IES Abroad Japan

Chiba

January 15th, 2015

Gil Vicente Lourencao

Tsukuba University / Federal University of Sao

Carlos

About Japanese Culture – Or how to

recognize the importance of Pop Culture in Japan and beyond

Acknowledgements:

Monbukagakusho

FAPESP

Professor Karl Friday

IES Abroad Japan

What is Japanese Culture?

What we’ll talk about?

Some definitions about Culture, Pop, Japanese Culture.Examples taken inside of Japanese Culture and theimportance of pop culture to understand the main core ofCulture in Japan. Segmentary principle of organization -age groups: young age, adult age and senior age.Explanation about this system and the relation with theKouhai[beginners], Senpai[veterans], Sensei[professors]system and the importance of that in terms of socialorganization.

Some examples and manifestations of Pop Culture:descriptions of Manga, Anime, Music, Games, CardGames. A fashion and Kawaii[cute] Japanese World.Akihabara and Harajuku, the social environment as acenter of Kawaiiness [cuteness], Sexuality and PopCulture in Tokyo. Q/A and discussion.

Few words about myself -

presentation

I have been living here since 2012, more accurate over two years in

Japan to make a research about the Ki, or vital energy inside of

Kendo and Iaido, i.e., Martial Arts or Martial ways.

I’m a Student of Martial arts and Japanese old things and stuffs. The

main point for me is, inside of Japanese Culture, everything links

past and future in a continuum way. Let’s see this.

Culture, Pop, Japanese Culture. How

can we understand this?

What we need to have Culture? Or to be? Or to

becoming?

Culture and Culture

Praxis and language

Symbols

Action

Communication

Popular [Pop] Vs. Cult

One definition

Culture – system of symbols. Communication, socialization and a way to live, to be and becoming in society.

In one anthropological point of view, Culturecan be understood as a language that puttogether Symbols, praxis – or the wayspeople think and do – and act. In this sense,the communication is mainly important, toallow people to think, make decisions andact. [Marshall Sahlins, Islands of History].

Japanese Culture

So, in this sense, Japanese Culture can be

understood as symbols, shared meanings,

persons living and sharing together these

meanings, objects, subjects; ways to live and

becoming. But, these shared meanings is

not fully able or opened for everybody.

Mainly for people of groups with close age.

Or, in sum, age groups.

In Japan, we should note that the age group

system is strong. And in second, here have a

equivalent strong appreciation of young

Culture.

Few examples

Anthopologic point of view;

Inside of Japanese Culture.

From the point of view of a given anthropology, we

could recognize a definition of a person inside of

Japanese Culture by three points.

First, an underlying hierarchical principle of

Japanese social organization; in this opportunity

we’ll talk about it.

second, by the native word;

third, and important, by kinship.

Obs.: We have all these processes together.

Hierarchy system

Professors [Sensei] 「先生」 , the senior students

[Senpai]「先輩」, and beginner practitioners [Kouhai]

「後輩」of some activity. This primary hierarchical

system is the basis of any hierarchy in Japan, working

in any relation, inside of Companies, Schools,

Universities and of course in all Cultural Practices.

This hierarchical system is vitally important to

understand the Japanese social structure. All other

systems used it in a similar logic and its operation

takes into account basically the temporality. Longer in

a given activity, more a person should to know. And

teach.

Japanese Popular Culture

For the other side, the JPC let open some ways for the emergence and

operation of a insipient individualism and group differentiation.

Japanese Pop Culture

JPC Categories

Some categories of JPC [and of course

other PC] including

Manga –漫画 - Comics

Anime – アニメ - Animation

Music –音楽

Games –ゲーム

Card Games – カードゲーム

Some useful words and Concepts

Kawaii – 「可愛い」 – Cute, beautiful, beautifully; speciallyused for beautiful women and children. Need to be avoidedwhen in men's case. Can be used with the Yurukiyara –Prefecture’s mascots also. [Example of Funashi – FunabashiShi and Kumamon – Kumamoto Ken]

Otaku – 「オタク」 – Some kind of Nerd or GeekJapanese like.

Cosplay – Costume Player –「コスプレー」

Akihabara -「秋葉原」 . Center or humanity microcosm forOtakus and Cosplayers.

Harajuku - 「原宿」 Capital of Kawaiiness [Japan Today]

AKB48 – Akihabara 48. Group of Mythical idols Japanesesingers.

Kun and Chan –くん、ちゃん。

Inside a Japanese bookshelfFirst of all, in Japan they have specialized bookstores

for rent, buy or sell new or used books, disks, games,

game consoles, etc. Below, some pictures of those

places - bookstores:

Manga –漫画 - Comics We should note that in Japan exist a wide variety of Manga available

in stores. If you want to know what kind is most famous or sold at

that time, the best advice is to visit a bookstore to see what people

are buying. This visit can be really nice, trust me.

Naruto - Masashi Kishimotohttps://www.facebook.com/MasashiKishimoto811 (岸本 斉史, born November 8,

1974) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga

series Naruto which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014. As of

September 2014, the series had over 200 million copies in print

worldwide.

