Limonette said:
This is interesting because I've heard things about Japan porn being different, and I want to ask people about it just out of curiosity but then I always get too shy to ask. It's another interesting cultural difference topic. And I'm afraid to check it out myself, lest I get deluged with an avalanche of unwanted icky advertising. (and this avalanche would be much less nice than what I experienced, in the j-rock thread I might add.) Of course porn to me is hella boring, like in that Pulp song, This is Hardcore. But, the subject is interesting. Sex in Japan seems an odd thing, the stories you read, but I can't say it's not true about America either.
I agree - sex in Japan IS an odd thing. The japanese are.. in some ways.. very consevative, and (I think Ma Cherie said this) they'd frown upon young people kissing, or even holding hands, in public. But at the same time, they have this ultra hard core porn industry. That would all be... understandable, IF this porn industry was kept secret, hidden, but NO. When I was in Japan, and especially in Tokyo, porn was everywhere. Not because I looked for it, but because it... was everywhere. Hentai, being sold in every store, huge boyxboy sections of the shoujo manga stores (Oh yay!), and just walk a couple of blocks around Shibuya, and you'll be sure to find tons of more or less suspicious clubs and/or shops selling used underwear
And it's not like the porn is difficult to get to. You go to Akihabara, go into closest 'toy-shop' and there, next to the little robots and mechas the 9-year-olds are hella checking out, there are the schoolgirls-being-tied-to-a-giant-phallus-dolls. It... sort of shocked me. I mean... kids toys and more or less 'cute dolls' next to these ultra porn masochistic dolls!? I dunno... in most bigger cities of the world, off course there are a lot of porn clubs. But... in most cities they have some sort of red light district - so the ones into porn know where to go, and others -say families with young children - don't go. IN Japan, the porn clubs where not exactly hidden..
Besides - they have friggin call girl pages in the NEWSPAPER! ... it's sort of... distressing. I love this wierd mixture of old culture, old virtues/conservatism and new strange hard core porn. There's... so much I don't understand that I really do wanna understand! (Like, what's
with the damn tentacle porn!? WHO finds a girl being raped by a giant, green octopus sexy!!?)
Limonette said:
What I find weird is the master/slave thing. Don't people have to be so submissive in order to want to be a slave? Not that I've seen that in any Japan context - I really don't know much about it. Although I don't know much about such stuff, but when you surf chatrooms there are alot of interesting and bizarre things going on. Like "adults in diapers", lol. It's a puzzler, no?
The slave/master thing is very popular. It's got to do with s/m, and is also part of the whole rape thing. Many people (especially guys when it comes to rape) like feeling in charge. Maybe they feel they're being looked down upon in everyday life, and need to feel like 'masters' at least in the bedroom...? :?
Adults in diapers... hah! I've heard about that too... A little... scary...
But then again, there are some really really
really strange fetish stuff in Japan... *thinks about it and dies*
Limonette said:
Somewhere I read that "the poor office worker feels powerless and that's why some of them like rape manga".
Oh, you said it! I think this might be an explanation...
Limonette said:
But they seem very intelligent. But then how do you explain Hello Kitty?
Ha-ha. But Japan does have a huge obsession with 'kawaii' - everything that's cute. And that's not only school girls liking Hello Kitty. That's everyone! It's the same - girls trying to act all cute too. I read (somewhere, wont quote) that Hello Kitty was sort of like the 'ideal' for japanese people. She's little, she's cute, and her expressionless face is supposed to come from old japanese female ideals; big eyes, no mouth. She's basically cute, and harms no one with strange ideas or dangerous comments.
Doc said:
Eww! You're nasty! You like homosexuality! You must be a lesbian yourself! Eww! Gay, gay, gay! Don't you just love it when there are men who act like that? It makes you wonder what their mental age truly is.
They're just scared... that's all. They're scared to go against their up-bringing. They've (as you've also said) been brought up learning that anything that has got to do with homosexuality is wrong. Saying that boyxboy was 'ok' would, for them, be the same as being homosexual themselves - and they wouldn't want that...
They're not on a very high mental level, no...
Limonette said:
The underage thing is most disturbing to me, because where do individuals draw the line between fantasy and reality? It may be in the porn but I don't think it is totally accepted there - underage is against the law there and I think this is a universal thing. Also I don't find it attractive in men who are more attracted to girls than women - why would I be attracted to men who prefer girls? It also seems childish.
Yeah, and there's recently been problem with the 'men-liking-underaged-girls' thing in Japan. In the early 90s, the main sex-symbol was the 'oeru' - the OL - the Office Lady - a typical japanese office working girl in her 20s. Then, over time, the youger girls - the upper highschool girls - became popular, the school uniform became a sex symbol, and now, there's even been porn magazines focusing on elementary school girls
It's terrible...
Limonette said:
Another thing I don't like is blood and gore, like in "Ichi the Killer". I don't find it interesting, and it's just icky. However, if it adds to the story it's ok. But stuff like, Peter Jacksons brilliant films "Dead Alive" and "Bad Taste", it's ok then. Cos they're funny.
I see nothing wrong with blood and gore