mytwoyen

In dealing with gender in Japan I have chosen to relate to an experience we have all had. Come on now, don’t lie, I know that at some point or another each of you has taken a purikura.

Purikura, in case you are the exception to this rule, are the photo booths you see in game parlours and arcades. They usually take up one corner of a floor with large cardboard signs of happy happy girls having their pictures taken.

In regards to gender, I am wondering how this came to be a female oriented business. You do see groups of guys going to the purikura, though of course it is more common to see them with at least a few girls.

And the ads themselves, while all seemingly pointed towards the female audience do a lot to sell the female image. Perhaps it is something along the lines of, “use this machine and you can look like me!” I can’t really say.

But a very interesting thing about purikura is what it does. In taking your picture, it immediately makes a false image of you. The machine fixes you up as it sees fit, making the eyes bigger and brighter and so on. It becomes really obvious on gaijin sometimes.

Is this the image of beauty the machines are trying to display?

Or is it merely the image that the marketers assume girls will like most. I don’t really know at all. But take a look at some of the advertisements. Specifically check out the focus put on the eyes

The Signs of Globalization

I must be honest, at first I had no idea of what to write about for globalization. Quite accidentally I came across a picture I had taken previously for comedic value, and I knew it was a sign. No not a sign from god, an actual sign, see?

I love this sign, it’s great, but first why a sign relates to globalization. I have observed that globalization in Japan is mostly westernization, specifically the use of English. This is logical, English and Chinese are the two major business languages, but English is the more common language of tourists. So thankfully they have put English signs in the train systems and the like, so a kanji illiterate like myself can get by.

But the best sign I found so far was this one, and I like it for so many reasons. The sign is in English, so it can be read by tourists, but then the text of the sign goes out of its way to blatantly ensure any tourist reading this knows “HEY, THIS MEANS YOU!”

The text fyi is

“In the Beautification enforcement areas you will be fined up to 30 000 for littering regardless of your nationality or status.”

Isn’t that just the best threat you have ever heard? I love it. The phrase “Beautification enforcement area” immediately conjures the image of some dystopian 1984esque society, Big Brother is watching you litter! But then they specifically state “regardless of your nationality or status.” We all know what this means, tourists are more prone to littering than Japanese citizens, they just don’t want to be offensive. But all in all, this sign is great. And to me it does identify with globalization, Japan is getting more tourists and foreigners, they’ve changed specifically to get more, as in with the English signs. But meanwhile people are discovering that foreign customs are not as strictly well behaved in the same manner as Japanese customs, such as littering.

Thus the signs saying hey tourists, don’t litter here!!

I have no real problem with it, I like the sign, I’m just waiting to see the Beautification Enforcement Squads.

First for those interested here is some about Sumo and also a bit about its history

http://www.tooter4kids.com/Japan/sumo_wrestling.htm

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/sumo-wrestling-history.htm

During Golden week I was fortunate enough to go to Tokyo, and while there I was even more fortunate to get to see a Sumo match. We found out that if we got there really early we could buy tickets for the very last row for only 2100 yen! So my friends and I got up really early and waited in a very long line, certainly there were people who came later who did not get one of the 400 tickets available. Sumo is popular!

Also really cool was how they signaled the beginning of the tournament. Sumo is very clearly steeped in traditions. The wrestlers throw salt to purify the ring, and the tournaments start was signaled by Taiko drummers on a tower built to resemble an older wooden watchtower.

There is also a great amount of respect given to everyone participating. The Sumo themselves are highly honoured, the crowds all went out to see the coming of the wrestlers into the building. I accidentally walked by them and was totally gaijinny  about trying to get out of the way (gaijin is an adjective- I have made it so!).

The judges have helpers who fix the pillows and blankets they sit on, there is a great deal of respect given to them. When there was a dispute on the winner all the judges got up and everyone knew it was serious business.

As for the matches themselves they were just awesome. I didn’t think I’d like sumo that much, I’m not a big fan of American wrestling. But there was no messing about, nobody here was just in it for the fame, they were here to win. Each match was over so quickly you had to pay darn close attention, and the wrestler fought with such ferocity. It was just some awesome fun.

Like many sports in Japan, it is clear that anyone in Sumo is in it for keeps. They mean real business, and I am never ever going to call any sumo ‘fat’.

First of all I spell parlour with a u and I won’t apologize for it despite Microsoft Word’s best efforts to make me spell like an American. I am Canadian. Sorry. I mean, not sorry! Anyway, I don’t know a lot about pachinko, but what I’ve read has honestly been pretty negative. I’ve played the game a couple times at the arcade, never for money, I’m a terribly bad gambler. But in lieu of the native or charity casinos that I have seen in Canada, Japan has pachinko. Pachinko provides the gambling fix you can’t get here because gambling is technically illegal. But I’m not going to discuss that.

