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.

Japanese People : Women's Outlook

In western people’s view, people from East Asia look no differences in their face. Especially, they could not tell what the differences between Chinese, Korean and Japanese are by looking at their outlook as I have been observing in Japan. However, people in my own city, Hong Kong, people can recognize who are Japanese and “HongKongese” (Hong Kong people) easily. I have been living in Japan for more than half an-year and continuously observing Japanese outlook. To prove what I found in these few months, instead of using participant observation, my friends and I have done a little experiment in Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto.

Two of my female friends from Hong Kong and I went to Kiyomizu Temple on an weekday in January. Both of my friends have dyed their hair to blonde and was wearing color contact lens (making their eyes look bigger) and putting up their makeup, and they were wearing Kimono to visit the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto which is a place full of Chinese visitors. As soon as my friends arrived, many Chinese visitors came to ask them to take pictures by speaking limited Japanese and English. By chance, there was another Chinese girl wearing kimono at the same place that day at the same time. She did not put up any makeup nor dye her hair. Conversely, no foreign visitors came to ask for taking pictures by using Chinese. The setting of this experiment is that wearing Kimono is to tell people I am an Japanese, and putting up makeup, wearing color contact lens and dyeing hair is to give people an image of Shibaya Kei (渋谷系) which is often considered to be a general image of Japanese women in Hong Kong. The request of taking pictures of not is in fact the confirmation of Japanese of my friends. The people who requested to take a picture with my friends came from the same country, China, but they could not recognize by first glance because they tried to use Japanese to ask my friends. The other girl who was also Kimono although has been asked for taking pictures, the requestors were using Chinese after their first glance. This experience can tell us the use of color contact lens, dyeing blonde hair and wearing make up (the symbols of Shibuya Kei) make differences between Chinese and Japanese women in terms of outlook, but it cannot generalize the entire Japanese and Chinese women.

two of my friends were dressing in Kimono and taking pictures with Chinese visitors

Therefore, addition observation should be done. As I observed in 109 Building in Shibuya (in which a place full of Shibuya Kei women and HongKongese) at night in late December 2008 by walking around that plaza, I found that the Cantonese speaking women (people from Hong Kong use Cantonese) were with dark hair, wearing relatively less concentrated make up, and wearing Jeans whereas Japanese speaking women had the same dressing as my friends in the experience in Kiyomizu Temple and wearing skirts and boots. This proves again there are huge differences between Japanese and Chinese people in terms of outlook.

Shibuya, Tokyo, a place where a lot of Shibuya Kei dressing Japanese women are there

To conclude, the effort of making themselves beauty by dying blonde hair, wearing concentrated make up wearing color contact lens or so on is the symbol of Japanese women’s outlook.

Neighborhood Hirakata

(someday at 22:05 under Hirakata Shi station, two boys were performing guitar show)

If you go to the open area under the Hirakata Shi Station every night after 10p.m. or every Saturday and Sunday, you can always find some buskers performing guitar, dancing and bicycle no matter how weather is bad and how important the days are (like Valentine Day). In weekdays, they start their performance at around 10p.m. when many salary men are standing and waiting for taxis under the Hirakata City station; in weekends, they start performing at 1p.m. when many parents are taking their children to Hirakata City for holidays. In other words, their main audiences are someone waiting for taxi to go home and families enjoying their holidays.

Unlike the mid-aged buskers in Shinjuku, Tokyo, the buskers in Hirakata are look like they are in their 20s. They usually spend 1 to 3 hours a day to perform. For the dancers, they bring along with them big amplifiers to play some music while dancing; bicyclists just use their bikes to perform; guitarists bring along with them music notes and promotion leaflets. Unlike in Hong Kong and Mainland China, buskers in Hirakata perform not because of money, but they wish people could admire and enjoy their endowments. Like the cases of the guitarists and dancers, each time when they finish their performance (a song), their audiences though not many clap them. And afterwards, the buskers bow the audiences heavily to thank them. Sometimes, they will disturb their leaflets to the audiences to promote their crews. They will respect you a lot if you spend a few minutes to watch their shows (I spent 30 minutes to watch their performance and in return, they gave me an almost 90 degree bow) because appreciation is the biggest return for them.

(A band performing music on a Saturday)

(A family and some other audiences were enjoying their show)

Early impressions of Japan

I have been living in Japan for 5 months and my first impression of Japan is that it is a very modern county with high technology and its modern popular culture, and on the other hand the traditional culture and buildings are still well preserved.

Before I came to Japan, I could read from newspaper and Internet that how modernized Japan is. This is true that I can easily find Pachinko shops and game centers with the latest software and hardware even in rural areas like Hirakata City where I am living in (see right). Also, you can find almost everyone in Japan has their own cell phones. But these modernized images cannot describe the whole picture of Japan.

(Shrine near Seminar House)

Walking around in Hirakata City, I can easily find Shrines and temples between modern buildings. My friends and I went to Kyoto in the first week in Japan. We were so surprised that so many traditional and modern buildings are mixed together in Kyoto. Also, we saw many Japanese women wearing Kimono and Yukata in streets and in the temples(We took pictures with two Geisha in Kiyomizu Temple). But the local people were not surprise of Kimono wearing women. If you wear Cheongsam (Chinese traditional dressing) walking down the streets, everyone will look at you! That is not the case in Japan as many Japanese women wear their traditional clothes in their daily life. That is the reason why my first impression of Japan is a traditional and modern culture mixed country!