I should first point out that I have every doubutsu no mori and Animal Crossing game. I have also studied Japanese for about 3 years. When you study a language, you're almost always guaranteed to study the culture along with it (you could take a class or self-study and just learn sentence structure, words, etc, but I take these in an actual class, so they've always included culture as part of the curriculum). Anyway, as I studied Japanese, and learned about their culture, MAN ALIVE is Animal Crossing loaded with it! ESPECIALLY true of doubutsu no mori, even today.
For instance, I just fulfilled a house request for Yayoi (Coco). It was "Kofun de kurasu" or to "live in the Kofun era". Now, there's something interesting to those who know about Japanese culture. During the Kofun era clay sculptures called haniwa were buried with the elite. Haniwa was localized to gyroid. Yes, yes, when you dig one up, you're a grave robber. It seems that Nintendo of America changed the sculpture's name and reference to the Kofun era, and digging up graves! Yayoi was going nuts when I gave her haniwa after haniwa after haniwa. It's like yeah, because she IS a haniwa!
That was just one example. Another is when you decline a request in Japanese HHD, you bow. You stilll say "mata kondo" which is the correctly translated in localization of "maybe next time", but instead of the frown face, you actually bow! Another little thing is when Takumi starts off the day. It's "A Ohayo! Kyoumo Ichi-nichi ganbarimashoune!" which is along the lines of "Oh, Good morning! Let's do our best all day today!" Did you catch that? It's a tad bit different than Lottie's "Good morning, *name*! Get out there and do your best today!" In Eastern culture, there is this sense of collectivism, you're part of the group, so Takumi says "let's do OUR best" versus Lottie's "do YOUR best".
There are other Japanese cultural references more direct like the kappa taking you to an island (or in the case of Wild World and City Folk being a taxi or bus driver), a kitsune being a swindler, and a tanuki running the shop. However, some of the less direct that I've noticed in New Leaf are things like the maneki-neko (beckoning cat in the game) on the counter of the Department store (Emporium). Another facet of Japanese culture big in the series is gift giving. You know how when you give an animal something they always give you something back? Even when they're like, I'm looking for new furniture, can you give me some? Here's a trashcan! Great! Now, here's a thank you gift! WHY NOT USE THAT THEN YOU DUMB DEER?? Well, gift giving is VERY common in Japanese culture as I learned in one of my Japanese classes. In fact, when you run the lighthouse for Tortimer when he's on vacation, one of the items he gives you is "omiyage chokoreto", or gift chocolate. Omiyage though is more than gifts you buy to give people, it's a part of Japanese life, I mean you always give someone a thank you gift if you feel like you inconvenienced them. That's why you buy omiyage for your coworkers in Japan, you give them a thank you for picking up the extra work from your absence.
The most abundantly, super clear, most standout feature of Japanese culture in Animal Crossing is the insane cuteness. Animal Crossing is very kawaii- really? You can't tell this game is crazy cute? Part of the problem with America is that when we see cute we don't think a normal way of life, we instantly associate it with being for kids, or women. Once we're an adult, especially male, societal pressure seems to say that's for kids, stop playing it! I've had many, MANY people tell me that about Animal Crossing, not understanding it's not only for kids, it's kawaii from Japan, so it's going to look insanely cute, but don't judge it by its cover. That's not what originally drove me to the series anyway, the NES emulator at a time when official emulation by Nintendo was unheard of, but the gameplay keeps bringing me back. The dialog is pretty clever too, and some of these lines I always wonder what they were doing when they came up with these!
There are some jokes that I've read in doubutsu no mori games that are just as Japanese, talking about how much soba they could eat at the new year, and what they wished for on tanabata, I mean this game is almost as if you took a cross-section right out of Japanese culture, and stuffed it into a video game! I do have to commend Nintendo's Western subsidiaries though, to do as much as they do to change all this from an Eastern game to a Western game, it's quite amazing. The games don't quite have the same feel playing them, doubutsu no mori truly feels like it's a Japanese game made by Japanese people for Japanese people while Animal Crossing feels more like this weird, quirky game- dialog helps with that too.
The more I play these two series (I play all of them at least semi-regularly) it's quite interesting to see what localization does to change these to make them understandable by Westerners. No matter what though, this game is truly, VERY, VERY Japanese! It's not like it's subtle either, Japanese people know and do these very things in real life! It's kind of like you're viewing the world through a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu video! Japan may seem weird to those who don't understand it, but after I've became knowledgeable of their culture, I appreciate Animal Crossing that much more! So, if you'll excuse me, I've got a horse I need to give some medicine to before they go to sleep in an hour, and I don't have any stables!
