Contemporary Media and Culture in Japan: Origins and Influences
Thesis
By
Dejana Sparavalo
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts
In
Communication and Mass Media
State University of New York
Empire State College
2018
Reader: Todd Nesbitt
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Statutory Declaration / Čestné prohlášení
I, Dejana Sparavalo, declare that the paper entitled:
Contemporary Media and Culture in Japan: Origins and Influences was written by myself independently, using the sources and information listed in the list of references. I am aware that my work will be published in accordance with § 47b of Act No.
111/1998 Coll., On Higher Education Institutions, as amended, and in accordance with the valid publication guidelines for university graduate theses.
Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto práci vypracoval/a samostatně s použitím uvedené literatury a zdrojů informací. Jsem vědom/a, že moje práce bude zveřejněna v souladu s § 47b zákona
č. 111/1998 Sb., o vysokých školách ve znění pozdějších předpisů, a v souladu s platnou
Směrnicí o zveřejňování vysokoškolských závěrečných prací.
In Prague, 17.08.2018 Dejana Sparavalo
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Acknowledgements
Working on this paper has been one of the most difficult journeys in my academic life, and one I won’t forget. It was demanding, but at the same time taught me how to gather information, check the sources I’m using, and also made me focus on researching one topic in much more depth than I normally would have. I will definitely carry on these skills onto my next works.
For completion of this thesis, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mentor,
Professor Todd Nesbitt, who provided me with excellent support throughout the process and was there whenever I would find myself faced with a problem. It is thanks to Professor
Nesbit that I managed to finish this paper, and I’m very grateful for all of his help.
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Table of Contents I. Introduction ...... 6 II. The History and Media of Japan ...... 8 2.1 Japan’s History ...... 8 2.2 Development of Japanese Media ...... 11 III. Japanese Society ...... 14 3.1 Cultural Norms and Customs in The Japanese Society ...... 14 3.2 Reflections of Historical Changes on Society and Culture ...... 19 3.3 Position of Women in Japanese Society ...... 21 3.4 Japanese Media ...... 23 IV. Media and Society During the Second World War ...... 27 4.1 Propaganda ...... 27 4.2 Characteristics of Japanese War Films ...... 28 4.3 Portrayal of Japan in Propaganda ...... 29 V. Period After the Second World War ...... 31 5.1 Creation of Fictional Characters ...... 31 5.2 Emergence of “Kawaii” ...... 33 5.3 Anime and Manga ...... 33 VI. Japanese TV ...... 39 6.1 Behavior of People Portrayed in the Media ...... 39 6.2 Popular Media Content ...... 40 VII. Modern Day Society and Media ...... 42 7.1 Popular Programs ...... 42 7.2 Social Struggles of a Common Japanese Citizen ...... 43 VIII. Position of Women in Japanese Media ...... 45 8.1 Degrading Women ...... 45 8.2 Objectification ...... 48 Conclusion ...... 51 Works Cited ...... 54 Bibliography ...... 60
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Abstract
This work examines the Japanese media and ways it’s history, as well as culture, shaped the unique nature of the country’s media today. Japan was one of the most isolated counties in the world, separating itself from any outside interferences for many years until sailors ventured out and found the island. Ever since their first contact with foreigners, the
Japanese society slowly began opening it’s doors to foreigners, however, even that took many years to achieve, as it’s culture differed vastly from that of Western sailors or anyone else who would venture to the country. It is because of this deep history of isolation and unique culture that the Japanese media is different from the rest, built up along with the country’s history as well as its culture. Modern Japanese pop-culture is based heavily on the events of the Japanese past, modernized but also following the social norms of the
Japanese culture, with minor differences that resemble Western media. The unique
Japanese media today is heavily influenced by the past, culture, and outside interferences of other nations.
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I. Introduction
Japan is one of the most economically advanced countries in the world. Not only is it culturally rich but also harbors a long and unique history, one that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Japan’s long traditions and culture originates long since the time of Samurai, stretching further into the past when royal families waged wars between each other in order to conquer different parts of what is known today as Japan. Japan’s long history of isolation plays a major role in how the country shaped over time, giving a clearer picture of Japan today. Bowing, remaining silent in public spaces, being thankful for the food before the meal, and the stereotypical image of a nuclear family all originate from the period of the Samurai. Now when it comes to today’s modern pop culture and one that is being carried throughout the country’s history, they differ greatly. The West heavily influences today’s Japan and thus the Western culture has taken root in the Asian country as well. The clashing of the two cultures is what composes today’s Japan, the cultures separated but managing to co-exist at the same time. It is the difference between these two cultures that may cause a bit of an overlap, creating a unique media culture within Japan.
The difference between the Western and Japanese cultures is mainly in the notion of collectivism and individualism (Country Comparison, n.d.). Japan is a collectivist society while the West is more geared towards individualism. Not only this, but in the West, people have different social norms, which of course is natural since the cultures are different.
However, since Japanese media strives to incorporate elements of Western media into its entity, it mixes the two cultures, creating the unique Japanese media we know today. This notion of the Japanese media containing Western culture within it gives the Japanese an opportunity to express themselves in a different way that is opposite of their traditional 7
Japanese culture, giving them the ability to express themselves in a less restrictive environment that they usually live in. One such example of expression is the inability to voice one’s opinion, which is considered normal in Western societies but not as positively expressed by the Japanese culture. Since the individual is taught to have the mindset of a group, they rarely have the opportunity to express their opinions. This is where the media is important, becoming a medium to express these wishes while also keeping to the traditional
Japanese culture.
Popular media content in Japan features a number of characteristics and genres that differ from other countries. The aim of this paper is to explore what cultural and historical factors have led to the unique nature of the Japanese media environment. To achieve this, historical and cultural context will be explored in order to understand what cultural aspects and characteristics in Japanese history and culture may have influence the creation and form of Japanese media products. The thesis will examine how the Japanese media have developed, and how the history of the country has shaped the media itself
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II. The History and Media of Japan
The purpose of this chapter is to provide insight into Japanese history because without the background context, the history of the Japanese media itself cannot be understood. In order to understand how the media evolved along with the culture, it is important to understand what part it played during World War II and onwards as the country began to process of recovery and then became the developed country we know today.
2.1 Japan’s History
The Country of the Rising Sun, lying on the far east of the Asian continent is in many aspects one of the most unique parts of the world. It is a country rich in culture and traditions, many of which have origins in ancient times but have been preserved even today. Its specific geographical position, unique physical characteristics of the land itself and society's long isolation from the rest of the world all contributed to development of specific rules and norms, especially when compared to Western Europe or the USA.
Japanese greet each other by bowing instead of shaking hands, they consider speaking loud very rude, tend to keep distance when making a contact with anyone they perceive foreign; most of these cultural values have been carried on from beyond the time of the Samurai to the present time. The Japanese society values education and academic achievements, which are treated with great respect. They consider introductions very important, without actually waiting to be introduced, which is rather impolite, and take non-verbal communication very seriously, paying a special attention to the facial expressions, tone of voice and posture when talking and never focusing on the words only (Haugh & Obana, 2011). 9
When speaking about Japan and trying to understand it, one must not neglect its turbulent history, which left mark on almost every aspect of Japanese society and culture. Of course, such a statement may seem redundant, since one can always claim that any national culture is mostly shaped by history and prevailing social and political powers; however, there are not that many cultures in the world that went through such extreme changes as Japan did, especially in the last century.
Throughout its rich and long history, Japan has seen many rises and falls. The first rise of the Japanese Empire occurred between fifth and eighth century, when various small kingdoms and tribes finally united. In the beginning of the eight-century, Kyoto was made country's capital, marking the beginning of the Golden age of classical Japanese culture
(James, 2010). The prosperous and calm times lasted till 14th century, when Empire's slow decline starts. Following centuries witnessed civil wars, Mongolian invasions and rise to power of military clans, the strongest of which was Tokugawa Shogunate (Earl, 1964). In the period of Shogunate's reign, also known as the Edo period - named after country's new capital Edo (today's Tokyo) Japan was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world (James, 2010).
