Japanese Cultural Exports

Just finished reading a Chinese book by Japanese writer 新井一二三.

Yes, her name literally means "one, two, three" as she was reportedly born on January 23. And the book was written in Chinese, not translated!
Most of her insights and observations were keen, witty and hilarious, especially her views on China, Hong Kong and Chinese-Japanese relations.

But what struck me most was the following observation:

"作为经济大国的日本, 以往被认为对人类文明少有贡献. 可是过去的十年, 从 walkman 到卡拉OK到 "任天堂" 电子游戏, 日本对世界各国的 "文化输出" 已相当可观. 可悲的是, 这些都跟日本的传统文化没有关系, 只是反映和加强了现代人的孤独."

"As an economic giant, Japan has in the past often been perceived as not having contributed enough to human civilization. But in the past 10 years (article was written in 1992), from walkman to karaoke (pictured) to Nintendo games, Japan has in fact been making substantive "cultural exports" to all parts of the world.

"But sadly, these exports have nothing whatsoever to do with Japanese culture. All they had done was to have strengthened the loneliness among modern people."