Youth Culture and Subculture in contemporary Japan have been actively studied and considered since the end of WWII. In this course, we will focus on these cultural phenomena in and around the 1970s. This is around the time in which visual culture such as Animation and Manga began to be exported out of Japan. On April 30, 2001 Time Magazine launched a Special Issue entitled “How the World Sees Japan.” The cover humorously and ironically describes stereotypical images of Japan and its people. A samurai who is talking on a mobile phone, a maiko-like woman holding an expensive designer handbag, a child with a portable video game. Beyond them, in the background, one can see Fujiyama in the skyline.
Sakura trees, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion coexist with Aibo-like robo-pets and other technological advancements in Japanese culture. In the field of literature, a new stream of Japanese literature and underground culture, so called “slipstream literature”, flourished in the 1990s. This genre attracted attention from critics such as Larry McCafferey and Sinda Gregory, who coined the term “Avant-Pop” in 1995. McCaffrey also edited The Review of Contemporary Fiction in the summer of 2002 with the special topic of “New Japanese Fiction.” The literary works included in this journal were those by postmodern writers, most of whom shared a sense of paraliterature.
Japanese studies in the UK and US from 1990s gradually cover contemporary subcultural phenomena of Japan, Manga, Anime, Gothic fashion, J-Pop Music and Girls’ Kawaii Culture. Scholars such as Anne Allison, Sharon Kinsella, Thom Lamar and Susan Napier, to name a few, argue on Japanese subculture in an academic context, and their studies inspire more lively discussion about Japan as well. Mechademia, an annual journal from the University of Minnesota Press, which exclusively focuses on Asian popular culture, published its first issue in 2006. This journal offers an intellectual space for scholars and critics to show their academic achievements. Why does Japanese culture attract global attention? Why are YOU interested in Japanese subculture? What is the attraction?
In the next step, you will read an excerpt from William M. Tsusui’s article that explains Otaku, hard-core subculture fans and their relationship with youth culture in Japan.
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