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 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:26 am
It started with a bang, or 2 of them, rather. With the bomb drops over both Hiroshima and Nagasaki done, WWII was ended for Japan, and they were left with a war torn countryside to rebuild, with the aid of the very people that put them in this state. Just how does the country deal with such a tragic, and heavy blow? The way any country involved in war does: by fluffing it up, for mass consumption.
To distract people from their involvements in the Nanjing Massacre, vivisection of humans without anesthesia, and use of comfort women(abducting women, and using them as sex slaves, for their soldiers), on top of their involvement in the many wars to come, things like Hello Kitty were invented with it's cutesy, coquettish look helping ease it's citizens into the new age, all the while watching the line between adulthood and childhood become much more difficult to decipher(in a lot of cases, the children live with their parents their whole lives, including well into adulthood, regardless of the kind of job they have).
Some call this change Japan's method of growing as a nation, and a people, while others say the country is becoming no better than a helpless, dependent child. Either way, cute is king over in Japan, and it's making it's way in a big way onto western coasts. With all that said, what you think of Japan's culture of cute? Do you have a favorite cute thing from the country? What are your thoughts on how it reflect the nation of Japan?
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:46 am
I'm not very worried about the influence of cute in western culture.
I'm sure our obsession with "AWESOME!" *Shown in my foolish attempts at making an avatar capable of evoking such a reaction* Will remain for many many years to come, primarily because of gaming and movie industrial standards.
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:53 pm
I've always thought that viewing the stranger and crazier corners of Japanese pop culture as the aftermath of dropping the atomic bomb on the country is nothing more than a small joke.
It's not that the notion doesn't make sense; I've just never thought of it as a serious thesis.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:36 pm
The_Wicked_Man I've always thought that viewing the stranger and crazier corners of Japanese pop culture as the aftermath of dropping the atomic bomb on the country is nothing more than a small joke. It's not that the notion doesn't make sense; I've just never thought of it as a serious thesis. Agreed; linking something as devastating as the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to the 'kawaii' culture in Japan is akin to linking it to sexual molestation on the bullet train, or anime, or the sexual inventions (I'm not going to name names, but an example would be something that ended in 'ukkake'). Yes, the outcome of the war had a drastic affect on their political system, economics, and their foreign policy; and, granted, they were likely to distract the populace from any of the less savory involvements. But compared to sex, drugs, sports and work, Hello Kitty was probably geared towards the kiddies. ^-^ But that's just my two cents. I really hate to disagree with one person so much, Koiyuki, and I'm sorry if it seems that way. crying I'm really not doing it to get on your nerves; we just tend to...Y'know, disagree on stuff.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:55 pm
BIood Moon The_Wicked_Man I've always thought that viewing the stranger and crazier corners of Japanese pop culture as the aftermath of dropping the atomic bomb on the country is nothing more than a small joke. It's not that the notion doesn't make sense; I've just never thought of it as a serious thesis. Agreed; linking something as devastating as the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to the 'kawaii' culture in Japan is akin to linking it to sexual molestation on the bullet train, or anime, or the sexual inventions (I'm not going to name names, but an example would be something that ended in 'ukkake'). Yes, the outcome of the war had a drastic affect on their political system, economics, and their foreign policy; and, granted, they were likely to distract the populace from any of the less savory involvements. But compared to sex, drugs, sports and work, Hello Kitty was probably geared towards the kiddies.  But that's just my two cents. I really hate to disagree with one person so much, Koiyuki, and I'm sorry if it seems that way. crying I'm really not doing it to get on your nerves; we just tend to...Y'know, disagree on stuff. If the entire world agreed with one another, it would be dreadfully boring. And to be honest, that little nugget was sprouted from this article.
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