Manga –漫画 - Comics Vagabond – Tatehiro Inoue

http://itplanning.co.jp/previous/whate

Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦 , born in 12

January 1967 in Okuchi, Kagoshima) is a

Japanese manga artist, best known for

the samurai manga Vagabond, which has

become a success both in Japan and

overseas.

Anime – アニメ - Animation

Hayao Miyazaki http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki

宮﨑 駿 Miyazaki Hayao, born in January 5, 1941, is a

Japanese film director, animator, manga artist, illustrator,

producer, and screenwriter. Through a career that has

spanned five decades, Miyazaki has attained

international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a

maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao

Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation

studio. He is considered one of the most popular and

influential animators in cinema, in Japan and overseas.

My Neighbor Totoro ( Tonari no Totoro)-

1988https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXG4DcIAfBE

Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)-2001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByXuk9QqQkk

Anime – アニメ - Animation

Masamune Shirō (士郎 正宗 Shirō Masamune) is a

manga artist. He was born on November 23, 1961.

Masamune Shiro is the pen name of Masanori Ota,

based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune. He is best

known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has

since been turned into two theatrical anime movies,

two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and several

video games. This became the basic reference for the

movie Matrix.

Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai, "Mobile

Armored Riot Police”, from 1989)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMNtOQOaLU

Music –音楽

Yoshida Brothers

(吉田兄弟 Yoshida Kyōdai) are Japanese musicians who

have released several albums on the Domo Records

label. The two brothers are performers of the traditional

Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which

originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in

Japan as a duo playing the shamisen. Their music has

been a fusion of the rapid and percussive Tsugaru-

jamisen style along with Western and other regional

musical influences. In addition to performing songs that

are only on the shamisen, they also use instruments

such as drums and synthesizers.

Yoshida Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_CzD0GBD-4#t=123

Music –音楽

Kyary Pamiu Pamiu – 「きゃりーぱみゅうぱみゅう」 "Harajuku Pop

Princess”.

Kiriko Takemura (竹村 桐子 Takemura Kiriko, born January 29, 1993), known by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

is a Japanese model and singer. Her public image is associated with Japan's kawaii culture centered in

the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Kyary is well known for her iconic single, "PonPonPon" (2011),

which made Japan's top ten. The singles "Candy Candy" and "Fashion Monster" (2012) followed the

success. Though most of her success as a recording artist has been in Asia, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has

also gained popularity in western countries due in part to internet videos which have gone viral.

"Harajuku Pop Princess”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoK8DaJRDaM (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMdjJ3w9iM (2013)

Games –ゲーム

Consoles

Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_video_game

_console

Handheld Game Console

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld_game_c

onsole

Card Games – カードゲーム

Specialized Stores in Akihabara; decks, RPGs

Harajuku and Akihabara Harajuku - 原 宿 Capital of Kawaiiness. In the

neighborhood we can easily find girls dresses such as theseexamples:

http://www.travelettes.net/a-guide-to-harajuku-fashion/

Harajuku and Akihabara

Akihabara - 秋葉原 . Center or humanity microcosm forOtakus and Cosplayers

AKB48 AKB48 is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara

(Akiba for short) area of Tokyo, where the group's theater is located,

and its original roster of 48 members. AKB48's producer, Yasushi

Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with its own theater and

performing daily so fans could always see them live. This "idols you

can meet" concept includes teams which can rotate performances

and perform simultaneously at several events.

A fashion and Kawaii[cute] Japanese

World.

Final Considerations

Japanese are affectionate for the beauty andbalance of everything. They are so proud ofcountry and beauties that here are.

For the other hand, those beauties occasionallybring some kind or worship and idolatry. Likesome kind of divinity's worship. It is the case formany young students girls and boys.

The technologic life in japan can occasionallybring loss of reality and a isolate life. Take careplease.

Here you can find a myriad of different kinds ofhobbies and funny pleasures; in sum, the problemis just the size of your pocket for some of them;but, for many other pleasures, you can discoveryou don't need money.

Have fun!

Thank you very much for your attention

Gil Vicente Lourencao

gilvicenteworks@gmail.com

ufscar.academia.edu/GilVicenteLourencao

www.japonesidades.wordpress.com

Social Sciences - Federal University of Sao Carlos,

UFSCar, Brazil [2005]

Masters in Social Anthropology - Federal University

of Sao Carlos, UFSCar [2009]

Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology, UFSCar

[March, 2015]

Post Doc Researcher Candidate in Tsukuba

University [August, 2015]

ABEJ - Brazilian Association of Japanese Studies -

Researcher

Japan Foundation Brazil - Japanese Studies -

Researcher

LEM - Laboratory of Immigration Studies - UFSCar -

Researcher

LJS - Laboratory of Japaneseness Studies – Tsukuba

University - Coordinator

ABA - Brazilian Association of Anthropology - Member

ABMON - Association of Students of

Monbukagakusho - Member

Japanese Academy of Budo [Martial Arts] 日本武道学会 – Member and Researcher