Japanese Twitter realizes that talking about the NES now is the same as old men talking about WW2

Oh crap. Has it really been that long?

There’s no shortage of ways to feel old these days. From kids not knowing what Gundam is, to not pooping in school anymore, sometimes it can seem like there are a few centuries separating the generations, rather than a few decades.

Case in point, Japanese Twitter user @anitemp recently posted a horrifying realization that they had on Twitter, concerning stories that they tell kids nowadays about the NES, and stories that they’d heard about World War II when they were a kid:

▼ Caution: If you are over thirty and read this, you will come out of it feeling like your skin is crumbling to dust. (Translation below)

なんかちょっと気づいたけどさ

WW2が終わってからファミコンが登場するまで３８年
ファミコンが登場してから現在までも同じ３８年

つまり僕らが今の若い子にファミコン知らんの？みたいな話をするのは

僕らがファミコンやってた頃に、爺さんがする戦争の話と同じくらい昔ばなしなんだぞ、やべーぞ

— 渡辺哲也 (@anitemp) February 18, 2021

“So I just realized something.

There’s 38 years between the end of World War II and the release of the Famicom (NES).
There’s also 38 years between the release of the Famicom and the current year.

That means when we’re surprised young kids don’t know what the Famicom is…

…it’s the same as the old geezers who told us war stories when we were kids playing the Famicom. Oh crap.

Wait. No. That can’t be right. That’s impossible. There’s no way that we’re the same as those wrinkly old dudes spouting war stories. Right?

Unfortunately, the math checks out. World War II ended in 1945, and the Famicom was released in Japan in 1983, a difference of 38 years. There are also 38 years between 1983 and 2021.

Unless 38 no longer equals 38, and I’m totally down to accept a universe where that’s true at this point, we’re the old ones now.

Japanese netizens shared their laughs and lamentations online:

“Wait what’s a Famicom?”
“No, stop, please!”
“‘Children who don’t know the Famicom’ is the new “Children who don’t know war.'”
“In a few year’s it’ll be ‘kids who don’t know the Sega Saturn’ or ‘the Nintendo64.'”
“Does that make the Famicom just as important a part of history as WW2 then?”
“We’ve leveled up too much in life. My heart is breaking.”

▼ Another netizen pointed out another troubling historical comparison
(Translation below)

江戸時代終わりが1867年
第二次大戦終わりが1945年
この間78年
現在が2021年
第二次大戦終わりから現在まで76年

これも驚きですよね。

— ぱちんこ太郎 (@m4wNQxJCix5TTe5) February 18, 2021

The end of the Edo Period: 1867
The end of WW2: 1945
Years between them: 78
Current year: 2021
Years between end of WW2 and now: 76
This is surprising too.

Yup. In only two years, it’ll be the same historical distance between now and the end of World War II as it was between Japan opening up to the world and the end of World War II.

Well, I guess all we can do at this point is brush up on the latest buzzwords all the hip teens are using these days, and hope that they’ll let us play with their bottle-cap shooting toys, or whatever else is popular with them.

I mean, it’s either that, or we buy a do-it-yourself funeral kit for our crumbling ashes.

Source: Twitter/@anitemp via My Game News Flash
Top image: Pakutaso (1, 2) (Edited by SoraNews24)
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