So Long, And Thanks For All The Tuna Roll

You may have seen the speech President Obama gave during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  (Hey, spelled that right on the first try.)  It made the news because Obama thanked Japan for its many contributions to world culture, which he summed up as karate, karaoke, manga, anime, and emojis.

I hope this starts a precedent that countries will start formally acknowledging what others have given us.  I think that would help us to appreciate people from far away.  e.g. Hey Austria, thanks for Mozart and Red Bull.

But it also brings up something that people don't seem to notice: Japan has actually been pretty successful fighting back against the American cultural machine.  In fact, there are plenty of other things we can thank Japan for:

• Sushi
• Godzilla and other Kaiju
• Ramen
• Taking a few of our extra rock bands off our hands
• Cute robots
• Pocky
• Drifting
• The Walkman
• Saving video games after the Americans messed them up
• The Uncanny Valley
• The Power Rangers
• Yayoi Kusama
• Hello Kitty