"The Tiger's Eyes Are Like My Own": Depictions of Japaneseness in Contemporary American Movies

In our world today, different nations and cultures are interconnected via media technologies like films, television and the Internet. In this context, Sociologist Arjun Appadurai discussed the influence of the media in our global present and suggested a new role for the imagination. Japanese electronic entertainment products and anime cartoons are well known in the U.S. today and Hollywood is shifting away from representing outdated, negative stereotypes in more recent movies like Lost in Translation (2003) and The Last Samurai (2003).