tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/japanese-culture-11034/articlesJapanese culture – The Conversation2024-03-12T12:29:06Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200262024-03-12T12:29:06Z2024-03-12T12:29:06ZWhat is the Japanese ‘wabi-sabi’ aesthetic actually about? ‘Miserable tea’ and loneliness, for starters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580795/original/file-20240309-24-70pplt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2046%2C1454&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A perfectly imperfect tea bowl.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/earthenware-bowl-with-glazing-against-black-royalty-free-image/1689830483?phrase=wabi+sabi&adppopup=true">Zen Rial/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On a recent visit to New York I stopped at a Japanese bookstore in Manhattan. Among the English-language books about Japan, I encountered a section of a shelf marked “WABI-SABI” and stocked with titles such as “Wabi Sabi Love,” “The Wabi-Sabi Way,” “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers,” and, in all lowercase, “simply imperfect: revisiting the wabi-sabi house.” </p>
<p>What is wabi-sabi, and why does it rate its own section alongside such topics as sushi and karate?</p>
<p>Wabi-sabi is typically described as a traditional Japanese aesthetic: the beauty of something perfectly imperfect, in the sense of “flawed” or “unfinished.” Actually, however, wabi and sabi are similar but distinct concepts, yoked together far more often outside Japan than in it. Even people who have been brought up in Japan may struggle to define wabi and sabi precisely, though each is certainly authentically Japanese and neither is especially obscure.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two rows of books displayed spine-out in a store." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580796/original/file-20240309-30-4z3p0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A wabi-sabi sighting in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul S. Atkins</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>As <a href="https://asian.washington.edu/people/paul-s-atkins">a scholar of classical Japanese language, literature and culture</a>, I too have a professional interest in wabi and sabi and how they have come to be understood outside Japan. A cursory search of Google Books shows that the term began to appear in print in English around 1980. Perhaps this was a delayed reaction to a book by <a href="https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/people-and-functions/authors-scholars-and-activists/yanagi-soetsu-1889-1961">Japanese art critic Yanagi Soetsu</a>, “<a href="https://kodansha.us/product/the-unknown-craftsman/">The Unknown Craftsman</a>,” which was translated into English and published in 1972.</p>
<p>In it, in an essay titled, “The Beauty of Irregularity,” Yanagi wrote about the art of the tea ceremony and its simple grace. More broadly, as the title suggests, he was captivated by a sense of beauty apart from traditional ideals of perfection, refinement and symmetry. </p>
<p>Behind “roughness,” Yanagi wrote, “lurks a hidden beauty, to which we refer in our peculiar adjectives ‘shibui,’ ‘wabi,’ and ‘sabi.’” </p>
<p>Shibui means austere or restrained, yet it was wabi and sabi that caught on abroad – perhaps because they rhyme.</p>
<p>After taking off in America and other countries, the phrase wabi-sabi was imported back to Japan as a compound term; the mentions I found in online Japanese sources typically addressed such topics as how to explain wabi-sabi to foreigners. Wabi-sabi does not appear in standard dictionaries of the Japanese language.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The interior of a simple room with faded walls, wooden beams, and a simple scroll hanging in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580798/original/file-20240309-20-kp1zde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A tearoom in Kyoto, Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tea-room-low-angle-view-royalty-free-image/200552152-001?phrase=japan+tea+room&adppopup=true">Karin Slade/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Miserable poetry</h2>
<p>Wabi is a noun derived from the classical Japanese verb “wabu,” related to the modern verb “wabiru” and adjective “wabishii.” Wabu means to languish or be miserable. </p>
<p>Here is a celebrated example from a ninth-century waka poem, <a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_600ce_waka.htm">the brief verse of 31 syllables</a> that forms the backbone of classical Japanese poetry. The poet, a courtier named Yukihira, was a provincial governor who, by some accounts, <a href="https://asia453.wordpress.com/literary-locations/locations2016/lack-and-loneliness-on-the-shores-of-suma/">was exiled to Suma Bay</a>, a famous stretch of coastline in western Japan.</p>
<blockquote>Should by chance<br>
Someone ask for me,<br>
Answer that I languish<br>
At Suma Bay, shedding<br>
brine upon the seaweed.</blockquote>
<p>Suma Bay wasn’t all misery for Yukihira; according to legend, <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78554">he loved and was loved</a> by two sisters there. But his poem well captures the pain of wabi – the misery of having been exiled from the courtly world he knew.</p>
<h2>Miserable tea</h2>
<p>Eventually, the misery of wabi made its way into one of Japan’s most iconic traditions: tea.</p>
<p>The custom of drinking powdered green tea, called matcha, entered Japan around 1200. Zen monks returning from China brought the powder home, using it as a medicine and a stimulant. Over time, tea spread to the rest of the population; by the middle of the 16th century, it was a mundane part of everyday life.</p>
<p>It was precisely then that the preparation and serving of tea was sublimated to high art, now known as “chadō” or “sadō,” <a href="https://www.urasenke.or.jp/texte/about/chado/">the so-called Way of Tea</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two people kneeling in a small, roofed room open to the outdoors, set in a garden, look at the photographer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577821/original/file-20240226-20-q7p9f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A Japanese couple in a 19th-century tearoom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/japanese-couple-in-teahouse-news-photo/534244298?adppopup=true">Historical Picture Archive/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>As the tea ceremony gained in popularity, powerful warlords competed in acquiring the most coveted utensils, including braziers, kettles, scoops, whisks and the bowllike cups in which the tea was whipped and sipped. The tearoom itself might be decorated with rare works of art, such as paintings or calligraphy mounted on hanging scrolls, elaborate flower vases and incense burners.</p>
<p>Then there emerged a group of connoisseurs and teachers of tea who championed a more severe and austere style of presentation: “wabi-cha,” which literally means miserable tea. Whereas newly ascendant warriors and merchants used the tea gathering to flaunt their wealth, <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/76335">wabi-style tea</a> emphasized subtlety, frugality and restraint.</p>
<p>It is not hard to see traces of wabi in old tearooms, with their patina of age and elegant but unobtrusive furnishings, and in the utensils themselves – in particular, the misshapen, cracked or somber-hued teabowls. </p>
<p>Wabi-style tea perhaps reached its pinnacle in the 16th century, when the celebrated tea master <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=arch_facultyschol">Sen no Rikyū</a> introduced innovations still used today. These include bamboo tea scoops, black raku-style ceramic teabowls and the “crawling entrance”: the 2-by-2-foot door through which attendees wriggle in order to enter the cozy, womblike tearoom.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A plain black bowl with a faint golden pattern, resting against a white backdrop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580799/original/file-20240309-30-b210tf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A raku-ware teabowl with a design of geese, made in the 18th or 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/raku-ware-tea-bowl-with-design-of-descending-geese-18th-news-photo/1365697034?adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A lovely loneliness</h2>
<p>Like wabi, sabi is a noun: in this case, derived from the classical verb “sabu.” Today, the verb “sabiru” means to rust, with its connotations of age and decay. The modern adjective “sabishii” means lonely.</p>
<p>Classical poems yield many examples of sabi but it really took off as an aesthetic ideal in the 17th century. Poets often tried to capture its particular kind of loneliness in the 17-syllable poetic form of haiku.</p>
<p>As the scholar <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2020/10/02/makoto-ueda-stanford-japanese-literature-professor-emeritus-dies-89/">Makoto Ueda</a> remarked, sabi is “not the loneliness of a man who has lost his dear one, but <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/L/Literary-and-Art-Theories-in-Japan">the loneliness of the rain</a> falling on large taro leaves at night, or the loneliness emerging out of a cicada’s cry amid the white, dry rocks, or the Milky Way extending over the rough sea, or a huge river torrentially rushing in the rainy season.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/basho">Matsuo Bashō</a>, a 17th-century master of haiku, saw sabi <a href="https://www2.yamanashi-ken.ac.jp/%7Eitoyo/basho/shitibusyu/sumidawara1.htm">in this verse</a> by his disciple Mukai Kyorai, translated by Ueda: </p>
<blockquote>Under the blossoms<br>
Two aged watchmen,<br>
With their white heads together—.</blockquote>
<p>The juxtaposition of wabi-sabi as a single term is of recent, not ancient, vintage, and it does not seem to have occurred in Japan. Nonetheless, the terms originated in Japanese aesthetics: sabi out of poetry and wabi out of tea. </p>
<p>Combined, they appear to fill a gap in the Western vocabulary for talking about art and life – a leaning away from perfection, completion and excess, and a yearning toward leaving something undone, broken or unsaid.</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated to correct the description of a tearoom door’s dimensions.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I was a student of Professor Makoto Ueda.</span></em></p>‘Wabi’ and ‘sabi’ are Japanese words with long histories, but they are rarely used together in the way Western designers have come to use the term.Paul S. Atkins, Professor of Japanese, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222292024-02-05T17:23:04Z2024-02-05T17:23:04ZWhat makes something ‘cute’? Inside the exhibition defining the phenomenon<p>Standing at the entrance to Somerset House, I noticed <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/368549">girls</a> – and irrespective of age, they can only be described as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363460717736719?casa_token=0P-RD37lxjsAAAAA%3AS55azMh3qGwHzmyG305duhZYV_YKsmKalL8ASl3qVf702XGPDrKHgEncKcBShyA0ly5ii370zvPuYg">girls</a> – dressed head to toe in pink, bows and frills, from their elaborately curled hair to their Mary Jane platform heels. </p>
<p>Glittering and adorned with stickers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.21159/nvjs.12.05">cute plasters</a> and whimsical jewellery, they, like this exhibition, stand out in the late-January weather. Beacons of colour in a sea of wintery greys and blacks. What are they here for? It can only be the gallery’s new exhibition on <a href="https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/cute">Cute</a> – the first large-scale exhibition to examine the phenomenon.</p>
<p>The exhibition starts by exploring “cute” as a historic appreciation of cats. It draws a connection from <a href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/104XHB">Victorian cat portraiture</a> and <a href="https://andyholdenartist.com/hermione">collectable porcelain figurines</a> to the Japanese Hello Kitty. The exhibition celebrates the brand’s 50th birthday through a glittering kitty disco. </p>
<p>Jumping through time and geopolitical boundaries, the show demonstrates that “cute” cannot be bound to a single time or place but is an accessible concept that can be claimed by anyone. Appearing in its modern context through Japanese products of the early 20th century known as “fancy goods” for young women, it goes on to encompass diverse cultural products, from <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/7/3/24">comics</a> to computers, appliances to televisions, colonising even the screen itself as an <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1367877916674741?casa_token=NGqBsExImOwAAAAA%3AcxVQvvNJ4IF6g-_lqcW_lYIKDQhgnqCvibZ_-OlOkM8z3hU8C279H2Gff0YmV6_OuRaZxK3NO4Qm_Q">aesthetic</a> in <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/23/article/845498/summary?casa_token=XheY2yytZKAAAAAA:QDsR1YeMLNj5Q5_DVbPCs80Ch6ToVLuTua8Af5TDo9jNNrVBe_1G_T0Da-svWbjQniluXRbJTS0">music videos</a> of the 1980s and 1990s. </p>
<p>The Hello Kitty section of the exhibition is a universe of plushies and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/135918350000500205?casa_token=JH77fxBp6BQAAAAA:OLqETMB27HC8BYV_jbTkreO9EUww1NjWkLcJETX9Cf0w2MMgq1TaXbh3ouOnDoNYX2KBnvFUWtB44g">“Kitty mania”</a> in all kinds of products, from shoes and suitcases to tablets and karaoke machines. This encapsulates the most obvious secondary function of cute – <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/41/2/326/2907555">intense consumerism</a>, and its ability to sell objects of all kinds.</p>
<h2>Cute is a slippery word</h2>
<p>Moving upwards, visitors enter the “cute universe”. Here “cuteness” fragments and distorts into many shapes and meanings. </p>
<p>Playing on the word “slipperiness”, which is invoked several times in the <a href="https://www.somersethouseshop.com/products/cute-exhibition-catalogue">catalogue</a>, the exhibition’s efforts to put cute into distinct categories wrestles with its fluid qualities, which clamour for attention among the many objects on display. </p>
<p>The show is divided into sections – <a href="https://www.cute.guide/CB">“cry baby”</a>,<a href="https://www.cute.guide/PT">“play together”</a>, <a href="https://www.cute.guide/SCP">“sugar-coated pill”</a>, <a href="https://www.cute.guide/MO">“monstrous other”</a> and <a href="https://www.cute.guide/HS">“hypersonic”</a> – which all valiantly attempt to define “cute”. But the word resists definition. Objects of all kinds harness the differing qualities of cute to <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/eapc.2.1.49_1">incite emotions</a> – of sympathy, tenderness, love and desire. Though which emotions an object evokes vary, depending on the viewer. </p>
<p>The “cute universe” offers a deeper look at the concept through displays on community, how cute can disguise agendas, the juxtaposition of cute and horror and the glistening promise of cute as a future lifestyle aesthetic. The exploration reveals “cute” to be impossible to pin down. Neither good nor bad, it <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09502386.2012.738640?casa_token=6RE5gyzPQx4AAAAA%3AeKg-sDlxCI8qyOb0HSVC4JahEIxRod9fZ2LJ-Ne5KDcDitvkFv_-InpW4r08u1uxcgVtg01Dn7-0aA">is a tool</a> to be used, felt and interpreted, dependent on the viewer and performer in a codependent relationship of ambiguity. </p>
<h2>Playing with scale</h2>
<p>The exhibition also plays with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/90011648?casa_token=M4jXLh8pgEEAAAAA%3AIXDKAMjguiRNoGO7fHa7q_ZHqg4l49jr0f0TdOvLVOdtj9edOjnm7zSqMdJTB0rcA4DbBXi7wZxFCi0EFdchcrCUYlqFnGRbC9K7Bq6s-YYYOsWt3zw7&seq=4">scale</a>, with both oversized and undersized installations. This makes visitors feel they’ve become children once again, playing with tiny toys or experiencing an oversized world. </p>
<p>The immersive experience continues with hyper-feminine singer and visual artist, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/29/to-be-a-girl-is-to-always-be-performing-hannah-diamond-on-pink-punk-and-making-the-pop-album-of-the-year">Hannah Diamond’s</a> creations, which evoke girly pyjama parties and pink beanbags, staying up too late and watching music videos on TV.</p>
<p>These works are nostalgic, a retrospective longing for a time that has already passed. Within cute is a performance of desire, filling in the gap between what we have and what we have <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/004262f802bdec094b52706dea45c89a/1?cbl=1818460&pq-origsite=gscholar">lost</a>. The performance of cuteness can only take place in the presence of loss of innocence.</p>
<p>So what to think of this exhibition of cute? As the curator Claire Catterall told me, the show hints rather than dictates its meaning. Yet, in the end, the bigger questions remain: what is cute doing to society? What does it mean that we are so complicit in its manipulation? Who are the players in cute, and who gets to decide? </p>
<p>Ultimately, the exhibition leaves us to decide for ourselves, but how can we when the concept itself is so slippery? I left Somerset House, disoriented and fizzing, as if I had consumed too many sweets. And yet, as I thought about the exhibition on my journey home, I craved a second helping.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hui-Ying Kerr received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her Doctorate in History of Design on Japanese
culture in the 1980s economic bubble.</span></em></p>The show is divided into sections which all valiantly attempt to define “cute”. But the word is resistant to definition.Hui-Ying Kerr, Associate Lecturer, Fashion Communication and Promotion, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161202023-10-31T15:55:16Z2023-10-31T15:55:16ZCastlevania: how the video game was inspired by classic Dracula horror films<p>If you’re one of the talented few who have completed Konami’s 1986 gothic horror action-adventure game Castlevania then you’ve seen the game’s unusual closing credits. Instead of a list of the names of people who worked on the game, it is instead an homage to those involved in classic horror cinema. Among the names are the actor Christopher Lee (written as Christopher Bee) but also the much more obscure name of Terrence Fisher – director of British horror film company Hammer’s 1958 Dracula. </p>
<p>Bram Stoker’s 1897 popular novel has been adapted in countless ways, and the vampire has appeared on screen in about <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=dracula&ref_=fn_al_kw_1">400 different incarnations</a> from all over the world. The Castlevania video game series is deeply influenced by the vampire’s filmic outings and across the 30 or so games you can find references littered throughout. </p>
<p>This reverence for the monster’s cinematic history is because, as one of the game’s creators Hitoshi Akamatsu has said, the team wanted players to feel like they were in a <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/thearkhound/183537621473/1993-castlevania-commentary-from-micom-basic">classic horror film</a>. It is no wonder then that the game has been adapted into two series by Netflix: <a href="https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80095241">Castlevania</a> and the newly released Castlevania: Nocturne.</p>
<h2>Hammer’s big influence</h2>
<p>One of the most recognisable filmic iterations of Stoker’s monster is <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/why-i-love-bela-lugosis-dracula">Bela Lugosi’s iconic 1931 portrayal</a>. Lugosi’s Hungarian accent and slow, steady delivery combined with smaller details like slicked-back hair and a distinct medal has become one of the most caricatured versions of the count, influencing films like the animated franchise Hotel Transylvania and even Sesame Street’s math-loving The Count. </p>
<p>While, for many, this is the definitive Dracula film, in Japan, it’s seemingly Hammer’s 1958 production starring Christopher Lee.</p>
<p>When Hammer produced its Dracula film, it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dracula-lost-his-x-rating-87655">transformational</a> because it challenged audience expectations of the characters. The lawyer Jonathan Harker, for example, is not an unwitting victim and instead is a vampire hunter who arrives at Dracula’s castle looking to slay him. </p>
<p>These differences were made because Hammer had to be really clear that they were not drawing on Lugosi’s portrayal, so as not to intrude on Universal Studios’ copyright. Instead, they breathed new life into Stoker’s original novel, creating a frightening new version of the character.</p>
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<p>Hammer’s Dracula’s popularity inspired the creators of Castlevania (known in Japan as <em>Akumajō Dracula</em>) for the first game released in 1986. Hammer holds this influence in Japan due to timing. As the film <a href="https://store.ingrampublisherservices.co.uk/store/default/detail/workgroup?id=3-025-6e763030-04c5-42d2-9f92-032ec7ece7cc">Masaya Shimokusu</a> has noted, Dracula arrived later in Japan as it wasn’t translated until after the second world war. This meant audiences missed out on Lugosi and instead writers and creatives were inspired by the many repeats of Lee’s Dracula and the larger series, which features nine films, on television throughout the 70s and early 80s. </p>
<p>The game and its many sequels owe a lot to these early British horror films.</p>
<p>Its influence on Castlevania can be seen in the game’s initial narrative, which saw a man turning up at Dracula’s castle to slay him. There are, of course, differences. In the game, it’s not Jonathan Harker but Simon Belmont, a descendant of a legendary vampire hunter, who has to navigate the castle using well-timed jumps and attacks to progress through different levels, defeating hordes of monsters. Finally, Belmont must confront Dracula himself in a form that conveys all of Lee’s ferocity.</p>
<h2>Reinventing the game</h2>
<p>Just as Hammer did across its nine films, Konami continued to reinvent its series to meet audience expectations. In 1997, the Playstation game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HnhPNS0rqM">Castlevania: Symphony of the Night</a> brought the series to new heights (1997). The title starred Dracula’s son, Alucard – a reference to the character of the same name in the 1943 American film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rPaeTHJmY">Son of Dracula</a>.</p>
<p>Reflecting changing conventions, Alucard was refined and pale on the game’s distinct cover. This was more in keeping with the image of vampires in 90s movies. </p>
<p>Dracula underwent a similar transformation to his son, losing some of his resemblance to Lee. Earlier appearances saw him as a monstrous, motiveless demon, but here he becomes a tragic, romantic figure who is mourning the death of his wife – echoing the Dracula film of the time, 1992’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgFPIh5mvNc">Bram Stoker’s Dracula</a>. </p>
<p>Symphony of the Night was so successful its influence can be seen across a vast range of games. Not only is this entry highly critically regarded and considered one of the “<a href="https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/castlevania-symphony-of-the-night-review/1900-2546968/">best games ever released</a>”, but popularised the “Metroidvania” format. This meant players explored vast areas as they wanted, unlocking powers as they went. The Metroidvania genre has grown in popularity in recent years, especially with smaller studios, such as <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/game/hollow-knight/">Team Cherry’s universally acclaimed Hollow Knight</a>. </p>
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<p>Both TV series draw heavily from Symphony of the Night and their versions of Dracula and his son Alucard. The original Castlevania series ran for four seasons from 2017 to 2021 and garnered <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/5/20/22444731/netflix-castlevania-season-4-review">critical acclaim</a>. It begins with Dracula’s wife being burned at the stake and the vampire vowing that the people of Wallachia (a real place in Romania) will pay with their lives. The series follows Trevor Belmont (the protagonist in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse) as he battles Dracula’s demonic forces with the help of Alucard.</p>
<p>This new spin-off series is set hundreds of years after the events of the first and is also gathering <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23891310/netflix-castlevania-nocturne-review-konami-animated">praise</a>. It follows the young vampire hunter Richter Belmont (who made his debut in the game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood) and his adoptive sister Maria Renard as they try to stop an apocalyptic vampire plot during the French Revolution. Alucard returned late in series one and is set to play a bigger role in series two.</p>
<p>There hasn’t been a new game since 2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. These two streaming series adapt some of the best story lines from the games’ back catalogue and will hopefully draw people back to playing them – and maybe even revisiting the classic horror films that first inspired them. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Crofts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Christopher Lee’s Dracula remains was one of the game’s biggest early influences.Matthew Crofts, Researcher in Gothic Literature, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039062023-07-03T20:07:05Z2023-07-03T20:07:05ZWhat is the story of maneki-neko, the Japanese beckoning cat?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523549/original/file-20230501-3657-ulrlnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5444%2C3610&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Maneki-neko, translated as beckoning cat but also known as lucky cat or welcome cat, is recognisable internationally, often found behind cash registers of restaurants and retail outlets – and also in your phone. </p>
<p>But how did the cat come to be, and what does it mean in Japan?</p>
