This is the second in a three part series on Cyberpunk by Mike Dillon. Part One is here. Cyberpunk literature is written by and written for a generation that occupies “a truly science-fictional world” (Sterling 1986, xi), producing work that is immersed in technology and pop cultural values “associated with the drug culture, punk rock, video games, Heavy Metal comic books, and […] gore-and-splatter SF/horror films” (Carroll 1990 ). No country has experienced as internationally recognized a technological quantum leap as Japan, and with the recent surge in desire for Japanese popular culture, it appears that associating the genre, whose myths and narratives, in the modern era, have primarily been of American hegemony (Morris 1997), explicitly with Japan is not only viable, but increasingly necessary. But a closer look at the attitudes toward Japanese animation reveals some fascinating ironies. A significant degree of the Japanese cyberpunk ideology aligns itself with “techno-orientalism” (Morley and Robins 1995) which maps such fears directly onto a Japanese context. The term, which describes “an Othering of Japan by the West that sees it only as technological dystopia (Napier 2001, 24) is, to an extent, a dead-on description of Japan – as represented by the cyberpunk genre. This is odd, given that the fascination toward and the appeal of cyberpunk is precisely the internationality of its themes. In other words, within the context of this specific genre, techno-orientalism indicates that “what [cyberpunk seems] to consume is not merely Japan, but their own science fiction projected in the future called Japan” (Tastumi 1991, 372)Even in Gibson’s Neuromancer, there is even “a geopolitical or perhaps geoeconomical and psychological logic, in his choosing such ‘nipponizing’ vocabulary” (Darko 1991, 353) Some of the fears that arise within the genre are famous and obvious; it is a genre that traditionally depicts “a fallen humanity controlled by a technology run amok” (Hollinger in in McCaffery 2991, 353 ). Japan occupies a unique position within the genre given its position as a leader in technology and invention; the contradictory resistance it shows is against the future it is actively creating. The prevalence of mecha bodies (short for mechanical), while acting as the basic and most predominant of cyberpunk imagery, “clearly plays to a wish-fulfilling fantasy of power, authority, and technological competence” (Napier 2001, 86). Even The Matrix, despite its sincere efforts to stand as a cautionary tale about mankind’s negligent dependence on technology, nevertheless falls prey to “[glorifying] the computer as the ultimate wish-fulfillment machine” (Haber 2003 , 221). It is a perpetual fetish-feeder that assumes an audience attracted to a lifestyle in which they can defy gravity, download encyclopedic knowledge within seconds, and gain instant and limitless access to “guns, lots of guns,” all the while dressed like “regal, kinky aristocrats” (Sterling 1986, 21). The truth behind the Matrix may be biomechanical torment, but the surface sure glistens. The point is this: if Japan, on some subconscious level, didn’t fear the machine, it would never have its corner in cyberpunk culture. On the other hand, it would have nothing to fear from the machines if they weren’t so damn good at making them. Another typical genre concern involves the massive hegemonic power of heartless corporations who leave the world in the dust in pursuit of greater profit margins. Consider Blade Runner, set in LA circa 2019, when “the godlike Tyrell Corporation, an unholy alliance of science and capitalism, has turned the world into the equivalent of a pig sty” (Morris 1997). The innovations of the future don't create leisure or pleasure in this cramped, commerce-driven world. Tyrell's inventions seem frivolously self-indulgent, as in its creation of quasi-human "replicants"; or anti-human, as laser guns and flying cars are used mainly to oppress and kill the citizenry (Morris 1997). Similarly, virtually every cyberpunk story features some nefarious and omnipresent entity – sometimes unseen – referred to tentatively as “the System” or “the Corporation” that looms over the narrative. Japanese corporate-yakuzas, cold, inhuman, and often “the figure of empty and dehumanized technological power” (Morley and Robins 1995), are so commonplace in cyberpunk literature that it has become genre iconography; it may not be entirely fair, but it reveals important clues vis-à-vis attempting to identify what cultural preconceptions are being coupled with the larger thematic issues present in the literature. Is the reason Japanese cyberpunk is so successful worldwide because Japanese society has technologically set itself up to be so, or because it reinforces certain prejudices the West has concerning Japan as a scientific haven/hellscape?
Probably because many of my US-based friends are academics and technologists, many of them visit Tokyo as part of their professional circuit. I often get requests for recommendations for places to stay and visit while in Tokyo. Usually these requests are coming from busy people who are travelling primarily for business meetings or to give a talk, and might have one or two days free to explore the city. Over the years, I've composed many emails to my friends with somewhat lame attempts to recommend the best places to go. In honor of a few of my friends visiting Tokyo later this month, I've decided to go back over these emails and publicly post my recommendations. It's not nearly as extensive as what Justin did, but it is one idiosyncratic viewpoint (from a bicultural, pop culture and technology obsessed academic). I hope others will add to this. I still consider Tokyo "home" though I haven't really lived there for almost five years now. It is still the city I know best in the world, and I breathe an emotional sigh of relief when I step onto the streets of Shibuya or Shinjuku after many months away. I love to see what shops and restaurants are still there from my childhood, as well as new arrivals on familiar street corners. The city is layered with memories and personal history for me. So I always struggle to imagine what it must be like to visit Tokyo cold, and only for a day or two, and what I could possibly recommend to people as a way of experiencing the best of "my" city. Unlike Kyoto or other cities that are accessible to the casual tourist, newcomers to Tokyo will often experience it as a overwhelming and alienating megalopolis. The city is so huge and so variegated, and there are very few obvious "sights" and city centers to go to that could give a short-term vistor a sense that they have "experienced the city." But here is just a bit of what I love about Tokyo. Most recommended resource on Tokyo: Bilingual Tokyo Atlas Tokyo does not have an addressing system that actually works for navigation. Only large streets are named. Most people navigate by landmarks and subway/train stations. A bilingual atlas of the city is a must if you are going to do any serious exploring. This the book you want. Location Transit Location: Finding the right hotel Most big hotels in Tokyo are fine. Some have better food and more fawning service than others. All will be clean and pleasant. They are all fairly expensive. You can get deals in smaller hotels and weekly residence type hotels. But I can't really help you there. That's very local and detailed knowledge. When I shop for a hotel in Tokyo I base it exclusively on proximity to a major station that I want to use as my transit and shopping hub. That would be Shibuya or Shinjuku for me. My ideal hotel is within the station building. Second choice is across from the station building. Third choice is within a 5 minute walk. The thing about Tokyo is that everything revolves around train and subway based transit. And I shop like crazy when I am there. I want to be able to train it to and from wherever I need to be, including the airport, and avoid car based transit as much as possible given the horrible traffic. Given this, and budget willing, my three top hotels are: The Shibuya Excel Tokyu Shinjuku Southern Tower Shibuya Cerulean If you want a taste of traditional Japan and aren't going to have time to leave Tokyo: Unlike Kyoto or Nara, Tokyo does not have a lot of traditional tourist spots. Most people will probably point you to Meiji Shrine and Asakusa Temple. Meiji Shrine is located in the youth district (next item) so a good stop if you want to hit both pomo and trad culture in one pop (see