A Better Understanding

As the semester winds down I find myself becoming increasingly reflective about my experiences in Japan. In my first blog post I said that much of my impression of Japan was based on what I had seen in manga and anime. I've come to discover (through my popular media class and living with my host family) that I wasn't wrong in many of my assumptions, but I also realized that I didn't fully understand what they meant. I don't claim to have a perfect understanding of Japanese culture, nor that you could come to fully understand Japanese culture by reading Death Note. It's not that simple.

However I do think that manga is probably the best form of Visual Anthropology available in western culture. Despite the fact that it is (mostly) fiction and fantasy, manga's history, impact, and cultural importance is much more revealing about Japanese culture than I originally thought, if you know what to look for. Repeated behavior patterns among the characters, plot themes, and symbols carry a deeper cultural meaning than their initial appearance. They often give an insight into Japanese history, philosophy, and cultural norms.





On a more personal note, last weekend my host family brought me to Wakayama for one last trip before I have to return to the United States. Leaving them will probably be the hardest part about going home. They've taken such good care of me and have done everything to make my stay comfortable and exciting. I'll never be able to express how grateful I am for everything they've done.

Coming to Japan has been the experience of a lifetime, and my time here has gone by much too quickly for my liking. Hopefully I'll be able to return to Japan in the future, or at least bring a bit of understanding of Japanese culture back home.

Boy bands, they're everywhere...

When I first came to Japan, my knowledge of Japanese music consisted of anime theme songs, game soundtracks, and Gackt (even if you think you know nothing about Japanese music, you probably know Gackt). Now I am literally surrounded by musicians and pop stars as they appear not just in music, but on television dramas, commercials, movies, and advertisements.

Boy bands kind of fell out of style in the US, but here in Japan they remain some of the most popular and most famous people in the entertainment world. SMAP, for instance, is probably the most famous group in Japan. They're on television almost every week either doing their own show or guest starring on one of the many variety shows. Kimura Takuya starred in one of Japan's most famous dramas of all time, A Beautiful Life.

This is a short clip from A Beautiful Life courtesy of www.veoh.com


Watch beautiful life 04 vostfr in Entertainment Videos and Webisodes  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


When I was in Tokyo I visited Tower Records and some of the band names that I found there were absolutely crazy. Of course they had all the big names like SMAP, Kat-tun, and Mr. Children, but they also had groups like Bump of Chicken and the Hangovers. I'm not knocking the quality of the music--everyone has their own tastes--but I found the names to be quite amusing.

What do I do?

There are times where life's irony comes up and smacks you in the face, and this weekend proved to be a one-hit KO for me. My Visual Anthropology of Japan class watched a documentary film last week about Kimigayo, and the controversy surrounding the topic in order to get us started on our blog posts about politics.



This weekend, while attending my host brother and sister's karate shi-ai, I was faced with the same choice that has resulted in the punishment of over 388 Japanese school teachers. I had tuned out the speeches during the opening ceremony, so when I looked up from my Nintendo DS screen and saw everybody standing, I did the natural thing and copied everyone else. At first I was confused, but once the music started and I saw the flags being raised at the front of the room I knew instantly what it was.



I didn't know what to do. Should I sit down? Should I just follow the culture norm and stand? Nobody was singing, and I did spot two people across the stadium who were not standing. At the same time, I was here with my family and I didn't want to insult them or make the day into a political debate. Incidentally, before I could make up my mind about what to do, the song ended and the ceremony broke up so the shi-ai could begin.

A bit unrelated, but interesting nonetheless. These are some videos I took at the shi-ai. The first is a group kata competition, and the second is a sparring match between some of the older students.

Caring for the Dead

If you ask people in Japan what their religion is, chances are they will tell you that they have no religion. Shinto and Buddhism still permeate everyday life in Japan, but Japanese people don't think of religion the same way Western cultures do. What we as westerners would consider religious practices, Japanese people see as just something you do.



For example, on Respect for the Aged Day back in September, my host family (who is "not religious") brought me along as they went to pay respects to family members that had passed away. We brought pears, onigiri, and flowers to place in the butsudan of my host grandmother's elder sister. Everyone then proceeded to greet her by clapping twice (something that people do to get the spirits' attention) and then praying silently. My family asked me to do the same so that I could introduce myself to her.



The same day we attended a huge matsuri dedicated to this tradition. Along with all the food, crafts, and shopping we happned to come across an a area covered in Jizo statues. My host mother told me that they were the guardians of children that were aborted, stillborn, or miscarried. It was a bit shocking, but at the same time comforting to see the care that is taken to provide for the dead.