<p>Cats, great companions and pets, probably arrived in Japan as early as a <a href="http://www.gmnh.pref.gunma.jp/wp-content/uploads/bulletin15_3.pdf">few thousand years ago</a>, and by the <a href="https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/modules/d3ndlcrdentry/index.php?page=ref_view&id=1000128474">eighth century</a> appeared in literature and mythology. </p>
<p>As in the rest of the world, cats were useful in catching rats and mice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A princess and a cat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532862/original/file-20230620-19-3stso2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cats were precious and often kept on a leash, as in this 1768–70 painting by Suzuki Harunobu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Metropolitan Museum of Art</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The population of domesticated cats, however, was relatively small. Because they were precious, some cats were kept on leashes to keep them close, rather than letting them run wild.</p>
<p>During the Edo period (1603-1868), paintings of cats were sold to silkworm farmers. These images were believed powerful enough to scare off silkworm predators: rats and mice. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522476/original/file-20230424-14-jb0iol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paintings of cats were believed to keep mice away. This one was by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/A-10569-5506?locale=en">Tokyo National Museum/ColBase</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-dna-reveals-how-cats-conquered-the-world-79584">Ancient DNA reveals how cats conquered the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A symbol of good fortune</h2>
<p>Maneki-neko style Japanese cat dolls can be traced back to the Edo period (1603-1868), or shortly beforehand. They probably first appeared in the Buddhist temples <a href="https://gotokuji.jp/manekineko/">Gotokuji</a>, <a href="https://nishisugamo-saihoji.com/">Saihoji</a>, or <a href="https://tesshow.jp/shinjuku/temple_wochiai_jishoin.html">Jishoin</a>, all located in Edo, today’s Tokyo. </p>
<p>Because the dolls have roots in the new eastern capital – instead of the traditional Japanese centre of Kyoto and its surrounding area of western Japan – we know maneki-neko is relatively new in Japanese history. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523541/original/file-20230501-655-cyqddf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ceramic maneki-neko from the 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mingei.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%227057%22&sort=0&page=16">Gift of Billie L. Moffitt/Mingei International Museum.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each Edo temple has a different story about how maneki-neko came to be. </p>
<p>At the Gotokuji temple, the legend is based on the story of Ii Naotaka (1590-1659), the lord samurai of the Hikone domain. While passing Gotokuji, Naotka was beckoned by a cat at the temple gate. As he came inside he was saved from an unexpected heavy thunderstorm. </p>
<p>Out of gratitude, the samurai decided to provide continuous donations to the temple that had been struggling financially. The cat became the temple’s symbol and brought them continuous good fortune. Today, the temple attracts tourists from all over Japan and the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523546/original/file-20230501-5247-5za89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ceramic maneki neko featuring bells around its neck, circa 1880.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mingei.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%227057%22&sort=0&page=5">Gift of Billie L. Moffitt/Mingei International Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Economic prosperity</h2>
<p>When and where the ceramic cats began to be sold remains a mystery, but by the late Edo period they found appeal with urban consumers. </p>
<p>Clear evidence of this is found in Utagawa Hiroshige’s <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm">ukiyo-e</a> print from 1852, <a href="https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/9369513/1/4">which depicts</a> a stall selling numerous doll cats. But these cats look slightly different from many cats we see in the 21st century; they hold no koban gold coins. </p>
<p>These cats, as seen in today’s Gotokuji cats, wore a bell around their necks, and were said to bring good luck to the owner.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522480/original/file-20230424-28-fo0eoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1095&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This book illustration from 1852 shows a shop selling maneki-neko.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/pid/9369513/1/4">NDL Digital Collections</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the Meiji era (1868-1912) <a href="https://setomanekineko.jp/">mass production</a> by using plaster moulds made the cat a popular figure nationwide. The cat came to represent material rather than emotional happiness. </p>
<p>By then, bells around cats’ necks were typically replaced with coins – perhaps linked to Japan’s increasing economic prosperity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523542/original/file-20230501-28-mwq0nh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On this 20th century terracotta cat, the bell around its neck has been replaced with a coin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mingei.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%227057%22&sort=0&page=10">Gift of Billie L. Moffitt/Mingei International Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The earlier ceramic cats looked like cats rather than cartoon characters. </p>
<p>In the 1950s, makers in Aichi Prefecture adapted the form of its local dolls, <a href="https://www.pref.aichi.jp/sangyoshinko/densan/303.html">Okkawa Ningyo</a>, onto the dolls of cats. The head became as big as the body and eyes became widely opened.</p>
<p>Later in the century, maneki-neko gained popularity in the Chinese-speaking world through Hong Kong and Taiwan. Altars in Hong Kong tea houses had traditionally been dedicated to legends such as the 3rd century Chinese military general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yu">Guan Yu</a>, but these days the pretty cats are <a href="https://spc.jst.go.jp/experiences/change/change_1007.html">also featured</a>. </p>
<p>The cats then spread globally through a diffusion of Asian culture by Asian migrants. </p>
<p>Today, turn on your phone and launch the Pokemon app. You might soon capture Meowth, a maneki-neko pokemon with a koban (gold coin) on its forehead.</p>
<h2>‘Cool Japan’</h2>
<p>While in the English-speaking world, it is commonly held that “money doesn’t buy happiness,” it is permissible under Japan’s spiritual code to pray for personal material desires. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523543/original/file-20230501-26-1jpw5t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A porcelain maneki-neko from the 20th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mingei.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%227057%22&sort=0&page=7">Gift of Billie L. Moffitt/Mingei International Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contemporary Japan, you are free to ask for and seek what you want – even if what you want is just as simple as meeting the cat. </p>
<p>In addition to the Tokyo temples mentioned above, there are many places where you can meet the cat. Seto City in Aichi Prefecture, an area where ceramic cats have been produced over 100 years, is home to the <a href="https://luckycat.ne.jp/">Maneki-Neko Museum</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523548/original/file-20230501-655-mnyjxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ceramic cat from 1926.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mingei.org/objects-1/info?query=mfs%20any%20%22cat%22%20and%20Creation_Place2%20%3D%20%22Japan%22&sort=9&page=33">Gift of Billie L. Moffitt/Mingei International Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can paint your own original cat at the <a href="http://manekineko-m.jp/taiken/">Manekineko Art Museum</a> in Okayama.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://hikone-hikonyan.jp/">Hikone Castle</a>, you can meet Hikonyan, a mascot created by the local government in 2007 to celebrate the castle’s 400th anniversary. The mascot is a model of the Gotokuji cat that welcomed Ii Naotaka.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523544/original/file-20230501-16-pgxdvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hikonyan, the mascot of Hikone-jo Castle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dakiny/2760132222">Toshihiro Gamo/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Japanese equivalent of the phrase “cast pearls before swine” is “<a href="https://www.wasshoimagazine.org/blog/curiosities-of-the-japanese-language/should-i-give-a-gold-coin-to-a-cat-cat-idioms">cast coins before cats</a>”. </p>
<p>And so maneki-neko, the pretty cat, welcomes you – and your money. </p>
<p>This feline welcome nicely reflects Japan’s soft power policy known as “<a href="https://www.globalasia.org/v6no1/feature/cool-japan-soft-power_asger-r%C3%B8jle-christensen">Cool Japan</a>”. Japan wants to use its cultural assets to attract international consumers and visitors to contribute to its economic revitalisation in the era when the county’s population is declining. We are most welcome to spend money in Japan. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/suzume-builds-on-a-long-line-of-japanese-art-exploring-the-impacts-of-trauma-on-the-individual-and-the-collective-203920">Suzume builds on a long line of Japanese art exploring the impacts of trauma on the individual and the collective</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tets Kimura does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When and where the ceramic cats began to be sold remains a mystery, but by the late Edo period they found appeal with urban consumers.Tets Kimura, Adjunct Lecturer, Creative Arts, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069082023-06-17T10:57:57Z2023-06-17T10:57:57ZWatered-down LGBTQ ‘understanding’ bill shows how far Japan’s parliament is out of step with its society – and history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532474/original/file-20230616-25-gw5spa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C1905%2C2657%2C2089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rainbow ears, but is Japan's parliament listening?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/YBkx0zzHaMM"> Lucas Calloch/@dreiimos/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Japan has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/16/asia/japan-lgbt-bill-passed-intl-hnk/index.html">passed legislation</a> aimed at “promoting the understanding” of members of the LGBTQ community – a watered-down bill that will do little to put the Asian country <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/17/japan-g7-summit-lgbt-rights/">in line with fellow liberal democracies</a> on the issue.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/japanese-fete-lgbtq-progress-demand-marriage-rights-as-g7-summit-looms/yj8l56ktj">many reports</a> <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-to-submit-LGBTQ-bill-in-time-for-G-7-after-long-delay">of the bill’s passage</a> on June 16, 2023, have noted, Japan <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-parliament-passes-watered-down-lgbt-understanding-bill-2023-06-16/">lags far behind other G7 countries</a> when it comes to the legal protection of sexual minorities.</p>
<p>There has been less discussion of how the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lower-house-japans-parliament-passes-bill-promote-lgbtq-100033835">limits of the new law</a> – and the prolonged battle to get it passed – highlight how national politicians are out of step with <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/gender-and-sexuality-in-modern-japan/A6C886093F2ECE3693FC445053448BEA">Japanese society at large</a>. </p>
<p>Despite Japan’s international stereotype as a socially conservative nation – a view swayed by the <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2023/05/10/commentary/world-commentary/conservative-japan/">political leanings of the national government</a> – both corporate Japan and regional authorities in the country have long been out in front of parliament on the rights of LGBTQ people. Moreover, Japan’s <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/gender-and-sexuality-in-modern-japan/A6C886093F2ECE3693FC445053448BEA">history on same-sex relationships</a> is decidedly more mixed than many in the country’s national politics, or in the West, would acknowledge.</p>
<h2>Changes in society, courts and corporate Japan</h2>
<p>The bill passed by both houses of Japan’s parliament does little to move the needle for the rights of sexual minorities in the country. There are no additional legal protections included. And a vague stipulation in the bill that “all citizens can live with peace of mind” has been <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/06/16/national/crime-legal/lgbtq-bill-passed/">criticized by LGBTQ activists</a> for de-prioritizing the rights of sexual minorities.</p>
<p>The fact that even such modest proposals faced a battle to be passed is indicative of the stubbornness of the national parliament to seriously address LGBTQ rights.</p>
<p>Yet outside the national parliament, the political and legal struggles for equal rights for sexual minorities have achieved a series of successes in recent years in Japan, especially at the regional and municipal levels. </p>
<p>In March 2019, legislation banning discrimination against sexual minorities was <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/06/fef8d29dfc5e-japan-prefecture-to-recognize-partnerships-for-lgbt-couples-from-july.html?phrase=Nabi%20Tajima&words=">passed in Ibaraki prefecture</a>. A month later, a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly law prohibited all discrimination <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/05/tokyo-new-law-bars-lgbt-discrimination">on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity</a>. The Tokyo law also committed the city government to raising awareness of LGBTQ people and outlawed the expression of hateful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in public. </p>
<p>Polling <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/02/d95968c3f7d5-urgent-64-favor-recognizing-same-sex-marriage-in-japan-kyodo-poll.html">in February 2023</a> found that 64.3% of Japanese respondents backed laws that promoted a better understanding of sexual minorities. A similar percentage of the population also support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>And on the issue of same-sex marriage, it is again at the local level where strides are being made.</p>
<p>Several district courts have now ruled that the Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-lower-court-rules-that-not-allowing-same-sex-marriage-is-unconstitutional-2023-05-30/">violates Article 14 of its constitution</a>, which guarantees equality of all people before the law. </p>
<h2>Pushback at national level</h2>
<p>Yet the conservative Liberal Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida disagrees, pointing to Article 24 of the Constitution, which states that <a href="https://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html">marriage is based only on</a> “the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife.”</p>
<p>In the absence of a national law to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage, local authorities have turned to civil partnerships. Although these do not provide legal protection against discrimination more broadly, they do offer some benefits, including the option to apply for public housing. </p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-court-rules-that-not-allowing-same-sex-marriage-is-state-2023-06-08/">300 municipalities</a> – representing around two-thirds of the population – already allow same-sex couples to enter partnership agreements which are recognized at the local level.</p>
<p>Some temples have begun to offer same-sex wedding ceremonies. While Shinto, Japan’s ancient and influential religious tradition, is perceived to be staunchly conservative, at least one Shinto sect <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/29/what-does-japan-shinto-think-of-gay-marriage/">has expressed support of the LGTBQ community</a>.</p>
<p>Picking up on both public sentiment and evolving regional policies, an increasing number of corporations in Japan have begun to recognize sexual minorities as an important segment of both their staff and customers.</p>
<p>In 2019, a total of <a href="http://workwithpride.jp">200 Japanese corporations established guidelines</a> which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity and extend customary benefits for marriage, childbirth and other life-changing events to same-sex couples.</p>
<h2>Long-standing queer culture</h2>
<p>The resistance of national politicians to establish legal protections for sexual minorities is also out of step with Japan’s long and widely acknowledged history of diverse sexual cultures.</p>
<p>From the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, an elaborate male-male sexual culture could be found among the country’s warrior class, Buddhist monks, and in the theater and entertainment world.</p>
<p>Warriors typically married and had children, but they also thought nothing of demanding complete devotion from their male underlings, often including sexual favors and even romance. A variant of such male-male sexual relations could also be found in Buddhist monasteries, where it was couched in spiritual terms.</p>
<p>This male-male sexuality did not amount to an identity; it was simply a facet of the loyalty expected from boys, desired by their masters but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/hcy.2023.0025">having little agency of their own</a>.</p>
<p>Such relations were famously explored in Ihara Saikaku’s “<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3056">Great Mirror of Male Love</a>,” a collection of 40 same-sex stories published in the 17th century. The collection remained a point of reference for several generations of men: those who maintained these practices, those who strove to curtail the mainstreaming of them, and the scholars keen on studying both. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A Japanese woman in a white hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532429/original/file-20230616-27-y1ry1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=859&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Writer and and same-sex marriage campaigner Yoshiya Nobuko.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yoshiya_Nobuko.jpg">Kamakura Museum of Literature archives/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>Meanwhile, the push for same-sex marriage predates that of many of the liberal democracies in which it is now established. In 1925, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42771984">Japanese writer Yoshiya Nobuko</a> first pursued a traditional marriage with another woman and the legalization of such unions. Yoshiya was unsuccessful, but instead adopted her partner so that she’d be a legal member of her household.</p>
<p>At that point, same-sex sexuality had become the object of medical diagnosis and “treatment.” But same-sex acts were only subjected to a ban for a short period, from 1872 to 1880. </p>
<h2>‘Press on till Japan changes’</h2>
<p>Similar to the U.S., the LGBTQ movement in Japan has gained momentum over the last half century.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, the HIV/AIDS crisis instigated major strides in activism. Newly founded LGBTQ organizations in Japan worked to reframe how people thought about sexual minority rights, emphasizing that they were human rights. In 1997, one such group, OCCUR, won its <a href="https://www.icj.org/sogicasebook/in-re-futyu-hostel-tokyo-high-court-civil-4th-division-japan-16-september-1997/">first high-profile case</a>, resulting in the end of restrictions on gay individuals’ presence at a youth hostel in Tokyo.</p>
<p>In the wake of that landmark case, OCCUR also successfully prompted the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology to <a href="http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/IGLHRC/1995/japan.action.alert-06.28.95">drop “homosexuality” from its diagnostic manual</a> and instead acknowledge that homosexuality is not a perversion, sexual orientation is not a disorder, and homosexuals do not simply “perform the opposite role of one’s sex.” </p>
<p>OCCUR was also the driving force behind the <a href="https://freedmanlabqssfc.wixsite.com/qssfc/single-post/2017/05/18/the-development-of-tokyo-lgbt-pride-%EF%BC%881994-2009%EF%BC%89?lightbox=dataItem-imzx8lf2&_amp_=">first Tokyo Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, in 1994</a>, which advocated acceptance with slogans such as “Japan with a big heart.” </p>
<p>This year, the <a href="https://tokyorainbowpride.com/english/">Tokyo Rainbow Pride</a> event – Asia’s largest Pride event – returned to full capacity for the first time in four years, after pandemic disruptions.</p>
<p>Its theme is “Press on Till Japan Changes.” Society already is – the question is will the national government follow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sabine Frühstück does not currently receive funding from external sources. Due to her research areas, history and ethnography of modern and contemporary Japanese culture, she has personally known some of the individuals that this article concerns although none of the individuals that are mentioned by name.</span></em></p>Japan has a rich queer history and is seeing societal changes in favor of greater LGBTQ recognition. That said, national politicians have yet to catch up.Sabine Frühstück, Professor of Modern Japanese Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020732023-03-29T10:47:44Z2023-03-29T10:47:44ZAn introduction to the work of Kenzaburō Ōe in five books<p>Kenzaburō Ōe, the last of Japan’s great post second world war Japanese writers, died in early March. When he was awarded the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/oe/lecture/">Nobel prize</a> in 1994, he said that as a novelist he wished to “enable both those who express themselves with words and their readers to recover from their own sufferings and the sufferings of their time, and to cure their souls of the wounds”. </p>
<p>He wrote on taboo themes in Japan such as disability through his life with his son Hikari, who was born with a herniated brain, autism and epilepsy. He wrote about the dangers of nuclear weapons and the aftermath of Hiroshima and about the communities and folklore of his native rural island Shikoku. </p>
<p>He portrayed human nature in all its aspects, even the most cruel, with great inventiveness. In the words of his English translator <a href="https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Personal-Matter-by-Kenzaburo-Oe-author-John-Nathan-translator/9780802150615">John Nathan</a>, his works feature a “language all his own, a language which can accommodate the virulence of his imagination”.</p>
<p>Here is a list of five books to help you navigate Ōe’s writings. </p>
<h2>1. A Personal Matter (1964)</h2>
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<img alt="A book cover featuring a man and a boy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517965/original/file-20230328-3015-sqk2qf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grove Atlantic</span></span>
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<p>Possibly the best known of Ōe’s novels, it follows the narrator “Bird” as he faces a personal crisis after his son is born with a brain herniation requiring immediate surgery. The novel explores, often with brutal sincerity, the conflict of a man unsure whether to let the child die or to coexist with it, thus giving up his dreams of an exotic life.</p>
<p>With this story (and in many others thereafter), Ōe breaks with the traditional Japanese form of the confessional, autobiographical <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/I-novel">I-novel</a>. While inspired by his own son’s birth, Ōe distances himself from Bird and portrays the crisis of a man in connection with the universal theme of dealing with fatality and the inner demons it foregrounds.</p>
<h2>2. Hiroshima Notes (1965)</h2>
<p>In this essay collection, Ōe recounts his visits to Hiroshima beginning in the summer of 1963, when he was hired to write a report on a rally to abolish nuclear weapons. With his usual commitment to respecting human rights and suffering, the writer draws an often bleak portrait of how political factions appropriate victims’ traumas and subsume tragedy under political slogans.</p>
<p>Based on interviews with survivors, but also with the doctors and nurses who cared for them, Ōe’s accounts reveal the magnitude of the horrific bombing, which had long-lasting repercussions for <a href="https://k1project.columbia.edu/news/hiroshima-and-nagasaki">decades after the events</a>.</p>
<p>The question asked throughout is: “Did the Japanese really learn anything from the defeat of 1945?” Hiroshima Notes is a heartfelt cry to use the lessons of past mistakes to learn to respect human life, including the victims’ right to silence. Ōe’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/28/history-repeats">opposition to nuclear weapons</a> remained unwavering for all his life.</p>
<h2>3. The Silent Cry (1967)</h2>
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<img alt="A book cover featuring a man in a suit in a forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517963/original/file-20230328-18-w6mldq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ivy Books</span></span>
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<p>In this novel, which Ōe considered his <a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5816/the-art-of-fiction-no-195-kenzaburo-oe">most successful</a>, two brothers return to their native village in Shikoku to sell their family home. There, their lives change as a result of revelations about repressed feelings and histories of violence, including present riots that echo the local uprisings which had involved their ancestors.</p>
<p>Through an elaborate structure, Ōe moves between three temporal planes, the turbulent years of peasant riots before the <a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm#:%7E:text=Educators%20%7C%20Columbia%20University-,The%20Meiji%20Restoration%20and%20Modernization,known%20as%20the%20Meiji%20Restoration.">Meiji Restoration</a> in 1868, the aftermath of Japan’s surrender in 1945 and the narrative present, reminiscent of the <a href="https://apjjf.org/2022/14/Kapur.html">student protests</a> of the 1960s. The rural setting uniting all of them is a mythical site where reality and local legends coalesce, offering a powerful reflection on the relationship between history, community, and memory.</p>
<h2>4. The Changeling (2000)</h2>
<p>This novel is the author’s attempt to come to terms with the death of his brother-in-law, the world-renowned film director <a href="https://www.criterionchannel.com/directed-by-juzo-itami">Jūzō Itami</a>, who allegedly died by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/12/22/japanese-director-commits-suicide/10e43df0-5c05-4e4b-b0f6-2fe2d5ff47b6/">suicide</a>. In this semi-autobiographical narrative, Ōe’s fictional alter ego Kogito Chōkō enters in an asynchronous conversation with the tapes his brother in-law had recorded before his passing. Their discussions on art, life, and friendship make Kogito reflect on the possible causes of the suicide.</p>
<p>The Changeling proposes important reflections on how death affects those that are left behind. It is a moving tale about processing grief and of the possibilities for healing. It also includes possibly the most touching defence of education ever written.</p>
<h2>5. Death by Water (2009)</h2>
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<img alt="Book cover featuring sun and grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517962/original/file-20230328-15-xf34kp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Atlantic Books</span></span>
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<p>Kogito Chōkō, now in his 70s, returns to his native Shikoku to finally write the novel about the truth of his father’s mysterious death at the end of the war. The fragmented recollections about the man, who had been involved with ultra-nationalistc reactionaries, motivate a critical reflection on the multiplicity of memory. Personal and local stories, intertwined with folklore, may appear in contrast with each other but they are nonetheless integral pieces of the complexity of human life.</p>
<p>Ōe’s novel, whose title is a reference to poet TS Eliot’s <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land">The Wasteland</a>, examines how people have to live with traumatic events such as loss and rape, and also the preoccupation of an elderly father (Kogito/Ōe) about leaving his disabled son alone after his death. </p>
<p>Among the books in this list, female characters have the most prominent role here. Kogito’s wife, his sister and the young actress Unaiko all represent different generations and professions, eliciting considerations on the place of women in contemporary Japan.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Filippo Cervelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The late writer never shied away from hard topics, breaking down walls of silence around topics like disability and rurality in post-war Japan.Filippo Cervelli, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019222023-03-16T16:43:05Z2023-03-16T16:43:05ZKenzaburō Ōe: a writer of real humanity and the real Japan<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64938314">The death</a> at 88 of Japanese writer and Nobel prize winner Kenzaburō Ōe on March 3 leaves a deep wound in his readers. But also in the Japanese community, which has lost one of its most powerful voices and critics.</p>
<p>Ōe was a literary giant. In Japan open political discussion and participation is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-politics-youth-election/2021/11/16/0ed349dc-3c00-11ec-bd6f-da376f47304e_story.html">discouraged</a> and the media is often influenced by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/may/18/japanese-government-intimidating-the-media-says-the-economist">government</a>. Ōe was the last politically engaged Japanese postwar writer. </p>
<p>In his sharp, often merciless, commentaries of his country, he criticised factors damaging democracy and human rights, including <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1470153/nobel-laureate-kenzaburo-oe-warns-rally-dangers-bolstering-japans-military">nationalistic governmental policies</a>, the presence of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/28/history-repeats">dangerous atomic power plants</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17oe.html">imperial system</a>. </p>
<p>He even <a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5816/the-art-of-fiction-no-195-kenzaburo-oe">refused</a> the award of the national Order of Culture, an honour bestowed by the emperor. Due to his open democratic commitment, he faced violent threats from right-wing organisations and was even brought to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/28/news">trial</a>.</p>
<p>On and off the page, he combined an attentive focus on Japan with a profound knowledge of Western thought and expression, ranging from French philosophy (he graduated with a thesis on Sartre) to modern and classical authors such as TS Eliot and Dante Alighieri. This made him one of the few Japanese intellectuals whose work resonated with global questions of identity, injustice, and the search for home. </p>
<h2>Bravely depicting postwar Japan</h2>
<p>Born in 1935, Ōe started publishing in his twenties. His early work explored the relationship between disenfranchised individuals and authoritarian power. </p>
<p>In his first short story An Odd Job (1957) students are hired to help slaughter 150 dogs used by the faculty of medicine for experiments. The students’ predicament, ominously resembling that of the animals, speaks to his own postwar youth.</p>
<p>Japan in the 1950s was bereft of strong ethical and political models after the defeat of its nationalistic collective ideology in the Pacific war and the subsequent American occupation. Left without a definite identity and purpose, like Ōe’s generation, the youths in the story are at the mercy of an absurd system where they do not feel represented.</p>
<p>Ōe’s story <a href="https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Seventeen-and-J-by-Kenzaburo-Oe-Masao-Miyoshi-introduction/9781562010911">Seventeen</a> (1961) can be read as an extreme consequence of his first. The disenfranchised youngster here finds solace in abandoning his individuality to the intoxicating violent practices of a burgeoning imperialist nationalistic group.</p>
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<p>Ōe’s career was shaped by his reflections on Japan’s incapacity (and unwillingness) to confront itself, acknowledge its war crimes and identify its position in Asia. </p>
<p>Upon being awarded the Nobel Prize in <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1994/oe/lecture/">1994</a>, he spoke of “ambiguity” in Japan as a “chronic disease that has been prevalent throughout the modern age”. In his lecture, he referenced another Nobel speech by <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1968/kawabata/lecture/">Yasunari Kawabata</a>, the only Japanese writer to win the prize before him in 1968, entitled Japan, the Beautiful and Myself. Ōe’s was titled: Japan, The Ambiguous, and Myself.</p>
<p>By using the term “ambiguous” in response to the “beautiful” in Kawabata’s speech, Ōe placed himself in the history of global Japanese literature by distancing his work from the aesthetic representation of Japan that had dominated its cultural image abroad. This representation was of a country made of Zen Buddhism, tea ceremonies and a placid appreciation of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181021-japans-unusual-way-to-view-the-world">transient beauty</a> (among others).</p>
<h2>The multiplicity of humanity</h2>
<p>As well as presenting the country as he honestly saw it, he also foregrounds ambiguous and silenced Japanese identities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bookforum.com/print/2202/kenzaburo-oe-s-world-war-ii-novella-of-family-and-nation-building-14591">Prize Stock</a> (1958), which earned him the coveted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Akutagawa-Prize">Akutagawa Prize</a>, launched him into literary prominence. This story depicts the encounter between a Japanese boy and a black prisoner of war in his island village.</p>
<p>In Japan, urban dwellers could discriminate against those from a rural background – a background that Ōe possessed growing up in Shikoku, the southern and smallest peripheral island in the main archipelago. In this story, the townspeople treat the villagers “like dirty animals” and in turn, the villagers refer to the black prisoner in the same way. Prize Stock is a discomfiting story about abuses of power and how everyone is capable of it.</p>
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<img alt="The cover of a book featuring a red -tinged pictured of a man in a suit standing in forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515821/original/file-20230316-24-uhzrow.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Silent Cry intertwines folklore with the story of a family still reeling from its past.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Serpent's Tail</span></span>
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<p>Such exploration of the multiplicity of Japanese identity continued intersecting with reflections on space in his work.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-silent-cry/kenzaburo-oe/john-bester/9781781255650?awc=3787_1678973786_bdfa5ec3017dd0868462fb0d2dd18228&utm_source=259955&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Genie+Shopping+CSS">The Silent Cry</a> (1967) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/18/death-by-water-kenzaburo-oe-review">Death by Water</a> (2009) intertwine the stories of marginalised communities with folklore and tales of their ancestors’ uprising against local authorities. These novels highlight peripheral Japanese heritage and memories. They are also indicative of how the rural is never a simplistic idyll countering the suffocating corruption of the city in Ōe’s work. Instead, the rural is an organic alternative still replete with violence and discrimination, so nonetheless vibrant and real.</p>
<p>In Ōe’s work, the rigorous descriptions of all sides of human nature – light and dark, grotesque and cruel – offer possible reconciliation between seemingly opposing factors. Ōe saw his literature as a humanistic endeavour to represent human suffering and explore possibilities of healing. </p>
<p>In his commitment to writing honestly, he never shied away from his personal crises. He wrote often about the birth of his mentally disabled son Hikari, which generated the novel <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-personal-matter/kenzaburo-oe/9780802150615">A Personal Matter</a> (1964) and many others. </p>
<p>The acceptance of the coexistence of life with fatality inspired his subsequent essay collection <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/11/11/books/book-reviews/hiroshima-notes-kenzaburo-oe-hiroshima-u-s-occupation/">Hiroshima Notes</a> (1965), where he reflects on the political instrumentalisation of atomic bomb victims and underscores the need to respect their right to silence. His condition as a struggling father intersects with the meditation on those affected by man-made disasters in the atomic age, where annihilation can come suddenly. For Ōe, notwithstanding the scale, it was always a personal matter.</p>
<p>Now Ōe has probably “gone up” to the trees of his beloved native forest, to which, legends say, souls return after leaving the bodies. For us that remain, his memory will hopefully motivate a (re)discovery of his imaginative yet real portrayals of Japan and life, so powerful because they were so unapologetically human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Filippo Cervelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An uncompromising writer who wrote about the dark and light of postwar JapanFilippo Cervelli, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2010542023-03-06T17:15:28Z2023-03-06T17:15:28ZPikachu to depart: a brief history of the world’s favourite Pokémon<p>In the run-up to <a href="https://www.polygon.com/pokemon/23616619/pokemon-presents-day-2023-direct-announcements-all-trailers">Pokémon Day</a> – an anniversary created to celebrate the <a href="https://www.gamingbible.com/features/nintendo-pokemon-red-blue-and-green-how-the-nintendo-game-boy-hits-were-made-20210219">first Pokémon video game</a>, released on February 27 1996 – a small but significant piece of news was announced. </p>
<p>There is to be a new Pikachu character, named <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/pikachu-is-dead-long-live-captain-pikachu/">Captain Pikachu</a>. This Pikachu will partner with a new human, Professor Friede, in an animated series based on the most recent video game: <a href="https://scarletviolet.pokemon.com/en-gb/">Pokémon Scarlet and Violet</a>. </p>
<p>The pokémon has been a global marketing tool for Nintendo products for over 25 years. Fans are used to seeing Pikachu dressed in all manner of outfits, including 2019’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1roy4o4tqQM">Detective Pikachu</a>. </p>
<p>However, the announcement followed a seismic shift in the animated franchise. Pikachu’s longtime child partner, Ash, finally achieved his goal of becoming a Pokémon Champion at the end of 2022. As a result, the Pokémon Company confirmed that the character would <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pokemon-ash-ketchum-pikachu-leaving-show/">bow out of the television series</a> in early 2023. </p>
<p>In response, fans on the social media platform <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/zo0rmi/so_is_pikachu_still_gonna_be_the_mascot_now/">Reddit</a> asked what would happen to Pikachu. How could he possibly continue without Ash in future stories? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemons-ash-wins-world-championship-after-25-years-heres-why-the-franchise-is-still-capturing-fans-194788">Pokémon's Ash wins World Championship after 25 years – here's why the franchise is still capturing fans</a>
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<p>Without the iconic character, Nintendo would lose more than just an important piece of intellectual property – they would lose the heart of what makes the franchise so endearing, so it’s no surprise to see Pikachu’s return, albeit in a different guise.</p>
<h2>Why is Pikachu so popular?</h2>
<p>Pikachu was not necessarily destined for great popularity. He was not a standout “pocket monster” in Nintendo’s first Game Boy Pokémon title, Red and Green, but was one among 151 creatures that children could choose to play with. </p>
<p>The Pokémon video game was quickly followed by the <a href="https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg">trading card game</a> in October 1996, where players could pick from a range of cards to battle or trade with a friend. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ign.com/games/pokemon-green-version">Early audiences</a> were entirely domestic as the game was not available outside Japan. However, when <a href="http://fj.webedia.us/features/father-pokemon-japanese-producer-masakazu-kubo-saluted-copyright-educator">Kubo Masakazu</a>, a comic book publisher and manga enthusiast, was hired by Nintendo to take Pokémon beyond the national market, he immediately saw the potential to build a global franchise and audience around one character: Pikachu. </p>
<p>Masakazu developed the animated television series and movies, focusing the stories on a trio of young travellers – Ash, Misty and Brock. Each traveller had a partner pokémon that would never be tucked away in a pokéball (devices in which pokémon are captured and stored), with personalities of their own. </p>
<p>As author Anne Allison described in <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520245655/millennial-monsters">Millennial Monsters</a> (2006), this new empire of entertainment (games, trading cards, a TV show and films) was based on Masakazu’s vision of harmony. This was shown in the way humans and pocket monsters live side by side, treating each other with kindness and love. The bond between Ash and Pikachu is at the heart of Pokémon’s global success.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/pink-globalization"><em>Kawaii</em></a>, or cuteness, is a profitable Japanese cultural export and the Pikachu character personifies its success. Pikachu’s appeal lies in the character’s design, backed up by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8V00SkTvY">his emotional resonance</a>, which is developed in the animated series and films. </p>
<p>Pikachu’s colour and frame are easily recognisable and can be <a href="https://screenrant.com/pokemon-pikachu-design-changes-red-blue-detective-movie/">redrawn in any style</a>. The name is catchy and repeatable, whether or not you are a native Japanese speaker. The character is small and huggable and helps children develop feelings of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1368879032000162220">attachment, nurturance and intimacy</a> when they play with Pikachu toys. </p>
<p>These visual features are reinforced by Pikachu’s personality and powers. He is loyal to Ash, brave in front of countless challenges and conveys emotions openly through facial expressions, noises and constant affirmation of who he is: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY9gKpFmy64">Pika, Pika, Pikachu!</a>”</p>
<p>Famously, in the animated series, Ash’s Pikachu does not wish to evolve (the process through which a pokémon can change form, grow stronger and gain new abilities). This goes against the internal logic of the game where players must care for and evolve their pokémon to help them win more battles.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ash explains why Pikachu doesn’t want to evolve.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Therefore, Pikachu’s strength comes from his individual identity as the Pikachu, not a Pikachu. Ash’s Pikachu is unique. So while countless others have been encountered in the games and animated series, they are not the same as his Pikachu. Or, more importantly, they are not the same as our Pikachu. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2010/06/transmedia_education_the_7_pri.html">multiplicity</a> of the character – that he is both the same as and different from other versions in the same entertainment universe – allows Pokémon to create new stories and scenarios without disrupting the overall backstory or inherent qualities of the Pikachu character. </p>
<p>This is how Pikachu has managed to be both the image of a global corporate brand and a distinctly familiar and individual partner on Ash’s journey. The children who grew up watching his adventures with Ash are now adults who can still reconnect with him because their relationship with the character was developed over multiple games, TV series and films. </p>
<p>Now that Ash is retiring, our Pikachu can too. His memory will continue in the minds of multi-generational fans while the <em>kawaii</em> Nintendo still wants to export will continue through the familiar design and distinct new personality of his successor: Captain Pikachu.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201054/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lincoln Geraghty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ash Ketchum is retiring from the Pokémon franchise, but this doesn’t spell the end of Pikachu.Lincoln Geraghty, Professor of Media Cultures, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1934872022-11-08T18:12:58Z2022-11-08T18:12:58ZHow the philosophy behind the Japanese art form of ‘kintsugi’ can help us navigate failure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492995/original/file-20221102-45064-bw9n55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C115%2C4552%2C2902&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kintsugi-bowl-gold-cracks-restoration-on-1799661814">Marco Montalti/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In our 20s and 30s, there can be immense pressure to measure up to the expectations of society, our families, our friends and even those we have for ourselves. Many people look back and feel disappointed that they hadn’t taken the opportunity to travel more. Others might have envisioned that they would be further along in their careers or personal relationships. In reality, life is hard and we might face setbacks (big and small) that can shatter our dreams, leaving us with fragments we perceive as worthless. </p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/how-the-philosophy-behind-the-japanese-art-form-of-_kintsugi_-can-help-us-navigate-failure-193487" &bgcolor="F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Feelings of failure <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6691139/">can take a long-lasting mental toll</a> but they don’t have to stop you in your tracks. There are many teachings, practices and philosophies that can help you deal with disappointment, embrace imperfection and remain optimistic. </p>
<p>One such practice is the Japanese art form of <em>kintsugi</em>, which means <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210107-kintsugi-japans-ancient-art-of-embracing-imperfection">joining with gold</a>. It has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years as both an art technique, a worldview and metaphor for how we can live life.</p>
<p>Many forms of Japanese art have been influenced by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210107-kintsugi-japans-ancient-art-of-embracing-imperfection">Zen and Mahayana philosophies</a>, which champion the concepts of acceptance and contemplation of imperfection, as well as the constant flux and impermanence of all things. </p>
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<img alt="Fail Better" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492275/original/file-20221028-40947-7fl4wu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/fail-better-129121?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Fail Better</a></strong>, a series for those of us in our 20s and 30s about navigating the moments when things aren’t quite going as planned. Many of us are tuned into the highlight reel of social media, where our peers share their successes in relationships, careers and family. When you feel like you’re not measuring up, the pieces in this special <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">Quarter Life</a> series will help you learn how to cope with, and even grow from, failure.</em></p>
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<p><em>Kintsugi</em> is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. If a bowl is broken, rather than discarding the pieces, the fragments are put back together with a <a href="https://traditionalkyoto.com/culture/kintsugi/">glue-like tree sap and the cracks are adorned with gold</a>. There are no attempts to hide the damage, instead, it is highlighted. The practice has come to represent the idea that beauty can be found in imperfection. The breakage is an opportunity and applying this kind of thinking to instances of failure in our own lives can be helpful.</p>
<h2>A technique to repair broken pots</h2>
<p><em>Kintsugi</em> was fairly widespread in Japan around the <a href="https://traditionalkyoto.com/culture/kintsugi/">late 16th and early 17th centuries</a>. The origins of this aesthetic go back hundreds of years to the Muromachi period (approximately 1336 to 1573). The third ruling Shogun (leader) of that era, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), is said to have broken his favourite tea bowl. The bowl was unique and could not be replaced. </p>
<p>So, instead of throwing it away, he sent it to China for a replacement or repair. The bowl returned repaired with its pieces held in place by metal staples. <a href="https://www.antiquesjournal.com/flipbooks/neajfeb12/index.html">Staple repair</a> was a common technique in China as well as in parts of Europe at the time for particularly valuable pieces. However, the Shogun considered it to be neither functional nor beautiful.</p>
<p>Instead, the Shogun had his own <a href="https://traditionalkyoto.com/culture/kintsugi/">artisans resolve</a> the situation by finding a method to make something beautiful from the broken, damaged object, but without disguising the damage. And so, <em>kintsugi</em> came to be.</p>
<h2>Finding the beauty in imperfection</h2>
<p><em>Kintsugi</em> makes something new from a broken pot, which is transformed to possess a different sort of beauty. The imperfection, the golden cracks, are what make the new object unique. They are there every time you look at it and they welcome contemplation of the object’s past and of the moment of “failure” that it and its owner has overcome.</p>
<p>The art of <em>kintsugi</em> is inextricably linked to the Japanese philosophy of <em>wabi-sabi</em>: a worldview centred on the acceptance of transience, imperfection and the beauty found in simplicity. <em>Wabi-sabi</em> is also an appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature that remind us that nothing stays the same forever.</p>
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<img alt="A series of pottery fragments put back together with gold painted lines." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492990/original/file-20221102-25180-5ycq2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A modern and avant-garde example of <em>kintsugi</em> from the series Translated Vase by the Korean artist Yeesookyung.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/26836292545">Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/Flikr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p><em>Wabi-sabi</em> can also be incorporated into contemplating something and seeing it <a href="https://japanobjects.com/features/wabi-sabi">grow more beautiful as time passes</a>. As a craft and an art form, <em>kintsugi</em> challenges expectations. This is because the technique goes further than repairing an object but actually <a href="https://theconversation.com/kintsugi-and-the-art-of-ceramic-maintenance-64223">transforms and intentionally changes its appearance</a>.</p>
