I asked you to tell me what pops into your head about American culture. Draw a picture or tell me in a few words. Here are the results by category:
FOOD: Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Fries, Pizza, Coca-Cola, Popcorn, Junk Food in general
ENTERTAINMENT: Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, Pop, Rock ‘n Roll, Hip Hop, South Park, The Simpsons, Michael Jackson (Thriller), Beach Boys, Woodstock
PLACES: Fast food places like McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King; Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty, Skyscrapers, Big Houses, Farms, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Paramount Pictures, 21st Century Fox
DESCRIPTIONS: Fat People, Big Houses, Obesity, Cars, Guns, Baseball, Facebook, Starbucks, Apple, Microsoft, Football, People holding the American flag, Alcohol, $, Holy Cross (Christian), Power, #1
Tokyo Nancy Snow 
The first thing that pops in my mind when thinking about the US, are cars. Correct me if I’m wrong but American citizens tend to depend on cars for their mode of transportation. When I lived in the US, it was uncommon to see people walking in the streets. I’ve always wondered why has this become the way American people’s preferred transport.
I saw just a little about Michael Jackson’s three-year anniversary death date. I did think about MJ. I’m a huge fan of his music, basically growing up with The Jackson 5’s “Ben” and “I Want You Back” to buying one of my first albums, “Off the Wall,” to watching the lengthy music video “Thriller” in a college bar in the 1980s. It’s still a bit hard to imagine that he is gone. (Also, actress Farrah Fawcett of “Charlie’s Angels” fame died on the same day, though her death was more expected due to a long battle with cancer.) I’m sure for Michael Jackson’s biggest fans, June 25 will live in musical infamy.
Yesterday was the anniversary day for Micheal Jackson, who died three years ago. When I was watching entertaining programs, I realized it. However I didn’t see it on the news program, even though three years ago we knew it from many media, for example, TV, radio, newspaper, Internet. If I didn’t watch the TV, I wouldn’t realize it.
I’m sure that media and culture are strongly connected. Three years ago we listened to his songs, watching his dances and saw his ambulance going to the hospital. We felt sad but now it seems to me that fewer people do in Japan. Did American media broadcast his death? Did you watch or read his news yesterday?
I know it has been a while since this post was updated, but I thought this was an interesting post. Everyone in the world would probably have the same answers if the same question were asked. American culture has dissolved into many other cultures that any country we live in has at least in some form taken in the typical American culture. For example, in Japan we have McDonald’s, we use knives and forks to eat, we even use Facebook now. It is interesting though, that we don’t copy every bit of it. Take McDonald’s for instance- we arrange our hamburgers in a Japanese style (teriyaki burger, tsukimi hamburger), and the large size drinks aren’t as large as the American size. It is interesting to see how much more American factors Japan (and the world) can take in, while not destroying the Wafu and ancient Japanese way of living (tatami, wearing kimonos).