below) but Asakusa will give you a feel for "old" or "shitamachi" Tokyo. Any tour book of Tokyo will give you pointers to Asakusa. You'll find a pedestrian walk lined with shops selling touristy traditonal Japan items (think fans, happi coats, and fake katana). At the end of it is a large temple complex. Nearby (meaning a short train ride away) is the Kappabashi restaurant supply district that sells plastic food among other things - a nice alternative to more standard gifts to bring home. Youth Culture Overdose: Harajuku When I was a teenager in Tokyo in the eighties, the Harajuku area around Yoyogi park emerged as the youth street fashion center of the country. Since then, the fashion scene has gotten much more diverse and highly distributed around different parts of the city, but Harajuku is still one of the best areas for fashion watching for teens and is an incubator for new designer. It also has the benefit of being one of the few pleasant walk avenues in Tokyo (similar to Ginza for an earlier generation) thanks to the Tokyo Olympics. If you get out at Harajuku station (or Meiji-jingu station of the subway) you can make a visit to Meiji Shrine before hitting the fashion roads. If you make it there on a Sunday you'll see the street bands performing around the park area, and the goth lolita girls walking around that area. After enjoying the shrine and Yoyogi park, walk back to the station, to the left down the street past the Snoopy shop, until you hit Takeshita Street on your right, and walk down that towards Omotesando station. Takeshita-dori is a wonderfully cluttered kid fashion street It exits onto Meiji Street. Take a right back towards Omotesando, the main tree-lined avenue. On the way, you will see Laforet, across the street from the Gap complex. Laforet is where youth fashion brands are piloted before going national. This area is ground zero for Japanese youth fashion. When you hit the main intersection, turn left and enjoy the walk down Omotesando. Kiddyland, which you'll pass on your right has a lot of cool toys and character merchandise. Boutique Heaven - Aoyama (and Daikanyama) Eventually, you will hit another big street, Aoyama Street. This area is more where you have the fancy upscale boutiques. If you continue on Ometesando across Aoyama Street (where it gets much narrower), you'll see the flagship stores for famous local brands like Comme des Garcons and Issey Miyake. The little streets off to the right have lots of nice little eating places. Along this strip you'll also see the main boutique for the famous Yoku Moku pastry shop, done up in blue tile. If you are into upscale fashion, the other district to go to is Daikanyama. You'll find the Jean-Paul Gaultier flagship store there, as well as a bunch of smaller and offbeat boutiques. The fancy Address Building and La Fuente opened up there a few years ago, and what used to be a quiet residential area has turned into one of the main destinations for fashionable tourists visiting Tokyo. Shop 'til you find a coin locker, and shop some more I think most Tokyoites have one or two shopping districts that they know like the back of their hand and where they do most of their serious shopping. Mine is Shibuya. Even though it doesn't have the biggest electronic stores, the flagship boutiques, or the fanciest food, it has most everything I could need. And it was my backyard as a teenager during my peak consumption years, so its left an indelible imprint on my shopping habits. I buy 90% of my clothes in Shibuya even though I don't live in Japan anymore. Go figure. Shibuya is dominated by two department store groups - the Saison Group and the Tokyu Group. The Tokyu group has the cluster of shops and department stores in the actual station building, Tokyu Plaza a the West exit, 109 at the Hachiko exit, plus the Tokyu main store which is a 10 minute or so walk from the station. They also have Tokyu Hands. The Saison group has the Seibu cluster of department stores a stone's throw from the Hachiko exist of Shibuya station, plus LOFT and the PARCO stores. Tokyu Hands and LOFT are the two multi-storey "variety" shops that sell things like stationary, knick knacks, craft things, sporting goods, etc. They are super fun to browse around in. Hands has the more serious hobbyist gear including electrical and plumbing supplies and that kind of thing, but also fun silly things like weird flavored toothpaste, bags, and party goods. LOFT is more compact, more polished and trend setting, and has less of the hard core craft and hobby gear. The department stores feature the usual assortment of fashion brands, and generally over priced but high quality stuff. Little side streets like Spain-zaka have cheaper streety stuff. Pop into 109 if you want a taste of gyaru (Shibuya street girl) fashion. Walk down Center-gai, the pedestrian street on the other side of the big intersection from Hachiko. Stop in on one of the game or purikura sticker picture spots along that road and take some pictures to stick on your keitai. The other way to deal with shopping, with less serendipity but more efficiency, is to go to one of the new mega complexes that have been cropping up in different parts of town over the past decade. These are one stop desinations that will have everything you need. Dining, shopping, entertainment etc. Some examples of these are Roppongi Hills, Marubiru, or Shinjuku Times Square. My personal favorite in this category is Shinjuku Times Square even though it is not the newest or hottest because it is the most comprehensive and easiest to navigate. It also have a great bookstore which is a big plus for me. Gadgets An important subset of shopping: gadgetry. In Tokyo there a few well established brands of electronic stores that you'll see around - BIC Camera, Yodobashi Camera, and Sakura Camera, as well as a number of other stores that you'll only find in speciality areas like Akihabara. If you are looking for something relatively mainstream, you can find what you need at a BIC or Yodobashi or Sakura in Shibuya. The electronics shops in Shibuya and other city centers that don't specialize in electronics will have relatively compact shops that carry 80% of what most consumers need. One step up is the electronics district on the West side of Shinjuku station. I make almost all my electronics and gaming purchases at the suite of Yodobashi Camera stores in the Shinjuku area. There are maybe 6 different building specializing in cameras, computers, games, etc. where I can generally find what I need. For the even more hardcore electronics needs, the next stop is Akihabara, but that is over my head (see below). Otaku Heaven: Akihabara and Otome Road I think this may be a separate entry at some point in time when I have the energy to dive deep and poll those those who are more expert than me. I still need a guide during my visits to these districts. My two-liner on this is that if you are intersted in boy otaku culture, go to Akhihabara, and for girls' otaku culture go to Otome Road in Ikebukuro. But most importantly, find yourself an otaku guide. Food Food Food Food If there is one thing I think EVERY visitor to Tokyo should experience, it is the basement of a large department store. This would be the food department. Get yourself to a Seibu, Tokyu, Isetan, or Takashimaya department store in any major shopping district and go to the basement. Drool. Enjoy. Buy a gift to take home that will be the very palest reflection of the glory of the food floor. Restaurants... this is a really tough topic for Tokyo. There is just way too much good food. And resturants change very fast. For our of town folks who are willing to spend a bit, I often recommend Inakaya which is a fun Japanese BBQ place. It's very pricey, but you can go for a late night drink and just order masu-zake (draft sake) and one or two dishes. I love the Tsunahachi tempura place in the bowels of Shinjuku station. If you can find it, you deserve to eat there. But there are just so many wonderful places to eat in Tokyo, I hardly know where to start. You can pop in almost any place, from a noodle dive under the train tracks to a hotel French restaurant, and expect decent to extraordinary food. Bento.com is a great resource for English language visitors looking for restaurants. Other local excursions: The Studio Ghibli Museum is fun if you are a Miyazaki or Takahata fan. Tickets need to be purchased in advance. The Tsukiji fish market really is worth it if you are a foodie and jetlagged. You need to go early. Sushi for breakfast! Yum.
Situating the Global Cyberpunk Aesthetic
This is the first in a three part series on Cyberpunk by Mike Dillon The last decade has seen a startling growth in the demand for Japanese consumer culture. A weariness of recycled material, paired with wartime anti-Americanism in general has Western audiences craving for something different, something alternative. Many have found Japanese anime. As Susan J. Napier notes , the majority of American viewers are excited by the sophistication that Japan boasts in the medium that is different from the comparable market of Disney cartoons. The anime genre that has made the biggest splash worldwide has consistently belonged to the cyberpunk genre, as shown by the immense popularity of such films as Akira (Otomo Katsuhiro, 1988) and Ghost in the Shell (Oshii Mamoru, 1995). As many will attest, the cyberpunk narratives exported from Japan are typically animated. The conventions of Japanese animation, in trying to find a broader audience, have found its niche in cyberpunk. Why do the two work so well together? Here are some intersections between the two that continue to make Japanese entries in the genre marketable in the West. Putting the youth in charge Cyberpunk is a genre in which both the central protagonist and the core audience have a lot in common as would-be hackers, computer nuts, and sci-fi aficionados. Kids and quintessential geeks can become heroes, playing on an even field with their elders, using their technological prowess to combat evil in ways their parents never could. (In Serial Experiments Lain [Nakamura Ryutaro, 1998]), due to a new world order created by the population’s unanimous connection to the net, high technology has even become an integral part of a grade school education, and little kids are the toughest of information hustlers). The virtual realities in these stories are themselves a perpetuation of adolescent male fantasies, populated, for instance, by women with fantastic breasts and equally fantastic guns. Cyberpunk, just like anime in general, is “about the empowerment of the not quite adult” (Foster, in Haber Ed. 2003 ). As RJ Burrows notes, this is of special significance in Japan, in which the quintessential computer geek has materialized in the nationwide subculture of the Otaku, which in turn has evolved past its negative roots into a term widely accepted and used around the world. Translated into anime, and usually with a group of youngsters at the narrative helm, the entire genre often features elements of the coming-of-age drama, which, more often than not, features children as its central characters. Cyberspace as equalizer The future cities of the genre are often a mishmash of ethnic and national identities. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982), though set in Los Angeles, is particularly flooded with Asians in ways reminiscent of the sprawls in William Gibson’s Neuromancer. In the futuristic metropolis “Genom City,” the setting for Bubblegum Crisis (Akiyama Katsuhito and Gôda Hiroaki, 1987) and Bubblegum Crash (Hiroyuki Fukushima and Hiroshi Ishiodori, 1991), the characters’ surnames suggest Asian, American, European and Latin nationalities (their Japanese is nevertheless perfect). As author Bruce Sterling observes, cyberpunk, as a mode of storytelling, has found a place not just in American and Japanese, but various European (Nirvana [Gabriele Salvatores, 1997], Tykho Moon [Enki Bilal, 1996], Abre Los Ojos [Alejandro Amenábar, 1997]) and South American cinemas (Vana Espuma [Andrés Useche, 1998]) as well; it is a genre that, by definition, “aims for a wide-ranging, global point of view.” A seminal way in which the new era of digital technology accomplishes this is by utilizing the globally common language of ones and zeros in the creation of neutral, virtual playing fields like those in Avalon (Oshii, 2001)or .hack//SIGN (Mashimo Koichi, 2002), in which everyone adheres to a standardized set of objectives. Here, and in other similarly-themed films, the World Wide Web functions to level the field, creating an arena in which nationality, race, class, and gender are equalized under the universal standards of the virtual game. Cyberpunk as style Cyberpunk conventions are transgeneric and are therefore not only a comfortable fit with anime storytelling, but has always boasted a certain versatility in providing the thematic and visual templates for a wide range of vehicles. Comedy, drama, action… in the right context, cyberpunk would even work as horror, with the unmitigated realm of cyberspace just as uncharted and unknowable as any antagonist from outer space or from the depths hell. Serial Experiments Lain is a work of digital surrealism – a sort of cyberpunk meets an acid trip – whose narrative is so persistently incomprehensible it makes Akira play like an episode of Sesame Street. Finally, the Tetsuo films are ideal for showing the true versatility of the genre. It is a cyberpunk film in spirit, but its frenetic style owes more to MTV, its gooey imagery to David Cronenberg, and its fragmented, dreamlike tone and atmosphere of sheer weirdness to David Lynch, and the perverted eroticism of the forced fusion of organic and mechanic features to H.R. Giger. The films also read as something of a send-up of the superhero/transformation narrative, a genre that Japan has doubtlessly played a mighty morphin’ part in popularizing. The only invariable convention is the setting: ubiquitous cyber-technology implies an urban location and a not-so-distant future. Cyberpunk, theoretically, is applicable to any developed country because it originates from a universal apprehension toward modernization and the nature of mankind being redefined by the proliferation of machines that dates back to the industrial revolution. At its thematic center, the genre is by no means tied solely to Japanese cultural mythologies. It is perhaps more appropriate that cyberpunk be recognized “not as a movement in the U.S. and Japanese SF trade, but as a more encompassing aesthetic […] a legitimate international artistic style” (Csicsery-Ronay in McCaffrey Ed. 1991 )
From June 8-October 29, the Asian American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles will be featuring an exhibition of the photography of kip fulbeck. The exhibit features photographs of hapa combined with their own handwritten commentary about who they are. Sounds like a must-see for LA chanponites. "kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa" is an exhibition of portraits by artist Kip Fulbeck, who traveled the country photographing more than 1,000 Hapa of all ages and walks of life. Originally a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for half, the word Hapa has been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Rim ancestry. "kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa" is an artist's attempt to explore Hapa - who now number in the millions - and it offers a complex perspective on an increasing reality of contemporary America. Thanks Sharon!
Bobby Okinaka has launched a new website, Tokyo a la Mode, a magazine for Japanese fashion and urban culture. It already has some fun reviews of interesting fashion, film, and food and promises to grow into a great resource for those of you with an itch for an insider's view of Japanese street culture.
Here is another installment from my student essays from my Japanese popular culture class last year. This one is from Brendan Callum. From time to time there are motifs and symbols that come to represent or signify a certain genre. In contemporary Japanese independent film, a series of common motifs and symbols are beginning to define a new kind of surrealist film genre. The films of this genre are not epic tales of heroism and might, nor are they incomprehensible jumbles of random images. The ‘trials and tribulations of everyday life’ is the starting point upon which they embellish, with the use of a kind of magical realism and anime or manga-style movement and framing. There are often moments of complete stillness where the viewer can pore over the detailed scenes before ‘turning the page’ to see what happens (as in one of the many scenes where the family drinks tea together as well as actual animated sequences. The movies in this genre frequently allude to and parody other movie genres and subcultures. They also seem to delight in subverting stereotypical images with their downright odd families, empowered and often physically violent women, and their exploration of homosocial and homophobic tensions. Simply put though, they attempt to give the viewer a sense of the magic in everyday life through a thoroughly enjoyable, dream-like film experience. The movie Survive Style 5+ is probably the most wild and hectic of all three movies I’ll describe. Although the five interwoven storylines that give the movie its name are enough on their own to ensure that the movie is interesting and fast paced, all the scenes and characters are colorful and eccentric as well: a man who is repeatedly killing his reincarnating wife, a hit man with a translator who philosophically grills his targets before deciding to kill them, and a normal family whose father thinks he is a bird, to name a few. SS5+ also employs the greatest deal of magical realism (the murdered wife keeps coming back in different disturbing forms), the most graphic violence (a man spurting blood, manga-style, from a puncture wound to the neck), and some of the most vivid imagery all around (all costumes and backgrounds are brightly colored). In many ways it represents the extremes of this new genre. The movie takes what would normally be a rather uninteresting group of normal people and with the help of a good portion of surrealism, turns their lives into a fantastic tale that even seems to have a message. As mentioned earlier, much of the movie revolves around the first storyline about a man (Tadanobu Asano) trying desperately to kill his wife who keeps coming back to life. After killing her and burying her body numerous times (he even hires the eccentric hit man from the fifth storyline at one point), she comes back for the final time on Christmas Eve. The man finally realizes how ridiculous his struggle has been and the two seem set for a ‘happily ever after’ ending. Instead, another person kills her unexpectedly. Leaving the issue of gender aside, one might say that this story is a parable about how the things one desires most in life turn out to be ultimately empty and meaningless once one achieves them. This ‘moral value hidden under a mix of eclectic and dream-like images’ is definitely an element of this genre. Another interesting theme that plays a major role in the imagery of SS5+ is the domestication of the West. The movie references a wide range of Western images, from the easygoing hippy culture of the 1970’s (the VW van) of storyline four and the eclectic house of the first storyline) to the ideal family of the 1950’s (the rows of Western houses, the doting housewife, the working father, and the perfect children of storyline three). As almost no reference is made to these Western themes, it seems that these images are not used for their innate Western nature, but rather to add to the surreal quality of the movie. There is no sense of incongruity between the Japanese characters and their often distinctly Western settings. In fact, one of the hip young men of storyline four sports a Brett Favre jersey. Also, the name ‘Survive Style 5+,’ is in and of itself an interesting example of Western domestication. It is an English-inspired vocabulary item, like those frequently used in the Japanese advertising industry. The director, Sekiguchi Gen, has been a commercial creator and director before his film debut with SS5+ so this reference in the title is not without its reasoning and logic. From the rest of the subversive content of the film, one might come to the conclusion that this name is also an act of subversion; alluding to the hyper-active and often non-sensical world of advertising. SS5+ does a rather good job of subverting traditional gender roles with its murdered wife character. When she comes back from the dead the first time, she surprises her husband who has just returned from burying her dead body. He is stunned at first but she pays no attention and instead begins to prepare a giant feast for him. She sits still across the table watching him until every last crumb is consumed and every drop drunk. At this point the viewer might be thinking the wife is disgustingly subservient, coming back from the dead to make a feast for the man who murdered her. However, after the husband lights his cigarette and sits back, she gets up on the table and proceeds to kick him clear across the room in the slow motion scene mentioned earlier. It is then clear that she not only has superhuman strength, but a death wish for the man who killed her. In short, she seems to represent physically empowered women who won’t tolerate masculine dominance. More evidence for the empowered women representation lies in the character of the commercial writer, who adamantly defends her created commercial in front of an all male executive board and later hires the foreign hit man to kill her fiancée. Turning to The Taste of Tea, one finds that the most obviously subverted image is that of the Japanese family. On the surface the father works and the mother is a housewife, but a closer look reveals that the mother is animator whose work is respected in the all male world of animation. The grandfather, instead of being stoic and traditional, is slightly crazy and likes to pretend fight with the children. There is no plot to speak of in TTT, rather we have something normally quite boring and mundane transformed into something quite odd and wonderful. The director, Katsuhito Ishii, and the production company, ‘Grasshoppa’, behind TTT have produced and directed many short films, some of them animated, so it is no surprise that this feature length film consists of various episodes strung loosely together. Yet at the end of the movie, it feels like one cohesive story with a message as well, something subtle like the taste of tea from which the movie gets its name. Some scens in TTT involve cosplay and otaku. The movie jokes about anime otaku and their obsession, but ultimately portrays them in a very positive light. First we are shown a scene on the train where two men pose in their elaborate costumes for the benefit of a photographer. When they get off the train they are assaulted by a drunken yakuza who bumps into one cosplayers robot costume and hurts himself. The other cosplayer tries to stop the drunken man but ends up getting hurt instead. Later on those very same otaku end up saving the drunken man’s life. This could easily be seen as a moral message about how you can’t discriminate against a group of people just because they seem strange or different. Anno Hideaki, the director of the animated series, Evangelion, makes a cameo as an animator, solidifying the movie’s positive connection with otaku. The movie presents an image of otaku that strives to fight the fear and loathing sometimes present in the mainstream view. Shimotsuma Monogatari deals with otaku culture, as well as consumerism, in the form of a young girl from Tokyo obsessed with frilly Western dresses and the lolita look. When she is forced to move out to the country, she travels all the way into Tokyo to buy her dresses whenever she can. However she is not just a mindless consumer, by the end of the movie she is actively involved in producing the very dresses she loves to buy and wear, subverting the image of females as purely consumers. SM has the most structure out of the three movies, climaxing with a big female biker gang fight. In a strange turn of events, the main character befriends a member of an all female biker gang who later gets caught up in the gang politics. The biker friend teaches the rather self centered and feminine main character how to be stronger, and at the end of the movie the main character rushes in to save her biker friend from being ‘disciplined’ by the other gang members. Once again empowered women play a major role in the plot. Despite the almost mainstream plot of SM, the presence of the actress Tsuchiya Anna (from TTT), as well as the multiple parodies and references to other subcultures, place the film firmly in this new genre. Once again there are animated sequences (portraying the deeds of a legendary female bike gang leader), parodies (of yakuza and pachinko parlors to name a few), and the presence of the lolita otaku subculture (main character). The traditional family stereotypes are subverted as well, with the main character’s family consisting of a thug for a father, a crazy grandmother with a patch over one eye, an adulterous mother, and her own otaku self. SM is interesting on another level as well. It basically depicts a modern city girl with her love of Western dress and philosophy living in the traditional Japanese farmland. Her love for Western dresses is not destroying the traditional countryside; rather the modern and traditional exist alongside one another even if the relationship depicted is not always a harmonious one. In one scene the main character steps in cow dung on her way to the station. As for the origins of this new genre and its relevance to Japanese society, there are many possibilities. One of the most interesting possibilities is an increased appreciation for the style of animation and manga in Japan as well as abroad. Because they reference so many styles, techniques, and subcultures from the anime and manga world, it is easy to see how these movies could be popular with those fans. These movies, while not incredibly successful in Japan or America, have received very high ratings (all around 8.0 out of 10.0) from a small base of users on the online film database website www.imdb.com. This hints towards another possibility, that there is a small but supportive fan base (i.e., the same fans that watch the animated films and shorts with the same actors and directors). While the directors and producers for the three films are all different, there are a few shared actors: Tadanobu Asano is in both SS5+ and TTT, Tsuchiya Anna is in both SM and TTT, while Arakawa Yoshiyoshi is in SM and SS5+. These actors, especially Tadanobu, have come to represent the genre in the same way the other motifs do. Since these movies are very recent, the full reaction of the Western film community cannot quite be gauged. Nonetheless, movies like these three are testament to the international appeal of Japanese popular culture. For a well known British actor like Vinnie Jones to join the cast of an independent Japanese movie is an interesting development for the film industry and speaks once again to the increased international recognition of Japan’s popular culture. From the comments they receive on www.imdb.com to their billings for international film festivals across the West, one can see there is interest in the movies’ ability to reveal the magical qualities of everyday life. Hopefully, through the growing popularity of this genre, all international audiences will soon have the pleasure of experiencing these breathtakingly surreal worlds.
Some recent email correspondence netted me an interesting new find in the multicultural Japan online space. Dirk Schwieger, a German comic artist living in Japan, has been combining exploration of Japan with his art. He takes assignments from readers of things to do and explore and write about. So far these have included depictions of everyday life in Japan, pedestrian tourist travels such as Ghibli and Hara art museums, more adventurous forays to a love hotel and dancing the para para, as well harrowing accounts of natto and embarrassing enounters with a bidet in a workplace washroom. I highly recommend a browse through Dirk's site for an often humorous and always artfully rendered glimpse into Tokyo life. [link]
My friend Tracy and her family in Canada recently started a blog called Asian Wild Rose about multi-cultralism. She is a young Vietnamese woman I met on IRC and have been chatting with about various things including racial stereotypes and living in North America as an Asian. Although she's not Japanese, the issues are very similar.
