Japanese Popular Culture

There are a lot of stuff in Japan that is very popular among the Japanese people. The one I have noticed the most is the whole 'cuteness' culture, or by some people called 'kawaii' culture. When I got here I knew very little about the big industry Japan is focusing on different things that are made for the younger generation. The first picture I've chosen this week is taken in SATY, the big mall in Hirakatashi.

I was surprised when I saw one whole store dedicated entirely on Hello Kitty. This is just one of the examples that is the kawaii culture. I find it very fascinating for how a country have built a whole industry for just the cuteness. In one of the following articles I found online - Japan smitten by love of cute. In the article the author discusses the cute phenomena. For instance, she quotes a Japanese professor that believes that cute proves the Japanese simply don't want to grow up.

I can relate to what he means. Sometimes it does feel like you are being treated like a child over here. Especially when even the warning signs are in cartoon or in manga form. Everything here is illustrated in manga drawings or with pictures of small and cute kids. The picture below is a great example of how they mixed something serious with something cute. This sign is a warning to not swim, but still the same time, it is very cute. I feel like the warning doesn't feel as important when it is illustrated like this.


So how come the kawaii culture doesn't hit big in the rest of the world? In Japan you do have a huge variety of things for the younger generation. Places like arcades, game halls, different stops where you can win teddy bears and so on. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a big toy store. This can of course make the Japanese younger generation be kids a longer time, but still it can create problems for them in the future. To see a manga kid telling you to use condoms with a big grin don't really give you the serious impression as you hoped it to be. There's nothing wrong with kawaii, but what happens when I am 40 years old, I would get tired of all cuteness, and honestly, I would feel like a pervert in a toy store, and no thank you, that I can do without.

/Quang

Japanese People

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I got here. Even though the time flies by fast, I feel like I have experience a lot of the Japanese culture and especially with people in Japan. One thing about the people here is how everybody are so nice and polite. I myself am from an Asian family and are aware of the whole respect the elderly culture with some modifications of the Swedish culture of course. Before I got here I had some certain ideas about how polite the japanese people are, but I was still very shocked HOW polite they are. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it does feel very sincere and it does make my day just to be part of the whole culture. But hearing a bus driver saying: arigatoo gozaimasu over and over with a depressing tone does take part of the sincerity away.

The reason I used the picture above is an example of how different it is from rest of the world. The picture is taken at a concert in Namba, Osaka. The band on stage is a band called WatusiZombie. It is not the band I am focusing on, it's the audience. I am a big music fan and I've been to a lot of concert in my life, but never in Japan of course.

The part that was surprised me was how the audience acted. Usually when you are at a concert it's very crowded and when the music starts, it gets really warm and a lot of people pushing and especially to that kind of music. It was pretty hardcore rock music, and where I am from, people are pushing and doing 'moshpits'. The point is: that even when you are at a concert, this is the perfect opportunity to unleash your feelings but there were no crowding or pushing at the concert, everybody was very careful not to touch the one next to you or disturbing anyone. Shouldn't a concert of all places make you go wild?
The other picture I've chosen is a one of the first pictures of me when I got to Japan. As you can see, I am doing a peace sign pose on the picture. Also called 'Japanese pose' among international students. And I have to agree, ever since I've gotten here, I think I do this pose on every picture. What is the meaning of it? The reason I chosen this picture is to demonstrate how some things have become part of the culture so much that it lost it's meaning, or at least part of it. People do it because everybody else is doing it, not because it is something they wants to do, but something that is implied. When they don't do it, they are afraid to insult people.

So it's not about doing something nice for somebody else, it is about not insulting people. After all, the culture is working and it really feels like the most polite and safest country in the world. I wouldn't mind being part of it, even after I return to Sweden.
Arigatoo gozaimasu! Thank you for reading as what they would say in the store.
/Quang

Early Impressions of Japan

Ever since I got here I noticed how Japan like to use english in their adds and in their clothes. It is a well known fact that Japan is very fascinated of the western culture. Even though there are a lot of English words in the language, that been "Japanized" (a word that is english but been adapted to Japanese pronunciation). For an example the word beer becomes birru, or Sweden becomes Sueeden, which is very funny from my point of view (pretty much ever since I got here, I tell people I'm from Sweden, and got the same reaction every time. Shaking their heads and telling me that they don't know where it is. Then I say Suuuuueeeeeden, then everybody response with the word sugoi!). I find it interesting how a lot of japanese people wear clothes with English words without knowing what the real meaning is about. As long as the clothes have some English words that sounds catchy. English is everywhere, especially in the katakana and adds. On the picture above you can see a t-shirt my friend bought in a store.This is a funny example how there's a sentence that makes no sense what so ever. But still, there are more examples.

Here is another example where the sentence gets to confusing. The following sentence can be read under the SALE sign. For the sake of irreplacable persons, we'll dramatize a specially preserved extravagance. I have read that sentence so many times, but I can still not figure out what this sentence actually means. Still, my experience in Japan has just begun, who knows, when I am back in Sweden I will probably going to pronounce Sweden as Suuuudeeen, and bottle as botterru. More updates soon!
To be continued, or should I say, Toru beru contiinuuredu.
/Quang