Beginning of the last century witnessed the birth of a new Japan - a society that only recently opened itself to the world, adopting foreign customs, trends and interests after a few centuries of almost complete isolation. Various long-needed economical reforms transformed the state and allowed it to expand its borders, both culturally and geographically. Japan grew into a major force on the Far East in just a few decades and entered The Second World War with the tendency of positioning itself as one of the leading powers of the world (Dower, 2000). Although it seemed that even the war horrors, 10 unimaginable earlier, could not harm the powerful Empire, Japan still saw the war's end on the side of the defeated. Society, as well as the rest of the world were shocked by the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which left uncountable consequences on Japan and strongly influenced country's future: no matter how hard the Japanese tried, they simply could not get away from the war traumas. The economic boom of late sixties and seventies, soon to be recognized as a "bubble" that had to come to an end - which indeed came in the early nineties, leading to almost two decades of economic instabilities and crises - all left their marks on the society (Lockwood, 2015).
The Japanese society itself has always been oriented towards collectivism, promoting strong sense of belonging to a group, insisting on importance of unity, understanding and respect for others. True power of these ideals and principles lies in the fact that the
Japanese nation, as an organized group of people bound by language and culture, successfully overcame more or less all difficulties it faced, no matter how hard they hit an individual or more of them. The complete society has been bound by ideas of group's well being and how interests of the group are always more important than those individual ones, thus being drawn to cooperation whenever needed, avoiding conflict with fellow members whenever possible and keeping calm and moving on in spite of everything, at the same time being ready to defend and save the group from intruders. However, as both everyday life and psychology showed us, in a society that values conformity and lack of confrontation, many inner conflicts never really get to be resolved, often resulting in frustrations. 11
2.2 Development of Japanese Media
Some inner conflicts within individuals, such as the inability to express oneself freely, voicing their honest opinion and the inability to converse loudly, remain hidden and are never publically shown, but some of them manifest themselves, one way or another and one of the things that allowed many people to either express their frustrations or at least feel as if there is nothing wrong with feeling or thinking the way they do is technology. Mobile phones, computers, Internet, television, mass media all contributed to that. Each of them had its own effect on society and in a way shaped it, but the one that has had the longest impact are media.
From being a pure source of information in its early beginnings, Japanese media has been adapting to carry out multiple functions in the society, thus serving various purposes.
Although the newspapers have always been informing the audience of the most recent events as their primary goal, style and level of objectivity were often subjected to greater purposes. For instance, during the war times, media was usually misused as the main propaganda source, often spreading lies in order to maintain a high moral among the people, if not to raise it further (Dower, 2000). After the WWII, as society was seeking relief and ways to express the inner pain and feelings of shock, depression and misery, the media contributed to society's recovery by promoting the opposite values and feelings, having a goal of showing the people that life can be joyful and that future can be bright, although the past was dark (Dower, 2000).
While doing so, not much was done on actually changing the way people think and perceive the world and focus was usually on temporarily comforting masses and giving 12 them basis to feel better. Combined with the prevailing feeling of being lost, in every possible way, which was the common feeling in Japanese society in the second half of the twentieth century, various trends set by the media and targeted to hit the wider audience are one of the main reasons for popularity of almost all media products for which modern
Japan is famous worldwide.
From monstrous Godzilla and adorable Hello Kitty, superheroes from various cartoons such as Pokémon or Dragon Ball, to legendary characters from iconic video games such as
Super Mario, Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda, just to name a few, Japanese film, animation and gaming industry is widely recognized and adored (Gasza, 1988). World of
Japanese animation and its applications is one of many good examples of Japanese creativity and how a mixture of genuine Japanese cultural motives and features of Western philosophy can be blended together yielding unique combinations of deep philosophical topics with strong and outstanding visual appearance. Another example is cinematography, which combined the traditional motives of eternal fight between good and bad, traditional martial arts and modern issues, yielding movies such as Karate Kid, Tekken or Mortal
Combat. Although anime is due to its enormous popularity worldwide usually taken as the symbol of modern-day Japan's culture, modern Japanese culture has to offer many more characteristic media products, such as J-pop artists and corresponding culture, cosplay subculture, various TV shows and reality programs primarily aimed at entertaining the population but focused on topics which an average person from the Western society would find strange, at least - running away from poisonous animals, competing in blowing cockroaches in opponents' mouth, to name a few (Hidaka, 2017). Though one can criticize, judge or question sense in these media products, their popularity in Japan is incredibly 13 high. Society finds them interesting; no matter how they contradict social norms or expected behavior, which is an interesting paradox. Furthermore, gloomy, shocking, dynamic and joyful as they may seem, all these media products usually carry deeper meaning, partially unraveling unresolved conflicts and frustrations that the Japanese society has been dealing with and their popularity is closely connected to them.
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III. Japanese Society
The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the general Japanese society. Reflect on the historical changes of society and culture, as briefly described in the previous chapter.
Tackle the position of women in Japan and how they’re portrayed in the media against their cultural expectations. As well as some general information about Japanese media and how it is known for it’s creativity, linking it back to the thesis statement by focusing on the culture and history of the country.
3.1 Cultural Norms and Customs in The Japanese Society
The Japanese value their history and culture greatly, trying to preserve the traditional ways and values while keeping up with trends and adapting to various changes modern world faces on a daily basis. While many traditional norms from times of Old Japan still exist today, new ones are also being created in order to adapt to contemporary technologies or socio-economical trends. Historically, the Japanese social norms have been strongly influenced by ideas of Confucianism (Paramore, 2016), which stresses a sense of shame, loyalty, refined manners, justice, modesty and honor as well.
Family is the basic unit of Japanese society and one of the key elements to understanding it.
Family responsibilities are more important than individual desires and familial relations provide a model for social integration at almost all levels, in addition to having the family playing an important role in determining individual life opportunities (Roland & Alexy,
2017). Development of family relationships in Japan can be divided into two phases, before and after the World War II. Before the war a traditional, conservative family structure existed and was even supported by law but the war brought a change. Families were larger 15 and usually included relatives, not the just the closest members. Both regular and noble families and families of the warrior class placed great value and importance on their ancestors, which continue to remain important today, a reflection of the importance of the family system itself (Roland & Alexy, 2017).
After the war, the structure of the Japanese family has changed significantly, being influenced by western culture ever since, resulting in a more liberal family structure. The roles of mother and father are still dominant but law no longer supports this. Another major change that occurred in Japan after World War II is that women were given greater freedoms, gained equal rights and were allowed to obtain education and a job or career
(Beauchamp, 1998). The people of Japan were also given more individual freedom for choosing the person they were to marry, making the arranged marriages a matter of past thus allowing people to marry for love. Interestingly, all these changes did not make the society more individualistic but rather a more dependent due the changing roles of mother and father.
In general, the Japanese families reflect the collectivist nature of their society - in which every family member is expected to work towards the betterment of the family rather than itself. The head of the family is responsible for its well-being and the “position was crucial because the family head held absolute authority over the family’s property and its members and a series of wrong decisions would influence everyone” (The Japanese Family System,
2014). Throughout the history a difficulty in securing family's position and safe future was conflict between the eldest son inheriting the family headship and the need to have an able person as head of the family (Roland & Alexy, 2017). Therefore, fight between brothers for the place of the family head was not an unusual thing, though with time and especially after 16 the Second World War it became a thing of the past.
Some of the values that the Japanese culture is known for around the world are politeness, being kind and considerate towards others. These features are perceived as rather important by the Japanese and noticeable when compared to other cultures around the world.
For the Japanese, politeness is almost a philosophy and not just a way of behaving. There are many manners, which are defined as polite, rude or impolite and people are expected to behave accordingly, depending on the situation. While the formal behavior is expected in most situations, informal behavior is considered acceptable only among close friends and family. It is, thus, often considered rude to sound too friendly to a person who is older than you, has higher social standing, or is someone you have just met. Dominating the conversation, talking in an irritated manner or not holding in your emotions are all usually seen as rude as well as pointing index finger rather than using your hand to refer to others when speaking (Lebra & Lebra, 1986). Finally, honoring dress codes and dressing well just to please others or the situation, independently of the place or occasion, is expected.
