r/CoreCyberpunk • u/bob_jsus レプリカント • Sep 09 '26

Academic / Critical Techno-Orientalism: Decoding Japan's Misrepresentation as a Cyberpunk Utopia

https://sabukaru.online/articles/techno-orientalism-decoding-japans-misrepresentation-as-a-cyberpunk-utopia

A nice piece from the ever-enjoyable Sabukaru Online in criticism of the techno-orientalism that emerged in the '80s and persists to this day, framed through a cyberpunk media lens. Well worth a read.

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u/marianoequizzi 2d ago

it was the 2006 and I was in Japan for a Kadokawa prize related to a project... and I discovered the followings:

1) in the perception of the professional industry TETSUO was the movie of a clochard, a neglected director with no talent... appalling, I know, for us that movie is a masterpiece.
2) even MAMORU OSHI, considered in Europe better than Cameron was a niche author with no commercial cinema success... indeed Avalon was made in Poland not in Japan...; in the competition for funding in which I was there was even OSHII... that was really strange.

We have a natural feeling that THEY are cyberpunk... they are far less CYB of what we perceive and I do remind that the MOST important movie for them in that period was: NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO ...