Ok at last I answer isayhellos post - prepare yourselves for a marathon post. I still haven't got the hang of the quote thing, (argh!) so isayhellos quotes are in quotations, and the interviewees as well. Hope it makes sense.
isayhello:
"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....
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!"
me: I totally agree that's why I find Japan sex so interesting. It's a puzzler. A mystery that I need to figure out, if only to satisfy my curiousity. Yeah I thought I could ask Japanese people about it, but I always get too embarrassed and we end up talking about the weather... It's nice that you people have these discussions.
isayhello:
"(Like, what's
with the damn tentacle porn!? WHO finds a girl being raped by a giant, green octopus sexy!!?)"
I found an interview with Toshio Maeda who does tentacle manga. I don't get it either. But he said:
"at that time (pre-Urotsuki Doji) it was illegal to create a sensual scene in bed. So I just created a creature. (His tentacle) is not a (penis) as a pretext. I could say, as an excuse, this is not a (penis), this is just a part of the creatures. You know, the creatures, they don't have a gender. A creature is still a creature. So it is not obscene - not illegal.
Drawing intercourse was, and is, still illegal in Japan. That is our big headache: to create such a sensual scene. We are always using any type of trick."
One of the first odd things I read was that the film "In the Realm of the Senses" is censored in Japan, it's country of origin. I just thought it odd, and they have all this porn, and yet that is illegal to show. But on the other had, maybe that's spurred on more imagination. After all like they say, sometimes it's sexier not to show everything, but to suggest things.
I still don't understand the appeal of tentacle sex though. However, octopuses are supposed to be great lovers, and I wouldn't mind coming back as one in my next life. Even so, I'm not at all attracted by the octopus.
One more thing I thought interesting that Maeda said - he was asked why the high school girl was a common victim. He said:
"(sighs) Personally I don't like it. In Japan, so many maniac people like the innocent type of young girl. It is their taste. It is almost criminal. I don't like for some young girl to be kidnapped or raped. I don't like that style. I like a style based on a Japanese samurai or
ninja falling in love with a regular girl."
and he says "Personally, I like a conservative lady - innocent, old-fashioned type."
isayhello:
"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...? :?"
I separated the slave master (victim is willing participant) thing from the rape (victim not willing) thing. It seems that people who like one don't necessarily like the other, from what I've heard. I have a hard time with people telling me what to do, so count me out! It would be like that movie where "the Servant" (Dirk Bogarde) controls the weak master. Although I don't like telling people what to do either. I'd be a happy anarchist. But they do seem related in a way. And I read this interview a long time ago with a therapist who said that the percentage of his male patients who were masochistic was the same as his female patients. I think it's more accepted or expected that women are that way, but alot of guys like being slaves, rape victims and all that. Just look at that wacky gay scene. Not that most gays like that but...
I also think you're right about those wanting to feel like masters being ones looked down upon. It seems that way anyway.
isayhello:
"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*"
Lol I die with you, hehe. It's very interesting but it weirds me out sometimes. Though I mean, sometimes it seems ok for them, as long as they're not hurting anyone, even tho I don't get it.
isayhello:
"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."
That's so funny. You describe the cuteness so well isayhello.
isayhello:
"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..."
That's very interesting that it's a recent thing. It makes me wonder the reason why. Is it because there's more underage porn and people are exposed to it? Or is there some underlying psychological reason? I may never know.
isayhello:
"I see nothing wrong with blood and gore"
[/QUOTE]
Oh well, I didn't really mean blood and gore, because I don't mind that. More the type of blood and gore - I'm just not into torture for it's own sake. I watched a bit of Ichi the Killer in the middle, and it was a bit boring. I guess I assumed that torture was the main thing about the movie. I think torture is an aquired taste perhaps. I think it's good and shocking when done effectively as part of a story, although I used to be quite squeamish about it, and still am if done well.
I'm not a gore fan, like there are whole magazines dedicated to the art of gore, but since I'm fond of horror and action movies, it can have it's place. As for blood - I don't like real violence or real blood, as in the tv news. But in fiction - I'll never forget that Samurai film where the one slices off the head of the other and gallons of blood comes spewing out the top of his head. And in Throne of Blood the arrows - Kurasawa had a way with bloody dramatization. That I like. Once, after reading alot of Mishima, I had a beautiful dream about 100 Japanese men using swords to cut off the heads of 100 handsome Japanese soldiers. It was a beautiful dream... Obviously was reading MUCH too much Mishima at the time. LOL