Obviously, the future cities in Cyberpunk are strongly influenced by Asian culture, taken part of the impression of current Asian cities. Part of the reasons why Hong Kong and Tokyo looks like that is because there are a large population lives in a rather small city. In 2016, there are more than 7 million people live in Hong Kong, with a density of approximately 6,300 people per square kilometer. As for Tokyo, there are more than 9 million, with around the same density of people. The population density creates the phenomenon of high rise buildings and crowded situation, as well as chaos and dirty streets that Cyberpunk often addresses.
Strangely, in the original novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep\cite{1}, Philip Dick did not specifically mention the style of cities is similar to Asian cities, nor did he mention anything about any Asian languages everywhere on the signs boards. In the book, most scenes happened in Los Angeles, California. The description of the cities did mention there are ads floating everywhere, but it is apparently different from what we see in the movie Blade Runner.
On the other hand, in Neuromancer\cite{Punter_2007}, which was published in 1984, we can see the background setting of city is totally different. Neuromancer is a novel by William Gibson, most critics agree that it was not only the first cyberpunk novel, it was and remains the best. The book was published at the time when the Internet was not popular yet, yet it correctly predicted many technology that has been invented ever since. It would be interesting to discuss whether the book predicted what the future is like, or the book set our imagination and thus we try to achieve that future described in the book.
The opening scene of Neuromancer was set in the dystopian underworld of Chiba CIty, Japan. In the book, William GIbson not only described the city as crowded and, but also mention lots of specific Japanese features, such as hologram logo of the Fuji Electric Company, and some Japanese Tea Room. “Night City, with Ninsei its heart. By day, the bars down Ninsei were shuttered and featureless, the neon dead, the holograms inert, waiting, under the poisoned silver sky.“
In Blade Runner 2049, we see more of this. When K walked on the streets, we can see him walking between the street food vendors and night markets under heavy rain. Some girls dressed in hot clothes and heavy makeups wandering on the streets, very similar to the first Blade Runner movie. We certainly cannot miss the large advertisement of Atari either.
The reason why many Cyberpunk novels have borrowed setting from Japan may come from the global situation when Cyberpunk genre thrived. Both Neuromancer and the Blade Runner movie came out in the eighties, which is exactly when famous Japanese technology corporations like Sony and Toyota thrived. The rise of these companies suddenly changed the situation of Japan being Japan as a defeated nation in World War II. "The American image of Japan underwent a profound transformation. [...] Japan suddenly became perceived as the cutting edge of modernity. Whereas the rest of the world had looked toward the U.S. for innovation in the past, young Americans began to think of Japan as the future, and it became a frequent setting for science fiction."\cite{1984} When William Gibson visited Japan in , he once said “modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it."\cite{future}
By the description in the book we can also see how he described Japan as high technological country. When the protagonist Case’s nervous system was injured, he thought to go to Japan to look for a cure and surgery. “The Japanese had already forgotten more neurosurgery than the Chinese had ever known. The black clinics of Chiba were the cutting edge.”
Even though there are so many reference in Asian culture in the cities, there are hardly any Asian actors in the movie. The only Asian characters in the first Blade Runner movie seems to be the scientists who made eyes and other organs for Tyrell Company, who died miserably within five minutes, and the street vendor who was selling food to Deckard. In contrast, in Blade Runner movie, there are close to zero recognizable Asian faces appeared in the movie. If there were no Asians living in the city, then “Who is it that’s reading all the Asian languages in 2049 when there are barely any Asians to be seen, even as part of the backdrop?”\cite{disconnect}
In Ghost in the Shell, it is completely opposite. Although the original work was from Japan and all the characters are supposed to be Japanese, in the movie, many of the main characters are replaced by white actors. Only Chief Aramaki and Motoko’s mother remained Japanese; even Togusa was played by a Singaporean actor. In the adapted story line of the movie, Motoko went to see her mother who she had long forgotten. When Mokoto, played by Scarlett Johansson, who is clearly white, sat in front of her mother, who is Japanese and speaks poor English, the scene is extremely weird.
In many mangas, especially science fiction manga, the way illustrators draw the characters is actually closer to white rather than Asian races. Asians’ faces are usually flatter, skeletons are smaller, and they do not have colorful pupils. The skin tone of manga characters are close to white rather than yellow, too. Some may argue that according to the original manga, the characters are supposed to look like white people, therefore it is nearly impossible to find Asian actors to play them. As a result, “whitewashing” is an acceptable outcome if they want to preserve the original look of the characters.
This is not the very first time whitewashing happened. Whitewashing is a common casting practice in the film industry in the United States, which refers to using white actors to act the role of people of color. This happens especially frequent when mangas or animes are adapted into movies, former examples including the Hollywood version of Death Note and Dragonball Evolution.
In Blade Runner 2049, the storyline is completely original, so we do not have the another version to compare to. However, there are still some whitewashing happening. Lieutenant Joshi, who is K’s supervisor in the movie, has a Hindu name but is played by a Caucasian actress Robin Wright. That is all the southeast Asian influence in the movie, just a name, not even an actor.