“How Japan Copied American Culture and Made It Better: If You’re Looking for Some of America’s Best Bourbon, Denim and Burgers, Go to Japan, Where Designers Are Re-Engineering Our Culture in Loving Detail”, 2014-04 (; backlinks):
[Account of specialty retailers and craftsmen in Japan, who love Americana, focusing on: old bourbon, jazz, workwear (“railroad jackets, canvas dusters, flannel shirts, double-kneed pants”; especially denim), hamburgers, and preppy “Ivy Style” fashion.]
In Japan, the ability to perfectly imitate—and even improve upon—the cocktails, cuisine and couture of foreign cultures isn’t limited to American products; there are spectacular French chefs and masterful Neapolitan pizzaioli who are actually Japanese. There’s something about the perspective of the Japanese that allows them to home in on the essential elements of foreign cultures and then perfectly recreate them at home. “What we see in Japan, in a wide range of pursuits, is a focus on mastery”, says Sarah Kovner, who teaches Japanese history at the University of Florida. “It’s true in traditional arts, it’s true of young people who dress up in Harajuku, it’s true of restaurateurs all over Japan.”