Japan's Pop Culture

Ethan Watters and Michael Moss express two separate pieces of literary works that display different scenarios, but express the same message. Watters sets forth a phenomenon in which an entire culture is modified for the better of industry in Japan. With this circumstance, Watters argues that the ‘total environment’ in which a demographic is set can be altered by the influence of outside sources. Moss relates a similar example, where a certain group is marketed to, and as a result, this group’s relationship with the product drastically increases. There are many differences in the two works, but both researches contain many similarities; marketing techniques, ethical views, etcetera. The main thing that is most common in both texts is type

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee there are two important characters revealed to us throughout the text. These characters are are Boo Radley and Atticus Finch. These important characters are revealed to us through dialogue, actions and choices and finally through what others say about them. Atticus is a courageous and unprejudiced man with good values and morals. Boo Radley is misunderstood and with one selfless act the opinions from from the community are rapidly changed.

             Japan, that strange and exotic land in the east, has a complex and interesting history that has shaped and molded its culture into a very unique society today.  Of course their customs have influenced their entertainment, especially television and movies.  In a day and age where information is free to all through the internet and reliable postal systems these television shows, movies, toys, and comics have made their way all over the world.  The reception of

Yasumasa Morimura was born in Osaka, Japan 1951; before the end of the American Occupation and during the Korean War. It was at this time in Japan that society had become increasingly modernized and influenced by western culture. Subsequently, the foreign influence of Japan’s culture affected their culture, politics and education. With a westernized curriculum, much of the education focused on occident values, ideas, and art. Despite Japan’s rich history, much of the art history that was taught had originated from western culture.

Many Asian Americans were painted as evil villains or downright dangerous in the early 20th century (1900-1940s). Often they were stereotyped as "inscrutable" and often speaking in the broken English. During early 1900's, there were abudance of vicious images of Japanese being shown as forward and buck-toothed popped up in the media. The infamous journalist, Wallace Irwin, made mockery out of Japanese by publishing "Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy". He produced various of anti-Japanese stereotypes such as switching letters "L" with "R" and continuing mocking them with broken English speech "Engrish". The White leaders spoke against the Japanese Americans regarding their alleged immorality, even they liken them to the ape-like imagery just like

This paper provided an opportunity to take a deeper look into the country of Japan by conducting a Global Cultural Analysis. Throughout this paper the following four research areas were explored: 1.What is the major elements and dimensions of culture in Japan? 2. How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in Japan? 3. How does U.S. culture and business compare with the elements and dimensions of culture integrated by the locals conducting business in Japan? 4. What are the implications for U.S. businesses that wish to conduct business with Japan?

In order to understand the relationship between Gilgamesh and the creation story, it is best understood through each respected texts, a]. To best understand Speiser’s conjectures of Abraham leaving Mesopotamia for leaving Canaan, it is best understood through Speiser’s commentary. As the reader notices, Mesopotamia is the central location of not only where biblical origins came from, but also serves as the foundation of where many civilizations come from. In this particular case, Mesopotamia serves as an area where not only the creation story originated, but where a revolution of ideas and of thinking. Under Hammurabi, Mesopotamia was highly advanced in all aspects of life, such as mathematics, manufacturing, as well as having their own system

In today’s modern, fast-paced, technology driven world it is all too easy to misinterpret and misunderstand situations, both personal and professional, that could easily be solved by taking a look into the cultural concepts and norms of a group or society. In cultures with a long history of social customs, it would be beneficial for those involved to examine the special features and norms that make up this culture in an effort to better the communication and understanding of personal and professional relationships. This area can be especially favorable in working with those of the Japanese decent as this culture is deeply intricate with many traditions and standards that have been passed on from generation to generation. Some of theses cultural

I’m standing in line at the OMSI empirical theatre with my sister and friend, I looked down at the ticket in my hands, and I got a surge of excitement throughout my body. I knew I was going to see one of the best movies in my entire life. I knew that everyone in that line was going to as well; reason being it was a Hayao Miyazaki movie, the founder of Studio Ghibli- one of Japan’s biggest franchise. I could say I have never been acquainted with a soul who thought negatively towards these movies created by Hayao Miyazaki. He is a very thought-provoking being, someone who can make you inspired and passionate towards living and breathing. Not to mention each one of his key characters is a woman filled with independence and integrity, which so often is not, emphasized enough. Correspondingly, I looked down at my ticket a hundred times or more, the movie I was seeing was ‘Porco Rosso’. The title may seem very strange in a sense, but this movie was a piece of art, so much so, when it ended I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I walked crying out the theatre. That is how much it moved me, but this isn’t the only exclusive anime saga that has made me cried before, my sister being included in this culture as much as I am, together we watched ‘Blood +’ an anime romance. The end of that I’m sure I went through twenty boxes of tissues. Genuinely, it felt good to feel this kind of emotion- nonetheless; this kind of culture has made millions of people like me feel empathetic towards

Instead of Ehrlich’s cowboys with stereotypes and reality, there is another group of people familiar with cowboys, which is mistaken understanding as cowboys in the article- otaku. What is otaku? This word comes from Japan because it showed up in a Japanese anime and a Japanese magazine at first time.

The Japanese are a very creative culture which have produced several fantastic science fiction movies such as Gojira, which was an allegory for the use of atomic bombs in war to the animated cartoons, known as anime in America, like Space Battleship Yamato which portrayed the story of all the nations of the planet Earth joining forces to defeat an alien invasion. Yamato and other anime like Mach-A-Go-Go had female characters in the shows that were both allies and sometimes love interest to the main characters, but still were depicted as strong female role models and were drawn with normal features and body types. However, as time has passed, women in anime have been more and more sexualized and this has had an effect on how young people look at Japanese culture and women in particular. In this paper, the effects of this practice will be observed.

Many directors use their films as a means of glorifying, criticizing, or simply depicting, a particular ideological system. These ideologies are especially visible in foreign films, as the viewer is forced to assess the film from outside his or her culture and ideology, and consider the film in its proper context. Director Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese film Seven Samurai allows the viewer to understand several important aspects of Japanese culture and ideology. First, the film depicts the Japanese social class structure and its acceptance by the masses. Seven Samurai also reveals the pride of the Japanese, as well as the utilitarian, collectivist nature of their society.

As Japanese economy soared, its media products such as manga, TV shows, movies and music spread out across Asia. Especially, the young people in Asia began to embrace Japanese culture rather than the culture from the most dominant culture exporter- the United State, and this phenomenon was analyzed by Koichi Iwabuchi in his Feel Asian Modernities. His account of this intra-regionalization in Asia is cultural proximity that Japanese culture shares intimate similarities with other Asian countries and appeal to the audience to perceive this cultural flow.[ Iwabuchi, K(2004), Introduction: Cultural globalization and Asian media connections. Feeling Asian Modernities, pp 12.] In this way, American

Japanese popular music and Japanese popular culture is heavily influenced by Western culture through similar characteristics such as instruments, rhythm, style, and language. When listening to J-pop songs, most people tend to think that they might have heard these songs before despite ever listening to those songs. This familiarity is due to the fact that J-pop songs derive from many aspects of the Western music style. The individuality could come from the arrangement of songs, voice of singers, differences in language, or some combination of the three. All J-pop songs have a common characteristic of individuality and familiarity signifying that they are similar to existing music, but these characteristics are also dissimilar in any ways. J-Pop is a genre that is both a unique yet familiar genre of music that many people of different cultures can enjoy.

For those believing that this means revering the otaku lifestyle as the next evolutionary line of Japanese society, a clarification may be need. An otaku, as westerners may have heard its usage, is a person who spend most of their time at home remaining socially inactive in favor of interacting with pop culture like anime, manga, video games and collectibles. The stereotype is very similar to the American comic book or figurine collector. Unlike its American counterpart who is defined by what they collect or play, an otaku is more of an umbrella term for all people who are uncongenially reclusive. Otaku’s original meaning that is still used in different contexts is an honorific term for someone else’s home. Thus, otaku in the derogatory