Do Foreigners Really Love Japan, or Do Japanese People Just Want to Believe They Do?
The Videos We Like to Watch
When I have time to kill, I sometimes watch YouTube videos where foreigners talk about Japan.
One of the channels I watch is run by someone from China. Most of the content introduces Japanese culture and daily life, with a familiar theme: this part of Japan is wonderful.
Politics almost never comes up. Well, given that it is China, that is not surprising.
It is more peaceful that way, and it probably gets more views.
But the other day, that channel ran into a bit of controversy.
It seems they made the wrong choice of guest.
The guest was apparently someone who had grown up in a family connected to the Chinese Communist Party, and they suddenly started saying things that did not match the usual tone of the program at all.
“China’s view of history is correct.”
“Japan has severe gender discrimination.”
Naturally, the comment section exploded.
People wrote things like:
- “So they teach only Japanese aggression, but not the Tiananmen Square incident?”
- “If you hate Japan that much, why are you living here?”
- “Isn’t this person a spy?”
The comments were, to put it mildly, very heated.
I do not exactly dislike reading comment sections when they catch fire.
And among all those comments, there was one that made a strange amount of sense to me.
“This video had value if only because it showed that this kind of Chinese person also exists in Japan.”
I think that is true.
The Foreigners the Algorithm Selects
On YouTube, videos of foreigners praising Japan are extremely popular.
“Japanese customer service is the best in the world.”
“Japanese people are so polite.”
“Anime is amazing.”
“Japanese food is amazing.”
Videos like these get hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of views.
The reason is simple.
Japanese people like watching videos where their own country is praised.
Of course, Americans would probably watch videos that praise America, and Chinese people would watch videos that praise China.
That is simply how people are.
In other words, it is not necessarily that there are huge numbers of “foreigners who love Japan.” It is that foreigners who praise Japan are being selected by the algorithm.
YouTube is a business.
Creators make videos that get watched.
They also need to make a living.
So they say things that make Japanese viewers happy.
That is an entirely rational thing to do.
That is why I no longer feel especially surprised when I see a video where a foreigner praises Japan.
It may be what that person truly thinks.
But at the same time, it may also be a statement produced by the incentive of view counts.
What Does Not Reach Our Recommendations
In reality, there are foreigners who dislike Japan.
There are foreigners who look down on Japan.
There are people living in Japan who think, “I want to leave this country as soon as possible.”
None of that is strange.
After all, there are Japanese people who dislike Japan too.
The problem is that this reality almost never appears in our recommendation feeds.
Social media is not a mirror that reflects reality.
It is a mirror that shows us what we want to see.
So it is dangerous to watch videos of foreigners praising Japan and reassure ourselves by thinking, “See, Japan is loved by the whole world.”
But it is just as dangerous to see one anti-Japanese comment and conclude, “All foreigners must think that way.”
The algorithm is not delivering truth.
It is only delivering videos that make you feel good enough to watch one more.