Hyde_is_my_anti-drug
Japanese Modernist
- 27 Oct 2005
- 1,614
- 13
Here's my paper:
The Japanese Visual Obsession
The average American male needs about 15 minutes to get dressed to go somewhere. Through on some jeans, a clean(ish) shirt, socks, shoes, comb hair and you're good to go! Most American men don't give much thought to how their appearance effects another's judgment of them as a person, they figure "appearance" or being aware of one's image is a woman's job. Therefore the typical American man not only does not care about High Fashion but wouldn't be caught dead in it either. Baggy jeans and a T-shirt, that's about all anyone can expect from the average American male. In America, guy + fashion = gay and the USA is incredibly homophobic. So not only do men not care about their image but also they feel they can't care for fear of being labeled a "fag."
Now, let us skip over to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to the Land of the Rising Sun...a.k.a. Japan. Not only do their men spend just as much time as women primping (if not more), it is considered a thing of beauty for a man to dress effeminately and in fact it is almost expected of men who hold celebrity status to not only be fashionable but to be so in the sense that a woman would. In Japan image is everything. How one is perceived through the eyes of others is of the up-most importance. No one in Japan would dream of setting foot outside the house s**t-faced and in sweatpants. Everything from hair, makeup, to clothing must be just so. They put much effort into making fashion appear effortless.
High Fashion isn't just for Tokyo runways, it is actually worn on the streets effectively turning it into Street Fashion or Street Style. Mix-matched outfits, perfect hair and makeup are all musts for being seen in public. And yes, it is perfectly normal in Japan for a man to wear makeup (or even a skirt at times). As a matter of fact, a whole genre of Japanese contemporary music has formed around the Japanese obsession with appearance and men who possess and show effeminate beauty. This genre of music is known as Visual Kei or Visual Style in English. The idea behind Visual Kei is that the music supports the image the image does not support the music, meaning the "visual effect" of Live Performances or PVs (Promotional Videos otherwise known in the West as Music Videos) comes first. Image is everything.
Japanese men are also freer in their sexuality which alleviates them of the American concept of what is "gay" and what is "masculine" in terms of fashion and outward behavior. This gives them the freedom to dress as they choose, because to the Japanese how one appears is expression of self. There is no where near the stigma around sexuality in Japan as there is in the West therefore Japanese men are not so worried about being labeled "gay." A man can wear lipstick, tight shirts, and flowing skirts or even kiss another man without being called a "fag" or given strange looks on the street. This level of freedom for a man to express himself is not found in the USA.
Most Americans would be quite shocked if they were to walk through a place such as Harajuku Station where boys and girls alike dress in extravagant outfits ranging from Extreme Street Style to Gothic Lolita (and more commonly then not cross dressing and Cosplay* is also found there). Harajuku is like a Fashion Capital for the youth of Japan, a place where they can be even more free about their choice in dress. Japan is very much a country about expression.
The Japanese Visual Obsession is not just limited to Fashion. It carries over into art, buildings, books and cinema.
- If one looks at a Japanese (or Asian in general) film, and really looks, they will be struck dumb by the cinematic brilliance. The look of the film is just as important as the script and the actors.
- One of the most popular forms of entertainment in Japan is Manga (Graphic Novels in English) but they are not comic books, many of their plots are just as complex as any Virginia Woolf novel just illustrated completely. Words on a blank page is not enough for the Japanese, visual stimulus is vital to the experience of immersing oneself in an imaginary world. The artwork itself found in Manga is typically very stylized giving the story a sense of heightened reality. This holds true for the Television sister of Manga known as Anime (Animated TV Shows) which are commonly based off of Manga.
- The visual effect of architecture is of the highest importance because honestly who wants to live in an ugly building or city? Japanese buildings have a sense of symmetry and yet beauty about them, and in the case of cities they are built to look good with whatever was built beside them. This gives cities like Tokyo a symmetric beauty, a technical elegance and grace which is lacking in most cities in America. We don't care how a building looks just as long as it fulfills its purpose, this results in unattractive cities such as Louisville. But to the Japanese a building must be pleasing to the eye as well as fulfill its purpose because no one wants an eye swore to be plaguing them every time they leave the house to go shopping.
Japan and the Japanese are all about expression. But because everyone expresses no one stands out which gives them security in who they are. The point of Visual Expression is not for them to draw attention to themselves, they avoid that at all costs, but simply to express themselves and to express what they feel is beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with seeking visual beauty in everything, I wish Americans could see that.
*Cosplay - Definition:
To dress oneself in a way that is modeled after/coping the outfit of either: an Anime/Manga character, a character in a film, or a celebrity (typically a celebrity in Visual Kei).
