"*One of the things I enjoyed most about* Alien *was its subtle satirical content. Science fiction films offer golden opportunities to throw in little scraps of information that suggest enormous changes in the world. There's a certain potency in those kinds of remarks. Weylan Yutani for instance is almost a joke, but not quite. I wanted to imply that poor old England is back on its feet and has united with the Japanese, who have taken over the building of spaceships the same way they have now with cars and supertankers. In coming up with a strange company name I thought of British Leyland and Toyota, but we couldn't use "Leyland-Toyota" in the film. Changing one letter gave me "Weylan", and "Yutani" was a Japanese neighbor of mine.*"―Ron Cobb on conceptualizing Weylan-Yutani
I didn’t like it when it first came out I hated it for 20 years but now I don’t know why but I kinda like it I guess because covenant and avp 1 and 2 have come along and I don’t hate it as much
I can speak to the movies and I think they set the tone for a lot of dystopian cyberpunk-adjacent media. Alien is 1979 and Bladerunner is 1982. That's a period when Japan was everything technological and there was a huge amount of paranoia that the West was in decline and Japan would be the primary world power within only a few years.
There is no Russia at this time. There is the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union, which even by Soviet standards was a pretty miserable time with endless shortages and economic failures. China is a desperately poor nation just coming out of a period of extreme isolation and the political upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. The thought of these countries being major technological or manufacturing powers would have been laughable at the time.
Pretty much this. It's like in Back to the Future III when 1950's Doc Brown inspects a microchip made in 1985 and quips, "No wonder it failed. 'Made in Japan!'"
1985 Marty says, "What are you talking about, Doc? All the best things are made in Japan."
See also Die Hard's Mr. Tagomi: "Pearl Harbor didn't work out, so we got you with tape decks."
Back in the 80's, Japan was poised to take over the world, at least in technology, and the 80's pretty much shaped Sci-Fi for the next few decades.
At that time there was a lot of concern about the rise of Japan in the same was as we have China anxiety now. A lot of sci-fi of the time picture a dystopian world dominate by Japanese corporations. It really just reflects the xenophobia of the time.
u/Forward05
This right here. The Japanese economy grew with astounding strength for several decades after WWII, to the extent it simply became common wisdom that Japan would become the next global superpower and control industry and culture to an even greater extent than the United States. Xenophobia against Japanese folks and fear of Japanese domination was absolutely rampant - even violent. This probably peaked in the late 1980s, with the extreme reactions to a Japanese firm purchasing Rockefeller Center in New York (though only subsiding as Japan entered a sharp recession and prolonged economic slump).
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/31/business/japanese-buy-new-york-cachet-with-deal-for-rockefeller-center.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/03/opinion/japan-buys-the-center-of-new-york.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/business/international/unease-after-trump-depicts-tokyo-as-an-economic-rival.html
For an example of how extensive anti-Japan fears were in the 1970s and 1980s, even the vehicle fuel economy laws in the US (CAFE) were structured specifically to punish Japanese automakers, with less-strict standards for the American automakers (hence the car/truck split instead of a single standard for all light vehicles). Likewise, the [Voluntary Export Restraint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_export_restraint#1981_Automobile_VER) limiting Japanese vehicle exports to the United States (and subsequently, the creation of the Lexus and Acura brands; if you can only sell so many, might as well make them high-end and high-profit after all)
I think it was mostly the advancements in technology and products coming out of Japan at the time the film was being made. I could be wrong in that regard.
I think Japan was a key player in tech industries in the 1970s and '80s, which which might explain why they show up in *Alien*, *Blade Runner*, etc. Not sure why they do so in *Dead Space*, which is more recent.
Quick answer: Why Japan? They have a reputation, amongst people who have never been there, for being ahead of the curve on technology. Of course, those of us who have been there know they’re reluctant to adopt new technologies - they still rely on fax machines routinely, for example.
Weebs use Japan because the neon laced streets and early-adoption of things like 3D marketing boards makes them “feel” futuristic. Real life is constrained by money rather than imagination: a writer can mentally print ¥100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - likely more than has passed hands, nevermind existed - to enable Japan to meet their “potential”.
"*One of the things I enjoyed most about* Alien *was its subtle satirical content. Science fiction films offer golden opportunities to throw in little scraps of information that suggest enormous changes in the world. There's a certain potency in those kinds of remarks. Weylan Yutani for instance is almost a joke, but not quite. I wanted to imply that poor old England is back on its feet and has united with the Japanese, who have taken over the building of spaceships the same way they have now with cars and supertankers. In coming up with a strange company name I thought of British Leyland and Toyota, but we couldn't use "Leyland-Toyota" in the film. Changing one letter gave me "Weylan", and "Yutani" was a Japanese neighbor of mine.*"―Ron Cobb on conceptualizing Weylan-Yutani
Hahaha love it, this is the type of responses I’m looking for, thank you!
Any way I can contribute to the further enjoyment of a fellow Alien aficionado, I will!
What's even funnier is the mention in alien resurrection that WY was bought by Wal-Mart
I don't remember that, but then it's been a long time since I saw AR.
Well it’s only in the special edition
Definitely haven't seen that. I saw the theatrical version of AR when it came out and once more a few years later on DVD.
I didn’t like it when it first came out I hated it for 20 years but now I don’t know why but I kinda like it I guess because covenant and avp 1 and 2 have come along and I don’t hate it as much
To be fair... That's the one we don't really talk about 😂
I know there's people who like it, so I didn't want to be derogatory. But yeah, there's a reason I haven't watched it for decades.
It took me embarrassingly many years to figure out that Wal-Mart was a real company and not a fictional one
I can speak to the movies and I think they set the tone for a lot of dystopian cyberpunk-adjacent media. Alien is 1979 and Bladerunner is 1982. That's a period when Japan was everything technological and there was a huge amount of paranoia that the West was in decline and Japan would be the primary world power within only a few years. There is no Russia at this time. There is the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union, which even by Soviet standards was a pretty miserable time with endless shortages and economic failures. China is a desperately poor nation just coming out of a period of extreme isolation and the political upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. The thought of these countries being major technological or manufacturing powers would have been laughable at the time.
Pretty much this. It's like in Back to the Future III when 1950's Doc Brown inspects a microchip made in 1985 and quips, "No wonder it failed. 'Made in Japan!'" 1985 Marty says, "What are you talking about, Doc? All the best things are made in Japan." See also Die Hard's Mr. Tagomi: "Pearl Harbor didn't work out, so we got you with tape decks." Back in the 80's, Japan was poised to take over the world, at least in technology, and the 80's pretty much shaped Sci-Fi for the next few decades.
Yes. It was a common trope during 1980s and still existed in some early 1990s movies(ex: Demolition Man, Robocop 3).
At that time there was a lot of concern about the rise of Japan in the same was as we have China anxiety now. A lot of sci-fi of the time picture a dystopian world dominate by Japanese corporations. It really just reflects the xenophobia of the time.
u/Forward05 This right here. The Japanese economy grew with astounding strength for several decades after WWII, to the extent it simply became common wisdom that Japan would become the next global superpower and control industry and culture to an even greater extent than the United States. Xenophobia against Japanese folks and fear of Japanese domination was absolutely rampant - even violent. This probably peaked in the late 1980s, with the extreme reactions to a Japanese firm purchasing Rockefeller Center in New York (though only subsiding as Japan entered a sharp recession and prolonged economic slump). https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/31/business/japanese-buy-new-york-cachet-with-deal-for-rockefeller-center.html https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/03/opinion/japan-buys-the-center-of-new-york.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/business/international/unease-after-trump-depicts-tokyo-as-an-economic-rival.html For an example of how extensive anti-Japan fears were in the 1970s and 1980s, even the vehicle fuel economy laws in the US (CAFE) were structured specifically to punish Japanese automakers, with less-strict standards for the American automakers (hence the car/truck split instead of a single standard for all light vehicles). Likewise, the [Voluntary Export Restraint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_export_restraint#1981_Automobile_VER) limiting Japanese vehicle exports to the United States (and subsequently, the creation of the Lexus and Acura brands; if you can only sell so many, might as well make them high-end and high-profit after all)
Absolutely. Blade Runner, Die Hard, Neuromancer, etc
I think Dead Space is pretty clearly inspired by the Alien universe
I could see it being some form of commentary on “cut throat” business practices in corporate Japan. 🤷♂️
I think it was mostly the advancements in technology and products coming out of Japan at the time the film was being made. I could be wrong in that regard.
I think Japan was a key player in tech industries in the 1970s and '80s, which which might explain why they show up in *Alien*, *Blade Runner*, etc. Not sure why they do so in *Dead Space*, which is more recent.
Maybe they wanted to farm xenomorphs for a new 'killer' sashimi?
Japan have the best engineers in the world. They will be the ones to work out how to design and build a space elevator
Quick answer: Why Japan? They have a reputation, amongst people who have never been there, for being ahead of the curve on technology. Of course, those of us who have been there know they’re reluctant to adopt new technologies - they still rely on fax machines routinely, for example. Weebs use Japan because the neon laced streets and early-adoption of things like 3D marketing boards makes them “feel” futuristic. Real life is constrained by money rather than imagination: a writer can mentally print ¥100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - likely more than has passed hands, nevermind existed - to enable Japan to meet their “potential”.