For instance, I just fulfilled a house request for Yayoi (Coco). It was "Kofun de kurasu" or to "live in the Kofun era". Now, there's something interesting to those who know about Japanese culture. During the Kofun era clay sculptures called haniwa were buried with the elite. Haniwa was localized to gyroid. Yes, yes, when you dig one up, you're a grave robber. It seems that Nintendo of America changed the sculpture's name and reference to the Kofun era, and digging up graves! Yayoi was going nuts when I gave her haniwa after haniwa after haniwa. It's like yeah, because she IS a haniwa!
That was just one example. Another is when you decline a request in Japanese HHD, you bow. You stilll say "mata kondo" which is the correctly translated in localization of "maybe next time", but instead of the frown face, you actually bow! Another little thing is when Takumi starts off the day. It's "A Ohayo! Kyoumo Ichi-nichi ganbarimashoune!" which is along the lines of "Oh, Good morning! Let's do our best all day today!" Did you catch that? It's a tad bit different than Lottie's "Good morning, *name*! Get out there and do your best today!" In Eastern culture, there is this sense of collectivism, you're part of the group, so Takumi says "let's do OUR best" versus Lottie's "do YOUR best".
There are other Japanese cultural references more direct like the kappa taking you to an island (or in the case of Wild World and City Folk being a taxi or bus driver), a kitsune being a swindler, and a tanuki running the shop. However, some of the less direct that I've noticed in New Leaf are things like the maneki-neko (beckoning cat in the game) on the counter of the Department store (Emporium). Another facet of Japanese culture big in the series is gift giving. You know how when you give an animal something they always give you something back? Even when they're like, I'm looking for new furniture, can you give me some? Here's a trashcan! Great! Now, here's a thank you gift! WHY NOT USE THAT THEN YOU DUMB DEER?? Well, gift giving is VERY common in Japanese culture as I learned in one of my Japanese classes. In fact, when you run the lighthouse for Tortimer when he's on vacation, one of the items he gives you is "omiyage chokoreto", or gift chocolate. Omiyage though is more than gifts you buy to give people, it's a part of Japanese life, I mean you always give someone a thank you gift if you feel like you inconvenienced them. That's why you buy omiyage for your coworkers in Japan, you give them a thank you for picking up the extra work from your absence.
The most abundantly, super clear, most standout feature of Japanese culture in Animal Crossing is the insane cuteness. Animal Crossing is very kawaii- really? You can't tell this game is crazy cute? Part of the problem with America is that when we see cute we don't think a normal way of life, we instantly associate it with being for kids, or women. Once we're an adult, especially male, societal pressure seems to say that's for kids, stop playing it! I've had many, MANY people tell me that about Animal Crossing, not understanding it's not only for kids, it's kawaii from Japan, so it's going to look insanely cute, but don't judge it by its cover. That's not what originally drove me to the series anyway, the NES emulator at a time when official emulation by Nintendo was unheard of, but the gameplay keeps bringing me back. The dialog is pretty clever too, and some of these lines I always wonder what they were doing when they came up with these!
There are some jokes that I've read in doubutsu no mori games that are just as Japanese, talking about how much soba they could eat at the new year, and what they wished for on tanabata, I mean this game is almost as if you took a cross-section right out of Japanese culture, and stuffed it into a video game! I do have to commend Nintendo's Western subsidiaries though, to do as much as they do to change all this from an Eastern game to a Western game, it's quite amazing. The games don't quite have the same feel playing them, doubutsu no mori truly feels like it's a Japanese game made by Japanese people for Japanese people while Animal Crossing feels more like this weird, quirky game- dialog helps with that too.
The more I play these two series (I play all of them at least semi-regularly) it's quite interesting to see what localization does to change these to make them understandable by Westerners. No matter what though, this game is truly, VERY, VERY Japanese! It's not like it's subtle either, Japanese people know and do these very things in real life! It's kind of like you're viewing the world through a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu video! Japan may seem weird to those who don't understand it, but after I've became knowledgeable of their culture, I appreciate Animal Crossing that much more! So, if you'll excuse me, I've got a horse I need to give some medicine to before they go to sleep in an hour, and I don't have any stables!