Here is another installment from my student essays from my Japanese popular culture class last year. This one is from Ainsley Breault. According to an article about MTV, Music Television, the station is "Undeniably an institution… viewed in over 342 million households in 140 countries, on 31 channels and in 17 languages. Consistent in its stronghold over those aged 13 to 24, MTV is known worldwide as the leading youth broadcaster" (Manning-Schaffel). As a result of the enormous influence of MTV, it is not surprising then that MTV Japan would provide a unique lens into Japanese pop culture. The top four most downloaded songs on MTVJapan.com reflect the work of artists whose image, music style, and popularity all provide important revelations on elements of Japanese youth culture. These artists, Orange Range, Amuro Namie, 50 Cent and Eminem, are each unique in their importance to Japanese pop culture. Collectively, the list captures the growing influence of the West, not only through the appearance of American artists Eminem and 50 Cent, but also through the Western influence on the top two Japanese artists. MTV Japan's ranking captures more than just the popular music of the moment; it captures popular culture. In order to understand the importance of MTV Japan's rankings, one must first comprehend MTV Japan's crucial position in the context of Japanese youth culture. According to hqap.com, a website on the most influential American corporations in Japan, the channel "has been viewed by over 5 million households in Japan. By leveraging MTV Networks’ brand name and its upbeat culture, MTV Japan has firmly established its presence in Japanese media market" (H&Q). The channel is not just popular as a result of the American brand name, however. The network only achieved its current level of popularity after altering the programming to appeal to a Japanese audience. Many changes have been made to the American model for the network; according to an article on the network's popularity, approximately 80 percent of all programming on the network is unique to Japan (Santana). These modifications have ranged from the creation of completely unique programs to the addition of simple changes in the appearance of the network, such as the use of anime Video Jockeys. As a result of these modifications, MTV Japan has become an important fixture in the establishment and distribution of popular culture that is uniquely Japanese. MTV Japan's influence is a true testament to the merit of its rankings, making Orange Range's position as the number one most downloaded artist commendable. Orange Range formed in 2001 when six friends played together at their junior high school graduation. These six boys, five 21 year olds and one 19 year old, impressed audiences initially with their good looks and "bad-ass" style. The group won the New Artist of the Year award at the 18th annual Golden Disc Awards in Japan in 2004, when they released their first album Musiq. This album achieved enormous success, "selling over 2.4 million copies and producing four No.1 singles" (japan-zone.com). The strong Western influence on this band is first apparent in an analysis of the group's music style. Orange Range is perhaps the most recent band in a long line of the "Okinawa musicians". Okinawa houses a controversial American military base, a place where "G.I.'s hang out in bars and live music clubs. People get drunk and get into fights. Whites, blacks, and Okinawans go out all night. Asian chaos meets wild Westerners" (Tack 1). As a result of this influence, Orange Range's music is an odd combination of both American pop and hip hop music and traditional Okinawan music. The views of this style of music within Japan seem to illustrate what Joseph Tobin describes as the dichotomy between the terms "domestication" and other terms such as westernization, modernization, or postmodernism. Orange Range's success can be seen to support Tobin's use of the word domestication, in the sense that the process is "active, morally neutral, and demystifying. Domesticate has a range of meanings, including tame, civilize, naturalize, make familiar, bring into the home… the Japanese are doing all of these things vis-à-vis the West" (Tobin 4). Tobin's points coincide with the fact that Orange Range, along with all of the Okinawa artists, are not merely copying the American influences they are exposed to, but are instead adapting them to appeal to Japanese youth. As an anonymous review of the band states, Orange Range "makes me want to ask why they ONLY choose to arrange from those B-level pop music … I felt that this is a quite interesting band that they wonderfully re-created those B-class pop music into trashy A-class pop" (Tack 2). This quote emphasizes the active nature of Orange Range's domestication; they selectively chose songs that perhaps are not of the highest quality in America, but manufactured those songs to suit their own needs. Ironically enough, the second most popular song on MTV Japan.com was also by an Okinawa artist; Namie Amuro. Namie Amuro released her first album in 1994, and has become a J-pop artist of unrivaled popularity. According to her fansite, (oddly, written completely in English), Namie "was a huge sensation in the 90’s and has gone on to be one of the most successful Japanese pop artists of all time" (Nippop.com). Namie Amuro, much like Orange Range, released music strongly under the influence of the Western presence in Okinawa. As Namie Amuro herself states, her biggest influences were Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey (Amuro Namie.com). If Orange Range can be said to be a figure of domestication of Western music, Namie Amuro's largest reflection of the influence of Western culture is through her fashion sense. As is evident through the dramatic influence on American style through figures such as Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani, the image of a pop star is a powerful reflection of the style of the youth of a nation. Namie Amuro in particular is perhaps most well known for her sense of fashion and her tremendous influence. As Nippop.com, a large J-pop website, states, "Amuro’s legions of her fans have been dubbed “amura” (a mix of Amuro and admirer) by the media, and influence on fashion can be seen throughout the country" (Nippop.com). Again reflecting Tobin's ideas of domestication, Amuro's style has combined elements of Western hip hop style with Japanese ideals of beauty and cuteness. As Sharon Kinsella states in her article "Cuties in Japan", "the rebellious, individualistic, freedom-seeking attitude embodied in acting childlike and pursing cute fashion is very clear. The magazine prints pages of photographs of readers, whom it calls 'kids', posing in clubs and streets trying to look bad and cute at the same time" (KInsella 230). Amuro, reflecting this uniquely Japanese idea, is famous for her "platform shoes with miniskirt, tweezed eyebrows, [and] flower in hair" (Nippop.com). However, on Amuro's profile on her own website, she states her favorite brands as Fila and Polo sports, and her favorite accessories as caps and silver rings, clearly reflecting a hip-hop influence. Pictures of her on her website feature such contradictions as her sitting demurely among flowers, pouting her lips, with a tight "Atlanta Georgia Hooters" t-shirt on. Yet another picture features the typical Japanese "direct gaze and the pout" (Kinsella 205) that can be found on young girls in Japanese men's magazines. In this picture, however, she is wearing an oversized Fila hoodie and baggy jeans. As a result of this appropriation of both American and Japanese styles, Amuro has created a unique look all her own. This uniqueness reflects Tobin's ideas that "what people consume may be as important as what they produce in shaping a sense of self… Younger workers are rejecting the notion that the central meaning of their lives lies in the workplace" (Tobin 8). It is perhaps in response to this that Amuro Namie got a barcode tattooed on her neck; her eclectic adapted fashion serves to create her own identity, allowing her to break free from the manufactured identities of the work force. Rounding out the list of MTV Japan's top four list of downloaded songs are artists who clearly reflect the growing influence of the West: Eminem and 50 Cent. These two artists truly capture a Japanese perception of what is "cool" in America right now; the gangster, Los Angeles image captured in hip hop culture. According to an article on the popularity of hip-hop by Caleb Kinney, "In Japan, a wealthy nation and where 99% of its citizens are of Japanese nationality, hip hop is currently one of the most popular types of music. One wonders how Japanese youth embraced the tale of American's ghettos and racial struggles, for Japan is a high-regulated society where instances of racial conflict and urban poverty are incredibly minuscule" (Kinney). However, as is stated in Donald Richie's book Image Factory , "' We Japanese have very good editing skills. We get bits and pieces from all over the world and digest it, put it through the filter, and then output it as a new style that fits our culture'" (Richie 157). American hip hop has become uniquely Japanese, with Sony's release in 1998 of the Japanese video game Parappa the Rapper, which " presents America’s gangsta rap with a kid-friendly array of colors and cartoon appearance. The hero of the game is a dog dressed in the stereotypical American hip-hop fashion of baggy jeans and a stocking cap" (Kinney). The Japanese have appropriated nearly all aspects of the hip-hop lifestyle, as "DJs are still spinning popular songs from America… breakdancers are regularly seen practicing on street corners, graffiti