Furthermore, in Japan politeness is often synonymous with respect. A rather valued attitude in Japan is putting other people first - giving them the front seat in a car, the best piece of cake, or the center position in the photo; a seat dedicated for guests is an absolute necessity in the traditional Japanese house. In addition to that, for the Japanese respect can also be about patience and often times even hesitation, which can be observed in verbal delays employed when Japanese ask for favors.
The older a person is, the bigger respect others are expected to show them. Not using formal language when approaching the elderly is seen as extremely rude, as well as when 17 approaching a workplace superior or someone higher above you in any field of work, be it familial relations, work colleagues or the elderly. People hardly raise their voice, especially in public, and are not shy of apologizing to others. It is very hard to see anyone breaking a queue or doing something, which is of inconvenience to others (Lebra & Lebra, 1986).
Furthermore, arrogance and carelessness are rarely observed - the Japanese will most often greet everyone with smiling faces.
The people in Japan appear to be amazingly disciplined. This should come as no surprise since a lot of stress and attention is given to it and the Japanese are disciplined from a very young age. The children in kindergartens are taught to help other children in doing their work – even simple tasks like helping them with their clothes or putting things back and to take care of the toys they are playing with, cleaning after themselves and maintaining order everywhere and not rarely are children also helping the teachers with cleaning up. In this way children are taught from a very young age to be independent and disciplined at the same time being taught an important lesson about cleanliness (Lebra & Lebra, 1986).
The Japanese are well known to be hard working, thus working outside the working hours on a regular basis is a rather common thing. It comes almost as a non spoken rule that employees are not supposed to leave before their employer does, which usually results in many people staying in the office longer than necessary or than it is regulated by their work contracts. The fact that the Japanese begin work early in the morning and end later in the night is also very taxing for the employees. Consequently, they usually have very little time for themselves or for their families; in the case they have them.
Unlike the Western societies which encourage people to express themselves freely, the 18
Japanese culture is much more restrictive. Social norms are much more important in Japan in a way that if an individual doesn’t fit in, they stand out and that is something that an average Japanese fears. This is due to the fact that the ones standing out are usually rather discriminated by society in many ways, since they are often seen as outcasts, which is not in line with social expectations (Lebra & Lebra, 1986). This pressure usually builds up whenever and wherever the person cannot express himself or herself freely.
Therefore, many people claim that Japan is a demanding society with a very strong pressure to follow cultural norms and behavior. From families, to schools and work places, everyone gives their best to make sure their fellows adopt the rules and roles expected from them and to fully conform to them. In Japan, deviating from accepted and imposed social norms is strongly discouraged, in many ways. In simple words, as the old Japanese saying goes,
“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” (Greene, 2005, p. 97) Accordingly, needs or wants of an individual are never encouraged in public. Therefore, those breaking the social norms are easily noticed and someone always take action to bring them back to the common state.
Consequently, avoiding conflict and trouble is extremely important in Japan and Japanese are used to more diplomatic approaches than any Westerner could potentially be accustomed to. It is rather often common comment of many foreigners living in Japan, especially from the USA and Western Europe, that when it comes to doing business, making connections or just trying to get feedback information from the Japanese, what is not said is usually far more important than what was actually said (Alston & Takei, 2005).
On top of that, according to some, being complimentary and insulting at the same time, but doing your best not mask it so that the other person does not realizing it instantaneously is a 19 common communication approach in Japan.
One of the old ways of dealing with such situations is making fun of standouts. Ridicule is a common sanction in Japanese society. Mothers commonly tell their children, “If you do that, people will laugh at you.” (Lebra & Lebra, 1986, p. 49) The children unconsciously come to fear the notion of being bullied or laughed at, a fear that carried over into their adult life as an important social took to encourage conformity. Japanese people appreciate being part of a group and this notion is encouraged prominently in the Japanese society.
People are expected to think of themselves as members of a group from the early age and are used to thinking that individual considerations come second.
3.2 Reflections of Historical Changes on Society and Culture
When speaking about important changes that occurred in Japanese society from the social perspective, one needs to understand processes of modernization and westernization that the country underwent in the second half of 19th and the first half of 20th century. As the name suggests, westernization is a term that describes incorporation of elements specific for western culture - the United States and Western Europe. Modernization, on the other hand, means redefining the cultural system into a new mode (Gbosoe, 2006).
Japan has opened up its borders to the rest of the world and the country began to receive new aspects to its culture from the West in the mid-nineteen century, mostly due to the influence the Americans had on the country when they first came to Japan during the time of the Samurai, more precisely on March 31, 1854 when the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed (Karan, 2010, p. 62). This was a peace treaty between the two countries but it was 20 also the time when Japan also had opened itself to international trade. The cultural change was great as more and more western individuals came to Japan on business affairs.
The adoption of Western clothes, food, hairstyles and houses can be regarded as a part of westernization, which occurred soon enough. Although these things gave Japanese people some convenience and a sense of a new culture, the functions they performed were almost the same as those, which the native replacements had fulfilled, in earlier times. But in addition to this, government wanted to reshape the structure of the state, by learning from the West and applying the observed.
One of the things that the Government did in order to achieve its goals is the elimination of the hierarchical class system. This reform also removed special status of samurai, making all the people in Japan equal citizens. Furthermore, the government required children to attend elementary school and young men to serve in the military. These conscriptions helped creation of a sense of common identity among people of different backgrounds and regions, at the same time allowing the government to teach society loyalty to the new
Japanese government (Ion, 2010, p. 75). For instance, students were taught to adore the emperor and all schools had in their classrooms emperor's image.
Furthermore, the introduction of new technologies and ways of communication was a part of Japan’s modernization, containing the potential for enlarging the spheres of life and broadening people’s outlook on life, transforming ways of thinking, patterns of behavior and world views. As these new technologies integrated into the society, they formed a new cultural system in the country. Another aspect of modernity is the shift of roles and identity of men and women within society, the economy, and the family (Gbosoe, 2006). “As heads 21 of household, men had a role to serve the nation by creating strong, productive families who embraced new national values. Men also had the critical responsibilities of protecting the nation through military service and contributing their individual industry to enrich the nation. Modernization, the infusion of Western culture, and the resulting social and economic change engendered other male roles—political radical and protester, breadwinner, the mobo (modern boy)—at the beginning of 20th century” (Pierce &
Sudnik). Although many studies show that in modern-day Japan one's identity as part of social group or category they belong is more important than gender defined role, later still plays a rather important role.
3.3 Position of Women in Japanese Society
Japanese culture has historically emphasized gender roles and expectations for men and women have traditionally aligned with societal obligations in both private and public sector. Throughout the history women dominated the household but outside the home, their families mostly dictated their behavior. Based on teachings of Confucianism, women were taught the values of restraint, respect, organization, decorum, chastity, and modesty
(Paramore, 2016). Furthermore, women were simply forced to be dependent on men at every level. Female subservience was considered natural and a woman’s character was shaped through honoring her family in her young age and remaining loyal to her children later. Women were expected to submit to male authority in three ways - when young, the submission was to her father; when married, to her husband and when old; was expected to submit to her children. Illustrative as it may sound, this is roughest approximation of women's real position in Japanese society (Ronald & Alexy, 2017). 22
Japan’s involvement in World War II challenged the traditional expectations of women.
The war revolutionized the lives of Japanese women by employing them in weaving, textile, and silk factories while men were fighting. Japan’s women redefined their social status due to the absence of men, and society realized how important they were to Japan’s identity. However, though they were given more freedom to make lives outside of the home, they were still constricted by men’s expectations and perceptions. According to general opinion, mostly imposed by the Government, women’s patriotic duty was to have children. In other words, they were encouraged by propaganda to be "married" to the nation and secure its survival (Cook, 2006). Though women became more active in public life slightly before the war, they were still barred from voting or standing for election. They were also discouraged from taking part in politics. Instead, as Asquith and Kalland (1997) claim, they were taught to be “good wives and wise mothers.” They were to support their husbands, raise the children, supervise their education, and manage household affairs. The
Government actively supported all these ideals and approaches for women.
Unfortunately, during the War times, women were also used as advertisements for Japanese and international audiences, being portrayed as symbols of hope and pride to ease minds during the war. In addition to that, the same government also drafted poor Japanese women to be comfort women for military men and their job was to offer sexual services
(Toshiyuki, 2002).
After the war gender roles slowly became to resemble a mixture of Japanese tradition and modern, American attitudes. Nowadays, “modern Japan stresses harmony and devotion, themes that women historically exemplified more than men in Japanese society. Women still control the household, family decisions, and finances” (Khopkar, 2016). Motherhood is 23 an important aspect of what it is to be a woman. Due to this, many Japanese women are faced with these expectations of viewing motherhood as a position they have to reach in the future, not allowed to focus on other possible life goals. However, this social norm is gradually shifting and women are allowed to explore other career opportunities.
3.4 Japanese Media
Each country’s media is usually shaped by the culture and social norms of the people.
History is very important in this regard as well because as the media develops, it is tweaked and adjusted to the events of the countries. Japan is one of those countries, which has a long and eventful history, shaping the mindset of their media that exists today.
The Japanese are, as any other modern world nation, exposed to a flood of information each day from numerous sources - radio, film, books, newspapers, magazines, and advertisements. People are being both consciously and subconsciously told what to think, what to do, how to feel, and how to behave every day, from the moment they open their eyes until they get back to bed in the evening. Although news sources generally tend to inform the public and attempt to be as objective as possible while doing so, a grain of cultural salt that factors into how people interpret that objective information is always present. Moreover, various socioeconomic conditions, political situations, and social atmosphere not only contribute to how news and information are interpreted, but are also reflected in them. In a way media can be seen as a form of art, which itself is a way of communicating ideas. Those ideas are what drive nations and people, to think and act.
Japanese media have a long and rich history. 24
As noted by Rausch (2012), the first newspapers ever in Japan were published in 1615 and were known as "kawabaran" or “tile block print” (p. 32). They were basically irregularly published one-page flyers, printed using roof tiles of houses as negative prints. Their main focus was scandalous topics, such as information on suicides, disasters and other topics of similar nature. The first modern newspaper in Japan was published in English, in 1861.
They were called The Nagasaki Shipping List and Advertiser and appeared twice a week.
In 1862 the first Japanese language newspaper, Yokohama Mainichi, were published
(Babb, 2014, p. 64). All new newspaper houses soon the same challenge, regarding financial matters: either to be subsidized by various political parties, following the opinions of the funding organizations or to stay independent of political views and rely on crimes, accidents and gossip to attract larger readerships. The latter ones began the advertising business to gain editorial independence from political parties. However, by the beginning of 20th century the differences of these two types had disappeared, and newspapers relied on both circulation and advertising for their financial survival. Today there two main newspapers with national circulation (zenkokushi) are "Yomiuri Shimbun" and "Asahi
Shimbun"; each of them prints two editions every day (Babb, 2014)
Magazines were at their heyday in the 1980, however, during the 1990s, more than a third of the magazines published were manga, or comic books. The amount of published magazines in general as well as manga has decreased in 2000s because of Internet and mobile communication. Still, out of ten magazines that have more than a million in circulations, eight are manga magazines (Babb, 2014).
Radio broadcastings in Japan began in 1925 by the Tokyo Broadcasting Station, a semi- governmental institution and later became the predecessor of present day NHK (Japan 25
Broadcasting Corporation) (Babb, 2014, p. 66). NHK was used for military propaganda before and during the Second World War. Commercial companies begin broadcasting after the war in 1950. By the 1990s, Japan had more than 300 radio stations, the majority being
AM radio stations, with those numbers multiplied since then.
The Japanese television system was formed after the Second World War under a strong influence of US occupation forces. It contains both public service and competing private networks (Ito, 2010). Already before the war, Japan had an established (radio) broadcasting tradition and its own public service system, Nippon Hoso Kyokai, NHK. The monopoly of
NHK after the World War Two was maintained for economical reasons, but also because a nation-wide broadcasting network was very useful for the occupation, as it was easy to control and sensor.
The most specific feature of Japan's media system is its press-clubs ("kisha kurabu"), which is, according to many, the most decisive single factor of how media functions in the country
(Freeman, 2012). The system dates back to 1890 when the first press-club was formed.
“Today there more than 800 clubs countrywide, connected to all major institutional news sources in Japan including the Diet, ministries, national and local government departments, public agencies, political parties but also industrial associations, the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, and even the imperial household agency. Like all clubs Japanese press-clubs are membership-based dividing the Japanese media traditionally into two distinctive groups: members and non-members, inside and outside media members usually consist of Japan’s two news agencies, its four national and four regional newspapers, the business daily
Nikkei, NHK and the five national commercial TV stations” (Legewie, 2010). The other group, the outside media, includes (low-quality) sports and evening newspapers and 26 scandal-type weekly magazines as well as high-quality specialty newspapers and specialty magazines, foreign press, freelancers and journalists from all other media organizations.
“Proponents of the press-club system claim that the press-clubs efficiently facilitate the gathering of news and allow for a speedy and exact reporting of information to the public.
Its opponents criticize it due to its linkages to government and bureaucracy” (Legewie,
2010). Similarly to the rest of the world’s media industry, most of Japan’s media is owned by five large corporations, which control the sector and damage any small companies that would like to try and enter the industry.
Another critic, Ellis Krauss, of Japan's media system is regarding the uniformity of reporting of Japan’s mass media, often described to be among the “the most boring in the world” since major newspapers (Legewie, 2010), NHK and most of the commercial TV stations tend to avoid opinioned reporting. They usually focus on description of facts, which makes these newspapers look and read similar. In addition, public sector is rarely covered. Many foreign observers thus concluded that Japan’s media functions rather as a servant of state than being an independent critic and pro-active agenda setter.
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IV. Media and Society During the Second World War
The aim of this chapter is to explore how the Second World War influenced the Japanese society and what impact it had on both media and the people. To fully understand the culture and media, context about the Second World War is an important aspect to acquiring deeper understanding of Japan overall. It relates to the thesis statement in a way that it shows how the Japanese slowly began using the media in order to express themselves freely to their fellow people, one such example being using propaganda.
4.1 Propaganda
World War II was one of the most significant events in the 20th century. For Japan, the war began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and ended by the surrender in 1945 (Gruhl,
2017). In addition to warfare in the air, on the land and on the sea, Japan was also included in the social warfare, which involved promoting strong nationalistic pride for Japan as well as an incendiary hatred towards the enemies. Most of this war done with the help of the media — newspapers, books, radio, and film— which had the primary goal of being the propaganda tool against the enemy in those times. During war times, nations often try to stir up a common sense of purpose under which its people can unite and media are rather useful tool in doing so. Thus, when speaking about Japanese media during the war, we are primarily speaking about its propaganda.
The main issue with analyzing war propaganda is that it is quite similar everywhere.
Therefore, it is difficult to identify and elements which distinguish one country's war propaganda from others (except for the country of origin), as they have both the same goal -
"demonize the enemy", and means of achieving it - "praise own cause" (Kushner, 2007). 28
Japan's war propaganda is no exception to that. Much of the material used and shown in the media was racist and catered to such ideas as racial inferiority and ethnic supremacy, typical of wartime propaganda around the world. More or less, Japan aimed its propaganda both against his neighbors as well as the enemies, but it is worth mentioning that they were demonize the Allies much more than they did to other Asian countries. In many ways,
Japan took many ideas and methods from the USA and, consciously or subconsciously, incorporated them into their own methods of media propaganda throughout Asia. For instance, the Japanese art, traditionally noted for its artistic prints and paintings and their simplicity shifted its motif and focused its efforts on the war.
4.2 Characteristics of Japanese War Films
In order to simultaneously create more empathy for the characters and rationalize the war horrors to the audience, Japanese films usually showed a lot of sacrifice and never hesitated to show all hardship associated with the war. Another characteristic of Japanese war films was their ability to appeal to their audience without over-sensationalizing or dramatizing their actors. Thus, usually no fanaticism, the agony of defeat or the joys of victory were shown in their movies. Movie characters were simple and admirable in their purity of character and bravery. In line with their cultural value of not pointing the finger at anyone, came the fact that overriding theme throughout most, if not all, Japanese film during this time period was purity. Purity was the supreme character trait of the Japanese war time film heroes. The idea of national, ethnic, and spiritual purity was the red lining connecting all
Japanese films of that period. It is also the factor that made them very appealing to the
Japanese audience seeking to make sense of all the fighting going on around them - even losing battles, their purity, pride and their strength as the Japanese would hold them 29 together in the end (Seaton, 2007). In rare occasions when there was a reference to the enemy, they were usually referenced in regards to past actions. For example, America’s slave past was pointed at, targeted at showing the Japanese how the enemy treated its own people unfairly.
A interesting social product of multiple ideas are the kamikaze, the famous Japanese pilots- suicide bombers. Strongly supported by propaganda, men were sent to fight under distorted samurai ideals to the point of suicide. Brotherly love was used as a main tool to motivate men to the point of committing suicides in order to win the war.
4.3 Portrayal of Japan in Propaganda
The Japanese war propaganda was not only directed toward the Allies but also towards other Asian countries, such as China or Korea. Japan promoted the idea that under their leadership, East Asia would come to greater economic prosperity, free from Western influence, independent of Western economic bureaucracy and that the whole idea was inherently and naturally good. Interestingly, the Japanese had a very specific approach when trying to do so, using ambiguous language and bashing their neighboring countries at first, but then praising them for their qualities all of a sudden. A good example of this is the Japanese’ view of Koreans since some of the more colorful propagandist Japanese writing - extremely racist and demeaning - was mainly aimed towards them. Travel logs described the filth they saw in Korean homes, exaggerated accounts of the use of human excrement in daily living, and the waywardness of the Korean people altogether (Kushner,
2007). By doing so, Japan wanted to at the same time appeal to others and feed and support point of view of the Japanese people, which saw themselves as prevailing and supreme to 30 other Asians.
Expectedly, Japan in its propaganda failed to recognize any wrongdoings it committed to others. It insisted on that Japan’s motives were, without question, for good and only good, and that any actions taken against other Asian countries, such as China were brought about on account of self-defense. In the two very important wartime documents, "Kore dake
Yomeba Ware wa Kateru" (Read this and the War is Won) and "Shinmin no Michi" (The
Way of the Subject) (Ford, 2012), Western countries were bashed for their greedy holdings in India, most of Southeast Asia, and the Philippines. In them, the idea of Japan being the one whose duty is to free the occupied lands was promoted, mostly to soldiers, in order to rationalize the war to them and make it something necessary, even normal. In those documents, Westerners were again described as the rich, arrogant colonists who subjugated the native people and living of what has been taken from them.
Effects of propaganda, however, lasted well after peace treaty was signed. Japan, though defeated, felt the same, if not more, hatred for the United States it had before the war. The
Japanese did play the role of the defeated well, smiling to their victors (whom they perceived as occupiers) but still being contemptuous and demoralized on the inside
(Kushner, 2012). The words and images promoted by propaganda remain in a nation's collective memory and however good or bad, they tend to linger into the culture, thus allowing hate, anger and contempt a part of everyday life.
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V. Period After the Second World War
This section focuses on Japan’s recovery after the USA dropped two atomic bombs on the country, having a great influence on its people, leading them into a state of depression. The main point of this chapter is to show how media reflected this depression but also attempted to fix it in it’s own create ways, contributing to making how the Japanese media operate today. The Japanese began using media to express themselves in many different ways, such as fictional characters and short films, supporting the thesis statement of how their media expressions developed further.
5.1 Creation of Fictional Characters
The crucial moments of WW2 for Japan were the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, preceding Japan's surrender. The following period was dark, difficult and depressing for many. The hard truth that Japanese army lost the war had a strong impact on society by causing identity crisis due to the prevailing feeling of losing honor, one of the things that Japanese value the most. In order to cope with the loss, media strived to acknowledge the situation but also relieve it in its own ways. Creation of the first (of many) worldwide famous Japanese fictional characters, Godzilla, can be traced to this.
Godzilla is a horrific, large, reptile-like creature, aggressive and unfriendly to anything crosses its path. As Sherif (2008) claims, “Godzilla depicts a stable, prosperous society with a smoothly functioning infrastructure (the government, the police, the scientific community, the media) populated by the ordinary, well-nourished people who believe in myth (Godzilla) but who are scientifically advanced (the oxygen destroyer)” (p. 204). It is meant to destroy everything it sees, after which it simply disappears. The concept of 32
Godzilla conveyed a message that anything, good or bad but mostly bad, can happen at any moment - that unforeseeable events and huge catastrophes are possible. Its main point was reflecting the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and showing from an artistic side both horrors of and reasons how a city can be destroyed all of a sudden. Soon after being presented to the wider audience, the creature became a symbol of devastation caused by nuclear weapon.
The Japanese, of course, needed more to represent their emotions and memories of the war.
In order to try and live with acceptance of the past, media started creating new characters that represented something happy and cute. That was when Hello Kitty, a white cat that has only recently been revealed to have actually been a small girl living her everyday life innocently and happily, was created in 1974, having cuteness as its main concept idea.
Hello Kitty is one of the characters (though probably the most succesfull one) the media have created and promoted in order to give the children hope for the future and show them that the future is not as dark as the past. Interesting parts of Kitty's appeal are its relatively amorphous look and the fact that she does not have a mouth. As explained by the creators, this is because they wanted their character to speak from the heart and not to be bound to any particular language. She was made partly English because when she was first drawn, the Japanese rarely travelled abroad and foreigner (particularly English) associations were extremely popular (Yano, 2013). Since the Japanese origins of the character were not that obvious, Hello Kitty was able to transcend cultural differences and become universal symbol of cuteness. Though the concept of cuteness ("kawaii") as a cultural phenomenon emerged way earlier, it had a definite breakthrough with hello Kitty. 33
5.2 Emergence of “Kawaii”
In modern-day Japanese culture concept of "kawaii" is still present and expressed in many ways. Interestingly, both women and men take part in it - for instance, men shave their legs to mimic a pubescent look, while singers and actors often have longer hair (Atkins, 2017).
On the other hand, women prefer look that signifies innocence and cuteness thus some attempt to change the size of their eyes by wearing large contact lenses, large eyelashes, strong eye makeup and surgically modify their eyelids in order to have visually bigger eyes, which is connected to Japanese perspective of cuteness.
"Cute" characters can be found in other media as well. For instance, video games made by
Nintendo are well known for the variety of cute characters. However, one of the most famous Japanese media products are its "comic books", easily recognizable for their specific characters and expressions. Indeed, the face is usually the first characteristic noticed on a Manga character. With unnaturally large eyes, and a very small mouth, the face is the one aspect of the body that stands out vastly from the rest. With the rapid switch from distance to close-up shots, the face is key to drawing you into the character and keeping you in the emotion of the story (Atkins, 2017). These characters tell the story and convey the message of two, according to many, most significant products of modern day
Japanese culture, anime and manga.
5.3 Anime and Manga
Anime and manga are terms that are often used interchangeably even though they address two distinctly different art forms. Manga is a graphic novel (or comic book) that is usually the foundation upon which anime (animated series of film) is built upon or based on. Both 34
Manga and anime are hybrid forms of art, evolving from the encounter of traditional
Japanese art and Western comic art. The 'manga' style has an extensive, few centuries old history, making it a bit more than just a comic book, as it is usually translated and explained (Brenner, 2007). Manga to a great extent captures essence of Japanese culture.
