My relationship with Japanese popular culture, beginning with music or Jpop, started way back in 2000 when my mum bought a CD player along with 2 CDs which were a compilation of popular tracks from Avex Trax artistes such as Ayumi Hamasaki.
Over time there were two bands/groups that got me very involved in Jpop: Luna Sea (left) and Morning Musume (centre; literally meaning Morning Daughters). Fitting the stereotype of an ardent wota (it means an idol otaku - otaku being someone obsessed with a particular subculture, could be anime, idols or manga), I idolised and was pretty fanatic over one of the group's members, Ai Kago (right).
After some more years, I guess I matured and moderated my fanaticism, mainly also due to my increasingly busy schedule in JC and the reduced free time when I was in the army. Now, I just like sentimental rock songs in general (and Spitz specifically) but the liking for girl pop groups has not been lost in me, and very recently I have been hooked by AKB48's high octane performances and the youthfulness of the members.
I must also mention that even though my liking for Jpop has persisted over the past 10 years, I have found myself not engaging it like how I would have been doing 6 to 7 years back. As a student of Sociology, I cant help but to develop what my climate change professor in Copenhagen called the 'sociological reflex' - that sudden jerk or urge to see things from a social and cultural perspective. And not to mention that after being a Christian, there is this similar 'Christian reflex' in the sense of engaging in something from the perspective of a Christian. In a sense I could say I have matured in how I involve myself with Japanese popular culture.
Just take for example the group AKB48. I have been reading about how wotas could buy at one go hundreds of copies of their singles just to make sure their favourite group hit and stay at the top of the Jpop Oricon charts. Some would perpetually spend all their time and money just to indulge on their favourite idols. When I started listening to more of AKB48's songs, looked up more on the members through online forums or youtube, I cannot help but to feel myself abit consumed by them, albeit not to an extreme of willing to spend any money to buy their merchandise. You come to develop this sense of liking for them because of their personality (and of course their looks) but you know its quite impossible to know them personally, but then again they make themselves very known and personal through the interviews, photos, videos and presence in variety shows. You kind of get caught in this limbo, fantasy world where you could spend a deal of time thinking about them, wondering what they are doing etc.
I was particularly intrigued by the case of the most popular member in AKB48 - Maeda Atsuko.
She is very normal (okay you cant really tell just from this picture) but that has been my impression when I see her with the other girls. Yet she has been the cover girl for the group since 2005 and her name is (if I remember right)within the top 3 female name searches for Yahoo Japan. It is her mediocrity, and I presume that certain sense of vulnerability attached to her persona because of her ordinariness, that has attracted her to so many fans who have elevated her to a near cult status.
I did some mini research on Japanese fandom and came across this article by Christine Yano of Harvard University (Credits to my NUS libraries account which gives me access to the limitless amount of articles I can use for my Sociology etc research). I wont go into too much of the theoretical parts, but some of what she said made me realise sometimes I may perceive things from an ethnocentric or just a biased point of view?
Yano wrote that in the US, fandom is often 'denigrated as social pathology' and 'fans are negatively viewed as passive victims of manipulation who have easily fallen prey to the seductive power of mass media' and have an emotional void that is only filled by a 'fantasied "parasocial" relationship' (1997:336). BUT! In Japan, being a fan means fulfilling a culturally affirmed notion of amae or dependency, 'constituted by one who seeks indulgence (amaeru) and another who gives this indulgence (amayakasu)'.
According to her, 'dependency works in two directions. The fans support the public figure directly through economic means; the charismatic figure supports the fans indirectly through symbolic means'(1997:336). She further adds that 'The very charisma of the public figure becomes defined by the devotion of the followers. Fans make a person into a public, charismatic figure'. 'Not only is the position of the fan culturally affirmed in Japan, it is culturally lauded. To be a fan is to exemplify cultural values of loyalty and dedication, service to one's public superior, and empathetic support. A fan is one who embarks upon a permanent relationship of servitude. The hierarchical nature of that relationship is taken for granted and may even be part of the attraction. A fan is one eager for the opportunlty to serve, because in serving rests consummation of the relationship binding the two together.' (1997:336)
So what a distanced observer may regard as disturbing is something normal and even encouraged by the participants themselves. Well but I still cant help but to think that the Japanese entertainment industry has successfully 'exploited' cultural values to boost record sales. But I doubt the wotas feel that way though. In any case, I dont think my consumption of entertainment will border to anything beyond distanced admiration and enjoyment of the products by these idols. Im weary of going anywhere too extreme, because entertainment could serve sometimes as something like an 'opium' (to borrow Marx's famous indictment of religion as the 'opium for the masses'), satisfies your need but not necessarily inducing any attempt to change or improve your material conditions. The world of idols is also a fantasy world.
I also feel a thing or two for these idols. For a group as big as AKB48 (with 48 members, they now hold the Guiness Book of Record as the biggest pop group in the world), there are numerous rankings and popularity contests among the members. I wonder how those who are at the bottom would feel? And it seems what dominates their identity is what they can do, bolder, more sexier etc. Pheww.. I cant even think more already. But I guess they accept it as part of their lives in the entertainment industry. Well, they will find loyal wotas and fans who will support and do all they can to lift them up.
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