From Kirin to Yakitori, this novel is influenced by Japanese culture, but this isn’t the Japan we know today. It’s filled with expatriates, cowboys, and a bartender named Ratz. The setting of the book is not your average city; in fact, it’s everything far from perfect. Case personifies the city through his low life character, and the reader gets a real life glimpse into his drug obsessive vision of the world. He’s a thief, and for two years he has been dealing drugs because of his bad actions. Gibson vividly describes the digital dystopia that Case lives in, even calling beds “coffins”. However, I’d like to address the things that hit home for most people reading this book, rather than the overly futuristic jargon that Gibson uses.
The items that are mentioned in this novel are either made up, or very familiar. But this can vary from person to person, depending on how much Japanese culture one has been exposed to. To an American audience that is not well versed in beer, Kirin may come off as a futuristic drink that is exclusive to the novel; however it’s actually the most popular beer in Japan. This distinction between foreign objects and futuristic objects can be very unclear throughout the novel, but I feel that Gibson does this on purpose. Instead of keeping a familiar setting, he takes it further and chooses Japan, which in most cases is considered one of the most outlandish cultures in the world. Good for Gibson, but confusing for others. The reader is left to decipher between futuristic and Japanese elements, something that is hard to distinguish, especially because Japan has the non-negative stereotype of being very technologically forward.
The whole novel’s setting may seem like a large anachronism. Case is a lowlife character in a fast pace world, where one would assume safety from criminals. It has come to my understanding though, that this is why the novel is so revolutionary. The combination of high tech with low life has created a new genre called cyberpunk. The line, “she put a booted foot up on the dust-covered Kandinsky coffee table” really hits the spot, because like novel, Kandinsky’s artwork was also considered progressive and avant-garde, which may have influence Gibson to write novels like Neuromancer.
Great perspective on Gibson’s expectation for the readers. I honestly have had to look up certain words like “Yeyehuans,” “Sarariman,” and more. I feel the urge to check those meanings. With your detailed explanation, I can see why it’s possible for Gibson to do that. The story in itself is a complex puzzle that continues to unfold. It is based on lots of suspense and mystery and foreshadowing. Like you have pointed, I also think its a symbol of the diversity of opinions when we talk about technology. We say we know Japan as the technological “matrix” from which innovation can spread. Yet we fail to know a good amount of the looks like since we are Americans who live so far away from the home of technology. We can only perceive how Japan would look like from what we know to be technology. So, Yes, that is one great observation.
I appreciate the observation of the importance of setting in the novel and how the details that Gibson uses will often escape a reader who doesn’t know much about Japanese culture. I’m not sure, however, that I follow you when you say that the novel’s setting is “an anachronism.” Fill me in a bit more on that.
I have to agree with you on Gibson’s setting, Japan, being appropriate for the novel, considering the fact that Japan is already held as the epitome of technology. Furthermore, the foreign references continually add havoc to an already hectic world. Also, I like the fact that Gibson picked a location that compliments the traits of machinery: quick, large, conglomerated, intricate, etc. Overall, the choice of having Japan was a great addition to Gibson’s world. Great insight on the setting.