Welcome to the
world of Sailor Moon and Amuro
By:
Yuki Allyson Honjo
"This,"
he said, waiving expansively over Tokyo, "is not the real Japan."
We were sitting in a Starbucks in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, looking
down onto the throngs of consumers. My companion was a rather earnest
young English teacher from the Midwest. Giant TV screens flickered
with song clips of hit prepubescent all-girl groups, previews from
the latest Hollywood flick and computer-animated commentary. For
the uninitiated, Shibuya looks like a 2000 version of the set of
Blade Runner.
What is "real" Japan? My companion might say rice paddies, temples
and green tea. I must confess that I too am occasionally tired of
Hello Kitty-themed décor, but to say that 27 million Japanese
in Tokyo have got it all wrong seems ludicrous to me. Tokyo is as
"real" as Japan gets.
My friend would say that the "real" Japan is in direct conflict
with the Final Fantasy video game, Doraemon (a
bright blue robot cat with a magic pocket) and a pop star, Namie
Amuro. His is an oft-repeated argument: Japan has forgotten itself
and filled up on a diet of American Culture Lite.
The authors of Japan Pop! would likely disagree. They argue
that many of the conventions and ideas in "pop" culture have roots
in Japanese history and culture, and thus pop and traditional culture
are not necessarily at odds. Although not immediately evident from
the McDonald's on every corner of Shibuya, pop culture in Japan
was not simply a case of Western cultural imperialism destroying
indigenous art: manga (comics), for example, are the artistic
progeny of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints of the "floating world").
Furthermore, Japanese pop culture is now exported to the rests of
the world: as most American parent know. Pickachu can be had at
every Burger King. Even in Korea, where anti-Japanese sentiment
is known to still run high, CDs of the latest Japanese nymphet groups
fly off the shelf. Suddenly, the squeaky somethings on the Shibuya
TV screens are shots heard around the world.
...What
is 'real' Japan? My companion might say rice paddies, temples
and green tea. I must confess that I too am occasionally tired
of Hello Kitty-themed décor, but to say that 27 million
Japanese in Tokyo have got it all wrong seems
ludicrous to me...
There is no way to describe Japan Pop! without using the
word "fun"; the book is loaded with images, song lyrics and photos.
The prose is lively and the authors offer lucid, structured insights.
The book is more "fun" if one is a consumer of Japanese pop culture,
but this is hardly a prerequisite.
Japan Pop! started out as conference at the University of
Victoria (Canada) Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives in 1997. A
one-page call for papers in cyberspace resulted in a three-day event
with 40 speakers, some of whom are presented here. Although academic
in origin and style, the book will not discourage the casual reader.
Japan Pop! is roughly organized around the themes of popular
music, comics and animation, television and film, and Japanese pop
culture abroad. The authors range from a game designer, a 14-year-old
aspiring manga artist, to professors great and the good. To use
academic jargon, this is polyvocality at its best: multiple "voices"
moving in tandem to produce a complex and dynamic picture of the
state of Japanese pop culture. Although there are other books on
Japanese pop, few cover the subject with such rigor: thematically,
they all work to uncover the domestic and global origins of Japanese
pop. This is not mere froth, advocates argue. Not only is it hot,
it's serious stuff.
One paper of note is Anne Allison's "Sailor Moon, Japanese Superheroes
for Global Girls." It is far too easy to snicker and dismiss the
antics of "Pretty Soldiers: Sailor Scouts" but Allison is in her
element and the essay sucks the reader into this world of "Moon
Power." Allison examines how a cartoon about Serena Tsukino, a "boy-crazy
14-year-old" whose main talents are "eating, shopping and sleeping"
became a domestic and global phenomenon. The moon transforms our
rather flawed protagonist into a "fashion-action" evil-fighting
superhero: in much the same way, the social order in Japan is also
transforming itself, albeit not so flamboyantly as Ms. Tsukino.
Superheroes have been traditionally male, but Sailor Moon is a "gallantly
girlish" warrior who does not hesitate to kick serious evil butt.
The manga and show, Allison argues, explore the moral, personal
and social issues that come with a society whose gender roles are
under transformation. In addition, she contrasts Sailor Moon
with another popular show, "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," to investigate
the challenges that Japanese shows face when they are exported.
When are cartoons "too Japanese" for the discerning tastes of 12-and-under
Americans? This links into my Mid-western friend's original question:
what does it mean to be "Japanese" in this global era? Alas, there
is no easy answer.
The book uses various visuals to lure readers into experiencing
Japanese pop culture. Illustrations are translated for nonspecialists
of J pop, and the multitude of topics covered ensures that there
is plenty here for readers of all levels of expertise on Japan.
One almost wishes that they had included a CD to hear music discussed
in the pop music section; perhaps not, given the banality (purposeful,
in one author's argument) of most Japanese pop.
The difficulty with writing about popular culture is that, by definition,
it is constantly changing. By the time the book goes to publication,
the subject is already obsolete; audiences are often looking for
the next new thing. As a reader, I wanted to hear the author's take
on SMAP, Pokemon and the latest round of TV dramas featuring prostitutes.
What do these phenomena mean? What are their origins? The authors
were successful at whetting my curiosity, perhaps too successfully,
but this is hardly a fault of the book.
The book makes a strong case for the serious study of popular Japan;
pop culture is a window into what is considered important, however
ephemeral, to many Japanese. In many respects, pop informs the reality
of some young Japanese more so than, for example, the tea ceremony
or the Nikkei. Far too often, studies of "the Japanese"
are stuffed into some idea of a grand economic "system" of Japan,
Inc.—people as mere cogs in the wheel. The present trend is
to complain of the same "system" going sour: again, personal passions
and obsessions are ignored. What does any of this say about the
Japanese? As everywhere, taste may be in the eye of the beholder,
but pop is forever. 
Yuki Allyson Honjo, "Welcome to the world of Sailor Moon and Amuro."
The Asahi Evening News. Books, Saturday-Sunday, December
9-10, 2000. Pg. 25.
