{Inter} Cultural Japan

Japan is the last hypermarket at the end of the world, the great display case where everything that has been made anywhere anytime ends up, the ultimate dustbin of cultures and styles. That is not only true for the huge variety of articles in its shops, but also for its food which ranges from Chinese ramen to German Eisbein, from Korean kimchi to American hamburgers, from Italian pasta to Indian curry. And it is evident in its modern architecture which is a jumble of international styles where anything goes.

I was reminded of this when watching the anime Cowboy Bebop (both the movie and a number of episodes from the series), which is a tasty cultural mix of styles and influences. It is the story of a small group of bounty hunters called “Cowboys” in the style of the Wild West who operate in an science-fiction environment of the late 21st century and have the whole solar system as their base; “Bebop” is a fast, improvised jazz style developed in the 1940s and symbolizes the strong influence of music on the series, where installments are called sessions, many titles refer to a musical style or popular Rock and Roll song and even fight scenes are timed to music.

The solar system of 2071 in which the series is set is partly Chinese diaspora, partly Wild West, the cityscapes are inspired by both kungfu movies and Blade Runner. Small cowboy towns sit in the Martian desert where Spike, one of the characters, flies in his spaceship, the Swordfish, which in its turn is based on a WWII British torpedo bomber. Spike’s style of fighting is taken straight from kungfu movies (and, interestingly, his character resembles Lupin III, another multicultural artifact). Much inspiration is derived from Western movies, but also from film noir and the abovementioned jazz clubs. In plots, homage is paid to such diverse movies as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moonraker, Dirty Harry, and films by John Woo and Wong Karwai. The Cowbow Bebop film futures a Halloween parade but also a typical Moroccan neighborhood. In short, although the story does not go deeper than the surface, this is a intercultural delightful stew that does not fail to entertain.

(Written with information from the Cowboy Bebop article in Wikipedia)