<p>In an age of mass production and conformity, learning to accept and celebrate imperfect things, as <em>kintsugi</em> demonstrates, can be powerful. Whether it’s reeling from a breakup or being turned down for a promotion, the fragments of our disappointment can be transformed into something new.</p>
<p>That new thing might not be perfect or be how you had envisioned it would be, but it is beautiful. Rather than try to disguise the flaws, the <em>kintsugi</em> technique highlights and draws attention to them. The philosophy of <em>kintsugi</em>, as an approach to life, can help encourage us when we face failure. We can try to pick up the pieces, and if we manage to do that we can put them back together. The result might not seem beautiful straight away but as <em>wabi-sabi</em> teaches, as time passes, we may be able to appreciate the beauty of those imperfections. </p>
<p>The bowl may seem broken, the pieces scattered, but this is an opportunity to put it back together with seams of gold. It will be something new, unique and strong.</p>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">Quarter Life</a></strong> is a series about issues affecting those of us in our 20s and 30s.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ella Tennant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A break or moment of failure can be an opportunity to create something new and beautiful.Ella Tennant, Lecturer, Language and Culture, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1901232022-10-28T12:31:59Z2022-10-28T12:31:59ZJapan’s ‘waste not, want not’ philosophy has deep religious and cultural roots, from monsters and meditation to Marie Kondo’s tidying up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491759/original/file-20221025-24-seyy2h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C1017%2C505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Monsters and spirits –including 'tsukumogami,' which are made of everyday objects – in the 'Hyakki-Yagyō-Emaki' scroll, painted between the 14th and 16th centuries.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Hyakki-Yagyo-Emaki_Tsukumogami_1.jpg/1024px-Hyakki-Yagyo-Emaki_Tsukumogami_1.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “waste” is often frightening. People fear not making the most of their time, whether at work or at leisure, and failing to live life to the fullest. </p>
<p>Warnings against waste run especially deep in Japanese culture. Many Americans are familiar with the famous decluttering technique of <a href="https://theconversation.com/marie-kondo-a-psychologist-assesses-the-konmari-method-of-tidying-110217">organization guru Marie Kondo</a>, who wrote “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Travelers to Japan may hear the classic expression “<a href="https://www.mottainai.info/jp/">mottainai</a>,” which means “don’t be wasteful” or “what a waste.” There are even gods, spirits and monsters, or “yokai,” associated with waste, cleanliness and respect for material goods.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.memphis.edu/philosophy/people/bios/kevin-taylor.php">As a scholar of Asian philosophy and religions</a>, I believe the popularity of “mottainai” expresses an ideal more than a reality. Japan is not always known for being environmentally conscious, but its anti-waste values are deeply held. These traditions have been shaped by centuries-old Buddhist and Shinto teachings about inanimate objects’ interconnectedness with humans that continue to influence culture today.</p>
<h2>Soot sprites and ceiling lickers</h2>
<p>The idea of avoiding waste is closely tied to ideas of tidiness, which has a whole host of spirits and rituals in Japanese culture. Fans of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hayao-miyazakis-spirited-away-continues-to-delight-fans-and-inspire-animators-20-years-after-its-us-premiere-188636">famous animator</a> Hayao Miyazaki may recall the cute little <a href="https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Susuwatari">soot sprites</a> made of dust in his films “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away.” Then there’s the ceiling licker, “<a href="https://yokai.com/tenjouname/">tenjōname</a>”: a tall monster with a long tongue said to eat up the filth that accumulates in hard-to-reach places.</p>
<p>“Oosouji,” or “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-long-history-of-japans-tidying-up">big cleaning</a>,” is an end-of-year household ritual. Previously known as “<a href="https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/issue/179/article/1278">susuharai” or “soot sweeping</a>,” it is more than a chance to tidy up. The rite is believed to expel the negativity of the previous year while welcoming the Shinto god Toshigami: a major deity, considered grandson of the gods who created the islands of Japan – and who brings good luck for the new year.</p>
<p>Out with the defiled and old, in with the purified and new.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A painting on a scroll shows several people in traditional Japanese clothing intensely cleaning a house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491756/original/file-20221025-13-959jto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scene of housecleaning in preparation for the new year by artist Kitagawa Utamaro in the late 1700s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/house-cleaning-in-preparation-for-the-new-year-japan-circa-news-photo/1365701151?phrase=cleaning%20new%20year%20japan&adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Revenge of the tools</h2>
<p>There are countless varieties of monsters in Japanese folklore, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520253629/pandemonium-and-parade">including “yokai</a>.” As Japanese folklore scholar <a href="https://ealc.ucdavis.edu/people/michael-dylan-foster">Michael Dylan Foster</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Pandemonium_and_Parade.html?id=Z5WQy5Q6Hj4C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0#v=snippet&q=yokai%20intentionally&f=false">points out</a>, the category “yokai” is nearly impossible to define, because the meaning is ever-changing – and many yokai themselves are shape-shifters.</p>
<p>For instance, “<a href="https://yokai.com/yuurei/">yurei</a>” are truly terrifying, vengeful ghosts. But another category of yokai is the living, shape-changing “bakemono” – including the mischievous “<a href="https://yokai.com/tanuki/">tanuki</a>,” a raccoon dog, and “<a href="https://yokai.com/kitsune/">kitsune</a>,” or fox, often depicted in statues guarding shrines.</p>
<p>One special class of yokai is known as “<a href="https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/issue/179/article/1278">tsukumogami</a>,” referring to animated household objects. This concept originates in Shinto, which literally translates as “the way of the gods,” and is Japan’s <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/shinto-9780190621711?cc=us&lang=en&">native folk religion</a>. Shinto recognizes spirits, or “kami,” as existing in various places in the human world: from trees, mountains and waterfalls to human-made objects.</p>
<p>It is said that when an object becomes 100 years old it becomes inhabited by a Shinto spirit and comes to life as a tsukumogami. The “Tsukumogami-ki,” or “<a href="https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/issue/179/article/1275">Record of Tool Specters</a>,” is a text written sometime between the 14th and 16th centuries. It tells the story of how just such objects, already 100 years old and possessed by kami, were cast out in the trash after the annual housecleaning ritual. These animated household objects took offense at their casual disregard after years of loyal service. Angered at the perceived disrespect, the tool specters went on a rampage: drinking, gambling, even kidnapping and killing humans and animals.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A faded poster with brightly colored small images of different kinds of monsters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491751/original/file-20221025-15497-tjwt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster of monsters by Japanese artist Utagawa Shigekiyo, published in 1860.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mfa.org/download/190862">Museum of Fine Arts Boston</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the Shinto elements, this is not a Shinto story <a href="https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/issue/179/article/1275">but a Buddhist one</a>. The animated household objects’ frenzy comes to an end when Buddhist priests intervene – meant to convince the audience that Buddhist practices were more powerful than local spirits associated with Shinto. At the time, Buddhism was still cementing its influence in Japan.</p>
<h2>Laying objects to rest</h2>
<p>If the “Tsukumogami-ki” is Buddhist propaganda, it is also a cautionary tale. The cast-aside objects lash out in anger for being treated without a second thought. </p>
<p>Reverence for objects has persisted throughout Japanese history in many forms. Sometimes this is for practical reasons, and sometimes more symbolic ones. The samurai sword known as the “katana,” for example, was often considered the soul of the warrior, symbolizing devotion to <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12096">the way of the warrior</a>, or “bushido.” In a more everyday example, cracked teapots are not discarded but rather repaired with gold in a process called “<a href="https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/">kintsugi</a>,” which adds an asymmetrical beauty like a golden scar.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A light-colored bowl with golden streaks across it sits against a white backdrop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491750/original/file-20221025-18366-ckrqgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bowl restored with gold along the cracks, using the traditional ‘kintsugi’ restoration technique.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/antique-broken-japanese-beige-bowl-repaired-with-royalty-free-image/1280370725?phrase=kintsugi&adppopup=true">Marco Montalti/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This reverence also persists in the form of funerary services for a host of objects considered deserving of respect, such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-06/japanese-dolls-souls-return-to-heaven-at-shinmeisha-shrine/7695414">doll-burning ceremonies</a> performed at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. No-longer-wanted but not-unloved dolls are collected so that the spirits within can be honored and released before the end of their lives. A similar practice exists for artisans’ <a href="https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/texts-films-customs-and-event/celebrations/hari-kuyo-japan">sewing needles</a>, which are put to rest with a memorial service.</p>
<h2>Karma and clutter</h2>
<p>The roots of these attitudes toward material things are therefore religious, practical and psychological. As a Japanese philosophy of waste, “mottainai” keys into Zen Buddhism’s emphasis on emptiness: minimalism to <a href="https://www.zen-buddhism.net/zen-concepts/mushin.html">empty the mind</a> and bring insight.</p>
<p>This desire to show respect also stems from Buddhist beliefs that all things, living or not, are interconnected – a teaching called “<a href="http://www.meditationcircle.org.uk/notes/pratityasamutpada-dependent-origination-cont/">pratītyasamutpāda</a>.” It’s closely tied with conceptions of karma: the idea that actions have consequences, especially moral consequences.</p>
<p>In short, Buddhism acknowledges that things shapes people, for better or worse. Unhealthy attachment to objects can manifest in different ways, whether it be the perceived need to buy an expensive car or reluctance to let go of unneeded items.</p>
<p>But that does not necessarily mean throwing away everything. When we are done with material goods, we don’t need to simply cast them into the trash to fill up landfills or pollute the air and water. They can be given a dignified send-off, whether through reuse or responsible disposal. </p>
<p>Failing that, the story in the “Record of Tool Specters” warns, they may come back to haunt us.</p>
<p>Now, that’s scary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190123/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin C. Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Shinto and Buddhist ideas about interconnectedness have deeply influenced Japan, shaping centuries-old rituals and stories whose impact continues today.Kevin C. Taylor, Director of Religious Studies and Instructor of Philosophy, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884972022-08-10T15:55:43Z2022-08-10T15:55:43ZIssey Miyake – a conceptual fashion designer for the many<p>Designer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/aug/09/issey-miyake-famed-japanese-fashion-designer-dies-aged-84">Issey Miyake</a> has died aged 84, leaving an indelible mark on the fashion world. He was celebrated for clothing that responded to the body in movement and which was conceptual in design but also completely appropriate for the everyday. His garments were often based on simple geometric shapes made in finely pleated fabrics that resulted in new and unexpected silhouettes. </p>
<p>Miyake stood out from the fashion crowd in several ways. For a global audience, it was poignant and meaningful to see a non-western designer not only establish their own successful multicultural fashion business internationally but also propose fashion beyond the established and conventional silhouette, fabric styles and imagery.</p>
<p>There’s much for the next generation of fashion designers to learn from Miyake’s body of work, from his innovative reinvention of Japanese clothing traditions to his bravery in embracing new textile technologies and silhouettes. Perhaps most relevant for the modern audience was his inclusive vision, his aim of “designing for the many”. He demonstrated this not just through the design and cut of his garments but also in the models he chose to include in his shows and campaigns. Miyake always ensured that “the many” meant including models from underrepresented backgrounds.</p>
<h2>An egalitarian vision</h2>
<p>Born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1938, Miyake was seven years old when his hometown was destroyed by the atomic bomb that signalled the end of the second world war in Asia. He sustained a serious leg injury and lost his mother to radiation sickness soon after, events which inspired him to “think of things that can be created, not destroyed”. </p>
<p>Miyake went on to study graphic design at Tokyo’s Tama Art University before attending the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in Paris in 1965. He witnessed the revolutionary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68">May 1968 protests in Paris</a>, a series of student and worker demonstrations that resulted in improved workers’ rights and rapid social change. This led Miyake to question the status quo and inspired him to think in a more egalitarian and radical way about fashion design.</p>
<p>In 1970 he established the Miyake Design Studio. His first range was based on the concept he called “A Piece of Cloth”, which was a way of designing with the two-dimensional quality of cloth and minimising waste. When working on the world’s fair exhibition Expo ‘70 in Osaka, he designed a range of modular garments that could be assembled into a variety of outfits chosen by the wearer, aptly named “constructible fashion”. </p>
<p>Miyake was fascinated by the interaction between clothing and the body, exploring what fashion could be. This is evident in his many innovations, especially in the way he blended his Japanese heritage with his European and North American experiences. He developed his vision for contemporary fashion, combining the comfort of Western styles with the textiles and silhouettes of the East, exploring Japanese gangster tattoos as textile designs, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashiko">sashiko quilting</a> for coats and Kimono-inspired geometric shapes for handkerchief dresses.</p>
<h2>Breaking with convention</h2>
<p>Alongside designers Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, his work was part of a wave of Japanese designers who established the relevance of a fashion perspective from outside of the dominant Euro-American narratives of fashion. When I studied fashion history in the 2000s it was as if it only existed in London, Paris, Milan and New York but this “new wave” of Japanese designers paved the way for other international designers to follow. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s Miyake continued to experiment, showcasing his work in museums and galleries. He explored further with materials, for example, moulded breastplates, bamboo and rattan bodices that began to look like sculptures, all the while always using fashion as a tool to study the body. In 1981 he created Plantation, a pioneering gender-neutral range, designed to be worn by all ages and body shapes in natural easy to care fabric. The collection was revived and renamed Issey Miyake Permanente in 1985.</p>
<p>His brand Pleats Please was established in 1988, a range of garments made from a new pleating technology he developed for pleated cloth. The pleats provide a functional benefit as they create stretch within a garment, allowing for versatile sizing. This was another playful development in Miyake’s disruption of boundaries. </p>
<p>In 1999, he introduced the A-POC range, a return to his original A Piece of Cloth concept. The range featured long tubes of knitted cloth that can be cut by the wearer to the desired length, an approach to minimising waste. These simple styles have become iconic and are worn by both men and women of all ages, representing a perfect manifestation of Miyake’s vision for garments that offer the best of “east meets west”. They exist as something unique yet offer everyday functionality.</p>
<p>Miyake brought this spirit of experimentation and boundary-pushing to his shows as well. This was best exemplified in his radical show Issey Miyake and Twelve Black Girls, which took place in Japan at the Seibu Theatre in Tokyo and Osaka Municipal Gymnasium. Running for over a month, the show put 12 black models, including Grace Jones, front and centre in a way they had never been done before. </p>
<p>In her autobiography Jones highlighted the value of Miyake’s support when she was a young model in Paris. This episode is representative of his forward-thinking attitude and inclusive mindset at a time when it was unusual to showcase designs exclusively on models of colour.</p>
<p>Whether he was reinventing garment shapes, using technology to pleat innovative fabrics, reducing fabric waste or designing non-gendered pieces, his vision was always modern and for everyday wear. Issey Miyake was a true trailblazer and his pioneering vision will be sorely missed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Noorin Khamisani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The pioneering Japanese designer leaves behind a legacy of innovative fashion design.Noorin Khamisani, Lecturer in Fashion and Textile Design, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885232022-08-10T04:53:05Z2022-08-10T04:53:05ZPart of the Japanese revolution in fashion, Issey Miyake changed the way we saw, wore and made fashion<p>Throughout his career, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, who has died of cancer at 84, rejected terms like “fashion”. </p>
<p>But his work allowed much of the world to reimagine itself through clothing.</p>
<p>Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake studied graphic design in Tokyo where he was influenced by the Japanese-American sculptor <a href="https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/biography/biography/">Isamu Noguchi</a> and the black and white photography of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/oct/20/irving-penn-beyond-beauty-in-pictures">Irving Penn</a>. </p>
<p>As soon as the post-war restrictions barring Japanese nationals from travelling abroad were lifted, he headed to Paris, arriving in 1964. </p>
<p>There, the young designer apprenticed for eminent <em>haute couture</em> fashion houses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Laroche">Guy Laroche</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_de_Givenchy">Hubert de Givenchy</a>. Such houses made expensive clothes that conformed to prevailing standards of etiquette. Miyake was to go well beyond that.</p>
<p>Miyake was there for the Paris <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/29/613671633/in-france-the-protests-of-may-1968-reverberate-today-and-still-divide-the-french">student revolt of 1968</a> and was galvanised by the youth quake shaking all rules of society. </p>
<p>The ready-to-wear concept by a couturier had been launched just a few years earlier when Yves Saint Laurent created <a href="https://museeyslparis.com/en/biography/saint-laurent-rive-gauche">Saint Laurent Rive Gauche</a> in late 1966. </p>
<p>The fashion system was changing and Miyake rose to the challenge. </p>
<h2>Japanese fashion revolution</h2>
<p>Miyake arrived in Paris shortly after Kenzo’s “<a href="https://www.drapersonline.com/insight/analysis/kenzo-takadas-colourful-and-inclusive-influence-on-fashion">Jungle Jap</a>” clothes had made waves, with their bright colours and unexpected patterns based partly on Japanese artistic traditions. </p>
<p>The Japanese revolution in fashion was commencing. </p>
<p>Japanese designers including <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/comme-des-garcons-rei-kawakubo-spring-2021-interview">Rei Kawakubo</a> for Comme des Garçons, <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/yohji-yamamoto">Yohji Yamamoto</a> and Issey – all born in the 1930s and 40s – rose to prominence in the 70s and showed in Paris. </p>
<p>All questioned Eurocentric views of fashion and beauty. The Japanese designers reversed the Western focus on symmetry and tidiness and adopted aspects of Japanese aesthetic systems, such as Yamamoto’s use of black with colours such as red, purple, cerise, brown and dark blue.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Thigh high laced suede boots worn over cotton pants and woven with a quilted look are worn with a full-sleeved lamb wool jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early creation by Issey Miyake presented in New York City in 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Miyake held his first show in New York in 1971 and in Paris in 1973. He integrated technology with tradition, exploring Japanese aesthetics and the uncut, untailored garment. He also commissioned high-tech textiles that influenced fashion around the world.</p>
<p>Miyake’s BODY series included the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/675703">famous bustiers</a> of plastic, rattan and resin in which the female body was re-imagined as a type of armour.</p>
<p>In February 1982 the prominent journal Artforum photographed a Miyake bustier <a href="https://www.artforum.com/print/198202">on its cover</a>. </p>
<p>It was the first time a contemporary art journal had featured fashion. </p>
<h2>Covering the body</h2>
<p>Throughout his career Miyake completely re-imagined the potential of textiles. </p>
<p>Working with his textile director Makiko Minagawa and Japanese textile mills, he began to create the famous Pleats collections: using thermally processed polyester textiles that are not pleated before sewing (the regular practice), but manufactured much larger, and then pleated in machines. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/79227/">Rhythm Pleats</a> collection from 1989 was inspired by the French artist Henri Rousseau: Miyake took elements of the colour palette and the strange sculptural shells surrounding women in these paintings, a good example of how his influences were always abstract and suggestive.</p>
<p>His very commercial collection <a href="https://camarguefashion.com.au/blogs/news/introducing-pleats-please-by-issey-miyake">Pleats Please</a> was launched in 1993. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.isseymiyake.com/en/brands/apocable">A-POC (A Piece of Cloth)</a> collection (in collaboration with Dai Fujiwara, 1998) revolutionised clothing design and prefigured anxieties around the unsustainability of fashion and its attendant waste. Clothes were knitted in three dimensions in a continuous tube using computerised knitting technology as a whole and from a single thread. </p>
<p>The garment came in a cylinder and was later cut out by the wearer – there was no waste, as leftover sections became mittens, for example.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-clothing-businesses-that-could-lead-us-away-from-the-horrors-of-fast-fashion-165578">Four clothing businesses that could lead us away from the horrors of fast fashion</a>
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<h2>Miyake and men</h2>
<p>Miyake’s <a href="https://collections.lacma.org/node/2238481">pneumatic collection</a> in 1991 included knickerbocker trousers for men with plastic bladders and straws – men could inflate or deflate the clothes to suit. </p>
<p>It was the age of the AIDS crisis and attendant body wasting. Calvin Klein had responded with hyper-masculine underwear and hyper-masculine advertising. Miyake, on the other hand, tested the zeitgeist by suggesting we use clothes to make our bodies and appearances suit our needs.</p>
<p>Having worn his clothes myself for some time, I can testify for the liberation they provide. The jackets are unlined and embrace the body in unexpected ways. Sleeves might be manufactured so they create a pagoda shape on your arm and add dynamism to the body. </p>
<p>The colour palette is extraordinary and so different from a diet of sensible woollens or tweeds. </p>
<p>Computer-generated jacquard weaving creates subtle patterns only truly registered by closer looking. The textiles have an unexpected tactility next to the skin. Some of the garments are provided literally rolled in a ball. They weigh virtually nothing, meaning they liberate the traveller. Once unrolled and put on the body, they spring back to life. </p>
