Religious Japan

Japan is famous for having thousands of very old temples and shrines making Japan has an image of religious country.
No matter whether temples and shrines are Shinto or Buddhism, they are strongly connected to Japanese people’s daily life. If Japanese people have something they want from gods, for example, love, health and good academic result, they would go to temples or shrines and pray to the gods. For some Japanese people, they may have their wedding at the shrines. Also, many of the temples or shrines have one or more festival (Matsuri) for pray for good luck.
Not only do the temples and shrines connect to Japanese daily life, they are also used for advertising. Fusimi in Kyoto is the best example. Fusimi is famous for having thousands of Torii in its shrine. If someone donates certain amount of money to the shrine, a Torii will be made having the donator’s name. Many Torii in Fusimi are written in companies’ name and they are actually nothing more than advertisement. Not only the famous shrines like Fusimi have this kind of advertisement, I found a less famous shrine called Hiroda Shrines near Namba in Osaka also has its lantern and columns written in companies’ name
Things about religions can be found easily in Japan by observing Japanese daily life and religions are also very important in Japan as it is a median to advertise companies.

advertisement in Fusimi

a couple having wedding ceremony in a shrine in Hakata in Kyushu

advertisement on wall in Hiroda shrines(1)

advertisement on wall in Hiroda shrines(2)

Globalization In Kansai

Osaka and Kobe are famous international cities in Japan that you can find products, restaurants as well as people from all over the world. But if you look at the stuffs you found “international” in Japan more carefully, you would probably find that the “international” stuff is actually “Japanized”. China Town in Kobe and American Village (American Mura) in Osaka are good places to find this Japanese style of globalization.

I have been staying in China Town in Kobe for 2 hours during Chinese New Year in 2009. There was a parade in the main street which had many characters from a Chinese novel “Journey to the West”. It was actually a very Chinese style but actually the actors and actresses are Japanese. Beside the parade, few Japanese restaurants are located in China Town which is totally not related to China. Even though the remaining are Chinese restaurant, their menu and method of operation are also Japanese style. For example, Chinese food does not have fired chicken (Karaage) and Chinese people do not sit on TaTaMi.

Parade for Chinese New Year

Japanese restaurant in China Town

Gaikokujin in China Town

As for the American Village in Osaka, it is another place good for finding the products which are mixed of Japanese and other countries’ styles. The shops there are selling clothes in American or western styles and most young people there are wearing like an American (for example, hip-hop style). However, the clothes actually do not fit the Westerners’ size but Japanese or Easterners’ size. Also, many clothes sold in there are made in Japan, China and other Asian countries.
American clothes bought in American Village was made in China


Japan collects the best from all over the world but it makes them into the Japanese way instead of directly copying. This is the Japanese way of globalization.

Tadahiko Hayashi

Business Man 1950　（http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainblame/174608761/）

Fishing Boats Japan 1956　（http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainblame/174608762/）

Naked Woman (http://www.jipango.com/mailservice/87/mailservice87.html)

Tadahiko Hayashi was one of the most celebrated photographers in Japan after Pacific War. His mother was also a photographer and inspired him to be a photographer[i]. He worked in China in 1945 as a new reporter of Pacific War and he returned to Japan in 1946 and started taking photos of changes of life in post-war period.

His photos are always focusing life of Japanese people. His photos represent Japanese culture truly during the post-war period. At that time Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers and so many western cultures and thoughts came to Japan. Thus, Japan was facing mixture of traditional Japanese culture and Western culture. On one hand, buildings, roads, clothing and so on were being westernized, but on the other hand, Japanese people preserve its traditional culture like martial art. Hayashi showed this kind of new culture mixtures in his photos.
Like “Business Man 1950”, we can see that the business man in the middle and his partner were dressing in western suit and walking down the western style which was full of western building. But the woman with two children standing next to this couple was dressing in kimono. “Fishing Boats Japan 1956” are more or less the same that kimono wearing women were standing in front of western house and fishing boats. “Naked Woman” reflects how western thoughts affected Japanese culture: naked in public was immoral in ancient Japan but was becoming generally accepted by public.

The nowadays Japanese cultures are still a mixture of the western and traditional Japanese culture. If we look at the Hayashi’s pictures, we can see this mixed culture is actually rapidly changing from the post-war period since 1946.


Reference:

[i] Shōsetsu no furusato (小説のふるさと, The village settings of stories). Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1957.

External link:
Studio Equis - Tadahiko Hayashi: http://www.studioequis.net/showArtist.php?artistID=313

Japanese Popular Culture

It is often said that Japanese popular culture, especially animation, comic and AV (Adult Video), is extremely popular not only in Asian countries but also in Western countries. In Japan, of course, people are more enthusiastic about its popular culture than other countries.

shop selling maid costumes

I went to Akihabara, which is known as the paradise of Otaku, on the Boxing Day last year to see how this culture is popular. I spent 2 hours walking around Akihabara. There were many shops selling toys and figures of the animation and comic books, selling Cosplay and maid costumes, electric appliances and so on. The customers I observed in those shops are aging from 10 years old to 50 years old men and women. They did not hesitate to buy these animate or comic related products. I am very shocked because people in Hong Kong feel embarrassed to buy such things. Also, I saw there was a very long queue of young and mid-aged men waiting for a singer of an animation theme song for her autograph, and they did not mind to be taken by television channels. This is also completely different from Hong Kong since Hong Kong people try to hide their hobbies of Otaku as possible as they can.

people waiting for autographs

Japan, as the leader of animation and comic culture, is actually generally accept the people who are addicted to it.