The last stop we made was at the cemetery. In Japan, there is no staff to take care of the grave stones, instead family members come and wash the gravestones of past relatives. In America we instantly associate the dead with a religion of some kind. For my family these religious practices have become such an integrated part of their lives that it's just something that's the natural thing to do.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls...

Gender is an endless topic in Japan if you look at pop culture, anime, manga, and various other media. I'm going to try and narrow it down a bit by discussing people that I interact with every day.



These are my host siblings, whom I've mentioned before. Shun-kun is 10 years old and Ami-chan is eight, and already they're very much falling into their resepective roles and behaviors as a boy and a girl.

A reading that we did for class said:

"Japanese men are accustomed to having women wait on them. This is not the only mode of male/female interaction in Japan, but Japanese men feel that there is nothing unusual about it."
--Geisha and Anthropology, Crihfield

It's been an interesting experience for me to observe this as a reality in Japan, even amongst my host family. Last weekend, for example, Mama and Ami-chan were teaching me how to make gyoza. Shun-kun watched for a little bit, but didn't participate and wasn't expected to participate. Ami-chan, on the other hand, is responsible for helping prepare almost every evening meal while Shun-kun watches TV or does homework.



I've also noticed that when Shun-kun, like every kid his age, doesn't feel like doing his homework, he'll fight with his mother about getting it done. But when Papa tells him to do something, there's almost no resistance. This is not to say that Japan is totally dominated by men (indeed Mama handles all the money in the household), but there is a unique pattern that everyone seems to follow.



Despite their respective roles, I've never seen a brother and sister so close as Shun-kun and Ami-chan. They share just about everything and living with them has been a lot of fun. It almost seems like a paradox that while gender roles in Japan are so clear-cut, they are also mixed with one another in certain circumstances.

I want to make it clear that I'm not judging any of these things as right or wrong, good or bad. They are just things I have noticed while living with this family for the last three months. Also, all the pictures of Shun and Ami were posted with permission from their parents.

A Different Kind of Sport

Japan is well-known for it's enthusiasm and dedication to team sports. In an earlier blog I talked about my host brother and sister's school sports festival on Health and Sports Day. This time I'd like to get away from the usual topics of baseball and martial arts discuss a different kind of sports in Japan.



Recreational sports such as fishing, for example, are usually not what you think of when the words "Japan" and "sports" come to mind. Usually we think of baseball, kendo, or aikido because that's the image we're used to seeing. I was really surprised myself when my host parents suggested it, and even more surprised to see the amount of equipment they had. It may not have been an athletic sport in the traditional sense, but it's still a popular pastime that many people devote time and money to.



In this picture is my host brother Shun-kun on our second day of fishing. The docks were full of people. Most of them were families with children who were there just to relax and have fun, but there were also some more serious fishermen (and women) scattered about. What was really interesting to me is that in the US, fishing is generally considered an individual sport, but the Japanese tend to do it in groups. Over the span of two days, I can't say I saw a single person on the docks fishing by themselves.



The fish we caught were all very small (with the exception of my host sister, who hooked a monster of a fish but couldn't reel it up in time) and we brought them all home in a cooler. My host grandmother said that Japanese people usually fry this type of fish and then eat them whole. They were a little too fishy for me, but not all that bad.

A little piece of home?

This week's theme is all about globalization in Japan--how the Japanese have adapted elements and practices from other cultures to fit their own tastes. The best evidence for this topic takes us back to an earlier topic we discussed: Popular Culture.



Universal Studios Japan is a good place to start. Like it's counterparts in Florida and California, USJ uses cartoon characters and famous Hollywood movies as its mascots and theme rides. The park is even decorated for Halloween (my host family didn't know what Halloween was until they hosted a student).



However, in the US you can't go to the Osaka Takoyaki Museum or eat at a Mos Burger in the Universal Citywalk. Both are just a short walk from the Hard Rock Cafe and gift shop.




The "Japanese version" of Universal Studios also features different cartoon characters from its American counterpart. Instead of Bugs Bunny, Tweety, and Sylvester covering every street corner and gift shop, characters like Woody Woodpecker, Snoopy, and Elmo are popular. It seems to me that Japanese tastes in American cartoons gravitates towards those that are more like their own animation. Snoopy, for example, is drawn in much the same way as Hello Kitty (who can also be found in USJ).




USJ also features what I would consider your standard Universal Studios rides; Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, E.T., Jaws, and Spider Man. But Japan also has places like Waterworld and the Land of Oz and shows featuring Woody Woodpecker, Peanuts characters, and Backdraft.

Exactly why these movies and characters are so popular among Japanese people, I can't say for sure. I can only speculate that perhaps there are certain ideas or characteristics about each of these that relate more to the way of life in Japan than they do in America.