<p>There is a real sense that you, the wearer, animate these lifeless things: dressing is a performance and the clothes generate a reality that is both theatrical and practical. Although widely worn (there is a cliche all gallerists once lived in Miyake) people remain intrigued by them, wanting to touch them for themselves. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.travelifemagazine.com/about-issey-miyake-retrospective-a/">Issey Miyake Retrospective</a> in Tokyo in 2016, I saw Miyake and very much wanted to go over and thank him for transforming the potential of fashion for women and men around the world, its material possibility and imaginative possibility. </p>
<p>I’d very much like to thank him for that now.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-japanese-avant-garde-ceramicists-have-tested-the-limits-of-clay-184470">How Japanese avant-garde ceramicists have tested the limits of clay</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Issey Miyake’s clothing is both theatrical and practical. The Japanese designer has died aged 84.Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827272022-05-13T11:34:44Z2022-05-13T11:34:44ZTokyo Vice reminds me of my experience with the yakuza in Japan<p>In Tokyo Vice, HBO max’s new highly <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/tokyo_vice/s01">praised</a> TV series, the audience follows the adventures of journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/jakeadelstein">Jake Adelstein</a> in the Japanese underworld. The series is inspired by Adelstein’s <a href="http://www.japansubculture.com/tokyovice/">memoir</a> of the same name, released in 2009. Adelstein was the first westerner to be hired at the Japanese news outlet <a href="https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp">Yomiuri Shimbun</a> and in the series he encounters corrupt cops, hostess girls and the infamous Japanese mafia, the yakuza.</p>
<p>Critics have questioned how <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/tokyo-vice-problematic-source-material-1235135828/">real Adelstein’s account is</a>. However, based on my own experiences as a researcher who has worked with yakuza, the representation of them in the series is not too far off.</p>
<p>In 2017, I published a <a href="https://dokument.org/product/yakuza-tattoo-2/">book</a> on yakuza tattoos, the work was based on fieldwork in Yokohama and I conducted interviews and photographed yakuza members. The series brought me back to my experience with the yakuza, which was both frightening and fun. </p>
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<h2>Bad reputations</h2>
<p>Yakuza is the common name for organised crime in Japan. The yakuza is not one organisation, but several. They often <a href="https://books.google.se/books?hl=sv&lr=&id=_TADBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA234&dq=yakuza&ots=FU39BOl2R1&sig=qatB-6PwWQnTYFVlWSatG85-DfM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">portray themselves as honourable</a> organisations (<em>ninkyō dantai</em>) descending from the Samurai way of life. </p>
<p>It is hard to prove that the yakuza descended from samurais. But these organisations can be traced back to the late 1800s; to street peddler (<em>tekiya</em>) and gambler (<em>bakuto</em>) gangs – to lose a hand in the card game <em>oicho-kabu</em> is 8-9-3 and that is pronounced <em>ya</em>-<em>ku</em>-<em>sa</em>. </p>
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<img alt="Man plays cards." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462425/original/file-20220511-23-9oxk2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A yakuza member playing with the traditional <em>Hanfuda</em> cards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andreas Johansson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much of my experience with the yakuza came flooding back as I watched Tokyo Vice and its explorations of the different ways the organisation is perceived. At the time of my visit, the clan to which my informants belonged had just split and there was a conflict between the two groups which made my visit more thrilling.</p>
<p>One of the stories in the series is based on the rivalry of two yakuza families and viewers are introduced to a “good” and a “bad” yakuza boss. In the series the bad boss, Tozawa (played by Tanida Ayumi), is setting up a fraudulent loan company that makes money from people’s debt by giving them the option to kill themselves and pay their debt in an insurance clause. The other yakuza boss, Ishida (played by Shun Sugata) explains to Adelstein that making people kill themselves to pay their debts is not the yakuza way of doing business. </p>
<p>In real life most headlines concerning the yakuza relate to <a href="https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/yakuza-nabbed-over-swindle-of-elderly-woman-in-gifu/">fraud</a>, <a href="https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/yakuza-suspected-in-3-million-extortion-of-sex-business/">extortion</a> and <a href="https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/hyogo-yakuza-posed-as-magazine-reporter-in-fatal-shooting-of-rivals/">murder</a>. But the members I talked to saw themselves as morally correct, stressing that they did charity work for the poor.</p>
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<img alt="Large back tattoo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462564/original/file-20220511-22-8ukbgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Yakuza member with a tattoo of Teitoku Son, a hero from traditional stories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andreas Johansson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>There are examples of these criminal organisations helping society, like during the 2011 earthquake and the tsunami that followed, when it was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yakuza-idUSTRE72O6TF20110325">reported</a> that yakuza were the first to bring relief supplies to affected areas. However, even the yakuza acknowledge they don’t have the best reputation, despite seeing themselves as Robin Hood-type figures. </p>
<h2>New approaches to tattoos</h2>
<p>Another concept that is spot on in the TV series is some of the cultural aspects of the yakuza, from the way their offices look to certain ceremonies but also their infamous tattoos. Full body tattoos (<em>irezumi</em>) are very common among yakuza members. In the show, these are very accurate and they contain many traditional symbols like Shinto gods, koi fish and dragons.</p>
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<img alt="Large back tattoo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462426/original/file-20220511-12-jbz4x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A yakuza member with a koi tattoo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andreas Johansson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>These symbols often have a personal meaning and are not always connected to the yakuza lifestyle. The tattoos that are related to the yakuza life often represent the hierarchical structure of the organisation. For example, tattoos of koi fish swimming upstream to become a dragon is a symbol of wanting to become a boss. </p>
<p>Another interesting aspect is the tattoos among younger yakuza members. Many choose not to follow the traditional tattoo style. For instance, one younger member in the series has neck tattoos, which is not a traditional location for a tattoo. I also encountered younger yakuza members that had more of an American gangster touch to their tattoos, showing guns and RIP signs. </p>
<p>The show made a lot of the emotions associated with working with such people and institutions come back to life. Walking down the road with a yakuza boss gives you multiple feelings. On the one hand, you feel untouchable and powerful; on the other hand, you feel like your life can end at any moment. Tokyo Vice brings me back to these feelings, not only through its thrilling story but also by putting a lot of effort into the details of portraying yakuza life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Johansson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The show is an accurate representation of how the yakuza see themselves and their culture.Andreas Johansson, Senior Lecturer at Karlstad University, and Researcher at Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767222022-02-16T14:43:42Z2022-02-16T14:43:42ZWellbeing: how living well together works for the common good<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446757/original/file-20220216-13-g8tuhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C4%2C2959%2C2694&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/happy-people-hand-drawn-seamless-pattern-223297990">Franzi/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The World Health Organization (WHO) describes <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response">mental health</a> as “a state of wellbeing in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.</p>
<p>In its definition, the WHO emphasises the importance of environment and community for mental health and wellbeing, and that they should be promoted and protected. But the fact remains that mental health and wellbeing are mostly seen as states of individuals. </p>
<p>A different view might start from a sense that wellbeing is social: people need social connections to thrive. But it also means recognising that social institutions and organisations systemically affect <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25595022?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_">health and suffering</a>. Institutional racism and sexism, for example, contribute to suffering in both direct and indirect ways.</p>
<p>Health and illness are at once deeply personal and affected by the social situation of the sufferer. In other words, depending on their circumstances or their place within the society, some people are distinctly at a disadvantage. Being poor, for example, puts people’s health at risk in a multitude of ways. </p>
<p>My work explores the concept of wellbeing in different cultural settings across the world. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108935616">my latest research</a>, I reviewed work by anthropologists who consider the importance of conviviality and care in the communities they study. </p>
<h2>Community and conviviality</h2>
<p>Conviviality refers to the art of living well together. Researchers see it as particularly important for understanding how people in certain small communities strive to live well when state institutions and other organisations are a relatively remote presence in their lives. </p>
<p>Many Amazonian peoples, for example, strive to live well by caring for others in their community, by sharing resources and cultivating particular emotional conditions <a href="https://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau5.3.010">such as tranquillity</a>. Close and intimate bonds are created through sharing food; <a href="https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.00007">one becomes kin</a> by eating together, or estranged by eating apart. </p>
<p>Until a few decades ago, when many Japanese houses did not have a bathroom, neighbourhood communal baths were abundant. <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/7939">Even now, bathing</a> with friends or family members is not unusual, with the communal bathhouse offering a much-needed space for socialising and reconnecting.</p>
<p>Living well with others requires skilful effort <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-quest-for-the-convivial-city-how-do-ours-fare-90004">in modern cities</a>, especially, perhaps, where neighbourhoods are made up of people of different backgrounds. It also entails figuring out how to live with other species – from animals and plants to even the microbes <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211026124318.htm">living in our gut</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Three people working in a communal garden on a sunny day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446760/original/file-20220216-20-kjfdr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Working together for the greater good brings mental health benefits for everyone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/team-multicultural-workers-caring-plants-vegetable-1897609477">BearFotos/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Care makes us who we are</h2>
<p>In my own research with <a href="http://anthro-age.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/anthro-age/article/view/83">older Japanese people</a> in the city of Osaka, I observed that although caring for ageing relatives is still a strong family value, many older people were worried about growing increasingly dependent and a burden on their children.</p>
<p>They were active in providing care themselves, and looking out for one other in all kinds of ways, from arranging a visit to the dentist to recommending a hairdresser. It became clear that various forms of care worked in interconnected ways: looking after elders and children required looking after mothers, who were often the carers for both. Care, I concluded, is at its best in circulation, continually being “<a href="https://theconversation.com/teens-with-secure-family-relationships-pay-it-forward-with-empathy-for-friends-164298">paid forward</a>” between people in numerous ongoing relationships.</p>
<p>Conviviality and care draw our attention to the fact that wellbeing is not only social, but deeply relational. It is not simply what an individual feels about their life, somehow enclosed within a body. It plays out in the relationship with one’s surrounding environment: with materials, with tools and technologies, with human and non-human beings.</p>
<p>The way we think about these relationships affects others and their wellbeing and health, which in turn reflects on us. Witnessing the suffering of others, for instance, or living in a deteriorating environment, is likely to affect us negatively.</p>
<p>It is not inconceivable that our current <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/357710/next-global-pandemic-mental-health.aspx">mental health crisis</a> is intertwined with our witnessing of <a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-and-mental-health-are-likely-to-get-worse-in-a-warming-world-169547">large-scale suffering and neglect</a> of humans, nonhumans and the natural world. Treating mental health as internal, or as pertaining only to the individual, may be inadequate for addressing these kinds of issues.</p>
<h2>We not I</h2>
<p>How then to think about wellbeing in the context of environmental crisis and rising inequalities? We need to start treating wellbeing as a process of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/process-of-wellbeing/2B13755C28A5F785C47C70795AA509ED">connecting with others</a> – or even a form of “commons”. </p>
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<p><a href="https://iasc-commons.org/about-commons/">Commons</a> refer to resources used <a href="https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9655.13183">collectively and shared</a>, like water. Similarly, the emotional or “affective” resources (such as resilience, friendship or care) that promote wellbeing do not merely pertain to individuals, but emerge in relationships, spaces and communities. Unlike scarce resources such as trees or urban spaces, wellbeing and the qualities that underpin it are not finite. Like the care between generations of Japanese families, they thrive in circulation. </p>
<p>A good example <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/cj-2016-0001/html">is hope</a>. Being faced with hopelessness can be trying, while surrounding ourselves with optimistic people might make us more hopeful. In this sense, affective states like optimism can be contagious. Who we surround ourselves with matters. Perhaps it’s time to think of wellbeing as a commons that we must cultivate together: the more it thrives for others, the more it benefits us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iza Kavedžija's research has been funded by the AHRC. </span></em></p>Wellbeing is not just an individual thing, it plays out in relationships with people and animals and even plants and our environment.Iza Kavedžija, Assistant Professor in Medical Anthropology, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1732362021-12-08T19:21:49Z2021-12-08T19:21:49ZMeet Katsura Niyō: the young female rising star in the traditionally male Japanese art form, rakugo<p>Rakugo is among Japan’s more humble performing arts: a solo performer, dressed in traditional kimono, sits on a plush cushion and narrates stories lasting twenty or thirty minutes, assuming the roles of every character. A simple folding fan and handkerchief stand in for anything from a writing brush to a roasted sweet potato.</p>
<p>While rakugo has been described as “sit-down comedy”, it’s far from an Eastern analogue of what we know as stand-up comedy. It is an orally transmitted art with a much longer history. With two distinct traditions based in Osaka and Tokyo, rakugo as we know it dates back about 150 years, but precursors go back centuries. </p>
<p>Today more artists than ever (around 850) call rakugo their occupation. Respected as knowledgeable conveyors of history and cultural heritage, many are also on radio and TV. But it has always been a traditionally male art form. The first woman, Tsuyu no Miyako, joined the profession in 1974, and still today women make up only 7% of rakugo artists.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japans-politics-is-opening-up-to-women-but-dont-expect-a-feminist-revolution-yet-67243">Japan’s politics is opening up to women, but don't expect a feminist revolution yet</a>
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<h2>A young apprentice</h2>
<p>Women began to gain a quiet presence in the art form in the 1980s. </p>
<p>In the 2000s, there was a surge in new rakugo performers, notably women. This was partly thanks to books, movies and TV shows spotlighting rakugo, some, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1050398/">Life’s Like a Comedy</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289637/">Rakugo musume</a> featuring women undertaking arduous apprenticeships to a happy end. </p>
<p>These no doubt enticed some of the young adults weighing their options as Japan’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades">lost decades</a>” – or decades of economic stagnation – idled on. </p>
<p>When she was in her early 20s, Nishii Fumi saw a famous rakugo artist on TV and went to see him in a live show. She knew nothing of rakugo at the time, but kept going to shows until she determined she wanted to be the one making audiences laugh. </p>
<p>After veteran rakugo artist Katsura Yoneji agreed to take on Fumi as an apprentice at 24 in 2011, he followed convention by giving her a stage name: Katsura Niyō. For her, rakugo seemed like the perfect job: it would allow her to play the clown full-time. </p>
<p>“I was a meek, quiet girl when I was small but looked up to the boys who could act like idiots, shamelessly running through halls in spite of the teachers”, she told me this weekend.</p>
<p>But Niyō understood women behaving improperly isn’t something that Japanese society looks highly upon: “men act like fools all the time, and get applauded for it, but not women”. </p>
<p>She viewed rakugo as a road to freedom, to be herself. Yet, though a handful of women had been on stage for decades prior to her beginning, she wasn’t blind to the fact women were rarely viewed as true artists. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japans-gender-bending-history-71545">Japan's gender-bending history</a>
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<h2>A man’s domain</h2>
<p>Niyō asked to work with Yoneji because she wanted to do “real rakugo”. The art form’s first professional woman, Miyako, had formed a growing school of female pupils, but Niyō didn’t want to be identified as a woman storyteller. She wanted to be seen as a rakugo artist, full stop. </p>
<p>She faced numerous hardships during her training. Everyone training in rakugo must memorise long stories, but Niyō also faced the perceived “awkwardness” of a woman playing in a man’s domain. Some were awfully explicit with their view that women have no place in rakugo, but Niyō refused to give up. </p>
<p>Rakugo artists establish authenticity and advance their careers in various ways, including winning televised contests and receiving honours from local and national government. </p>
<p>Early on, Niyō began entering contests to challenge herself and assert her legitimacy. Last year she was a finalist at the influential NHK Newcomer Rakugo Awards, and this year, with the traditional story Long-Nosed Goblin Hunting (<em>Tengu sashi</em>), she <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211124/p2a/00m/0et/009000c">took the Grand Prize</a> over 106 other professionals from Osaka and Tokyo. </p>
<p>She is the first woman to win the award in its 50 year history.</p>
<h2>The new face of rakugo</h2>
<p>Niyō is now <a href="https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/Z9Y7Q7754G/">upheld by NHK</a> as the “new hope for the rakugo world”. </p>
<p>Her perfect score at the contest seen as nothing short of monumental, drawing even The New York Times to interview her over several days, <a href="https://twitter.com/niyo_katsura/status/1467993919934070785">to Niyō’s surprise (and honour)</a>. The <a href="https://www.hanjotei.jp/performances/">Hanjōtei</a>, Osaka’s premier rakugo hall, will honour her with a full week of shows from January 31.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1463018453762072577"}"></div></p>
<p>Niyō’s success is noteworthy for other reasons. Unlike some women who came before her (whom she thanks for opening doors), she insists on performing rakugo without modifying repertoire pieces or changing male characters to female. “It made me pretty happy that I could win top prize doing that” she told me.</p>
<p>Niyō has been told time and again women don’t have what it takes to perform traditional rakugo, but this only convicted her further. Having received such an esteemed prize, there’s no question she has changed some narrow minds. </p>
<p>Off stage she’s relishing the fact she could do something to face down gender bias. And to her detractors, she has one thing to say: “did you see what I just did? Eat that!”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: one quote from Niyō has been updated to better reflect the translation from Japanese.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>M.W. Shores does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Only 7% of rakugo artists are female, but Katsura Niyō just won one of Japan’s highest honours for emerging rakugo artists.M.W. Shores, Lecturer in Japanese, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676432021-09-09T14:14:38Z2021-09-09T14:14:38ZJapan: what are the chances of a woman becoming prime minister in a deeply patriarchal society?<p>She has been <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/09/08/national/politics-diplomacy/sanae-takaichi-ldp-presidential-election/">billed as an underdog</a>, but Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative MP and ally of former prime minister Shinzō Abe, has announced her bid to become the next leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. If successful, she would almost certainly become Japan’s first woman prime minister.</p>
<p>Abe <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210905/p2g/00m/0na/009000c">publicly endorsed her</a> after the sitting prime minister and LDP leader, Yoshihide Suga, announced on September 3 that he was <a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-why-pm-suga-unexpectedly-stepped-down-and-what-happens-next-167300">stepping down as party leader</a>. Takaichi shares many of Abe’s views, such as revising Japan’s pacifist constitution. Her platform, which she has dubbed “Sanaenomics” – a reference to the former PM’s “Abenomics”, includes extra funding to help businesses affected by the COVID pandemic as well as laws to enable the government to impose strict lockdown measures – something not yet seen in Japan.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-why-pm-suga-unexpectedly-stepped-down-and-what-happens-next-167300">Japan: why PM Suga unexpectedly stepped down – and what happens next</a>
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<p>But she is widely seen as an unlikely candidate, without her own power base in the LDP, whose grassroots members will vote in the leadership election. She <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sanae-takaichi-launches-bid-to-be-japans-first-female-pm-qx9jjqg6q">told journalists</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s like an ant challenging an elephant — perhaps that’s what everyone thinks. When I first ran for election, it was a time when being a woman was a disadvantage. But it’s totally different now compared to 30 years ago.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Women on the outside</h2>
<p>Gender equality is not something one readily associates with politics in Japan, which is ranked 120th out of 156 countries in a gender gap survey compiled by the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/ab6795a1-960c-42b2-b3d5-587eccda6023">The World Economic Forum</a>. Women achieved the vote in Japan after the second world war. At the general election for the House of Representatives on April 10, 1946, about 13.8 million women exercised the right to vote for the first time and 39 women became the Diet members. This represented just 8.4% of the seats, but it was a historically significant moment for Japanese women and Japanese politics as a whole.</p>
<p>Seventy-five years on, the political gender gap has not improved much. According to <a href="https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=9&year=2021">the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)</a> – a global organisation of national parliaments, as of September 2021 only 9.9 % of members in the House of the Representatives are women and with representation in the House of Councillors not much better at 23%. </p>
<p>These numbers show that Abe’s pledge to increase the number of women in management positions to 30% across different fields by 2020 – a key part of his “<a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/R43668.pdf">Womenomics</a>” plan, has failed to make a significant impact on his country’s political system.</p>
<h2>‘Womenomics’</h2>
<p>In 1999, US-born former Goldman Sachs strategist turned venture capitalist, Kathy Matsui, coined the term “<a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/womenomics-5.0/">womenomics</a>”, arguing that female economic advancement would be necessary to improve the economy. Matsui – who <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Finance/Womenomics-advocate-Kathy-Matsui-debuts-venture-capital-fund">recently launched MPower Partners Fund</a> with two female colleagues – pointed out in an <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/26/national/goldman-sachs-strategist-says-japan-still-holding-back-talented-women-20-years-upbeat-report/">article in the Japan Times</a> in 2019 that the situation has not changed much over the 20 years and argued for gender quotas in parliament. </p>
<p>Women in politics remain hampered by old-fashioned attitudes and practices. <a href="https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/81808">Takae Itō and Ayano Kunimitsu</a> have complained about the lack of family-friendly measures for Japanese MPs. Makiko Yamada, former cabinet public relations secretary for the Suga cabinet, <a href="https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210224/k00/00m/010/091000c">has commented</a> that female politicians are pressured to work and act like men or won’t be promoted.</p>
<p>There are a few signs that Takaichi will make gender equality a defining issue in her campaign. Writing this month in the conservative magazine, <em>Bungei Shunjū</em>, she says nothing about gender equality or any other equality issues, including LGBTQ issues. Instead, Takaichi emphasises her economic policy – which she has dubbed “Sanaenomics”, stressing that it is basically “new Abenomics – which aims to increase inflation by 2% through "bold monetary easing”, “flexible fiscal stimulus” and “investment in crisis management and growth”.</p>
<p>Presenting her platform at a press conference on September 8, Takaichi explained her plans in some detail. As well as the economic measures mentioned above, she prioritised technological advancement, national security, COVID-mitigation measures including vaccination and border control, flexible working, defence against cyberwarfare and, to a lesser extent, female issues, including the introduction of a tax credit for childcare. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Japanese commuters photographed from behind, including several women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420260/original/file-20210909-15-9kuj1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Womenomics’: campaigns to improve gender equality in Japan’s workforce have yet to significantly improve conditions for working women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StreetVJ via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When confronted by the press about her perceived lack of empathy towards the socially vulnerable, she was quite honest, explaining that she was doing what she believed was right at the time, but she was willing to take criticism on board.</p>
<h2>What are her chances?</h2>
<p>Takaichi is aware that to create a robust and capable administration, she needs the confidence of the LDP and the public. Despite Abe’s backing, her public support rate is a mere 4%, according to a <a href="https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA0535S0V00C21A9000000/">survey conducted on September 4-5 by Kyōdō News</a> This doesn’t necessarily reflect her chances of winning the LDP leadership, as only LDP grassroots members and the party’s representatives in the Diet will vote in the September 29 <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/27/national/politics-diplomacy/ldp-presidential-election-candidates/">leadership election</a>.</p>
<p>Key to her chances will be whether Abe can persuade the Hosoda faction – the largest grouping in the party – to back his protege. But she is up against some powerful rivals, including the minister for regulatory reform, Tarō Kōno, who commended 31% in the Kyōdō News poll. Other rival candidates include former LDP secretary-general Shigeru Ishiba (26.6%), and Fumio Kishida, a former foreign and defence minister, who lost in the 2020 LDP presidential ballot that elected Suga.</p>
<p>For better or worse, having a female prime minister would be historically significant. But it’s important to remember that doesn’t equate to female advancement in a patriarchal society. We will have to see how it is going to pan out in months to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Satona Suzuki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Japan has a very poor record on promoting gender equality – and it’s political system is no exception.Satona Suzuki, Lecturer in Japanese and Modern Japanese History, Japan Research Centre (JRC), SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655732021-08-05T15:57:30Z2021-08-05T15:57:30ZJapan’s constitutional dilemma: only men allowed on the Chrysanthemum throne<p>The <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2021072600705/">question of who will succeed</a> to the Chrysanthemum Throne – the Japanese monarchy – when there is a shortage of male heirs <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/succession-crisis-looms-but-japan-wont-contemplate-a-woman-on-the-throne-0b5x6lxgt">is in play again</a> after the panel set up to look into the succession recently ruled out allowing a woman to ascend the throne. </p>
<p>While the emperor has no political role in Japan’s constitution, the symbolic and cultural significance links to a mythological past in which the emperor is a direct descendent of the sun goddess Amaterasu. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-a-new-emperor-and-a-new-era-but-women-are-still-excluded-from-the-chrysanthemum-throne-116380">abdication of Emperor Akihito</a> on April 30 2019 and the enthronement of his eldest son Naruhito the following day as the 126th emperor of Japan reopened the public debate over the existing imperial system which specifies that only a man can succeed to the throne.</p>
<p>Ancient Japan was a matriarchal society, with women as leaders until the <a href="https://archive.org/details/folkreligioninja0000hori">end of the seventh century</a> when the Taika reform imported a new Tang Dynasty-style social system from China at the end of the reign of Empress Kōgyoku. But the panel has announced that the current male line of succession <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210727_06/">must remain unchanged</a>. </p>
<p>Approval for allowing women to ascend the throne <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/08/national/japan-may-shelve-imperial-succession-decision-despite-calls-diet/">appears to be growing</a> among the public, but support for retaining the male line of succession remains strong among conservatives.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-a-new-emperor-and-a-new-era-but-women-are-still-excluded-from-the-chrysanthemum-throne-116380">Japan: a new emperor and a new era – but women are still excluded from the Chrysanthemum Throne</a>
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</p>
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<p>Even with 13 of the 18 imperial family members being women, some politicians are determined to keep the male succession system and are even advocating <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210727_06/">bringing in men from distant branches of the family</a> – virtually any relative that might be male.</p>
<p>One of the main arguments against having a woman ascend the throne is dilution of the imperial lineage, in that a reigning empress might marry a commoner and <a href="http://theroyaluniverse.com/articles/contemporary-royalty/empress-japan-1/">have their children</a>. But there have already been eight women on the Chrysanthemum Throne (nine if you include Empress Jingu, who reigned from AD201 to AD269), none of whom are recorded to have been married during their reign. They were all followed by men, therefore maintaining the male line.</p>
<p>In the case of Empress Jingu, even though <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m34p1f93HogC&q=Jingu+removed+imperial+lineage&pg=PA22&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=Jingu%20removed%20imperial%20lineage&f=false">she was removed from the list</a> during the Meiji period and replaced by her son, her “tomb” continues to be revered. She holds the honour of being the first woman to be featured on a Japanese banknote.</p>
<h2>Japan’s women leaders</h2>
<p>The myths surrounding Japan’s imperial origins are firmly rooted in matriarchal influences. Shinto and the traditions of the emperor cult centre on belief in the sun goddess, <a href="https://www.kcpinternational.com/2013/11/amaterasu/">Amaterasu</a> widely considered the first ancestor of the Japanese Imperial family. The fact that Japanese <a href="http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/40349">cosmogonic myth revolves around a female deity</a> – and that belief and worship of the goddess continue to this day in popular religious practice – would seem to be at odds with a determination to maintain a rigid patriarchal system. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414617/original/file-20210804-5434-8pithx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suiko, the first woman given the title of Empress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'The Prince Shotoku exhibition'</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most notable among early women rulers of Japan was Queen Himiko, who unified part of the country into a powerful kingdom, ruling over more than 30 states during the latter part of the “Yayoi period” from about AD175 to AD248. </p>
<p>Himiko, unmarried, led a secluded life, spending her time in magic and sorcery, and was <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/387914381/Tsomo-Book-Buddhist-Women-Across-Cultures-Realizations-1999-pdf">helped in affairs of the state</a> by her brother. Discussion continues among historians as to her real identity, but the fact remains that she was a powerful woman who ruled Japan for six decades. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a blue robe, wielding a sword and carrying an orb, surrounded by soldiers with Japanese houses in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C694%2C544&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414794/original/file-20210805-21-a3cb1a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Himiko, who ruled for six decades between 175 and 248, was the first female ruler of Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Toshihiro Harada</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first known woman to achieve the title of empress in Japan was Suiko, who ruled from AD554 to AD628. Suiko followed in Himiko’s footsteps by appointing a man, Prince Shotoku as her regent. Like Himiko, Suiko was in power at a time of social, cultural and political change, and was considered <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/rel_jap/k/images/2/2c/Kojiki_Chamberlain.pdf">“divinely possessed”</a>. Empress Jingu followed.</p>
<p>Empress Kogyoku (594-661), held the seat of power twice – the second time known as Empress Saimei, after the Taika Reform, a series of radical political innovation, in 655. The last female on the throne was <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00753/">Empress Go-Sakuramachi</a>, who ruled from 1762 to 1770 after the death of her father and abdication of her brother, Emperor Momozono.</p>
<h2>Women as spiritual leaders</h2>
<p>This precedent, the delegation to a man – usually a relative – of administration and organisation of their movement has continued with subsequent women spiritual leaders. Many of the new religions that emerged in Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Omotokyo, Tenrikyo, and Tensho kotai jingukyo, were founded by women. But the teachings and worldviews reflected established precedents and did not confront the issue of gender or female and male power relationships. Rather, spiritual awakening, for most of these women leaders, involved taking on what were seen as male qualities in order to communicate their message.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Shinto priests in purification ceremony/festival in Yokohama." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414625/original/file-20210804-25-vdeigt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shinto priests display maleness as a cultural norm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ella Tennant</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Deguchi Nao, (founder of Omoto-kyo, a new religion originated from Shinto), for example, spoke in a masculine voice, <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780939657612/women-and-millenarian-protest-in-meiji-japan/#bookTabs=1">and used male language forms</a> when possessed. Kitamura Sayo (founder of Tensho kotai jingu-kyo, which also derived from Shinto and was known as “the dancing religion”, as followers practice a dance) wore men’s clothes, perhaps demonstrating that spiritual authority requires maleness. </p>
<p>By conforming to the cultural norm of male-centred authority, the women were guaranteed a more attentive audience, who took their words seriously.</p>
<p>If to be male is <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780939657612/women-and-millenarian-protest-in-meiji-japan/#bookTabs=1">seen as a cultural norm</a> what does the future hold for the imperial household? And – as one politician, Japanese defence minister, Taro Kono, <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200825/p2a/00m/0na/006000c">has commented</a> – what happens when there are no longer any male heirs left?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ella Tennant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There have been eight women who ruled as empress, but Japanese culture has always prioritised maleness.Ella Tennant, Lecturer, Language and Culture, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1577112021-03-30T13:11:35Z2021-03-30T13:11:35ZJapan’s cherry blossom viewing parties – the history of chasing the fleeting beauty of sakura<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392541/original/file-20210330-19-17zfhqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5316%2C3461&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tokyo-japan-april-17-2017-japanese-1909819885">Blue Sky imagery/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a lecturer in Japanese studies, the first questions I ask my students is: “What sort of images come to mind when you think of Japan?” The answers usually include advanced technologies, red shrine gates, anime and great food – such as sushi, ramen and so on. They also often say a landscape awash in a gentle pink with sakura cherry blossom. </p>
<p>Each spring, cherry blossoms grace Japan with colour for a brief and beautiful moment. Such is the fleeting nature of this eagerly anticipated yearly phenomenon that most Japanese news channels cover the flowering. The Japan Meteorological Agency also issues a full-bloom forecast, which follows the blooming as it starts from the south and spreads across the north of Japan. This way no one misses out.</p>
<p>The full bloom of the cherry blossom happens from late March to April. It is a season of many changes in Japan – including graduation and entrance ceremonies to schools – so there are many reasons to celebrate. At this time, people take a moment to appreciate the brevity of spring and its beauty, with the blooming and falling of cherry blossom.</p>
<h2>The impermanence of things</h2>
<p>Once people know when the blooming will be in their area, it is custom to start organising picnic parties for <em>hanami</em> (flower viewing). This could be a picnic in a bento box with rice balls and fried chicken, or <em>oden</em>, which is a hotpot with white radish, fried tofu, fish cakes and eggs, cooked on a camping stove. People often have these with cans of beers or cups of sake (Japanese rice wine).</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Traditional Japanese illustration of people looking at blossoms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392532/original/file-20210330-13-1d83h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of sakura in Japan’s most celebrated work of literature, Jap by Murasaki Shikibu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji#/media/File:Ch5_wakamurasaki.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The custom of <em>hanami</em> has <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cherry-blossoms/cherry-blossoms-in-japanese-cultural-history.html">a long history</a>, starting in <a href="https://blog.britishmuseum.org/faith-and-renewal-nara-and-the-british-museum/">the Nara period</a> (710 to 794) with flower-viewings of plum blossoms. The fragrance of the plum flower indicates the arrival of spring, and it played an important role in court cultures in <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/heia/hd_heia.htm">the Heian period</a> (794-1185). </p>
<p>The plum flower was commonly used as a theme in poetry competitions in the court. This can be seen in the use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2384070">plum-blossom imagery</a> in famous works such as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190814-the-tale-of-genji-the-worlds-first-novel">The Tale of Genji</a> by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/explore/100women/profiles/murasaki-shikibu">Murasaki Shikibu</a> (Lady Purple), which dates from the 11th century and has been heralded as the world’s first novel. </p>
<p>Along with plum, appreciation of sakura also grew in the Heian period in a form of poetry known as <a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_600ce_waka.htm"><em>waka</em></a>. Translating as “Japanese Song”, <em>waka</em> is arranged in five lines, of five/seven/five/seven/seven syllables. In <em>Kokin-Waka-Shū</em>, the first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, there is a sustained focus on the beauty of the cherry blossom. For example, a poem by <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_2008-3037-10615">Ariwara no Narihira</a> in <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=2911">the collection</a> reads as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If ours were a world<br>
where blossoming cherry trees<br>
were not to be found,<br>
what tranquillity would bless<br>
The human heart in springtime! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Narihira’s poem, rather than finding the blossoms peaceful, we are told it disrupts our tranquillity. This is the very idea of <em><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/untranslatable-words-mono_b_9292490">mono no aware</a></em>, a sense of appreciating the brief “perishable beauty” of nature and human emotion. Then and now, the circulation and appreciation of images of cherry blossom seem to be strongly associated with this Japanese aesthetic. </p>
<p><em>Mono no aware</em> translates as a “sensitivity to things”. According to historian <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/japanese-culture/">Paul Varley</a>, you can observe this aesthetic from one of the compilers of the <a href="http://jti.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/kokinshu/intro.html"><em>Kokin-Waka-shū</em></a>, the <em>waka</em> poet <a href="http://www.wakapoetry.net/poets/early-heian-poets/ki-no-tsurayuki/">Ki no Tsurayuki</a> in his preface. It is “the capacity to be moved by things, whether they are the beauties of nature or the feelings of people”. </p>
<p>This sense of appreciating nature – petals falling on the ground along with the change of people’s lives, the delightfulness and gentle excitement of it all – is closely connected with the perishing of the moment, and decay. With this comes the emotion of melancholy. As Ki no Tsurayuki puts it in his preface, we are “startled into thoughts on the brevity of life”.</p>
<h2>Varieties of sakura</h2>
<p>The current pervasive image of the landscape of Japanese cherry blossom is in a way constructed and has changed through history and culture. Pictures of cherry blossom often depict one type of blossom, <a href="https://matcha-jp.com/en/133"><em>somei-yoshino</em></a>, which is faded pink with light petals. </p>
<p>There were <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_species.html">many varieties</a> of blossom before this, however, including regional variations. Across Japan, one very early type of blossom was mountain cherry blossom, <em>yamazakura</em>, which was often the focus of cherry blossom imagery, strongly associated with the mountain deity, and spiritual symbolism. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People eat beneath cherry blossoms in Tokyo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392533/original/file-20210330-13-8uel8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A <em>Hanami</em> flower-viewing party in Tokyo, Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kyoto-japan-april-7-2017-crowds-696199795">Travelpixs/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contemporary Japan, however, <em>somei-yoshino</em> can be encountered throughout the country. This variety was cultivated during the late <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edop/hd_edop.htm">Edo period</a> (1603-1868) by a gardener in Somei, Tokyo, who crossed two species <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo3656741.html">to produce</a> a blossom that was easy to plant and fast to grow. <em>Somei-yoshino</em> began to be planted across Japan during the <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/nanjing-atrocities/nation-building/meiji-period-japan">Meiji period</a> (1868-1912), as part of a big push to plant flowers across the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nozomi Uematsu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Eagerly anticipated every year, the sakura season in Japan is a time to appreciate change.Nozomi Uematsu, Lecturer in Japanese Studies (Japanese and Comparative Literature), University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1554202021-03-02T11:37:55Z2021-03-02T11:37:55ZHikikomori artists – how Japan’s extreme recluses find creativity and self-discovery in isolation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386506/original/file-20210225-13-14qutkl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C1920%2C1049&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pullstay.weebly.com/">Nito Souji</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Japanese word “<em>hikikomori</em>” translates to “pulling inwards”. The term was coined in 1998 by Japanese psychiatrist Professor Tamaki Saito to describe a burgeoning social phenomenon among young people who, feeling the extreme pressures to succeed in their school, work and social lives and fearing failure, decided to withdraw from society. At the time, it was estimated that around a million people were choosing to not leave their homes or interact with others for at least six months, some for years. It is now estimated that around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5775123/">1.2% of Japan’s population</a> are <em>hikikomori</em>.</p>
<p>When this trend was identified in the mid-90s, it was used to describe young, male recluses. However, research has shown that there is an increasing number of middle-aged <em>hikikomori</em>. In addition, many female <em>hikikomori</em> are not acknowledged because women are expected to adopt domestic roles and their withdrawal from society can go unnoticed.</p>
<p>Japanese manga researchers Ulrich Heinze and Penelope Thomas <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1515/cj-2014-0007?needAccess=true">explain</a> that, in recent years, there has been a subtle change in how people understand the phenomena of <em>hikikomori</em>. This shift is manifested through increased awareness of the complexity of the hikikomori experience within the mainstream media and acknowledgement of social pressures that can lead to social withdrawal. They suggest that the refusal to conform to social “norms” (such as career progression, marriage and parenthood) can be understood as a radical act of introversion and self-discovery. </p>
<p>In line with this image change, some <em>hikikomori</em> have rich creative lives and this can sustain vital human connection. Many people are now living in compulsory isolation because of COVID-19. While this is not the same as being <em>hikikomori</em>, we can learn from the different different ways in which these people have navigated through, or are still navigating through, experiences of isolation. </p>
<h2>Beautiful scars</h2>
<p>Ex-hikikomori artist Atsushi Watanabe <a href="http://dajf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Atsushi-Watanabe-presentation.pdf">explains</a> that his three-year isolation began through “multiple stages of withdrawal from human relationships, which resulted in feeling completely isolated”. At one point, he remained in bed for over seven months. It wasn’t until he began to see the negative impact that his withdrawal was having on his mother, that he was able to leave his room and reconnect with the world. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.atsushi-watanabe.jp/works-en/2016-en/tell-me-your-emotional-scars-project-en/">Tell me your emotional scars</a> is an ongoing creative project by Watanabe. In this project, people can submit anonymous messages on a website, sharing experiences of emotional pain. Watanabe renders the messages into concrete plates, which he then breaks and puts back together again using the traditional Japanese art of <a href="https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/kintsugi/">kintsugi</a>.</p>
<p>Kinstugi involves the joining of broken ceramics using a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. It is also a philosophy that stresses the art of resilience. The breakage is not the end of the object or something to be hidden, but a thing to be celebrated as part of the object’s history. </p>
