Why is the pop culture in Japan so unusual?

Question:

So I'm learning about Japan. Cause I need to if I want to be going to Japan. I mean you can't just go to Japan and only know how to speak the language and nothing else. I think that's pretty dumb, but getting to the point. Why is the pop culture so unusual? From the commercials with the banana man to the toilets that look like ladies. Some of these ideas are cool and some of are... as if some one on drugs made them. I still think Japan is a great place because they're so polite and yet so creative. But yeah. And I want an answer from someone who's actually been to Japan for more than a few months. Not some wapanese. I hate it when people think they know everything about one place and they've never been there or stay there to little.

Answer:

Well I'm sure someone from Japan would say American pop culture is weird.
Anyway it's really not as weird as the media makes them out to be. I mean ya sure you have the occasional awkward 'what the heck moment' when you do run in to something out of the norm. but for the most part like 98% of the time everything is pretty normal. Besides everyone has a different weird scale anyway. Like personally I love Japanese street fashion and it doesn't weird me out at all, but maybe someone like you would find it weird. I'm sure if you lived in Japan you would think their pop culture was normal.

Japanese game shows...now those are a bit weird even for my standards haha.

For the most part though, Japan is pretty conservative. I mean ya you have the occasional otaku, or you see an ad for a maid cafe, or something along those lines. But you seriously get used to it after living there for awhile. It just becomes the norm you know? I mean though there is a lot of anime and manga in Japan, it really isn't the number one thing that Japan is famous for...well maybe to some people.
Rather I love Japan for the traditional aspects that they seem to maintain even through modernization. Sorry I'm a sucker for Japanese history.

I don't think a lot of people realize that anime and manga is not how real life is in Japan.
That's really the only thing I don't like about some people who go in thinking that everyone is going to say 'sugoi desu ne すごいですね KAWAII!' -_- Ya....no.

I think most of their commercials are hilarious even though they're a bit weird most of the time. I think the whole point is that television there is a huge entertainment factor compared to a normal strict schedule that they keep. It's a break from their lives, so might as well make the advertisements and shows as crazy and funny as they can be. Some of their games shows like I said before....are rather disturbing. No seriously I think I watched at least a good half hour into a show one time with my mouth open in shock.

I usually visit every summer for as long as I can, and even the time I stayed there as an exchange student for a year let me build up a resistance I guess to all of the weirdness. It seems fairly normal to me now. Once you start venturing out of the busy districts and go out to the countryside more, you will see that there is a larger difference. Like I would say the lifestyle in Osaka is wayyyyy different then that of Tokyo.


No way have I lived in Japan my whole life, but if I add in all the times I've gone then it would probably add up to about 5 years of my life...I think those trips provided me enough time to gather the information that I needed to form an opinion.

EDIT
Haha I can tell you for a fact that I've met some pretty non cutesy girls in Japan that actually had a pretty foul mouth xD. Though I do have to admit, a lot of the female population there is really into the cute things like decoden and frilly clothes with flowers but then there is the complete opposite of them where you have these girls who are anything but into the cute fashion and have a sailor's mouth xD
I vaguely remember hearing about the guy marrying his DS, and I was thinking 'Is that even legal?'
That was just plain weird, but eh whatever let the guy do what he wants.