America Daitouryou Senkyo

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/americadaitouryou/americadaitouryou.htm

With the terrifying American 2016 Presidential Election finally in its last weeks, let's look back to the more innocent times of 1988, when a Japanese developer was kind enough to make a simulation game for the Famicom about the democratic process.

[Kubo Caskett]

I find it interesting that this is the first non-western work that references the infamous Patrick Robertson; you know the guy who thinks gays are somehow behind 9/11 and that killing people in video games is the same as killing people in real life.

And honestly I wouldn't find the idea that political correctness is an issue to be a mere laughing matter, but I digress.

[GamerL]

Yeah, it's shocking that Pat Robertson is in a Japanese video game.

[8 Bit Dreams]

Title header on the article says this is a sfc game? Looks like it might need a fixing.

Never heard of this till today, interesting read. HG101 digging deep.

[toei]

Oct 20, 2016 0:11:13 GMT -5 GamerL said:

Yeah, it's shocking that Pat Robertson is in a Japanese video game.

Well, the rest of the world pays attention to American politics, because American politics affect the rest of the world. For example, there's a good manga series called Eagle, which follows the efforts of a politician of Japanese descent to be elected president. He runs as a Democrat, IIRC.
People like Pat Robertson exemplify what many people find scary about the US, so their names do circulate. I'm not American either, but I've known who he is for many years. Every time I pick up a newpaper or visit a newsite I see Donald Trump's face. It's not really that surprising in that context.

[Discoalucard]

Last time I was at Kinokuniya bookstore in NYC, they had tons of Japanese books about Hillary, Trump, and American culture in general. I'll see about digging some pics off my phone.

[Discoalucard]

Here are some of those books:



I like the one with Trump and Kim Kardashian, done in the style of the poster for Pretty Woman.

[edgethelucas]

I think a modern successor to this kind of game, presumably about the 2016 presidential election after it's finished, would be an extremely interesting kind of game. This Famicom interpretation of the 1988 one was already fascinating, imagine if the rough patches were fixed and its gameplay systems were expanded upon and remade for modern times.

Or you could just have an Ace Attorney style game, where instead of battling in the courtroom as a lawyer, you're a candidate fighting for your nomination and beliefs in presidential debates. Perhaps a combination of the two would be ideal.

[akirikasu]

Just a quick comment on the article: the faction that Pat Robertson represents is definitely the New Right. It's not necessarily a faction though, it's just a journalist term for religiously-motivated politics and it's influence in the Republican party. I'm somewhat surprised to hear that term from a Japanese game, though; figured they'd come up with their own term if anything.

[Malev]

The first I heard of this title was way back in an old Nintendo Power. I do wonder for a title so niche who it was marketed for. If the review is true about how it focuses on the electoral process itself, either the devs were wishing not to potentially step on anyone's toes, or the '88 race was less of a circus to Japanese eyes. This was years before the Bush Prime Minister banquet incident though, which seems to have gone down as his major legacy in Japan, becoming a long-running source of TV talk-show mockery and slang ("My friend drunk too much and Bushed in the alley.") in their country.

Then again, we seldom get a Japanese lens on US politics filtered over to the States. Hell, not like we receive much of their political views of their government, at times. Call it cultural myopia or lack of interest, but it is rare to see Japanese media take a satirical jab at their Prime Minister make it over here compared to us catching shows making references to former Presidents or congressmen. That said, some of the statements and portrayals of US presidents in manga that you can find, particularly W. and Obama, can get downright baffling.

[SandiGummy]

Oct 21, 2016 17:41:39 GMT -5 toei said:

Oct 20, 2016 0:11:13 GMT -5 GamerL said:

Yeah, it's shocking that Pat Robertson is in a Japanese video game.

Well, the rest of the world pays attention to American politics, because American politics affect the rest of the world. For example, there's a good manga series called Eagle, which follows the efforts of a politician of Japanese descent to be elected president. He runs as a Democrat, IIRC.
People like Pat Robertson exemplify what many people find scary about the US, so their names do circulate. I'm not American either, but I've known who he is for many years. Every time I pick up a newpaper or visit a newsite I see Donald Trump's face. It's not really that surprising in that context.

Oh yes this xD! Mother get very bothered when she saw news about Trump even if we don't live in America.

[Woody Alien]

Oct 29, 2016 15:25:35 GMT -5 Malev said:

Then again, we seldom get a Japanese lens on US politics filtered over to the States. Hell, not like we receive much of their political views of their government, at times. Call it cultural myopia or lack of interest, but it is rare to see Japanese media take a satirical jab at their Prime Minister make it over here compared to us catching shows making references to former Presidents or congressmen. 

This very site however covered one of those rare Japanese examples, I'm Sorry: www.hardcoregaming101.net/imsorry/imsorry.htm

Other bizarre US president depictions by Japan I've seen were the ones in that mahjong manga with the former JP prime minister Junichiro Koizumi (you know the one) and also the American president in the sick and depraved guro manga "Mai-chan's Daily Life" (don't look for it at work. Or anywhere).
Also who could forget the cowardly prez that appeared, if very briefly, in Death Note?

[toei]

Nov 3, 2016 10:52:56 GMT -5 Woody Alien said:

Oct 29, 2016 15:25:35 GMT -5 Malev said:

Then again, we seldom get a Japanese lens on US politics filtered over to the States. Hell, not like we receive much of their political views of their government, at times. Call it cultural myopia or lack of interest, but it is rare to see Japanese media take a satirical jab at their Prime Minister make it over here compared to us catching shows making references to former Presidents or congressmen. 

This very site however covered one of those rare Japanese examples, I'm Sorry: www.hardcoregaming101.net/imsorry/imsorry.htm

Other bizarre US president depictions by Japan I've seen were the ones in that mahjong manga with the former JP prime minister Junichiro Koizumi (you know the one) and also the American president in the sick and depraved guro manga "Mai-chan's Daily Life" (don't look for it at work. Or anywhere).
Also who could forget the cowardly prez that appeared, if very briefly, in Death Note?

As I recalls, in Sanctuary, which was published by Viz Pulp back in the day, when the US Secretary of Commerce arrives in Japan to renegotiate the trade deals (this was a big issue in the early 90s), the first thing she does is smash a Japanese car with a baseball bat in front of cameras to show that she means business. This is a serious manga, mind you, not an over-the-top comedy.