Beyond the "just give up" thing what I find fascinating is that one of the Japanese retorts to piracy is "Learn Japanese then come fly here and buy it" like that's not an absolutely insane expectation to play a video game or watch an anime lmao.
Imagine if a Japanese person wanted to play Skyrim but it wasn't available in their country and language and instead of just saying "Yeah the publisher should translate and sell it to you" I was like "Yeah bitch learn ENGLISH then come to AMERICA then." like wtf
Beyond the "just give up" thing what I find fascinating is that one of the Japanese retorts to piracy is "Learn Japanese then come fly here and buy it" like that's not an absolutely insane expectation to play a video game or watch an anime lmao.
Imagine if a Japanese person wanted to play Skyrim but it wasn't available in their country and language and instead of just saying "Yeah the publisher should translate and sell it to you" I was like "Yeah bitch learn ENGLISH then come to AMERICA then." like wtf
I'm starting to understand why so many mangaka live on cup ramen. A lot of people are more interested in bragging about how virtuous they are than seeing mangaka selling to a market where the average consumer would pay ¥1200 for a tankōbon and call it a deal.
There seems to be a huge disparity between how we each view corporations, which seem to be the biggest source of conflict.
In JP they talk about corporations as if they're a second family. That it's because of them the art even gets made in the first place. To steal from them is to steal from the artist.
In the west, corporations destroyed the trust between corporation and customer a long time ago. They would happily fire their employees who worked hard for them to save money. They would happily make the user experience worse, be purposefully deceptive and even break laws if it makes them money (with very inconsequential punishment). Many times they don't listen to their customers needs, even if they beg for a long time. All they care about is appeasing shareholders and generating profit.
There's no loyalty to the customer or artists anymore, so we have no more loyalty towards them.
Nowadays, it's more like good art is able to be made *despite* corporate interference, not because of it. Even if a piece of media is financially successful, it does not guarantee the artist who created it would be getting paid more. Or even that they get to continue having a job. Typically it just means giving more money to greedy business people, while they lay off the artists who actually created the product. It depends on the company. Some are still good, but they're considered rare.
This is why western people are much more lenient towards piracy. Yes, it's wrong. But it's seen less as stealing from artists, and more as stealing from faceless corporations who are already morally bankrupt.
This is also why pirating independent artists works are much more frowned upon. People are happy to pay so long as they know it's going towards the right people. Yes some people just want free things, but it's a more complex issue than just "westerners are thieves who don't care about creators".
Japanese elementary schools are teaching kids to “experience halal meals.”
Then why not teach them to “experience American BBQ” too?
That’s what I call fair food education.
Beyond the "just give up" thing what I find fascinating is that one of the Japanese retorts to piracy is "Learn Japanese then come fly here and buy it" like that's not an absolutely insane expectation to play a video game or watch an anime lmao.
Imagine if a Japanese person wanted to play Skyrim but it wasn't available in their country and language and instead of just saying "Yeah the publisher should translate and sell it to you" I was like "Yeah bitch learn ENGLISH then come to AMERICA then." like wtf
I love Japan and the Japanese people I've met are (almost) all lovely, but the piracy arguments will never not be funny.
The JP users are completely unprepared for Americans to be like "yes, pirate our stuff if you can't buy it" and Russians to be like "I will give you links"
It's actually not a miracle, it's very simple.
Tokyo is clean and safe because it's full of Japanese.
Seoul is clean and safe because it's full of Koreans.
Ask yourself what the filthiest and most dangerous cities are, and who inhabits them?