Why so many money cat in the game?

[taiwanluthiers]

I currently live in Taiwan. We see a lot of money cat in Taiwan because you know.. it's considered good luck especially for a business. So it's a pretty ubiquitous sighting in Taiwan to see them.

But the time I lived in America I have rarely if ever seen those maneki neko figurines unless the business is run by an Asian.

But in Cyberpunk they're EVERYWHERE. V's apartment has one, Misty's has one, Vik's has one, practically everywhere. Is it because in 2077 Asian influence is much bigger? It's the only other city, aside from Taipei, that I see more of those maneki neko things...

 

[GVArcian]

In the 80s, there was a genuine fear of a corporate takeover of America by japanese businesses, which wasn't entirely unfounded given how much american capital they were buying up at the time. In real life, this buying spree came to a grinding halt when the Japanese economy overheated and subsequently tanked - a collapse from which it hasn't really managed to recover since - whereas in the Cyberpunk universe it continued and then accelerated when the US itself collapsed and freed up a lot of american capital for aggressive acquisition by japanese companies like Arasaka.

This is the reason why the japanese influence on Cyberpunk's America is so strong - rather than the US economically and culturally colonizing Japan, as in real life, the opposite happened in Cyberpunk's America.

 

[taiwanluthiers]

In the 80s, there was a genuine fear of a corporate takeover of America by japanese businesses, which wasn't entirely unfounded given how much american capital they were buying up at the time. In real life, this buying spree came to a grinding halt when the Japanese economy overheated and subsequently tanked - a collapse from which it hasn't really managed to recover since - whereas in the Cyberpunk universe it continued and then accelerated when the US itself collapsed and freed up a lot of american capital for aggressive acquisition by japanese companies like Arasaka.

This is the reason why the japanese influence on Cyberpunk's America is so strong - rather than the US economically and culturally colonizing Japan, as in real life, the opposite happened in Cyberpunk's America.

I remember reading a Michael Crichton book called Rising Sun that talked about this. In the book they said how Japan will take over America one day and all that. Think that book was written in the 80s too.

China's doing the same with America today, no idea if their economy will overheat.

So in Cyberpunk world Japan was the first world country and America became backwater? I remember reading in CP universe Europe is doing so much better than America because they actually got to eat more SCOP and their government made sure they had real food every now and then.

 

[GVArcian]

I remember reading a Michael Crichton book called Rising Sun that talked about this. In the book they said how Japan will take over America one day and all that. Think that book was written in the 80s too.

China's doing the same with America today, no idea if their economy will overheat.

So in Cyberpunk world Japan was the first world country and America became backwater? I remember reading in CP universe Europe is doing so much better than America because they actually got to eat more SCOP and their government made sure they had real food every now and then.

Pretty much, yeah. In 2077, the New United States of America (NUSA) is the 24th largest economy in the world, which is a spot that Sweden held in real-life 2020, so the NUSA isn't in great shape, economically speaking.