Some of the themes it focuses on are the seek for strength and power, sex symbols, animals, monsters, robots, altered beings, death, technology, to name a few. As stated by Bouissou
(2016), “phantoms, superstitions, numerous spirits, monsters (friendly and not), and a healthy dose of the irrational all survive in Japan’s collective unconscious, thanks to the country’s late entry into modernity” and are also present in anime and manga.
The first, post-war group of manga artist usually created stories describing “a group of young orphaned survivors, united by friendship and the will to live, who fight in a post- apocalyptic universe with indomitable hope until a new dawn arises. This traumatic formula recurs in myriad forms in manga and anime. In early examples, such as Keiji
Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen (1972), heroic youths with unbelievable optimism fight with clear consciences to rebuild a better world” (Bouissou, 2016). Despite being popular in
Japan, this type of anime and manga received little success in the West when it was introduced in 1980s.
The apocalypse manga and anime genre of Hiroshima’s legacy remained in the Japanese collective memory, portraying the era in Japan that occurred after World War II had taken place. Many anime and manga portrayed the apocalypse as an era of loss, however, finding hope in the children that represented a better future for the country. The adults may have lost the war, but the children were there, and they would keep fighting for a better post- apocalypse world. Science also gained an important role in manga and anime, portraying it 35 as a power source that determined one’s victory, such as the USA’s atomic bomb that was used in order to sway the war in American favor, ending the war in their victory. Tezuka
Osamu’s Astroboy, one of the most celebrated manga of all time according to many, is one such series demonstrating this mentality. “The little nuclear-powered robot, created in
1952, presents the “scientific youth”, whose mission is to establish a just order of the world, with Japan at the forefront” (Bouissou, 2016).
As a new generation of mangaka emerged – the manga creators, the genre and themes of the post-apocalyptic manga began to change. These new artists and creators had no memory of the war, nor did they harbor any experiences from it as the older generations that lived during the war did. The war wasn’t a popular topic for discussion at that time period as well, meaning that the new generation knew very little of the war from their parents. Most of the manga in this period of time aren’t as heavily influenced by the war as a result. The difference between “good” and “evil” aren’t as clear, the heroes goals aren’t as clear, and in most cases the manga doesn’t promise a conclusion of hope for a better world in the future.
During the 1990s, when the popularity of manga began to expand across the globe, the notion of science was becoming evil and dangerous. With new series now beginning to portray the revenge of nature or supernatural forces against pollution and genetic modification, or the manipulation of deadly viruses. In most of manga from this time, science appears as the mother of all dangers, threatening to destroy or enslave humanity. A common interpretation of Akira, the popular anime character produced at the height of
Japan's economic bubble, is as a critic against the destruction of social values and the enslavement of man to technology (Perper, 2011). 36
Due to its constant popularity and armies of fans, nowadays many anime conventions are organized all over the world. The most well known ones are Anime Expo, Anime Festival
Orlando, Anime Festival Wichita and ANIME Impulse (Drazen, 2014). These four solely focus on anime; however, there are still larger conventions, which host both anime and manga. One of the most popular such conventions in the USA, Comic-Con, promotes anime and manga among the other Western comics and series. During these conventions, it is quite common to see many participants dressed up as their favorite animated character.
This new trend has been named “cosplay," originating from Japan. In Western cultures, it is normal and expected of people to dress in costumes for Halloween but when it comes to
Cosplay, people are free to dress up whenever and however they want. In Japan, many
Japanese are seen wearing cosplay as their everyday clothing. Interestingly, they do not stand out and unlike the West; it is normal to see them in public areas (Lunning, 2006).
This cultural norm is rather specific for Japan, as these people who would be walking the streets in Europe or USA would definitely attract attention. People have come to accept cosplay as a norm in Japan, seeing it as normal. Within the cosplay subculture, there is a strong sense of community and belonging, thus cosplay's great popularity in Japan can be easily explained. In this community fans are able to interact with others from the same fandom on any relevant matter. There is a sense of unity and most of them are thrilled to see other fans having matching cosplays or cosplay in general. Group photos are taken, and
‘fan service’ is performed to get onlookers excited. In some cases, cosplayers will get together for occasions other than conventions (Lunning, 2006).
Anime, just like any other Japanese media product, mixes the old traditions, aspects of modern culture and Western culture. The mixture of these three is the end result that we see 37 today where the media is striving to be modern and up to date with the rest of the world while also maintaining the core traditional values of the country. Both anime and manga, as well as other Japanese media products have been influenced by Western media and culture.
There are many products of the Western media that are being implemented into the
Japanese media, although acknowledging cultural differences and being modified to fit the cultural norms. During the occupation, U.S. troops introduced American comics and cartoons, such as Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, and Superman, inspiring Japanese artists to develop their own style of comics. There are many anime adaptations of Western media characters such as Marvel superheroes, but it is different in a sense that these superheroes are recreated to fit into the Japanese norm. The characters are redesigned, in most cases changing their attire into traditional samurai clothing with a katana as their weapon
(Cavallaro, 2012). An example of this would be their adaptation of Batman, a western media character, whom the Japanese portrayed as a samurai, having a samurai sword and other traditional items, thus fitting the expectancies of the Japanese culture and society.
In Western societies animated movies are mostly targeted at children, usually neglecting the older population completely. On the other hand, anime and manga audience in Japan is made to be interesting to the whole population, partially due to the fact that there are different genres, covering a broad range of topics. Of course, it was not like that from the beginning and the audience changed as manga and anime gained popularity - while the early fans of manga and anime were generally also fans of science-fiction, the audience now is general and cannot be pinpointed to a certain social group or class or part of subculture. This wide range of genres is the reason as to why anime is regarded as a medium for everyone, reflecting the struggles and viewpoints of all ages in turn allowing 38 different groups of people relate to the content. This is what enables anime to express a wide set of issues that are presented in the Japanese society, different genres tackling different issues for different age groups. For instance, interesting observation is that since the Japanese as society acknowledge death, as a normal part of life - obviously influenced of difficult history - so seeing characters dying instead of staying immortally young is not a rare thing. But of course, this is not the only reflection of cultural norms. In many anime series, parents are mostly absent and quite often at work. This is a reflection on the expectation of men (and increasingly women) to be loyally devoted to their workplace.
When parents are around, mom is usually at home with the father almost always away, again the traditional idea of women running the household so the man can work. When the roles are reversed, the stay-at-home dad is pictured unusual and strange, illustrating how odd this is to the old, traditional norm.
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VI. Japanese TV
This section focuses on the current situation of Japanese media and how it functions within the Japanese society today. It builds upon what the previous two chapters have concluded, explaining how the current Japanese media functions. The modern Japanese media is made to mimic the Western media, showing how despite having a different culture, they are aiming to entertain the audience in the same way as the people in Western societies. It is because Japan opened its borders that outside influences began to affect the country’s media, contributing to the unique nature of the Japanese media.
6.1 Behavior of People Portrayed in the Media
Unlike Westerners who have become more reliant on the Internet for their media consumption, the Japanese spend much more time watching television. In a sense, the
Japanese pay a lot of attention on details, adding subtitles to their broadcasts while also using the simplest displays to explain the topic they are trying to make sense of. An example of this would be a model of a battlefield instead of showing it digitally.
It is not unusual to see a huge chunk of text at the bottom of broadcasts, informing the viewers of the weather or traffic jams while watching their favorite show. Apart from the news programs, Japanese TV shows are often very active in a sense that the hosts speak loudly and do things that one would not do in public. Unlike the cultural norm to be as quiet as possible, people on the TV speak very loudly. Unlike the Western media, Japanese media is very simplified as well in a sense that they do not use special effects in their programs but rather focus on physical models to demonstrate what they are talking about. It is much more child like with subtitles accompanying most programs and other texts that are 40 on the screen. The Japanese media is simplified to express their popular culture, which might seem childish, especially when compared to Western culture. When, on the other hand, they do focus on more serious matters, such as news from the world of politics, business or world, media following the story usually tends to cover it tracing every single detail that could have be the cause of the matter studied, thus serving a lot of redundant pieces of information to the audience which usually results in audience losing the interest for the show or talk.
Many hosts and personalities in the media are seen to abide by cultural norms, although in many cases they are broken for entertainment purposes. These include comic relief scenarios as well as competitive programs. Then there are TV programs that are aimed for humorous entertainment (warai) but would be found to be strange by Western audiences.
Programs such as eating realistic items like shoes or pens that turn out to be chocolate one bitten into (Yoshimoto, Tsai & Choi, 2016). Other shows such as men jumping over women in swimming suits are also very out of place and shocking for audiences outside of
Japan. Now, odd as they may seem, especially to the people outside Japan, these programs and persons making appearance there demonstrate how difficult it is to appear on the
Japanese TV and those succeed in doing so have worked really hard, in addition to being different and unique. It may seem a bit against expectations of not standing out, but when it comes to television industry, standing out in Japan, as in the rest of the world is not only expected but necessary as well.
6.2 Popular Media Content
While the Japanese media does reflect the Japanese culture, it also reflects aspects of it 41 which are completely opposite of what it stands for. There are many Japanese TV shows, which portray loud individuals, inappropriate scenarios and even pornographic content, which is censored. Media personalities are known to be loud in the programs, which is a major contrast to the cultural norms where one is expected to be quiet.
Furthermore, modern Japanese TV dedicates a lot of attention and time to shows about food
(Yoshimoto, Tsai & Choi, 2016). However, these shows do not focus on the chefs, their skills or the restaurants and their offers; they are mostly focused on the moments of eating and either enjoying the food or being disappointed of it. The "testers" have all the attention on them but once they actually try the food, the chef does not receive any critics, positive or negative, of his deed. In a way this goes along the line of politeness, where negative is not being publicly criticized and good is not being praised enough. One can claim that by doing this, TV promotes the norm of politeness.
It is worth noticing as well that modern day Japanese television is rather consumer - oriented, in a way that it promotes the idea of being rich and spending a lot of money is equivalent to happiness. There are many TV shows featuring celebrities travelling to various popular tourist destinations all around Japan, spending a lot of money on food, clothes, alcohol and going out and presenting their joy and happiness as a natural consequence of being rich. These shows are rather popular, but many people argue and are worried about their long-term effects and how the youth will reshape its perception of happiness and life values after being influenced by them.
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VII. Modern Day Society and Media
This chapter focuses on how modern day media and Japan’s society co-exists. How struggles of the modern society are portrayed within the media, and what the media is doing to show these specific problems within the society. The Japanese face social norms, which if broken, are seen as very inappropriate. This relates to the thesis statement in a way that it explains why they aren’t allowed to express themselves freely in their society, prompting them to express themselves more freely using media outlets available.
7.1 Popular Programs
As Japan had developed into a country it is today, many hardships had to be overcome.
Many needed to work for long hours, something that has not changed up to this day. As the country developed, the Japanese media had already begun to make its own place in the world of media around the world. Animated TV shows featuring giant robots or girls with magical powers quickly became symbols of Japanese culture and once an individual from abroad had seen it, they would quickly know that it is a product of the Asian country. Apart from animation and its aim to keep up with the Western media, other Japanese TV programs had also begun to form a shape of their own.
A program that had become popular among the Japanese is one of the hidden cameras where the TV crew would plan and pull stunts on unsuspecting victims. The aim of the program was purely for comical relief, aimed to relieve the viewers after their long day at work. Due to the time of industrialization in Japan, the program became popular because it began broadcasting at the right time. The time of industrialization was also a time of depression in Japan because as people spent more and more time at work, they had less 43 time for themselves and their families. Although it was never the thing that would change the lives of those individuals, it was enough to make them smile after a long day of work.
7.2 Social Struggles of a Common Japanese Citizen
The long working hours are a result of Japan’s need to become more economically successful, which it has accomplished. Despite being one of the most powerful economies in the world, Japan is keen on keeping its position, keeping the long working hours implemented in their society (Mak, 1998). The romantic video game simulators are an escape to this constricting society of no freedom. After working such long hours at work, the employees have no desire to seek other social events. They arrive home tired and exhausted, having no time for anything else but their occupation.
These virtual dating games have risen in popularity and are consumed by different age groups. The games are aimed to soothe the frustrations of having a romantic partner, but despite this intention, some players have taken this to an extreme level, seeking no partners and instead viewing themselves to be in a real romantic relationship with a virtual character
(Weyer, 2015). There was even a wedding that was conducted in Tokyo where a man had married his gaming console, switched on to display the animation character that was within it. This reflects the frustrations of the workers that are in a culture that expects too much of them.
Although for the younger male population, it is very problematic when it comes to making time for social life. They have no opportunities to meet and interact with others outside their work, having problems finding a romantic companion. In solution to that, many media companies have begun to release video games to help fill in the needs of those overworking 44 employees. The video games, as well as anime, have many genres to them, which are available to both men and women. Many Japanese prefer to play the video games, interacting with a virtual boyfriend or girlfriend instead of looking for one in real life
(Weyer, 2015).
The Japanese media helps to reinforce rules and social norms in the country. Although the
Japanese culture values peace and quiet, cities such as Tokyo are anything but quiet. There are many television screens around Tokyo, broadcasting commercials and news to the people on the streets. These screens are very loud and draw attention to themselves. It is very contrasting to the rules that the government is imposing. In many cases there are even vans that are playing music while passing through a street within the city. These vans are also a form of media advertisement where the van is decorated with the advertisement, drawing attention of the pedestrians with music or megaphone. The media is breaking this quietness of the culture, blasting loud music through the cities of Japan.
The development of technology has made the everyday lifestyle of a Japanese family easier and more efficient. Members of the family now have much more leisure to dedicate their time to family outings and vacations to further spend their time together as a group.
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VIII. Position of Women in Japanese Media
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the role of women in Japanese media, as well as their portrayal. Similar to the Western culture, the women are victims of objectification and sexualization in many of Japan’s modern media outlets. Not only are women placed into the stereotypical roles female roles, but also they’re also heavily sexualized in manga and anime, some of which are aimed towards a younger audience. This issue of how women are portrayed in the media relates to the thesis statement in a way that men are allowed to express their sexualization and objectification of women freely, a contrast to how they are allowed to treat women following their culture.
8.1 Degrading Women
The media mirrors what is seen attractive, interesting and dynamic by society, but in
Japan’s case, it is very degrading towards women. One of the thing seen as attractive is that a woman is not as clever as compared to their male counterparts (Moeran, 2013, p. 237).
Japanese men prefer a women that are unknowledgeable and who need help no matter what they are doing. Because of this, some Japanese women even go as far as pretending they are unknowledgeable about certain matters, when in fact they are. Younger women usually do this because who want to be more attractive. However, this unfortunate trend resulted in many women not continuing their studies or dropping out educational institutions at an earlier age. One cannot escape noticing that this phenomenon is something rather curious when compared to Western societies, which endorses and encourages women to have higher education and higher income positions.
Common portrayal of women in Japanese media is a large topic to be explored. 46
Unfortunately, women are in most cases sexualized and treated as objects of admiration by the audience watching the content. Typical example of this is women in anime movies, which are well known for their unnaturally high-pitched voices. Furthermore, they are also look much more fabricated, as compared to their male counterparts. Compared to Western media, the anime also enhances body portions, more commonly used on female characters rather than male ones. One of the most enhanced body areas of the female characters are their breasts, usually enlarged in unnaturally large proportions with the rest of the body.
The strange aspect of it, however, is that not only is the chest size of female characters enhanced in adult targeted audiences, but also teenage ones as well. The genre “shounen” is known to have many female characters with large body proportions, even though it is meant to be more action oriented for teenage boys. Anime allows the production staff to enhance the sexual appeal of characters but it isn’t to say that the same isn’t done in other aspects of the Japanese media (Carilli & Campbell, 2005). Of course this depends on the genre of the media type, however, while appearance varies with its appropriate setting, the behavior of the females in media does not.
When examining the way the characters dressed, one often sees a distinct pattern that all of them are mostly wearing short revealing skirts and t-shirts that are unbuttoned at the collar.
The clothing of all female characters is, in general and disregarding the target audience, very revealing. It has become a norm of sorts and is not seen as unnatural if not questioned.
The anime characters, depending on the genre, are mostly wearing school uniforms, although where males have a bit more realistic body appearance, females are reshaped and objectified to fit the sexual appeal of the audience. Thus, even though the anime's school setting mirrors the real life educational institutions in Japan, the appearance of female 47 characters in it is sexualized to the point that one does not have to look hard to notice it.
The most popular clothing choice for female characters is the school uniform which is reflecting the true school system of Japan. Unlike in most Western schools, the Japanese have a strict policy for school uniforms and many schools abide by it. In fact it is very difficult to find an educational institution in Japan which allows it’s students not to wear a uniform.
The animated female characters in both anime and video games are the same. Their body proportions enhanced with impossible proportions and their voices high pitched. They are animated to represent a Japanese woman, however, with their varying hair colors; many see them resembling Westerners rather than Japanese natives who all have natural black hair.
Not only is this shown in Japanese animation but in the society as well. As one walks down a street, it is impossible not to see a white woman in marketing campaigns around the city.
In Tokyo specifically, which is the main capital and has the highest population of foreigners in all of Japan, has most of its advertisements shown with white women or men.
Of course there are many advertisements that have Asian natives within them, however, the majority of them show white people within them. Companies such as Louis Vuitton,
Chanel and Levis portray white individuals in their campaigns which may be due to them originating from the West. When examining companies of Japanese origin such as Moussy, we see that they also mostly show white women in their advertisements. With the majority of advertisements containing foreign models, they create the idea body type and what is expected of Japanese women: big eyes, clear skin and slim bodies. 48
8.2 Objectification
This notion that a woman is more attractive when they are less educated is shown in
Japanese media, in many TV shows and talk shows. It is often seen that a female host is asking a question, which their male counterpart answers. Majority of the experts that are shown on the media as guests are also male, although rarely there is a female expert as well making an appearance. If a female expert does appear, they are frequently older women who specialize in housework and such fields that are dominated by women. The Japanese media reflects this norm of what is seen as attractive but is not doing anything to change this. It only endorses the stereotypical norm of what is seen as attractive, further enhancing it.
Another reflection of traditionalistic views on women can be observed in that the more
Japanese women have clearer and whiter skin, the more beautiful they are seen as. This reflects back to the time of the Samurais where the Geishas used to cover their faces with white powder. Even though a woman may be seen unattractive, if they have white skin, they are considered more attractive and this phenomenon has not changed in the modern
Japanese society. If a women has acne or other skin problems, they are quickly ignored.
This is why most of the female media personalities are required to have clear skin and are usually given medication to achieve this goal. The importance of clear skin is the most important for becoming a media personality.
Not only enhancing the behavior but also enhancing body proportions and its expectations of women. Majority of the female population has a small chest size, which is very contradictory when compared to anime where most female characters have unnaturally 49 large chests. This aspect of the media may be pointing to the lack of females with large chests but also encouraging the women that having a large chest is what is seen as attractive. This message sends a mixed message to the female audience, giving them a body image that is expected of them to have. This is the same as other media around the world which portrays certain expectations to the female population.
When compared to the traditional way Japanese women used to look and behave, we can see that it has changed over the years. Instead of wearing a kimono, Japanese women have adapted to the modern style of clothing. Although in the historic part of Tokyo, Asakusa, we can still see many men and women wearing the traditional kimono. This also applies to many other parts of Japan. The media supports the tradition and depending on the program wear the kimono as well.
Furthermore, since women are objectified in the media, many women on TV are wearing revealing skirts and clothing. The clothing TV hostesses wear are much more revealing than that of their male counterparts. Japanese woman are much more conservative than
Western women who wear clothing that is much more revealing. This contradicting modern culture is very different from the traditional views of how a woman should be conservative.
In the media, the women are shown with much more revealing clothing than those that are walking on the streets (Carilli & Campbell, 2005).
“Our media reflects these mores. Anime, like any other medium, reflects the expectations society has for its members. Aspects of anime, such as a girl cooking a bento for her favorite guy or guys acting pure and innocent, are a reflection of gender roles and expectations in Japanese society” (Kincaid & Clark, 2016). Anime females are shown to 50 view making lunch for their partners are very important, as it is a cultural norm for housewives to make dinner for their husbands. Cooking is viewed as a feminine feature in anime, and if a male character is able to cook, they would be viewed as more feminine in both the Western and Japanese cultures. Interactions of male and female characters which are shown to be more sexual from the female’s side is the product of “comfort girls” which were given as relief to soldiers during the time of war.
51
Conclusion
Japan’s unique media was created by the country’s past as well as its unique culture that originates far into the country’s history. One culture's characteristics, norms, and traditions, can and are usually different though not necessarily are often interpreted and seen as odd or even not normal by another culture and vice versa. Therefore, one can judge only comparing to its own cultural perspective that manifestation(s) of observed events, emotions or rules are caused by the need to express oneself. This however does not mean that they indeed are; rather than that, as history, economy and politics shape society and influence its structure and norms, many things may be pure consequences of those shifts and ways particular society deals with them. Thus, the way we define the need to express ourselves can influence what we observe and judge.
In this piece of work, Japanese media have been studied in order to identify how and where they show conflicts and frustration of the Japanese society. This has been done by studying how different genders were portrayed in the media and how this changed in changed in time, as well as how the complete society reacted to historical, social, economical and political changes that occurred to it and how these changes influenced the media and the ways it portrays them.
The Japanese society is a good example of a closed and group-oriented society, where needs, wishes and expectations of individuals are of secondary concern. The society has had rather clear and distinct expectations from its members, largely influenced by gender throughout the history. The long isolation also contributed to formation of distinct approach when dealing with conflicts, communicating with fellows or dealing with problems. Apart 52 from the isolation, many norms and expectations were both challenged and changed during the Second World War, had to be recreated as a result of the shock caused by the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or were simply adopted as a way of following the current technological or socioeconomical trends both in Japan and in the world.
War The Second World War influenced the Japanese society in many ways. Firstly, society structure, gender roles and social expectations from individual all changed since society had to adapt to everyday challenges. Society became more Western-like, in a way that individuals had more rights and different things were expected from them than before.
Media of this time was mostly war propaganda, promoting and supporting the Japanese cause and opposing the enemy. Some of the old cultural norms, such as expectancy that women are to please man and produce offspring, were widely supported and demonstrated in the media.
Secondly, the dropping of the atomic bomb brought the war to an end and society had to face with the loss, which was perceived as something horrible and equaled with losing honor, sense and in the end, the very need to keep existing. Therefore, the after war period was dark and depressing. Media sought to comfort the society by creating and focusing on making the reason of the defeat and unexpected destruction cause by the nuclear weapon at first. This gave rise to creation of Godzilla and similar creatures and stories on one hand and made manga and anime focus on topics of survival and making sense of the world.
After that, generation change introduced new manga and anime authors who had different lives and were more focused on dealing topics such as existentialism and sense in broader meaning. Later focus shifted again and was directed at environmental and technological topics. 53
Today media once again serves its primary purpose of informing the society of various events and tends to be rather objective when doing so. In addition to that, it also presents many shows interesting to the Japanese only, many of which reach into the bizarre and odd.
Japanese media always contained a great amount of history and culture, no matter the product being discussed. It never backed out from demonstrating and supporting norms and expectations as well as various specific, cultural features. Popular trends and ideas always had their place in the media but were always strongly mixed with the cultural aspects.
Therefore, reason for popularity of various media products in Japan can be found in the fact that media always supported and tried hard to incorporate as many cultural aspects in its products but can also be found in the fact that media always tried to comfort the audience and show understanding for the inner thoughts and feelings. However, where exactly is the line between popularity due to quality, popularity due to cultural features and popularity due to unconscious feeling of comforting frustrations and inner conflicts is difficult to say, almost as difficult as to define and isolate the ability to express oneself from a cultural norm.
54
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