Of course, this wasn't really enough to convince the Japanese to stop throwing things at America. It all started innocently enough, with funny-looking automobiles and motorcycles. The problem was that when a few guys over in the Middle East decided they didn't feel like sharing all of the oil they've got over there, suddenly these Japanese cars didn't seem so ugly, and although some people would not believe it nowdays, it was actually fashionable to buy a car whose name could be sneezed with little effort. This made a few guys over in Detroit mad, since nobody like their gas-guzzlers anymore.
Things were pretty quiet for a few years after that, until the Japanese decided to go invade America once more. As they ususally did, they came up with a funky sounding name for this one also, but falling out of their stride a little, made this one pronouncable. They called it "Nintendo" and people bought the things by the millions. (For more on this irrelevant tangent, one can turn to Issue 13: High-Tech Brain Rot.) Before long, they also sent us a whole bunch of their Sega thingies, and even though those weren't the roaring success that Nintendo was, people still gobbled the things up right and left. Three generations ofvideo game systems later, the whole video game thing appears to be going strong...
Over the years, the Japanese have sent a whole bunch of other things at America, with mixed results, especially in the entertainment department. Some of these continue to be popular (judging from the number of computers at work with animé-themed backgrounds. Personally, I can withstand the occasional episode of Speed Racer, but that's about it. On the other hand, It would be nearly impossible to get any self-respecting three-year old to buy anything that has to do with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers(TM)(R)(C)(K)(UL) anymore. And the same goes for the VR Troopers or Masked Rider... All they want anymore is Big Bad BeetleBorgs(TM)(R)(C)(insert a few more things in parentheses in here). And by the time that one's wallet is thoroughly exhausted from that, yet another group of teenagers living a seemingly normal life in an area with abnormally high giant alien attack statistics opos up in yet another really cool batch of metallic suits, with yet another freaky-looking group of Rabid Mutant Space Aliens (TM)(R)(C)(You get the point...) emptying your wallet once more. And people wonder why this stuff is so popular...
(Editor's Note: By now anyone who hasn't read The Sledgehammer before is wondering what in the heck all of this has to do with the title of this week's column... Anyone who has read this column before is probably guessing that I'll never write anything even remotely related to the title of the column. Maybe I'll throw everyone off and actually put in something that relates to the title. If you aren't dozing off yet, keep reading...)
Of course, for all of the weird trends that come out of Japan and leak into Western culture, there are plenty more that (thankfully) stay there. Visitors to Japan are often left scratcing their heads at some of the things that they see there. In a country where one can buy cuts of meat out of a vending machine (at approximately $12 a pound) there are bound to be a few cultural barriers getting in the way. Then there are those that leak out, leaivng us wishing that someone would just buid big padded walls around the country. The latest of these can be summed up in one word: Tamagochi.
Over the course of the past week or so, several of these little devices have invaded our house. For those of you who are living in caves, a Tamagochi is a pocket-sized electronic device that basically contains an electronic "animal" that you are supposed to feed and care for. If you turn out to be a bad parent, the thing dies. If you figure out what the thing wants at any given time, it lives for a couple of weeks before it eventually dies also. Interesting concept, huh? Now humanity can experience the guilt of not being able to care for little electronic egg-shaped thingies. This must be why the things sell like hotcakes over in Japan, and are starting to invade the US in record numbers.
Of course, being a good Tamagochi parent (I realize that Tamagochis are only one type of the things, but it's a good generic term for the whole genre) means that you practically have to "feed" the sucker every fifteen minutes, and then you have to shower it, clean up after it, give the thing an education (which makes me wonder what will happen when kids start bringing their Tamagochis into school... I can just see the lawsuit now where some kid claims deep emotional scars from a dead Tamagochi after the teacher took it away.) and basically give the thing near constant attention. Thankfully, it goes to sleep at night.
Of course, neglecting a Tamagochi is just plain out of the question. Thus you have to have someone babysit your Tamagochi if you ever need a break from all of this. One of my next door neighbors ended up babysitting Tamagochis... 8 of them at once. 2 days later, she still has 7 of them to take care of. In fact, this report from a slightly questionable news source claims that unless we get rid of all the Tamagochis now, we're in for some big trouble. Oh boy, I can hardly wait...