Nor am I going to discuss the playing or mechanics of pachinko. I’ll link some particles so you can read yourself if you want. I think you can figure it out.

http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/1146/Great+Balls+of+Steel

READ THIS ONE- I mean, it’s an interesting perspective…

Also for the gameplay itself-

http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/pachinko/index.htm

For more information about the game and culture-

http://www.mangajin.com/mangajin/samplemj/pachinko/pachinko.htm

And for one persons opinion

http://www.japansociety.org/pachinko_nation

Despite this I am not going to argue whether pachinko is good or bad, but the articles I have read generally paint it with an addictive personality.

What I want to blog about today is actually popular culture. Specifically the popular culture seen in pachinko advertising.

I have seen pachinko parlours everywhere, it is not unfair to say that they are a very popular phenomenon. And hand in hand with the parlours are big flashing screens full of anime characters and posters and advertisements of your favourite shows.

Pachinko parlours have latched on to one facet of pop culture, specifically anime, and used it entirely as an advertising scheme. I went to the closest parlour, near Top World. Though if that was closed I certainly could have made the short trek to Makino station to find the next, or just gone into Hirakata and found a bunch more. These parlours are everywhere!

Here are some of the photos of the advertisements put on flags outside. Each of these flags is using an anime. I think that by using these anime, the advertisers are trying to associate the feelings and emotions brought about from the anime to playing pachinko as well.

Pachinko is just gambling, honestly not really that special. But with the addition of anime, it becomes something more. You’re not playing a pachinko machine, you’re playing as your animated hero.

All of these anime have become advertisements for pachinko, and so this gambling franchise has managed to associate itself with pop culture, putting what might otherwise be a dirty habit into a more fashionable playing of your favourite anime. It just happened to be gambling as well.

And it might even go so far as to make all of the associations found in these anime, the fighting, the love, the triumph of good and over evil, all of it to be also associated with these games. Now perhaps this is too far. I admit I can only give my own surface level opinion of the matter. But the power of advertising is strong.

For example this last picture is the one I find most important. This anime is the work of the very famous Tezuka Osamu. He is the creator of Astro boy, and well appreciated as the godfather, neigh the god of all Japanese anime. If you want to learn more about him, check out these links:

http://lambiek.net/artists/t/tezuka.htm

http://tezukasite.tripod.com/bio.html

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/news/2007/05/astroboy

The point is, Tezuka is pretty much a Japanese hero. And here the pachinko parlour has managed to associate itself with his work. I mean, who am I to say pachinko is a dirty habit when it is endorsed by the creations of Osamu Tezuka?

Also if you’ll notice, these are all relatively older anime, not by much, but old enough that the people with disposable income now, probably watched them when they were younger. Coincidence? Or just darn good planning?

Here are a couple links to some information about a few of the anime, in case you’re interested, a quick googling (google is a verb too!) will also provide you with most anything you need.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-12-23/live-action-city-hunter-reportedly-heading-to-america

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=204

http://www.hokuto-no-ken.jp/

While searching for more info I also found another picture of anime pachinko advertisements, which some might find familiar…

http://whengoodriceballsgobad.blogspot.com/2009/02/manga-beyond-books.html

I’m not going to lie, I had trouble with this one.

I live in Seminar house 4, and it seems odd but I don]t really feel like I have a neighbourhood area. The seminar houses themselves are kind of like their own units. But where the seminar houses are located is what I guess that I could best call my neighbourhood.

Rather than addressing the neighbourhood as a whole I have chosen to write on the one aspect of it that every seminar house resident should be familiar with. The Beer Park.

Or so it has become to be known. This is the small park between seminar house four and the other seminar houses. It is usually filled with mothers and children during the daytime and ryugakusei during the night time.

We have the distinguished privilege of being the most connected group of international students to attend Kansai Gaidai. Mostly due to the facebook group, which I too was a part of, we have found the beer vending machine earlier than any other group of students. This honour is taken less lightly by the people who live in my neighbourhood. I know that early in the year there was a gathering at the beer park of at least 80 students, I was absent that night but it seems they caused quite a stir.

Here was one of the first major differences I had encountered in Japan. In Canada if some dumb kids are drinking and yelling you tell them to go to the park, where they can be as loud as they want. But in this case the park was a place where you had to be quiet, especially because of the nearby houses.

So I guess this is all another example of the cultural differences. Japan is different, even down to the little things like the walls being thinner because the climate is warmer, so more noise can get through. At least so I have imagined.

More importantly is the responsibility that the students have to hold. Apparently in the past the people of our neighbourhood tried to have the seminar houses forcibly removed by the city hall. Which is why Kansai Gaidai now pays for the security guards you see there at night.

But I really like the park. I enjoy the various exercise stations put there, I find this a really novel idea. And it’s a good place to go and read, or exercise, or just hang out with your friends, as long as you don’t attract attention.

Pictures of the park: