[lazide]

SK has been ‘crazy’ this way for many decades. It’s also why it is so obsessed with plastic surgery.

Japan has been going in a similar direction, but has some notable differences (tentacle porn really is a thing, as is chibi).

Everyone is just becoming more aware of it, which hey - at least it isn’t just all about the USA anymore!

[klodolph]

Japan isn’t actually going in that direction… as far as I can tell, there’s just a ton of “Japan is so weird” articles that get shared in the west. Like, articles about vending machines that sell used panties to perverts, or men who get married to anime characters. You could just as easily write these articles about the US or any country in Europe, it’s just a bit of old-fashioned orientalism going around that we happen to write these articles about Japan. I assume SK is mostly boring and has boring problems like the rest of us, like rampant alcoholism and poor work culture. Likewise, the social problems with Japan are boring ones like (again) work culture, being punished for standing out, or having to navigate bureaucracy.

I don’t even know why chibi would be on your list since it’s just a style of drawing cartoons with big heads.

[blitzar]

You should see the "America is so weird" articles that get shared in the west about 13 year old girls being married off to adult men. Chilling stuff.

[klodolph]

I’ve seen those too, which is why the “Japan is weird” or “South Korea is weird” angle doesn’t resonate.

[lazide]

They’re ‘boring’ because we’re used to them, not because other cultures wouldn’t look on in horror.

Every culture has their variant of this.

For example, Indians would never tolerate the level of alcohol consumption that is essentially mandatory to hold office jobs in SK and Japan.

And SK and Japan wouldn’t (to my knowledge) tolerate the level of societal control over marriages/sex/personal identity that Indian culture considers normal. And definitely wouldn’t tolerate the lack of civic sense.

Chibi was an indirect reference to what western cultures refer to as CSAM (in not-as-uncommon-as-outsiders assume cases). Too subtle eh?

Do you want me to get more specific? It’s not like Akiba and several other nearby distracts are actually about just maid cafes (actual-what-they-purport-to-be ones anyway) and cheap electronics, eh?

Every culture has things like this, yes. And the bizarre (to the reader) and outrageous (to the reader) articles get clicks.

[klodolph]

> Chibi was an indirect reference to what western cultures refer to as CSAM (in not-as-uncommon-as-outsiders assume cases). Too subtle eh?

Sure, subtle, or maybe downright cryptographic. I would describe it as cryptographic.

> Do you want me to get more specific?

I think your general point is unclear. Maybe you could explain your overall point in general terms first, before going into specifics. Or maybe you could start with specifics to motivate the broader point you’re making. I think the bottom line here is that when you say Japan is going in a “similar direction”, I have no idea what direction you think that is.

> It’s not like Akiba and several other nearby distracts are actually about just maid cafes (actual-what-they-purport-to-be ones anyway) and cheap electronics, eh?

Neighborhoods aren’t “about” something, so when you say that Akiba isn’t “actually about just maid cafes”… obviously, because Akiba isn’t about anything. If you are winking at the camera and trying to insinuate that I know what Akiba is “about”, it’s not going to communicate anything about Akiba. This has all the hallmarks of how people communicate crackpot theories, and the antidote is to explain things in plain terms with direct language.