<p>Tell me your emotional scars can be understood as a sublimation of this emotional pain – conveying negative, asocial feelings through a process that is socially acceptable, positive and beautiful. These works are a testament to suffering, but one that celebrates the possibility of healing and transformation. </p>
<p>For Watanabe, becoming <em>hikikomori</em> is often a manifestation of emotional scars, and he wants to create alternative ways of understanding unresolved past experiences. Watanabe <a href="https://www.atsushi-watanabe.jp/statement-en/">asks us</a> to “listen to the shaky voices that cannot usually be heard”. Listening to, and sharing experiences of hardship and even pain is one way to address <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandlonelinessgreatbritain/3aprilto3may2020">the rise in loneliness</a> that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<h2>Fighting for privacy</h2>
<p>Artist Nito Souji became a <em>hikikomori</em> because he wanted to spend his time doing “only things that are worthwhile”. Souji has spent ten years in isolation developing his creative practice, leading to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkRx-PTderE">a video game</a> that explores the <em>hikikomori</em> experience. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nkRx-PTderE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The trailer for the video game <a href="https://nitoso.itch.io/pull-stay">Pull Stay</a> opens with a scene in which three people break into the home of a <em>hikikomori</em>. The player must fights off intruders as the hikikomori’s robot alter-ego by, for example, frying them in tempura batter or firing water melons at them. </p>
<p>The aim of Pull Stay is to protect the home and seclusion of the <em>hikikomori</em> character. In doing so, the player begins to embody a visceral need for privacy. Pull Stay is testament to the creative outcomes that can come from carving out a profound sense of “headspace”. Souji <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/04/d5183b807f64-feature-what-japans-hikikomori-can-teach-us-about-self-isolation.html">explains</a> his creative process as, “having hope and making a little progress every day. That worked for me”.</p>
<p>Despite choosing to withdraw from society, sustaining hope and indirect connection through creative practice has helped artists such as Souji use this time for self-development. His aim is, and always has been, to be able to reenter society, but on his own terms. </p>
<p>Well-known Japanese entrepreneur Kazumi Ieiri, himself a recovered recluse, <a href="https://news.tfionline.com/post/159146309032/japans-extreme-recluses-are-coming-together-to">describes</a> the <em>hikikomori</em> experience as “a situation where the knot is untied between you and society”. But he continues, there is no need to hurry to retie social bonds, rather to “tie small knots, little by little”. </p>
<p>The process of returning to “normal life” might be gradual for many of us, but creative expression could be a powerful way of to both share experiences of isolation and to reconnect with others within and beyond lockdown.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Holtaway does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Seeking isolation can lead to creativity and a deeper understanding of oneself, as these artworks show.Jessica Holtaway, Lecturer in Visual Communication, Solent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1490282020-10-29T13:00:33Z2020-10-29T13:00:33ZCoronavirus: medieval Japanese thinkers had similar reactions to plagues – isolate or party<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366446/original/file-20201029-13-1aym4kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=522%2C114%2C3511%2C2295&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A frugal and ascetic life: a shrine to the hermit Rishu Sennin.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alon Adika via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, many people who have elderly parents will share the sentiment below:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Things that make the heart lurch with anxiety: … When a parent looks out of sorts, and remarks that they’re not feeling well. This particularly worries you to distraction when you’ve been hearing panicky tales of plague sweeping the land.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Japanese court lady and author Sei Shōnagon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366409/original/file-20201029-21-1bvf4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sei Shōnagon (清少納言), (965-1010s?) was a Japanese author and essayist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Kikuchi Yosai(菊池容斎)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You may be surprised to learn that this plangent quote comes from a text written more than 1,000 years ago by a Japanese author and court lady named <a href="https://guerrillasemiotics.com/2013/05/sei-shonagons-lists/">Sei Shōnagon</a>.</p>
<p>The medieval Japanese experienced crises that inflicted tragedies and unexpected deaths on many ordinary people. In his essay Hōjōki, for instance, the 13th-century author and poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamo-Chomei">Kamo no Chōmei</a> vividly describes sorrows and affliction suffered by citizens in Kyoto, who experienced a series of disasters such as great fires, whirlwinds, famines, earthquakes and plagues.</p>
<p>In the west, life-threatening crises are often considered challenges to religious faith – how can we believe that there is an all-powerful and all-loving god if there is so much pain and suffering in the world? This is the problem of evil for believers in the Judeo-Christian tradition.</p>
<p>Medieval thinkers in Japan also contemplated crises within a religious framework – but their perspective was radically distinct. They regarded sudden and tragic deaths in crises as exemplifications of impermanence (無常 <em>mujō</em>), which is, along with suffering (苦 <em>ku</em>) and non-self (無我 <em>muga</em>), one of three marks of existence according to Buddhism. </p>
<p>Chōmei writes, for example, that deaths in the midst of crises are reminders that we are impermanent and ephemeral beings comparable to tiny floating bubbles in a ceaseless stream of water flowing down a river.</p>
<h2>Hermits and party animals</h2>
<p>How did the medieval Japanese react to disasters and tragedies? Interestingly enough, some of their responses are similar to our reactions to the COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Japanese illustration of the scholar Kamo no Chomei." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366398/original/file-20201029-13-yu2h72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Japanese poet Kamo no Chomei (鴨長明, c.1155–1216) believed in ascetic self-isolation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Kikuchi Yosai(菊池容斎)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chōmei’s response to disasters and tragedies was to become a hermit, which is comparable to the self-isolation approach that has been recommended for the global pandemic. Chōmei maintains that the best way to live peacefully is to stay away from any potential danger and live in isolation. He chose to live a simple life in a tiny ten square-foot house in the mountains. He <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316262/essays-in-idleness-and-hojoki-by-kenko-and-chomei/">writes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Small it may be, but there is a bed to sleep on at night, and a place to sit in the daytime. The hermit crab prefers a little shell for his home. He knows what the world holds. The osprey chooses the wild shoreline, and this is because he fears mankind. And I too am the same. Knowing what the world holds and its ways, I desire nothing from it, nor chase after its prizes. My one craving is to be at peace, my one pleasure to live free of troubles.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.wakapoetry.net/tag/otomo-no-tabito/">Ōtomo no Tabito</a>, an eighth-century court noble and poet, provides a sharp contrast to Chōmei. His approach to disasters and tragedies is hedonism. He is reminiscent of people today who wilfully eschew self-isolation and instead throw parties without fearing the pandemic. One of <a href="https://www.wakapoetry.net/mys-iii-349/">Tabito’s <em>waka</em> poems</a> reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Living people<br>
Will eventually die.<br>
Such are we, so<br>
While in this world<br>
Let’s have fun!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By having fun, Tabito means enjoying alcoholic drink. In fact, the above poem is among his <a href="http://www.wakapoetry.net/tag/otomo-no-tabito/page/3/">Thirteen Poems in Praise of Sake</a>. Tabito presents his hedonism as a form of anti-intellectualism. He says that people who seek wisdom but do not drink are ugly and that he does not care if he will reincarnate as an insect or a bird as long as he can have fun in his current life.</p>
<h2>Anxiety or entertainment?</h2>
<p>On the face of it, hermits and hedonists live in diametrical opposition to one another. Yet both firmly accept the Buddhist view of impermanence. Hermits think that the best way to live our ephemeral existence is to eliminate unnecessary worries through self-isolation – their interest is not in increasing pleasure but in minimising worries. Hedonists think that the best way to live our ephemeral existence is to enjoy ourselves as much as possible – their interest is not in minimising worries but in maximising pleasure.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Japanese illustration of the poet and miltary leader Ōtomo no Tabito." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366399/original/file-20201029-17-tssl33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ōtomo no Tabito was a Japanese military leader and poet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Illustration by Kikuchi Yosai(菊池容斎)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Which approach is more commendable? From a Buddhist viewpoint, hermitism is clearly better because Buddhism teaches its adherents to relinquish all worldly concerns. By detaching themselves from civilisation, hermits can pursue equanimity (捨 <em>sha</em>), a perfectly balanced mental state free of emotional disturbances. This can be cultivated to advance one along the way towards nirvana. </p>
<p>Hedonism is not, on the other hand, commendable because it only amplifies our worldly concerns. Hedonists cannot reach nirvana because they try to forget about impermanence only by intoxicating themselves.</p>
<p>Yet self-isolation may have its own shortcomings. <a href="https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/saigyo-hoshi/">Saigyō Hōshi</a>, a 12th-century poet and Buddhist monk who also pursued hermitism, writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And vow renouncement of the world<br>
but cannot let it go<br>
Some who have never taken vows<br>
Do cast the world away.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saigyō is criticising himself in this <em>waka</em> poem. He wonders if a hermit like himself is really better than ordinary people. He worries that in making such a radical move as renouncing the world and living in isolation he has revealed a stronger attachment to the world than ordinary people have. Ordinary people living ordinary lives sometimes appear less concerned about worldly desires than reflective intellectuals like himself.</p>
<p>COVID-19 is certainly a new phenomenon and has presented new personal crises and worries which individuals must face. Yet classical literature reminds us that people in the past also experienced crises and catastrophes, forcing them to ponder how we should live.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yujin Nagasawa receives funding from the John Templeton Foundation for the Global Philosophy of Religion Project (<a href="https://www.global-philosophy.org/">https://www.global-philosophy.org/</a>). </span></em></p>Medieval Japanese poets and philosophers sought different ways of dealing with disasters and tragedies.Yujin Nagasawa, HG Wood Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1457202020-09-08T11:32:33Z2020-09-08T11:32:33ZLady Gaga’s VMAs performance is part of a long international tradition of performing with masks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356962/original/file-20200908-22-k3bu9j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=460%2C16%2C1724%2C1069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoG04Nyea8w&ab_channel=LadyGagaVEVO">Screengrab/MTV via YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before a bruise-coloured backdrop, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande performed a medley of Chromatica II and Rain on Me at MTV’s recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D4vjndnB0w">Video Music Awards (VMAs)</a>. Gyrating in purple and black, the singers’ costumes were distinctive for including face masks. </p>
<p>Gaga’s mouth covering, possibly inspired by the breathing apparatus of Darth Vader or Batman villain Bane, featured an animated wavelength. The mask’s pixelated oscillations seemed appropriately dystopian for a performance that included a piano housed in a puce-coloured, brain-like carapace. By contrast, Grande’s mask appeared to be more of an afterthought, consisting of a small rectangle of elasticated black cloth.</p>
<p>Face coverings on stage may seem obvious, even uninspired, amid a pandemic. Most of the world’s governments have now made <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/countries-wearing-face-masks-compulsory-200423094510867.html">mask wearing mandatory</a> in public. And yet, the reason for this costume decision probably wasn’t straightforward. </p>
<p>There is a long global tradition of mask-wearing in live performances, making COVID-19 more of a catalyst than a cause in Gaga and Grande’s clothing choice. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5D4vjndnB0w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Masked performances on the small screen</h2>
<p>Pre-pandemic, and across both sides of the Atlantic, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/14/silly-naff-unmissable-the-masked-singer-is-a-truly-terrible-delight">The Masked Singer</a> has challenged television audiences to identify performers of famous songs. The concept, in which artists’ bodies are completely concealed within brightly-coloured and slightly unnerving costumes, was adapted from the South Korean television show, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6289510/">King of Masked Singer</a>, which began in 2015. </p>
<p>This global, cross-cultural fascination with masks in contemporary singing performances, which is to say nothing of their ubiquity on <a href="https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/g26676248/mask-trend-fallwinter-2019-collections/">fashion catwalks</a>, offers a more convincing frame for Gaga and Grande’s VMA dress. There’s a paradox to these masked performances: even though an artist’s conventional identity is concealed, they are often more expressive and engaging than performances where artists can be clearly recognised.</p>
<p>It seems appropriate that today’s forms of masked musical performance draw inspiration from Asian models. Some of the oldest traditions of live performance that involve face and head coverings can be traced to China and Japan. </p>
<p>China’s <em><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-china-facechaning/chinese-opera-face-changing-its-a-kind-of-magic-idUSTRE5BA0I720091211">Bian Lian</a></em>, “face changing”, is a highly skilled, secretive form of acting within Sichuan opera that uses face coverings to guide narrative. Characters’ masks are quickly changed with deft movements of the hand to signal fluctuations in mood. </p>
<p>Similarly, Japanese <em><a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2091.html">Noh</a></em> performances use of over 400 types of wooden face mask to indicate a character’s social position and shifting emotional state. <em>Noh</em> can be translated as “skill”. The term expresses the highly disciplined nature of this deeply expressive medium.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pictures of the same mask with different expressions depending on the angle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356799/original/file-20200907-16-t5lbet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three pictures of the same Noh mask showing how the expression changes with a tilting of the head.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh#/media/File:Three_pictures_of_the_same_noh_'hawk_mask'_showing_how_the_expression_changes_with_a_tilting_of_the_head.jpg">Wmpearl/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Asian traditions of masked musical performance have gradually become known in the West through routines on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOMxffXpsWE">America’s Got Talent</a> and Tian-Ming Wu’s film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115669/">The King of Masks</a>. </p>
<h2>European traditions of masked performance</h2>
<p>Continental Europe also has its own costumed customs. </p>
<p>Italy’s <em><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/comm/hd_comm.html">Commedia dell’ Arte</a></em> and its French derivation, the <em><a href="https://www.cfregisters.org/en/project-history/about-the-com%C3%A9die-fran%C3%A7aise">Comédie Française</a></em>, were essentially improvised skits that combined music, mask wearing and stock characters. </p>
<p>The most popular characters are <a href="https://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en/artwork/harlequin-and-pierrot">Harlequin and Pierrot</a>. This masked duo, who were in a never-ending duel for the love of the beautiful Columbine, became widely popular across Europe in the 20th century. Contemporary artists, including <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.66405.html">Paul Cèzanne</a> and <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/489124">Pablo Picasso</a>, became these characters in self-portraits or used their dress and props to create portraits of family members. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Harlequin in a red and black diamond pattern jumpsuit holding a sword." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356796/original/file-20200907-14-1qsjg8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Cézanne’s son dressed as Harlequin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.66405.html">Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Earlier still, during the 17th century, the <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/masque-and-music-stuart-court">royal court masque</a> became popular. An allegorical drama that involved music and choreographed masked dancing, it reached its peak in England under the tense partnership of poet Ben Jonson and architect Inigo Jones. Jonson and Jones used masking and music to support the institution of Stuart monarchy by crafting plots that emphasised the necessity for divinely-sanctioned kingship. </p>
<p>As Europe’s political and cultural authority spread globally, particularly during the 19th century, so too did its traditions of masked musical performance. </p>
<p>Since 1957, to mark its independence of British rule, Ghana has staged the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WbaFancyDress/">Winneba Fancy Dress Festival</a>, staged each year on January 1 and involving masked dance contests. Amalgamating Ghanaian forms of live performance and the costume traditions of the Dutch and British, artist <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/photos-winneba-fancy-dress-festival-living-museum/">Hakeem Adam</a> suggests the festival “is a living museum – it reminds us of the past as well as catalysing conversation on the conditions of the present.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/425R5E0S9V0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>If these examples show that masked singing performances entertain – chiefly because of their skill and surprise – they also explain their ubiquity and deep cultural resonance. Anonymised performers make use of multiple senses – sight, sound, touch – to create a “total artwork” (<em><a href="https://www.theartstory.org/definition/gesamtkunstwerk/">gesamtkunstwerk</a></em>) that blurs the divide between reality and recreation. This unique, ambiguous form of performance enables an audience to project their thoughts – individual and collective – onto the artists, who essentially become avatars and act as a psychological salve. They can facilitate the simultaneous exploration of spectators’ hopes and fears – about a global pandemic in the case of Lady Gaga and Arianna Grande – national identity and social roles. </p>
<p>Reflecting on her VMA collaboration with Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a33839619/ariana-grande-mugler-outfit-mtv-vmas-2020/">explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We create things that make us feel comfortable. We put them all around. I do it all the time. We all do things to make ourselves feel safe. And I always challenge artists when I work with them. I go, ‘Make it unsafe, make it super fucking unsafe and then do it again’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In identifying the provocation caused by face coverings, Gaga connects – however inadvertently – with a long and global performance tradition that recognises the potential of masks to excite and to explore contemporary social issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Wild does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The tradition of performing in a mask, from china to France, shows how it can be just as evocative and entertaining.Benjamin Wild, Lecturer in Contextual Studies (Fashion), Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263532019-11-12T02:31:23Z2019-11-12T02:31:23ZKitchen aromas and angels with water guns: Japanese visual storytelling comes alive at OzAsia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301030/original/file-20191111-194624-o1nm1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C3673%2C2456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Totes Adorbs ❤ Hurricane is 'a euphoric spectacle amid pop-culture icons and idols'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">OzAsia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: The Dark Master and Totes Adorbs ♥ Hurricane, OzAsia Festival, Adelaide, 22 October - 8 November</em></p>
<p>In theatre, the <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2016/mark-shenton-we-must-not-overlook-the-importance-of-the-play-text/#_=_">play text tends to drive the storytelling</a>. The interpretation of this text, known as dramaturgy, determines the artists’ approaches to dialogue, characterisation, movement, set design, and other production elements. Dramaturgy’s purpose is to help the audience imagine a world on stage, and to understand how this world works.</p>
<p>In some performances, however, the visual production elements – not the text – take the lead in creating the world on stage. This visual dramaturgy enables artists to present alternative narratives by stimulating the spectators’ emotional and physical engagement and by creating immersive experiences.</p>
<p>Visual dramaturgy has been part of Japanese performance culture for centuries. Its reliance on spectacle is responsible for the popularity of kabuki dance-drama, which many believe <a href="https://castle.eiu.edu/studiesonasia/documents/seriesIII/Vol%204%20No%201/s3v4n1_OBrien.pdf">gave rise to fan culture</a> in Japan. The close spectator-performer relationships in kabuki became possible through innovations in theatre architecture, especially the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/hanamichi"><em>hanamichi</em></a>, a rampway extending into the auditorium.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301023/original/file-20191111-194633-y7vh67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this 1800s print, we see kabuki performers and the hanamichi on the left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More recently, we can see the importance of visual storytelling in Japanese culture in manga, where emotional intensity and supernatural encounters are presented as something quite palpable. While western comics and graphic novels tend to favour dialogue-driven action, in manga, visual representations of characters and their emotional and physical states take centre stage.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-deep-influence-of-the-a-bomb-on-anime-and-manga-45275">The deep influence of the A-bomb on anime and manga</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Visual dramaturgy remains central for contemporary artists in Japan, as was thrillingly demonstrated through two key works at this year’s OzAsia festival</p>
<h2>The Dark Master</h2>
<p>The Dark Master is Kuro Tanino’s stage adaptation of a <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-2219808">manga of the same title</a>. Presented by theatre group <a href="http://niwagekidan.org/english">Niwa Gekidan Penino</a>, it is set in Osaka at a small traditional eatery catering mostly to locals, who come to enjoy a delicious meal, read a newspaper or watch a baseball game over a beer. </p>
<p>The chef/owner (Susumu Ogata) is getting on in years. Though his desire to cook remains strong, his body is beginning to give up on him. At least, this is what he tells the 28-year-old Tokyo backpacker (Koichiro F.O. Pereira) who stumbles in one evening, hungry and in search of adventure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301028/original/file-20191111-194656-a8932x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Dark Master is a hyperreal, immersive experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Takashi Horikawa/OzAsia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The chef seizes the opportunity to recruit his replacement. So does the eatery: the front door locks by itself, thwarting the young man’s attempts to leave. The backpacker becomes the eatery’s new owner. The chef withdraws to the second floor, never to be seen again. However, for the next 33 days, he will give his apprentice cooking lessons via a minute earpiece planted in his ear. The arrangement is exhilarating and unnerving.</p>
<p>The audiences’ sensory engagement deepens when appetising smells (the cooking on stage is real) mingle with live, multi-angle video projections showing the young man’s training. Through our own earpieces, we listen in on the chef’s covert cooking instructions, responding with gasps and laughter to comic blunder and culinary spectacle. Surtitles on separate screens provide translation. </p>
<p>Visual dramaturgy produces a hyperreal, immersive experience akin to becoming one with the young chef.</p>
<h2>Totes Adorbs ♥ Hurricane</h2>
<p>Delight in experiencing Totes Adorbs ♥ Hurricane, the latest work from <a href="https://www.performingarts.jp/E/art_interview/1504/1.html">Toko Nikaido</a>’s Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker, comes partly from sheer astonishment: did that angel just shoot me with a water rifle? Are they flinging around tofu and … seaweed?!</p>
<p>The performers’ frenzied dance numbers give a tantalising nod to <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-truth-about-viking-berserkers/">berserker warriors</a> in Scandinavian mythology who would shape-shift to non-human form in the frenzy of battle. </p>
<p>We are all transformed into pop-culture berserkers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301031/original/file-20191111-194665-jhhusl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Totes Adorbs ♥ Hurricane is a ‘deliberate overload of colour, lights, and glitter.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OzAsia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Performers and spectators alike are whirled into a shrine to partake in a euphoric spectacle amid pop-culture icons and idols: skeleton spectres in the woodblock prints of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kuniyoshi#/media/File:Takiyasha_the_Witch_and_the_Skeleton_Spectre.jpg">Kuniyoshi Utagawa</a> appear side by side with anime, video-game characters, and animoji. Digital projections flicker past continuously in a deliberate overload of colour, lights, and glitter.</p>
<p>What appears on the surface as unruly indulgence conceals the careful choreography of dance sequences, songs, and the swift on-stage transformations – <a href="https://www.kabuki21.com/glossaire_3.php"><em>hengemono</em></a> – associated with the best of visual dramaturgy in kabuki. Performers character-shift before our eyes, flinging discarded costumes into the audience. Also carefully choreographed is this audience: we are ingeniously drawn into the spectacle, transforming into the actors of our dreams.</p>
<h2>Meaning where logic fails</h2>
<p>The Dark Master and Totes Adorbs ♥ Hurricane reflect two disparate arms of contemporary Japanese performance: one of hyperreal theatre, and one of underground idol performance. Yet they both showcase the immense creative potential of visuals to create meaning on stage. </p>
<p>When visual dramaturgy leads, the spectators’ sensory and physical engagement cuts through performance conventions and helps us discover meaning in those in-between states and spaces, where experiences ring true even when language and logic fail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Ivanova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A reliance on visual elements to create the world of performance in Japan traces back hundreds of years through kabuki dance-drama. Two new shows keep that tradition alive.Maggie Ivanova, Senior Lecturer, Drama, Creative and Performing Arts, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1257262019-10-31T03:21:56Z2019-10-31T03:21:56ZIn Japan, supernatural beliefs connect the spiritual realm with the earthly objects around us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298651/original/file-20191025-115762-pbjbfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C49%2C4022%2C2017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Mitsukuni defies the skeleton spectre
conjured up by Princess Takiyasha
(1845–46)
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes life appears incomprehensible, of another world. The supernatural has been evoked in many cultures and religions as a way to make sense of the thresholds of mortal and immortal worlds through images and stories. </p>
<p>For some, the supernatural can help make sense of the irrationality of life. For others, it gives context for the textures of grief. And for others still, it provides continuity in the afterlife.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298655/original/file-20191025-115721-1tliqrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rapunzel (2004) by Miwa Yanagi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/supernatural/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInvqIrpe25QIVhBuPCh0rxgEVEAAYASAAEgLby_D_BwE">Japan supernatural</a>, a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, surveys the complex, playful and inventive ways Japanese culture has visualised these themes from the 1700s to today.</p>
<h2>Connection to the everyday</h2>
<p>Defining the supernatural is a difficult task — reflecting our contested mortal and moral understandings. Japan has a compelling history of bringing the mystical to life — from the evocative woodcut prints of scholar, poet and artist <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78693">Toriyama Sekien</a> (1712–88), to the powerful storytelling of <a href="https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki">Hayao Miyazaki</a> (of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245429/">Spirited Away</a> animated film fame) and the “superflat” popular character reinventions of <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/takashi-murakami/">Takashi Murakami</a>.</p>
<p>In Japan — informed by Shinto beliefs around notions of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/animism">animism</a> — a soul (“<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reikon"><em>reikon</em></a>”) lives within all existence and phenomena. Everyday things — from objects to plants to mountains — can be defined as “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami"><em>kami</em></a>” or deities. </p>
<p>This connection between the natural and spiritual worlds creates a complex understanding and respect for the everyday. Cups can be vessels for long lost ancestors. Would you throw out a cup if it could contain the spirit of your long lost grandmother? </p>
<p>Indeed, both personal and global lessons can be learnt from the animism appreciation of the environment in the face of current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene">Anthropocene</a> challenges. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298654/original/file-20191025-115762-1kwbw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fuyuko Matsui’s The parasite will not abandon the body (Ōsei wa karada o saranai), 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Powerful spirits</h2>
<p>The Japan supernatural exhibition begins from the <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2128.html">Edo Period</a> (1603–1868) and spans three centuries to contemporary manifestations. Stories highlighting the enduring power of the supernatural to understand the limits and potential of humanity are included. </p>
<p>Concepts such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Dkai"><em>yōkai</em></a> — which in English translates roughly to monsters, goblins, demons and spirits — often take the form of everyday animals or objects. The prolific and prescient work of Sekien’s 18th century prints and books gives <em>yōkai</em> a creolised character face that manages to inspire both delight and fear. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298657/original/file-20191025-115739-1x85356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail from Toriyama Sekien’s Night procession of the hundred demons (1776)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Japan, the <em>yōkai</em> have long been deployed in art and culture as a way to reflect upon morality and mortality. As anthropologist <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8979097">Komatsu Kazuhiko</a> notes in the exhibition catalogue, the <em>yōkai</em> has gained long overdue scholarly attention in recent decades. </p>
<p>“Japan’s <em>yōkai</em> culture is extraordinarily rich,” he writes. “One aspect of <em>yōkai</em> culture relates to religious and spiritual history, another to the arts, including literature, the visual arts, theatre and popular entertainment”.</p>
<p>Japanese supernatural forms frequently change and transform. Only some of these transformative concepts translate into English: <em>bakemono</em> means “changing thing”, <em>mononoke</em> means “things that transform”, and <em>yurei</em> is the Japanese word for ghosts. </p>
<p>Yet art can unlock different cultural perceptions and understandings of otherworldly shapeshifters that go beyond language. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299583/original/file-20191030-17914-1xanqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Takashi Murakami’s grand scale painting: Vertiginous After Staring at the Empty World Too Intensely, I Found Myself Trapped in the Realm of Lurking Ghosts and Monsters (2019).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Kaikai Kiki/Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fluid histories</h2>
<p>The haunting presence of the spectral across the centuries creates and curates a different sense of time throughout this exhibition. </p>
<p>The work of Seiken can be found in director Isao Takahata’s woodblocks for the 1994 Studio Ghibli animation <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110008/">Pom Pok</a>. And the exhibition includes key masters of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e">Ukiyo-e Period</a> from the 17th to 19th century, such as Katsushika Hokusai who is famous for the timeless print <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434">The Great Wave</a>. </p>
<p>The supernatural in Japan is all-pervasive, playing out in curious ways. For instance, <a href="https://scholars.duke.edu/person/anne.allison">anthropologist Anne Allison</a> has been exploring the emerging Shinto-inspired death industries in Japan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298652/original/file-20191025-115717-1nn6z6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regeneration of a breached thought (2012) by Fuyuko Matsui.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Funerals and cemeteries for people without families are emerging. Elderly Japanese people are meeting the strangers they will be buried near — some moving across Tokyo to live with their “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/japanese-make-friends-for-life-and-death/news-story/fa9a35ebb6a40b86efa7c06f8ab64d24">grave friends</a>” in this lifetime.</p>
<p>This continuity with life, death and afterlife could teach us plenty about the supernatural in our everyday lives; how to better understand one another, the environment around us, and perhaps even to comprehend the incomprehensible. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/supernatural/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInvqIrpe25QIVhBuPCh0rxgEVEAAYASAAEgLby_D_BwE">Japan supernatural</a> runs 2 November to 8 March at the Art Gallery of NSW.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa Hjorth receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>A new exhibition surveys the haunting Japanese traditions and beliefs that connect the supernatural with the everyday.Larissa Hjorth, Professor of Mobile Media and Games. Director of the Design & Creative Practice Platform., RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254542019-10-18T09:04:35Z2019-10-18T09:04:35ZGiri/Haji: BBC’s new co-production with Netflix could tap into massive Japanese audience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297525/original/file-20191017-98678-1ho7qhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1991%2C1334&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori in Giri/Haji, a BBC co-production with Netflix.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Viglasky, BBC/Sister Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Warning: this article contains spoilers for Giri/Haji episode one</strong></p>
<p>The first thing which is notable about the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giri-haji-review-promises-to-be-much-more-than-just-another-crime-thriller-9d8tmxxp8">new BBC series Giri/Haji</a> is that the first 25 minutes is entirely in Japanese. The unexpected success of shows such as The Bridge, The Tunnel and Narcos with UK audiences has shown that subtitled works can attract large audiences – and with Giri/Haji the BBC is offering the first bilingual Japanese-English show on UK television.</p>
<p>While the show opens in a Japanese export company based in London, a sudden and brutal murder quickly transports us to Tokyo and to a burgeoning Yakuza gang war. The show’s main protagonist is Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), a seemingly mild-mannered police detective who lives with his wife, troubled daughter and two ageing parents.</p>
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<p>Of course, this being a crime thriller, Kenzo has a dark past: a missing brother and some uncomfortable links to organised crime. Very quickly he heads off to London under the pretence of attending a criminal forensics course to investigate the murder and capture his wayward brother and return him to Japan to face Yakuza justice.</p>
<p>Along the way, he meets a cast of characters including fellow detective DC Sarah Weitzmann (Kelly McDonald) who is struggling with her own abusive past, and the charismatic Rodney (Will Sharpe), a half-Japanese, half-British rent boy with problems of his own – although an abusive pimp and a drug problem don’t stop him having some of the best put-down lines on television. </p>
<p>The show was created and written by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/authors/4c7b56aa-3ee9-3253-bc59-88827817d726">Joe Barton</a> – who is best-known for Channel 4’s Humans – and created by <a href="https://www.sisterpictures.co.uk/">Sister Pictures</a> who are obviously hoping to duplicate the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-times-the-chernobyl-television-series-lets-artistic-licence-get-in-the-way-of-facts-119110">worldwide success of Chernobyl</a> with this latest release. </p>
<p>To its credit, Giri/Haji has clearly sought to avoid the main stereotypes we see presented about Japan on UK television. While there are still areas which raise some issues (the random animation sequence for one, which reminded me too much of Kill Bill), the show does manage to avoid the most obvious stereotypes of Anglo-Japanese culture clash (anyone remember the horror of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-30-wr-62352-story.html">Rising Sun</a> or <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/japans-70-year-struggle-against-hollywood-films-stereotypes">Black Rain</a>?). And for once – and yes, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/18/japan-with-sue-perkins-review-cute-candid-and-heavy-on-the-cliches">Sue Perkins</a> I am looking at you – we are treated to a Tokyo that is more than a land of geishas, sumo suits and odd sexual practices.</p>
<p>This is a crime thriller so one can expect a certain amount of exaggeration and drama – including death by swords, dramatic gun battles and tattooed hoodlums – but overall this is a show which has attempted to bring the two cultures and languages together in a natural way.</p>
<h2>Strong cast</h2>
<p>The cast is the show’s biggest strength. McDonald provides the right mixture of toughness and vulnerability, and newcomer Aoi Okuyama is a real revelation as Kenzo’s daughter. Supporting members Sophia Brown, Justin Long and Charlie Creed-Miles are also credible as the London-based gangsters with whom gets Kenzo gets involved. Hira offers a nuanced performance as Kenzo.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297546/original/file-20191017-98644-1ebpfu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Partners in crime-fighting: Kelly MacDonald as Sarah Weitzmann and Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ludovic Robert, BBC/Sister Pictures</span></span>
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<p>Those who are perhaps more acquainted with Japanese film will recognise Hira from Takashi Miike’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/may/03/hara-kiri-death-samurai-review">Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai</a> as well as Sion Sono’s<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/lesson-evil-aku-no-kyoten-388061">Lesson of the Evil</a> and the controversial Japanese box-office smash <a href="https://variety.com/2014/film/asia/film-review-japanese-hit-the-eternal-zero-1201155266/">The External Zero</a>. </p>
<p>Yōsuke Kubozuka and Masahiro Motoki (who respectively play Kenzo’s brother, Yuto, and Yakuza boss, Fukuhara) are also well-known faces from Japanese film and television and fortunately both avoid the over-the-top dramatic style which is common in Japanese television. </p>
<h2>Collaboration is the key</h2>
<p>Giri/Haji is one of a number of successful collaborations between Netflix and the BBC which have included Troy: Fall of a City, The Last Kingdom and Watership Down. The spiralling costs of producing high-quality television mean <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-03-23/british-drama-global-budgets-how-co-productions-are-changing-the-way-tv-gets-made/">working with</a> bigger players such as Netflix is a must for the BBC. </p>
<p>If Giri/Haji becomes the big hit the BBC is clearly hoping for we may see a rise in Japanese dramas as they hope to recreate the “Scandi-noir” fandom which proved so <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/jac.v8.32704">successful for audience figures</a>. There are various Netflix shows that UK audiences could be drawn towards and I would imagine the company is hoping Giri/Haji will spark the interest of the UK audience in their Japanese language content. </p>
<p>Since its Japanese launch in 2015, Netflix has continued its trend of co-production as a method of boosting audiences both in Japan and internationally. Netflix has worked with some big Japanese media names in order to attract audiences with Sion Sono’s The Forest of Love and Ninagawa Mika’s Followers, which are both due to be released soon on both Netflix Japan and beyond. </p>
<p>Japanese shows have also proven popular with Netflix audiences in the UK. Terrace House, now in its fifth season, remains a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2017/oct/18/terrace-house-the-must-watch-japanese-reality-show-in-which-nothing-happens">firm favourite with students</a> and <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/08/07/tv/story-naked-ambition-dubious-morals/">The Naked Director</a> has been renewed for a second series. The success of Giri/Haji remains to be seen, but I think a lot of expectations are resting on it.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The first episode of Giri/Haji was screened on BBC Two on Thursday October 17 at 9pm and will premiere globally on Netflix in 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Taylor-Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An increasing amount of the BBC’s content comes via collaborations with international production houses.Kate Taylor-Jones, Professor East Asian Cinema, School of East Asian Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1225332019-08-29T03:54:28Z2019-08-29T03:54:28ZBoys dance too - and in Japan they are celebrated<p>The western world’s dance community rallied over the weekend, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/arts/dance/lara-spencer-apology-gma.html">taking Good Morning America host Lara Spencer to task</a> for her mockery of Prince George and his love of ballet. Under the hashtag #boysdancetoo, representatives of the dance world including Gene Kelly’s widow Patricia Ward, Fame’s Debbie Allen and So You Think You Can Dance US winner Travis Wall, as well as dance parents and students worldwide, hit back. </p>
<p>They told tales of bullying and the triumph of passion over adversity. An on-air apology and 300-strong dance class followed. </p>
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<p>Gender biases and prejudices about “ballet boys” are not a new story – author Clementine Ford, wrote last year <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/my-friend-s-son-is-banned-from-wearing-a-tutu-in-his-ballet-class-20181126-p50ich.html">about a two-year-old Australian boy</a> whose dance school had forbidden him to wear a tutu and make-up for the end-of-year concert. But as the issue flares again, we could look to Japan - where male dancers receive widespread acclaim for their beauty and discipline.</p>
<h2>Beyond butch</h2>
<p>In Australia, the inclusion and acceptance of boys and men in ballet and dance is often predicated on an argument that dance for boys can be macho – either by comparisons to sport or discussions of strength. </p>
<p>Last year, the Australian Ballet’s <a href="https://australianballet.com.au/the-ballets/spartacus">Spartacus</a> was framed in this vein. The production’s tagline “Think ballet is all pointe shoes and tutus? Think again” seemed to assume that the only way to appeal to a male audience was by emphasising the violent and aggressive aspects of the ballet.</p>
<p>However noble the intent might be to encourage more boys into ballet by attempting to butch it up, many boys whose identity might not align strongly with this macho image end up excluded.</p>
<p>In addition, many of the things that attract both boys and girls to ballet – the costumes, make-up, sets, beauty and artistry – are pushed aside in order to emphasise a stereotypically acceptable masculine image. Such attempts can be seen as the flipside of the same coin as Spencer’s shaming, reinforcing stereotypes and narrowing the options for aspiring male dancers.</p>
<h2>Japan’s dance heroes</h2>
<p>There are lessons that can be learned from the way that Japanese culture accepts and embraces male ballet dancing, without needing to rely solely on narrow views of masculinity. </p>
<p>In Japan, the media elevates male ballet stars (and their sporty cousins: male figure skaters) as <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2014/02/15/olympics/winter-olympics/olympics-figure-skating/olympic-champion-hanyu-embraces-role-as-hero-to-millions/#.XWNeSy1L3Sw">role models</a>. </p>
<p>Television coverage, <a href="https://www.jjgp.jp/en/e_about.html">competitions</a> and magazines foster a culture and community that’s supportive of boys in dance. Tetsuya Kumakawa has been feted as not only “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/12/03/Kumakawa.profile/">the greatest ever Japanese ballet dancer</a>” but “one of the best the world has ever seen”. </p>
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<p>When the British Royal Ballet toured Japan, Principal dancer Steven McRae was given a <a href="https://www.roh.org.uk/news/steven-mcrae-given-manga-makeover">manga makeover</a> by artist Takafumi Adachi in the magazine Dancin’, a ballet periodical for boys and young men. The success of male and female dancers at ballet companies outside Japan is <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/06/11/entertainment-news/britains-royal-ballet-elevates-two-japanese-principal-dancers/#.XWYIbZMzZBw">equally celebrated</a>. </p>
<p>Teenage ballet dancer Haruo Niyama <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/02/19/stage/young-k-ballet-school-dancers-get-set-for-the-big-time/#.XWcewJMzZBw">made headlines</a> across Japanese news programs when he won the prestigious Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition in 2014, scoring him an invitation to visit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a photo opportunity. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289984/original/file-20190828-184252-12o190r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Teenager Haruo Niyama shows off his skills to the Japanese prime minister.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/nikkeiphoto/status/446604076491358208">@nikkeiphoto/Twitter</a></span>
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<p>Of course Japanese culture does display prejudices against boys and men who enjoy activities which <a href="https://www.port-magazine.com/dance/ryoichi-and-the-royal-ballet-japan/">historically have run along traditional gender lines</a>. But mainstream Japanese media has an ability and willingness to generate a positive representations of boys and men engaged in such activities.</p>
<h2>Ballet is beauty</h2>
<p>The masculine framing of ballet can be effective in encouraging boys to learn the discipline. But other factors – the concept of beauty that ballet carries, <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2058408/">iconic role models</a>, a space to share with other boys who also love to dance – are just as important.</p>
<p>The increasing attention paid to male ballet (and <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-07-07/welcome-to-the-ballroom-released-monday/.148748">other kinds of dance</a>) in Japan has gone hand in hand with emerging young men who achieve international fame in these fields. This has increased the visibility and impact of ballet within wider boys’ and men’s culture.</p>
<p>The #boysdancetoo moment echoes Japan’s positive portrayal of boys engaging in ballet in more nuanced ways than merely emphasising its sporty and muscled aspects. </p>
<p>Such representations in mainstream media can offer a sense of belonging and mutual support for a still-fragmented and isolated coterie of ballet boys and men. It can create a community where they can safely connect and identify with those who share their interest in, dreams of and love for dancing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Masafumi Monden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While male dancers in the US and Australia seek to combat bullying with #boysdancetoo, Japanese culture accepts and embraces male ballet dancing.Masafumi Monden, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.