Who doesn¡¯t love a listicle titled ¡°(X) surprising things you never knew about (Y)¡°? What surprises me about a lot of commentary on the Japanese film industry ¡ª from insiders and outsiders alike ¡ª is how it substitutes judgment calls (usually of the ¡°Japanese films are crap¡± variety) for out-in-plain-sight facts.
Of course, numbers don¡¯t tell the whole story, but they are at least a beginning. And sweeping generalizations may be fun to make, but the truth is usually boring and gray, isn¡¯t it? Here, in no particular order, is a list of my own favorite myths and misrepresentations, including ones I¡¯ve been hearing since I started to write about the industry 25 long years ago.
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