The Xbox 360 And Japanese Nationalism
Posted: 2006-01-07 05:41am
4 Color Rebellion wrote:There has been a lot of coverage recently about the failure of the Japanese Xbox 360. And those reports are very true. It is one of the weakest system launches in Japanese history, only topped perhaps by the Japanese launch of the Atari Jaguar. In my town there is only 1 game store that carries the 360. They were given 12 launch units by Microsoft and at the end of launch day they had sold only 1, and that was to one of the employees.
These articles are, of course, making the rounds of gaming sites. The comments I read on these sites often make me sick to my stomach. People are saying that the Xbox is not selling because the Japanese people are Xenophobic and will never buy foreign electronics. I have even read a few comments that say and I quote “Those Japs would never buy an American game system because they are still bitter about Hiroshima”.
Ok, first of all, those “Japs” are friends of mine. And I resent the slur. This isn’t even the worst comment I have heard on this issue. But the others are too vulgar or racist for me to repeat here. Why is there all this hate? Because the Japanese are not forking over thousands of yen blindly, that makes them xenophobic? I guess so. And now I will tell you what else these bitter, nationalistic Japanese are buying.
They are buying iPods like crazy. Japanese Apple stores sell more iPods per store than Apple stores in America. But wait! Apple is based in California. How can this be? Why aren’t they proudly buying their own, Japanese, Sony Mp3 players? Because Apple makes a good product that is in tune with what Japanese consumers like.
Starbucks is huge in Japan. These are everywhere. In just a few years Starbucks has made itself a fixture in Japan. They are always crowded with people. Japan had tons of it’s own coffee houses before Starbucks, but this was a company who adapted well to the Japanese market and was therefore embraced.
McDonalds. McDonalds can’t be doing well in Japan can it? The Hamburger and fries is clearly a western meal. Wouldn’t the Japanese shun it? No. McDonalds owns fast food in Japan. Japan has their own domestic burger chains like Mos Burger, Freshness Burger, etc. but they all bow before McDonalds. McDonalds knew that some of its tastes would not appeal to the Japanese so they changed their menus. Along with the standard Big Macs and fries they also have Teriyaki burgers, fried shrimp burgers, and other things for the Japanese pallet. They didn’t force the American tastes on the Japanese and thus, they thrived. Now look at the Japanese Xbox 360 launch lineup. First person Shooters, sports and car games. Games that sell really well in America but other than the car games are not to the Japanese taste.
Had they launched with RPGs, simulation games, party games, gambling games and fighters, they might have done a whole lot better. McDonalds changed their company for the Japanese taste. Microsoft tried to change the Japanese taste for their company.
But let’s keep going. Japanese people love Levis jeans and still pay a premium price for them. They also can’t get enough Coca-Cola. How can this be? All the major Japanese drink makers, Kirin, Asahi, suntory, etc. all make their own brands of cola. Why don’t the Japanese buy those? And, you know, support their country? Because the truth of the matter is, Japanese people love foreign goods. They buy clothes from France, handbags from Italy, Swiss watches, etc. and the very fact that these things are foreign makes them cool.
I will go on. Western Music in Japan sells almost as well as Japanese music. Let’s think about this for a second. Music in languages most Japanese people cannot understand sells nearly as well as music in their own language. Now go to Tower Records in say, for example, Mississippi. What percent of that music (not counting classical) is foreign? In Japan, even in my small town, I can buy albums by little known American bands and indie groups. But, in America, I can’t buy anything from the Japanese top 10.
Yeah, I’m going to keep going. Go to any cinema in Japan and you will see that 4 out of 5 movies playing there are not Japanese. And most of those are from America. The American movie “The Last Samurai” made more money in Japan, than any Japanese produced Samurai movie. Also one of the highest grossing movies of all time in Japan was Pearl Harbor. Yeah, Pearl Harbor.
Ok, now I will take it even one step further. How can Japan hate the American company Microsoft when all of their computers use Microsoft Windows? When all the businesses use Word, and Excel and PowerPoint? Ok, these are the industry standard and sometimes they have no choice, but why on earth is the most used chat program in Japan MSN Messenger? The Japanese don’t hate Microsoft; they just dislike the Xbox 360. They still feel bad about the original Xbox, which never delivered enough of the type of games they wanted. A system that never matched the Japanese tastes for design, marketing or games. After a time Microsoft of Japan started releasing a series of games called the Xbox World Collection. These games are simply American games put on region 2 discs. They have not been translated in any way. The only Japanese part of the game is the box and manual. I love these since I speak English and have bough quite a few of them. But how many Japanese gamers are going to buy the Buffy The Vampire Slayer game (which is one of the titles in the Xbox World Collection) when it is entirely in English? Not a lot. And many saw this lack of effort as a slap in the face.
And then, this year, Microsoft releases this new system with only 6 launch titles. And backwards compatibility with less than 20 original Xbox games. That is an insult. And these internet commenters have the audacity to say that the Japanese people aren’t giving an American company a chance. I think it is more of an American company not giving the Japanese a chance.
Ok, now everyone grab your Xbox controller, and turn it around. Mine says “Made in China” OK, now the Sony controller from my slim line PlayStation 2. Hmm… “Made in China”. It has been years since the PlayStation was even made in Japan.
Is Japan without racism? Not in any way. There is racism everywhere and Japan is no exception, in fact I would go as far as to say there is more racism in Japan than many other countries. But to say that this is the reason why Xbox is not selling is ignorant. Sure there are some hold-outs who will never buy American products, just like the Americans who would rather die than buy a foreign car. But in both cases they are the exceptions rather than the rule. Don’t blame the Japanese people for not buying a product that was not designed for them. It would be stupid of them to buy something that offers nothing they are interested in just for the sake of helping an American company. Give the Japanese gamers a product that meets their needs and wants and you will have another iPod on you hands.
As it stands, there are some very promising games coming up for the 360 by Japanese developers. But it might be too late, the Japanese already see the system as a failure. They should have delayed the launch until they had a strong launch lineup rather than have an early but weak launch. I spent a year of my life living in Nagasaki, Japan (before moving to Oita) and I was absolutely shocked by the amount of American goods on sale and how well they were received. If a product meets the needs and desires of the Japanese they will not care so much where it’s made. It’s happened before, it will happen again.
