mean it, and it is generalizing if you are lumping all Japanese people together as having the same mindsets, buying trends, etc.
Not all Americans love Hummers do they? But they sold pretty well for a short while.
