Appreciation of originality

I was upset when I was watching my favorite Ghibli movie, Porco Rosso, with my friends. In Japanese original version, after Curtis, Porco's rival, shoots down his plane after its engine stops and picks up a part of plane on the sea, he says it's going to be a great souvenir to his mother in Alabama. In English-dubbed version, Alabama is replaced by Texas. Why did they do that? Why not just keep Alabama? Sure, Texas may be more famous and popular than Alabama, but is that a deal big enough to change?

I prefer subtitle to dubbing when watching movies in foreign languages. I like the authenticity. Even long before I came to the U.S. and improve my English, I always watched movies like Titanic, the Matrix, Star Wars with subtitle.

It seems in the U.S. people do not appreciate originality as much. Look at Japanese restaurants in this country. Most of them are stake houses. You rarely see them in Japan. Japanese food is not about the performance of throwing a chunk of meats up in the air or making fire on the flattop. There are restaurants that set up flattops in front of guests, but it's for serving food before getting cooled.

In Japan, when you want to eat sushi, you go to a place that serve sushi. if ramen noodle, go to a ramen restaurant (Ramen food market is very intense in Japan by the way). If tempura, go to a tempura place, and so on.

I understand "stake house" is more marketable to Americans and Japanese cuisine may be too various to serve in one restaurant. I don't think one restaurant cannot serve sushi, the best known Japanese cuisine while also serving less famous dishes like okonomiyaki or Japanese curry rice. 

Even sushi is different. California rolls is more liked than nigiri of raw tuna or salmon. I know that raw fish can be hard for some people to eat. But, instead of thinking Japanese is weird for eating raw fish, people should be educated and know that raw fish can taste great.

I do actually like Japanese  stake house. I think it's creative and obviously it's successful. But, at the same time, I want people to learn what it came from, what authentic Japanese cuisine is.

Same with movies. even if you don't understand Japanese, you should be able to catch the emotion and feeling behind the voice. That's why I like subtitle rather than dubbing that can change what it says or take away something important.