1. the Perspective That Pop Culture Is Just Mass Mind Control , In

Jennifer Berman October 24, 2011 JAPN 308 Midterm Exam

1. The perspective that “pop culture is just mass mind control”, in regards to Japanese pop culture, could be reflected in how fad-driven it is. Some new manga, movie, TV show or new comedian or singer or idol group comes out, becomes popular across Japan and seems almost omnipresent, and then as quickly as it becomes popular, it fades away. I’ve seen a lot of these, especially with tarento and with J-pop idols. I got into J-pop music around 2000-2001 (from reading about it online) and at that time, the idol group Morning Musume was really popular in Japan. They had a lot of million-selling singles and albums and the members were on TV and in magazines a lot. However, a few years later when a lot of the popular members had “graduated” from the group and were replaced with newer members (which is how Morning Musume and other female idol groups with large amounts of members, such as AKB48, operate), their popularity began to fade. Morning Musume is still around, but much of their audience has gone on to other things and they’re only really supported these days by hardcore idol otaku.

As for the perspective that “pop culture is popular resistance by the people who can choose what they want to enjoy,” this was brought up in one of our class discussions about manga. Painter brought up how “anyone can make manga, all you need is a pencil and paper” and so someone can draw any type of manga they like. Frederick Schodt’s book Dreamland Japan had a small section on doujinshi, or self-published manga, that are often sold at large conventions such as Comiket. They are created by groups of fans for other fans to read. Many doujinshi are based on popular commercial series (similar to online

“fanfiction” in the US), but there are also many original works sold. Schodt describes how the “circles” (doujinshi-creating groups) produce doujinshi:

“Amateurs pool their funds and issue small printruns of their books (ranging from

100 to 6,000 copies) at a level of quality that rivals the mainstream manga industry…There are thus a wide variety of businesses present at the conventions that specifically support the doujinshi market, including representatives of printing companies and art supply firms” (Schodt 38). The president of the Comiket organization, when asked why doujinshi and doujinshi conventions are popular in

Japan, replied that it is because something anyone can easily do, but also because “manga are one of the few things young people aren’t forced to do by their teachers, so it’s a genre of expression they actively want to participate in”

(Schodt 41).

2. Japanese pop culture is strongly influenced by ideas of gender.

One area this can be seen in is in manga, which is divided into 4 major demographics, shounen (boys’), shoujo (girls’), seinen (青年, men’s) and josei

(women’s). As Masami Toku says, “Regardless of the subject depicted in the story, the main theme of boys’ manga is how the heroes become men by protecting women, family, country, or the earth from enemies. The theme of girls’ manga is how love triumphs by overcoming obstacles” (Toku 19). Many shounen manga based around action and fighting, such as “Dragon Ball,” “Naruto,” or “Bleach,” focus on how the male protagonist levels up in power through fighting his enemies, sometimes becoming a new superpowered form of himself (like

Goku’s “Super Saiyan” form in Dragon Ball).

On the other hand, a lot of shoujo manga focus on love and relationships. As Schodt writes in his 1983 book Manga! Manga! The World of

Japanese Comics, “Unlike boys’ comics, where heroes are aggressive, in girls’ comics heroines are often passive, and dramatic tension in stories is supplied mostly by changes in their environment that work against them. Scenes where a young girl is struck in the face by an angry young male she likes, and then thanks him for ‘caring’, can still be found. Girls in the comics live for love – any love”

(Schodt 97). Nevertheless, there are some shoujo manga with more aggressive heroines. The manga Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura, which has been running in Hana to Yume magazine since 2002, is about a girl named Kyoko Mogami who is in love with a singer named Sho Fuwa, who was her best friend growing up, and she helped out at his parents’ ryokan (inn) in Kyoto. When he became a singer, Kyoko decided to leave her old life behind to support him, and devoted herself to furthering his career. One day she overhears Sho complaining to his manager about her, calling her plain and boring, and saying that she is only good for doing housework: “Well…since I was a kid, she was basically a housemaid to me. (She used to help out a lot with the inn, and she did what I told her.) Or else...I wouldn’t have chosen her to come in the first place” (vol. 1 pg. 40, English version). Rather than continuing to love Sho anyway, Kyoko vows to take revenge on him, and enters the entertainment industry herself in order to become more famous than he is. The manga shows Kyoko’s struggles to become a famous actress, and her interactions and relationships with others in her talent agency (事務所).

Beginning in the late 1970s, romantic comedies began appearing in shounen manga magazines as well (Schodt 87). Takahashi Rumiko’s manga such as Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and Ranma ½ are some examples of early successful works in this subgenre. Much like shoujo romances, the love interest is presented in a very idealized way, as someone so beautiful or so awesome they seem impossible to reach. The main character of Maison Ikkoku,

Godai, is a 20-year-old ronin (in modern usage, someone who has failed to get into a university) living in a run-down apartment with various other colorful tenants. When he meets the new manager of the apartment, Kyoko Otonashi, he falls in love with her at first sight and feels like a doink compared to her. He is weak-willed and tries to confess his love many times, but fails because he is too intimidated. After many, many misunderstandings and other drama, he eventually does propose to Kyoko and they get married at the end.

Shounen romances often contain a variety of girls who compete for the protagonist’s love and attention. This subgenre is known as “harem” and some examples of harem titles include Tenchi Muyo! (which arguably popularized this genre), Love Hina, and Oh! My Goddess. Often times it is obvious who the protagonist will end up with at the end (usually the first girl we meet, like in Love Hina), but sometimes the protagonist just can’t decide (as in

Tenchi Muyo!). Shounen romances also contain much more sexual humor and risqué portrayals of the female characters (so-called “fanservice”) than shoujo romances do, to appeal to the teenage boy target audience.