artists are making names from themselves and becoming increasingly popular, Japanese hip-hoppers almost put America to shame on how much effort they use to be fashionable, and the clubs are still attracting maximum capacity" (Kinney). The appearance of 50 Cent and Eminem at the bottom of MTV Japan's top four list brings to the forefront yet another issue prominent in discourses on Japanese pop culture: the use of English. It seems odd at first that two of the most popular singles could be in a language that many members of the population could not even understand. This problem relates also to Orange Range and Amuro Namie. Amuro Namie's single "So Crazy" features a chorus combining random English phrases with Japanese. Orange Range's music similarly features either English words or words resembling English words. While this appearance of English may at first present a problem, it instead contributes to the idea of domestication of Western influences. As for the English in Amuro Namie and Orange Range singles, as James Stanlaw explains, "the words and symbols were communal and, hence, more public than private. The amateur rock and rollers create English phrase that have personal meaning to them and they hope will catch the attention of their listeners" (Tobin 66). As for the English rap songs of Eminem and 50 Cent, as Kinney states, "language barrier that one imprisoned hip-hop has been broke down for the love of culture and most people forget that words are only a fraction of what hip-hop contains… keep in mind many times the speed that rappers spit out verses cannot be comprehended by any language" (Kinney). Again, according to Stanlaw, "Japanese English is used in Japan for Japanese purposes" (Tobin 75). One can gather much information based on the top songs on the MTV of any given nation. MTV Japan, in particular, has proven its popularity and intimate connection with the youth culture of Japan. Accordingly, the top four artists on MTV Japan.com quite accurately mirror trends in popular culture. What is striking about these artists however is not simply their music styles, images, or popularity alone, but what their characteristics reveal about the absorption of Western culture into the Japanese mainstream. Popular music captures very clearly Tobin's "domestication" of Western culture; aspects of American style and music, along with American music itself, are made uniquely Japanese. The result is not a top four list that mocks the top requested songs on MTV in America, but rather a list that captures Japanese culture all on its own. Works Cited Amuro Namie 9742. Ed. Khor Wan Sen. 1998. 4 April 2005. http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/9742/. H&Q Asia Pacific. 2001. H&Q Asia Pacific. 4 April 2005. http://www.hqap.com/portfolio/japan.html#mtv. Japan-Zone.com. 1994-2004. The Japan Zone. 4 April 2005. http://www.japan-zone.com/modern/orange_range.shtml. Kinney, Caleb. "Hip Hop Influences Japanese Culture." Aphire.com, 2004. http://www.lightonline.org/articles/chiphopjapan.html. Kinsella, Sharon. 1995. "Cuties in Japan." In Skov, Lise and Moeran, Brian, eds. Women, Media, and Consumption in Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Manning-Schaffel. "360 Degress, 24/7". Brand Channel.com. 4 February 2002. http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=77. Nippop.com. 2005. Nippop. 4 April 2005. http://nippop.com/artist/artist_id-72/artist_name-namie_amuro/. Richie, Donald. The Image Factory: Fads and Fashions in Japan. London: ReaktionBooks Ltd., 2003. Santana, Kenny. "MTV goes to Asia." Yale Global Online, 2004, http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2211&page=2. Tack, J. "Orange Range (Read 'Original Arranger')." Jap Attack.com. 2005. http://www.japattack.com/japattack/music/orangerange.html. Tobin, J.J. (ed). Remade in Japan: Everyday Life and Consumer Taste in a Changing Society. New Haven: Yale University Press
A series of four ads from Nintendo touches on the difficult time Japanese people might have in English language dominant environments. As a foreigner who lived in Japan and often nodded and said "thank you" because I didn't want to trouble people too much, I can relate to these short videos. They've done a good brief job staging the yearning awkwardness of trans-cultural communication. Towards what end? To promote some brain-training games that can help you with foreign language skills. Portable gaming devices are becoming powerful enough to provide translation services - a great reason to justify the purchasing and carrying of these "toys". The Sony PSP has a product with a talking bird that will say things like "Where is a cheap hotel?" through the PSP speakers. The Nintendo DS, judging from this ad, uses the touch-screen input to allow people to practice their English handwriting.
This week's Fortune features an article, Anime Explosion on the growth of the anime and otaku market in the US. The gist of the message is that US companies catering to the otaku market have a unique formula for success that involves listening to fans and fandom esoterica, and embracing the latest distribution technologies. This includes a truce with online fansubbers and filesharing, where online distribution is tolerated until the show is licensed in the US, after which fansubbers will voluntary take their files down. A few numbers jumped out at me. Conventions: Otakon in Baltimore was sold out this year with 22,000 fans. Anime Explo in Anaheim had 33,000. Anime and manga are now a $625 million industry in N. American retail. The ouput of the top US DVD distributor in the US, ADV, is more than the combined DVD distribution of Warner Brothers and Parmount, the top to US TV show distributors. No wonder Fortune is paying attention. I loved this quote from Richard Taylor of Weta, working on a live action Evangelion film: Once the Weta-ADV partnership hit the news, the company's in-box started overflowing. "We get a lot of e-mails, a lot of letters from people around the world about Lord of the Rings. But we get 25 e-mails about Evangelion to every one we get about Lord of the Rings," says Taylor. "And Evangelion has not even been made yet: It's just a whisper in the corridors of ADV, and it's a suggestion in the hallways of Weta." Thanks Ryan!
Here is another installment from my student essays from my Japanese popular culture class. This one is from Jennilee Tuazon. Her blank eyes gaze at you from her white face, her button nose a sunshine yellow. A dainty bow rests askew on her left ear, the color matching the day’s adorable—not to mention perfectly coordinated—outfit. Cute, one almost overlooks an important feature: the mouth. Hello Kitty, the embodiment of cute, has no mouth. After more than 30 years, she remains a popular and recognizable character, with generation after generation of young girls falling in love—or at least consumer lust—with Hello Kitty, their zeal for collecting the fancy goods at times extending in adulthood. Why the interest (both love and loathing for the character) in Hello Kitty and all things kawaii? What factors have contributed to her rise and continued success on a global scale? Finally, what are the implications of a mouthless Hello Kitty in terms of gender stereotypes and agency? Created in 1974 by Japan’s Sanrio Company, Hello Kitty remains one of the world’s most recognizable and lucrative brands despite limited advertising. A recent search on Google showed over five million results for the search terms “Hello Kitty.” Clearly, the graphically simple character created over 30 years ago continues to resonate with self-proclaimed fans and detractors alike. My fascination with Sanrio products began early. Though not a fan of Hello Kitty herself while I was growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was nonetheless a huge Sanrio fan, my favorite characters being Pochacco (the sporty dog) and Keroppi (the clumsy frog). Sanrio products were my first introduction to Japanese popular culture though at the time I was unaware of its cultural origin. Moreover, my first Sanrio purchase marked my official entrée into consumer culture. Each fall right before the beginning of the new school year, I remember making the trip to the Sanrio Surprises store at the local mall to stock up on vital school supplies such as pencil cases, pencils, pens, erasers, and pencil sharpeners with the latest character design. The characters were just so cute and much more fun to use than the plain yellow number two pencils and pink erasers. My love of Sanrio fancy good products lasted until late elementary school, but, for some, the love appears to last much longer, stretching into adolescence and adulthood. Celebrities continue to sport Hello Kitty gear, from t-shirts and plastic jewelry at casual events to sequined purses and bejeweled compacts at black-tie affairs. Now, I am fascinated by the continued interest “grown” women show in Hello Kitty and the embracement of the cute, mouthless cat, especially in an American society that often pathologizes or criticizes adults for embracing child culture (with which the character has been associated). What exactly makes Hello Kitty so appealing? And what are the implications of her appeal? What started as a Sanrio experiment in 1971 (during which the company printed cute designs on writing paper and stationary) at the time of the cute handwriting craze in Japan grew into what is now a billion dollar global corporation that has released hundreds of cute characters pictured on their wide range of fancy goods (Kinsella, 1995:225-226). Fancy goods, Kinsella explains, are: small, pastel, round, soft, loveable, not traditional Japanese style but a foreign—in particular European or