Line #18 Main/ThirtySecondsOverTokyo


1	->''"Moon over Japan,\
2	White butterfly moon!\
3	Where the heavy-lidded Buddhas dream\
4	To the sound of the cuckoo's call...\
5	The white wings of [[Anime/TurnAGundam moon butterflies]]\
6	Flicker down the streets of the city,\
7	Blushing into silence the useless wicks of sound-lanterns in the hands of girls."''
8	-->-- '''Elizabeth J. Coatsworth''', "Sky Lotus", [[OlderThanTheyThink as quoted (without attribution) in]] the Creator/HPLovecraft and Anna Helen Crofts collaboration, ''Poetry and the Gods''
9
10	Japan in modern Hollywood is a mix of old and modern. All Japanese are [[JapanesePoliteness polite]], [[AsianAndNerdy superintelligent]], [[GadgeteerGenius great at technology]], and {{Salarym\|an}}en. They love ''sake'',[[note]]general Japanese word for "alcoholic beverage"; in a more specific sense, it refers to a type that is brewed by fermenting rice in a manner that makes it more like beer than wine.[[/note]] sleep in apartments the size of shoeboxes, and make fantastic electronics. They also know [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting martial arts.]]
11
12	Mostly, the only part of Japan that is ever shown is [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo]], or a city that just happens to look exactly like Westerners imagine Tokyo looks like. Otherwise, it'll be some generic FarEast place. Pop culture is composed entirely of crazy surrealist works.
13
14	Oh, and by the way- Aaaaauuugghh! It's [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} GOJIRA!!!!]][[note]][[Film/AustinPowers Actually, due to international copyright laws, it's not.]][[/note]]
15
16	Some of this, though, is TruthInTelevision -- see UsefulNotes/JapaneseCulture. However, the reputation of Japan as being on the cutting edge of technology has [[https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/10/12/japans-once-mighty-tech-industry-has-fallen-far-behind-silicon-valley/ fallen]] in recent years. People are now more likely to [[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34667380 point out]] that many Japanese offices [[TwoDecadesBehind still use fax machines]].
17
18	Though the avant-garde rock band Pere Ubu has a song with the same name, the term "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" actually refers to the 1944 [[Film/ThirtySecondsOverTokyo film of the same name]]. That film, a history of the Doolittle Raid, does not actually feature this trope.
19
20	Compare with {{Animeland}} for depictions of Japan based on Japanese pop culture, HollywoodMedievalJapan for simplified foreign depictions of pre-modern Japan, and {{Jidaigeki}} for Japanese-produced depictions of Japan in the past of varying levels of accuracy.
21
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Advertising]]
28	* An official tourism promotion campaign by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government specifically evokes this: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FARBtN7Hiw Tokyo Tokyo: Old Meets New]]
29	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLIv7HnZ_fE This video]] by the Japan National Tourism Organization also portrays Japan as the land "where tradition meets the future."
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33	* [[Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats Kyatto Ninden Teyandee]] depicts a mix of this and a more futuristic version of Japan. It's even mentioned in the opening, the first two lines of which are "Ottodokkoi kako/Ottodokkoi mirai" (translation: It's a time like the past/It's a futuristic time).
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
37	* [[https://gizmodo.com/a-tour-of-san-fransokyo-the-hybrid-city-disney-built-f-1642066794 San Fransokyo]] in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' is based on the reputation of Tokyo and Silicon Valley as "hubs of technology." Traditional Japanese cultural elements are also implemented, such as the Golden Gate Bridge being based on the torii gates of Shinto.
38	* The automobile version of Tokyo seen in ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' is every bit as glitzy and colorful as the real thing, mixing nicely the culture and the high technology, ''right down to the toilets!'' (just ask Mater)
39	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'' hits every single stereotype about Japan you can name. Generally how Japan is portrayed in any comic book, really, although this is fading as comic fandom and anime/manga fandom increasingly cross over.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
43	* ''Film/RoboGeisha'': There is not a Japanese stereotype in existence that this movie does not portray. {{Yakuza}}, Geisha, Ninjas, Samurai, SailorFuku, {{Kaiju}}, {{Toku}}satsu, you name it. However, this being a Japanese film, it's all tongue-in-cheek.
44	* ''Film/{{Sayonara}}'' was significant for being a major Hollywood film done on-location in Japan. There is a scene in Tokyo, but the majority of action happens in Kobe. There's definitely a romanticised tone - as the director made it after enjoying a trip there. Also a scene where the American protagonist is invited over for dinner and is introduced to sake.
