Harry Potter and Billy Blanks

Above: Rio Nakahashi and the Golden Room.
I just finished the final Harry Potter book. I know I've wasted some of my precious time in Japan on something that has nothing to do with Japanese Culture, but I could not help myself. I had to know what happened before I heard it from someone else. There were two advantages living in Japan when this book was released. First, since this is the land of the rising sun, I got my copy of Deathly Hallows four hours before I would have in the States, even though I bought it at ten in the morning instead of midnight. Second, I got to talk to my host family and their friends about Harry Potter, as well as watch Japanese media coverage of the new movie.
Of course, Harry Potter is very popular in Japan. Some stories have universal appeal, and this seems to be one of them. And of course, compared to the States, a higher percentage of people seem to have only watched the films without reading the books, since the Japanese translations can take a full year to be released.
But there have been some surprises. For example, in an interview with Daniel Radcliffe, one of the reporters asked him if he had ever confused himself with Harry, and tried to use magic in the real world. He was taken aback by this question, and so was I. But since none of the other reporters laughed when this question was asked, it made me wonder whether magic is taken a little more seriously in Japan. I know they have beliefs here which would be viewed merely as superstition in the States, but... I don't really know.
A second surprise. Although the elder of my host brothers is a big fan of the series, when I finished the seventh book, he did not hesitate to ask me what happened. When I refused to tell him, he seemed slightly put off. I wonder if this is a fundamental difference in our cultures ideas of enjoying the story, or if he assumed he would inevitably hear about it before he read it, some he might as well find out as soon as possible. Really I don't know.
In many ways, my appreciation of Japanese culture, and many Japanese appreciation of Western Culture seems to be quite distorted by our physical distance. For example, one of the few exercise fads to make its way to this side of the pacific is Billy Blanks' Boot Camp. When I went to a high school a few weeks ago, the first American they asked about was Billy Blanks. I had no idea who they were talking about. They did some punches in the air, I still didn't know. Only when I googled him did I discover his identity: apparently he is the man behind the Tae Bo video my sister used to work out to in high school. He might count as a c-list celebrity in the US, but he has an infomercial on Japanese T.V., so the students assumed he was huge.
I've made the same mistake. Satoshi Kon's films have gotten quite a bit of attention in the US. His last few, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, and Millennium Actress, got really good reviews in the American press. So when I mentioned his name to a few Japanese people, I assumed they would have heard of him. If he's an arthouse fave in the States, he should be a full-fledged star in Japan. I suppose that is not the case.
At least they've heard of Harry Potter.