American—style, dreamy, frilly and fluffy. [. . . ] The essential anatomy of a cute cartoon character consists in its being small, soft, infantile, mammalian, round, without bodily appendages (e.g. arms), without bodily orifices (e.g. mouths), non-sexual, mute, insecure, helpless or bewildered (1995:226). Hello Kitty—with her large, round head; blank eyes; and no mouth—is the perfect example of cute characters used in the fancy goods industry. She is small, harmless, non-sexual (and, in Sanrio form, not sexualized), and, above all, cute. According to her official biography, she lives in London along with her parents and twin sister, Mimmy. The biography concludes with the line, “As Hello Kitty always says, you can never have too many friends." In addition, Kitty now serves as the “UNICEF Special Friend of Children” and works to educate fans about gender disparity in the educational system globally. Hello Kitty is the embodiment of all that is good and wholesome in this world. A discussion of Hello Kitty is nearly impossible without an explanation of kawaii and the culture that surrounds the term. Historically, the rise of cuteness is traced back to the 1970s, with the popularization of cute handwriting and manga and disillusionment with earlier student riots and subsequent capitalization of those trends by the fancy goods industry (Kinsella, 1995:225). Though the general meaning of the word is “cute,” the qualities and connotations associated with the term are many. As Kinsella writes, a survey among men and women in 1992 revealed a number of other terms associated with kawaii, including: childlike, innocent, naïve, unconscious, natural, emotional contact between individuals, fashionable, associated with animals, and weak (1995:237-240). Kawaii is a produced style and aesthetic as well as an inherent quality a person, place, or thing possesses. The rise of Hello Kitty in the global consumer market, like other successful pop cultural imports, may be attributed to the process of removing traces of Japanese origin. Iwabuchi has coined the expression “culturally odorless products” to describe the ways in which Japanese products erase their “Japaneseness” in order to be more successfully marketed overseas (Allison, 2000:70). Moreover, “effacing the identity—the Japaneseness—of Japanese products appears to be even more prominent in the US Market” (Allison, 2000:70). Making a product “culturally odorless” somehow reduces resistance to a product through its reduction of difference. “Relating” or “understanding” a product becomes easier through this process. Like Allison’s example, in which the differences in The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were domesticated and the origins erased, the Japanese origin of Sanrio products remains obscure or hidden. In fact, Hello Kitty’s surname is White, and she hails from London. When first introduced to Hello Kitty and all her Sanrio companions, I never equated the characters, or the company behind them, with a specific national identity or state. Although I had some sense that the product likely came from Asia given the heavy presence of Sanrio products in primarily Asian communities near my childhood home and the fact that only young Asian women were employed in the many Sanrio stores I frequented, I had no idea that Sanrio was a Japanese company until a few years ago. Sanrio achieved their goal to the extent that even Hello Kitty’s current designer (the third in the history of the character) was at first unsure whether or not Kitty was a licensed character or an original one created in Japan (Interview with Yamaguchi on now offline hellokittythebook.com). The consumer success of Hello Kitty gives Sanrio considerable “soft power” globally. As Nye explains, “soft power” remains one way in which one country can influence another’s desires or values (McGray, 2002). While I agree that all things Japanese are presently considered to be very “cool” or “hip” or “in” and I would argue that there is much greater awareness of Sanrio products as Japanese in origin (if not by young consumers, then at least older ones), I do not think the company has really tapped into that “soft power” on any level other than the consumer one. Consumer desire for all things Hello Kitty—from pencils to hair brushes and, for true (and older) Kitty aficionados, even vibrators—continue to drive sales for Hello Kitty more than 30 years after her introduction into the consumer market. Still, the very image of Hello Kitty provokes mixed reactions. The “Japaneseness” now associated with Hello Kitty may give the owner of the products a certain cache and even coolness (especially given her celebrity following) to some audiences while others may view the image as overly cute and unprofessional, especially when used by older women. Sales of a billion dollars a year suggest that Hello Kitty has quite a fan base. While some sites are devoted exclusively to images and the biography of Hello Kitty, others wax philosophical about the character or write poems. As one fan writes: Kitty is a paradigm of the preadolescent female self, before young women are forced to internalize the images of what society promotes as necessary to become beautiful or appealing: uncomfortable shoes, control-top pantyhose, a cow-like Nancy Reagan gaze, and those two twin demons—silicone and StairMasters. Kitty is eternally uncorruptible. She doesn’t want to please anyone except herself. [. . .] A fellow Kittyphile suggests that Kitty, with her immaculate whiteness, is the embodiment of pure innocence” (Hanks, 1999). (While I would argue that Kitty’s gaze may be interpreted as just as cow-like as Nancy Reagan’s, I digress.) Hanks’s words show the ways in which Kitty has been appropriated as a feminist, girl power image. Fans of Hello Kitty project their own feelings onto the character, allowing consumers to give them identities (Gomez, 2004). However, not all opinions of Hello Kitty are quite that positive. Many websites comment on Hello Kitty’s lack of mouth, often treating the subject with biting sarcasm. The official word from Sanrio is that Hello Kitty speaks from the heart; as Sanrio’s global ambassador, she is not bound by language. Nevertheless, her mouthless countenance has inspired even academics to comment. Kitty, like other cute characters, has “stubbly arms, no fingers, no [mouth], huge [head], massive eyes—which can hide no private thoughts from the viewer—nothing between their legs, pot bellies, swollen legs or pigeon feet. [. . .] Cute things can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t in fact do anything at all for themselves because they are physically handicapped” (Kinsella, 1995:236). All these remain qualities of the weak which are praised or even glorified by kawaii culture and images. Through cute images, the signifiers of infantilism—weakness, helplessness, childishness, and dependence—become things to aspire to or things to mimic. In an American society that lauds autonomy and independence, the underlying qualities represented by kawaii images, which are primarily associated with young girls, remain problematic. Without a mouth, Hello Kitty has neither voice nor agency. The image of Hello Kitty further perpetuates the stereotype of the docile Asian female. Hello Kitty, like Madame Butterfly before her, may be viewed as little more then a “compliant, doll-like [object] of fantasy,” albeit a typically non-sexualized one (Ma, 1996:17). The Asian woman is “not as verbal and tend[s] not to assert [herself] in a public setting” (Ma, 1996:18). In this sense then, Hello Kitty is the prototypical Asian female, unable to verbalize for she has no mouth. Various artists and satirists have paid particular attention to Hello Kitty’s lack of mouth. The Tims have written a poem entitled “Hello Kitty Has No Mouth” . Irreverent, sample lines read “Hello Kitty has no mouth, yet she speaks the truth/ [. . .] Hello Kitty has no mouth, yet she’s the spokesperson for Sanrio.” They also include a hilarious, albeit somewhat nonsensical, FAQs page in which they enlighten readers about reasons for Hello Kitty having no mouth as well field angry responses from fervent Kitty lovers. Meanwhile, performing artist Jaime Scholnick has created a film entitled “Hello Kitty Gets a Mouth”. Inspired by her shock at the popularity of the mouthless Kitty, Scholnick decided it was time for the silent female to get a voice. Her introduction reads: After years of silence, Hello Kitty now joins the historic list of others of the same gender in acquiring a voice. The short film depicts the frustration Hello Kitty encounters upon realizing her inability to utter a sound. Appropriately frustrated by her discovery, Hello Kitty promptly takes action and finds herself in the perfect place for reconstructive surgery, Los Angeles. Scholnick gives Hello Kitty both agency and voice, sending the message that females can be empowered and more than able to solve their problems. Hello Kitty remains one of the most recognizable and profitable brands in the world today. Her popularity and Sanrio’s financial success has brought both popular and academic attention to the image of the cartoon character and the meanings conveyed by her countenance and design. The culturally odorless nature of the character at the beginning of Sanrio’s global expansion, her cute appearance, and the certain “coolness” or cache that Japaneseness now lends to the product have contributed to the success of the brand. Finally, the very image of Hello Kitty appears to promote traditional gender stereotypes, glorifying the weakness and infantilism of young girls. Such views have led to satirical works that criticize the image while still approaching the topic in a humorous fashion.