45	* Though filmed on-location in Japan with Japanese actors, ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' has some funny ideas about the country. This includes (but is not limited to) Japan's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_castle single most famous castle]] being a "secret" {{ninja}} training base. Well, what better way to learn stealth than to avoid those pesky tourists?
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Literature]]
49	* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'': Among other stereotypes, the brief appearance of Japan fits this perfectly. From the philosophical discussion of collectivism vs. individualism to the Yakuza.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
53	* The spoof show ''Series/{{Banzai}}'' that ran for several series on British TV (and which was taken off American TV when Japanese-American pressure groups labelled it racist) was a parody of Japanese television game shows, and on the perceived Japanese tendency to bet on anything, however absurd.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Music]]
57	* The music video for Music/PhilCollins' "Take Me Home" features various cuts of Tokyo's urban and provincial scenery.
58	* Music/ThePolice's "So Lonely" was filmed on-location in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
62	* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' Japan is ''literally'' a mix of old and new -- the city of Hiroshima and the surrounding towns was sent hundreds of years into the future during the apocalypse and largely survived intact, while much of the rest of Japan, deliberately forsook technology, going back to the customs of the feudal era. Other areas of the now-divided country retained varying levels of technology. The conflicts, cultural and martial, between the two versions of Japan drive a lot of the story in the setting, although in unexpected ways (the Anti-technology Empire actually ''likes'' the time-lost Republic (and vice-versa), even if they wish they would give up their tech; It's some of the people that have held on to theirs that are the right bastards). Well, them and the [[DemonicInvaders Oni]].
63	* ''Torg'', with a similar premise as ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' got Japan conquered by the most subtle of the High Lords, and got turned into a country of high tech and MegaCorp intrigue. Nobody outside the nation noticed that anything had changed.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Video Games]]
67	* Tokyo Field from ''VideoGame/BackyardBaseball'' (an obvious spoof of [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Tokyo Dome]]) definitely fits this trope.
68	* Italian-produced adventure game ''VideoGame/NipponSafesInc'' is set in a fictional Japanese city that sums up almost every stereotype of Japan in the early Nineties and not only these. Karaoke, pachinko, tea ceremonies, sumo, Yakuza bosses in hot baths, advanced technologies, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick suicides]], you name it.
69	* ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'': Gleefully embraced by the Imperial Japanese faction, having the tech to produce HumonguousMecha, nanobots, clones, psychics, and infantry-scale lasers and jetpacks, but the culture is a WW2 level of fanatism (said laser-equipped infantry still use banzai charges, tank drivers consider themselves samurai, the basic submarine can pull off a kamikaze move) with the Emperor believing himself a living god, and of course some things don't change ({{ninja}}, young women in schoolgirl uniforms).
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Webcomics]]
73	* In the webcomic ''[[http://www.starslipcrisis.com Starslip Crisis]]'', the entire Japanese archipelago has been converted into a starship which roams the galaxy selling its state-of-the-art electronics. Japan is in fact the second Earth landmass to have undergone such a conversion, but the first one to do so successfully -- the tragedy of "Hyper-Maine" is, of course, [[NoodleIncident not spoken of]] in polite conversation, apparently being so grotesque in nature that one character refused to talk about it because they planned to eat lunch that day. Leading to the following exchange between a man of the strip's time and a recently [[SealedEvilInACan released]] robot:
74	-->'''Colonel:''' They don't make 'em like you anymore.\
75	'''Vore:''' What about in one of the factories that made me? Of course! ''Japan!'' We're going there right now!\
76	'''Colonel:''' These days, Japan is in space.\
77	'''Vore: What?! Come on! Now you're just being jerks!'''"
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Web Original]]
81	* The exaggerated reputation of Japan as a high-tech country is satirized in ''Website/TheOnion'' article "[[https://www.theonion.com/earthquake-sets-japan-back-to-2147-1819569216 Earthquake Sets Japan Back to 2147]]," depicting the country as having a "protective force field, quantum teleportation system, zero-point fusion energy broadcasting grid, and psychodynamic communications network."
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Western Animation]]
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' actually had an episode named "Thirty '''Minutes''' Over Tokyo", which jabs at anime (the entire family suffers seizures à la that one ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' episode when watching one), their culture (Homer and Bart learn the language, origami and tea ceremony, among other things, when in prison), and even their weird TV shows, much in the vein of ''Series/TakeshisCastle'' (which they have to "survive" in order to get free tickets back to the USA).
86	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThirtySecondsOverTokyo