Sorry, I normally agree with almost everything you post here, but I have to play devil's advocate here on a few counts here.
Japan's got the traditional culture in spades, then there are the anime and geek subcultures (no disrespect intended with the word 'geek'), but I get to see an awful lot of the mainstream culture because the TV is the main vector of mainstream culture in Japan.
The main vector of a certain portion of the population (i.e. stay-at-home moms and retirees), perhaps, but mainstream culture in general? I'd say the main vector for today's generation is the internet and social media, and there's certainly a wider variety of entertainment options/opinions and perspectives/etc. to be found there than what you see on mainstream TV, isn't there? And this certainly goes beyond anime/otaku/geek subculture, as well. There are plenty of people out there enjoying their hobbies, be it music, sports, art, gaming (again, not just "geeky" stuff), plenty of talented creators, etc. etc.
The idea that Japan is just traditional culture, otaku culture, and then vapid TV variety shows seems to ignore a massive portion of what average Japanese people enjoy on a daily basis.
it's on in the house most of the time, and it really is dire. I could probably count the TV programs (excluding football matches!) on Japanese TV that I've sat down to watch and enjoyed on both hands.
Sure, a lot of mainstream Japanese programming is terrible, but isn't there a lot of crap on TV everywhere? If I left the boob tube on all day at home back in the States, I'd get exposed to plenty of trite soap operas, trashy talk shows, reality shows, etc. etc. If you're judging all of Japanese mainstream culture by the typical variety shows and whatnot, sure it's going to look vapid.
Maybe British TV has a higher signal-to-noise ratio, I can't say (unfortunately, I've never had the chance to live there for an extended period of time). I've enjoyed quite a bit of the British programming I've seen, but again, I'm watching programs that have been recommended to me or caught my interest somehow, not just leaving the TV on all day and subjecting myself to anything and everything that's piped in. You can find some pretty compelling Japanese programming on Netflix and what-have-you these days, as well as interesting documentaries, serial dramas, and the like.
Anyone with the slightest bit of talent is turned into a pretty face and a performing monkey who is shifted between TV shows, music performances, roles in films, adverts, and government campaigns according to the latest deal their managers have made with advertising companies, and the big music companies such as Johnny's and Associates have such a stranglehold on the music business that there's almost no space left in music programs to show anything at all interesting. Such a dependence on a small number of faces with a single attribute (Naomi Watanabe is large and likes eating, yes we get it)
I have no love for the way generic タレント are shuttled around different shows, for idol groups like AKB, Johnny's and other boys groups, etc., but—with all due respect, of course—this is painting things with far too broad a brush, IMHO.
Naomi Watanabe, if you actually listen to her, is rather genuinely charming and witty, and a rather eloquent speaker on issues of body image and the like. If you're suggesting that she's often
presented by the mainstream media in ways that are rather stereotypical and demeaning, I'd tend to agree with this (though I wouldn't say she's
exclusively used that way, as I've found that her natural charisma often comes through anyway). That said, I remember seeing recently that she's going to be moving her base of operations to the U.S. to explore new opportunities, so more power to her.
And there are some Japanese presenters who I think, by any measure, are genuinely entertaining and enlightening (タモリ and 所ジョージ come to mind), as well as many comedians who are actually quite funny. You just need to have a discerning eye/ear and tune out the crap.
basically to shift product has led to Japan's infantile and atrophied mainstream culture.
Again, for me, the trashiest and most vapid things on TV are not (necessarily) synonymous with "Japanese mainstream culture", any more so than the Bachelorette and the Kardashians and what-have-you are synonymous with "American mainstream culture". (Or if they are synonymous, then America's mainstream culture is at least, if not more vapid than Japan's.)
The dumb Olympig concept sounds like the badly thought-out idea of someone who thinks that a stunt that would generate a few cheap laughs from the incestuous presenters on some of Japan's trashier TV programmes would also work on the world stage.
Yes, it's dumb. It was also immediately shot down before it even got out of the (virtual) meeting room, let alone was presented on the world stage, so I'm not comfortable holding it up as proof of Japanese culture being inherently infantile and immature.
Anyhow, apologies for going on a rant of my own. I don't think we're in disagreement here about the more unpleasant aspects of Japanese mainstream media. I just don't see it as being as pervasive, universal, or exclusive to Japan as you do.
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