A few weeks ago I received an email in my inbox asking if my kids would be interested in trying out some laptop lunch boxes. Laptop lunch boxes? Intrigued, I emailed the nice folks at obentec in the affirmative. Is this my first product placement for my bento blog ? Much too fun an opportunity to turn down, particularly as an offer coming from a small health-oriented and environmentally sound mom and mom operation. And a chanpon product inspired by Japanese bento boxes to boot! Last week two laptop lunch boxes arrived! My kids were even more excited than I was with the new bento tech. Even though my bento blog has been on hiatus because I am in the midst of a web redesign, I did blog my first laptop lunch. Laptop lunch boxes are a clever integration of the aesthetics of bento with the social progressivism, health orientation and design aesthetic of the San Francisco Bay Area. The compartments fit together in bento fashion, but are packed in a carrying case that looks like a cross between a laptop case and a soft American kids lunchbox. The deluxe set (which I was lucky enough to get) also comes with a plastic water bottle and a knife and fork. Maybe if I had started off with laptop lunches rather than standard Japanese bento my daughter may not have felt as strange during kindergarten lunch hour. Reading the obentec web site and their commitment to reducing waste and promoting health made me realize how different my lunch packing habits are from the American mainstream. I have always used Japan-origin reusable containers and utensils and only pack things in disposable plastic for field trips when the school insists on it. But judging from the mission of laptop lunch boxes, this is far from the norm in the U.S. I have also never considered my lunch packing habits to be specifically "health-oriented," but more a commitment to packing stuff that tastes good that my kids will like. And I do want them to grow up knowing and loving Japanese food. I've always wondered about whether kids really like lunchables which seem to oddly appealing as well as unappetizing. But my kids have never asked for one or a bologna sandwich for that matter, so I've never given them much thought. Laptop lunches though are a direct response to these tendencies in American lunchbox culture, addressing the wishes of the progressive American consumer with a nod to Japanese bento culture. The web site includes pleas to sustainable lunch box packing, as well as vegetarian recipes and warnings about the rise in childhood obeisity. While far from supersized, the compartments are larger than a Japanese bento box, forcing me to rethink some of my packing habits. Rather than pack a snack separately, I've been packing it within the laptop lunch. This seems to work pretty well. I find that the ideal lunch for the laptop lunch box revolves around a sandwich or sushi and features mostly dry food. The designers decided only to provide watertight lids for one large container and the dip container to mimimize the frustration of hunting for multiple lids. But this means I can only pack one wet item. This doesn't work for all meals and makes me realize that I pack a lot of juicy fruit and saucy dishes. For hot meals I still use my Zojirushi thermal bento, and for onigiri I pack them in my special sankaku containers. I confess I have over fifteen different bento box variants that I rotate through on a regular basis. The laptop lunch box though is different enough to my usual combos that I think it will invite some new lunch packing innovations. I'm still in the the learning phase with my obentec, but I like the new addition to my repetoire and the kids have really taken to the cool Americanized design that still contains the kinds of foods they like to eat. The little details are enough to warm a Japanese mom's heart - the little sauce container, the compartment for cutlery, and the way everything fits tightly from the inner compartment to the outer insulated carrier, minimizing spills and keeping everything compact. Plus, laptop lunch boxes are guaranteed lead-free and feature the American-style convenience of diswasher safe-ness. I can't tell you how many Japanese bento boxes I've ruined because a lid went into the wrong dishwasher rack.
In her master's thesis submitted to the East Asian Studies Center at USC, Annie Manion argues that among college students in the US, anime has become one of the most important drivers of interest in Japan and Japanese language study. Drawing from surveys and interviews of students taking Japanese language classes and anime club members, Manion suggests that "there is a good deal of overlap" between young people studying Japanese and those involved with the anime fan community. Over half of Japanese language students cited "understanding Japanese anime, music, etc." as one reason they are taking a Japanese class. ... over the last few years the type of student interest in Japan has been changing. Where in the past Japanese language programs attracted people interested in learning about Japanese economic growth and business practices, recently Japanese language students seem more interested in Japanese culture. A recent article for the Wall Street Journal addressed the trend, saying that in the past nine years, the majority of Japanese language students at the University of Georgia are no longer international business majors, but rather Japanese culture fanatics. In line with other research by scholars such as Susan Napier or Anne Allison, Annie has found that national origin is not necessarily what atracts young people to anime. But she has also found that once someone becomes an anime fan, they often develop an interest in learning more about Japan. "The fact is that people who like anime, depending on their exposure to Japanese culture, tend to like many aspects of Japanese culture, from popular to traditional, as well, and develop at some point either the desire to learn Japanese or visit Japan." I had been hearing a lot of anecdotal information from faculty and students at USC about how the tide has shifted in the kinds of interests that bring young Americans to an interest in Japan. While anime is not the only type of Japanese popular culture that has gotten interest among American children and youth, it is probably the most dominant. Annie's thesis makes a strong case about these trends. She also argues that it is high time we took anime seriouly in the academy as an ambassador for Japanese culture. She notes that anime continues to be marginalized in the US despite its broad appeal among young people. "Because of this many young people are not encouraged to pursue their interest in anime, and it is still uncommon for anime to be used in formal classroom settings as a means to teach about Japan." As a member of the academy who is researching and teaching about anime, I couldn't agree more. Download Annie's thesis
Brendan Callum writes about his experiences with auto-translation on the online role playing game Final Fantasy XI for chanpon.org. This summer I had the privilege of playing the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Final Fantasy XI. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the experience, other than being eaten by dragons and spending hours trying to feed stubborn chocobos, was the game’s linguistic environment. This summer I had the privilege of playing the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Final Fantasy XI. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the experience, other than being eaten by dragons and spending hours trying to feed stubborn chocobos, was the game’s linguistic environment. FFXI is one of the more recent versions in a long series of Japanese made games with the name “Final Fantasy.” You might be wondering what kind of novelty the 11th incarnation of a game could bring to the table, but FFXI was indeed the first FF game to be fully online and multiplayer. When releasing the game into its two biggest markets, Japan and America, the designers chose to make all the servers joinable by players from both countries, meaning that Japanese and American players would have to coexist. With the language difference in mind, the designers also built an “Auto-Translate” system into the game. The system is basically a database of set phrases that when accessed and typed during game-play show up in the users native language, no matter the language of the user who typed them. The database contains phrases like, (Understood.), (I can speak a little.), and (I don’t know how to answer that question.). To access the database you simply start typing the phrase you want to say, then press the space bar and the system will find the closest matches. When you enter the phrase you want into the dialogue box, it shows up with a green parenthesis mark on the left and a red one on the right. To Japanese speaking users it shows up in Japanese and to English speaking users it shows up in English. Besides being a useful tool to break the language barrier, users can also use it to save time. Instead of typing the whole word, “Congratulations!” every time you want to congratulate another player, you simply type the first three letters “Con,” press the spacebar, and the Auto-Translate system does the rest for you. However, these are all possibilities that I’m sure the designers thought of when they released the game. What is most interesting about the Auto-Translate system is how FFXI users love to subvert it and bend it to their own, often devious, purposes. For example, if you can say something funny, that’s great, but if you can say it using the Auto-Translate system, then it’s so much more awesome. Play FFXI for any amount of time and you’ll soon see phrases like this: “(Please.) (Battering Ram) (fun) (hole) (Can I have it?)” or “I give a good (Subtle Blow) (Job)”. After asking a number of different users what their favorite Auto-Translate phrases were, I came up with this short list of the best ones: (word) (Up) (Home Key) (Jerkin) (Night) (Long time) (Drown) (Moogle) (Inside) (paper bag) (Leave) (Job), (/shoot) (wife), (Drown) (child), (play) (Final) (Fantasy) If you know any good ones, or know somehow who does, please feel free to add to the list! Prz!