The Japanese Visual Obsession
The average American male needs about 15 minutes to get dressed to go somewhere. Through on some jeans, a clean(ish) shirt, socks, shoes, comb hair and you're good to go! Most American men don't give much thought to how their appearance effects another's judgment of them as a person, they figure "appearance" or being aware of one's image is a woman's job. Therefore the typical American man not only does not care about High Fashion but wouldn't be caught dead in it either. Baggy jeans and a T-shirt, that's about all anyone can expect from the average American male. In America, guy + fashion = gay and the USA is incredibly homophobic. So not only do men not care about their image but also they feel they can't care for fear of being labeled a "fag."
Now, let us skip over to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to the Land of the Rising Sun...a.k.a. Japan. Not only do their men spend just as much time as women primping (if not more), it is considered a thing of beauty for a man to dress effeminately and in fact it is almost expected of men who hold celebrity status to not only be fashionable but to be so in the sense that a woman would. In Japan image is everything. How one is perceived through the eyes of others is of the up-most importance. No one in Japan would dream of setting foot outside the house s**t-faced and in sweatpants. Everything from hair, makeup, to clothing must be just so. They put much effort into making fashion appear effortless.
High Fashion isn't just for Tokyo runways, it is actually worn on the streets effectively turning it into Street Fashion or Street Style. Mix-matched outfits, perfect hair and makeup are all musts for being seen in public. And yes, it is perfectly normal in Japan for a man to wear makeup (or even a skirt at times). As a matter of fact, a whole genre of Japanese contemporary music has formed around the Japanese obsession with appearance and men who possess and show effeminate beauty. This genre of music is known as Visual Kei or Visual Style in English. The idea behind Visual Kei is that the music supports the image the image does not support the music, meaning the "visual effect" of Live Performances or PVs (Promotional Videos otherwise known in the West as Music Videos) comes first. Image is everything.
Japanese men are also freer in their sexuality which alleviates them of the American concept of what is "gay" and what is "masculine" in terms of fashion and outward behavior. This gives them the freedom to dress as they choose, because to the Japanese how one appears is expression of self. There is no where near the stigma around sexuality in Japan as there is in the West therefore Japanese men are not so worried about being labeled "gay." A man can wear lipstick, tight shirts, and flowing skirts or even kiss another man without being called a "fag" or given strange looks on the street. This level of freedom for a man to express himself is not found in the USA.
Most Americans would be quite shocked if they were to walk through a place such as Harajuku Station where boys and girls alike dress in extravagant outfits ranging from Extreme Street Style to Gothic Lolita (and more commonly then not cross dressing and Cosplay* is also found there). Harajuku is like a Fashion Capital for the youth of Japan, a place where they can be even more free about their choice in dress. Japan is very much a country about expression.
The Japanese Visual Obsession is not just limited to Fashion. It carries over into art, buildings, books and cinema.
- If one looks at a Japanese (or Asian in general) film, and really looks, they will be struck dumb by the cinematic brilliance. The look of the film is just as important as the script and the actors.
- One of the most popular forms of entertainment in Japan is Manga (Graphic Novels in English) but they are not comic books, many of their plots are just as complex as any Virginia Woolf novel just illustrated completely. Words on a blank page is not enough for the Japanese, visual stimulus is vital to the experience of immersing oneself in an imaginary world. The artwork itself found in Manga is typically very stylized giving the story a sense of heightened reality. This holds true for the Television sister of Manga known as Anime (Animated TV Shows) which are commonly based off of Manga.
- The visual effect of architecture is of the highest importance because honestly who wants to live in an ugly building or city? Japanese buildings have a sense of symmetry and yet beauty about them, and in the case of cities they are built to look good with whatever was built beside them. This gives cities like Tokyo a symmetric beauty, a technical elegance and grace which is lacking in most cities in America. We don't care how a building looks just as long as it fulfills its purpose, this results in unattractive cities such as Louisville. But to the Japanese a building must be pleasing to the eye as well as fulfill its purpose because no one wants an eye swore to be plaguing them every time they leave the house to go shopping.
Japan and the Japanese are all about expression. But because everyone expresses no one stands out which gives them security in who they are. The point of Visual Expression is not for them to draw attention to themselves, they avoid that at all costs, but simply to express themselves and to express what they feel is beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with seeking visual beauty in everything, I wish Americans could see that.
*Cosplay - Definition:
To dress oneself in a way that is modeled after/coping the outfit of either: an Anime/Manga character, a character in a film, or a celebrity (typically a celebrity in Visual Kei).
)
it would be even more interesting to see it expanded with examples such as quotations and photos backing up your points, particularly as it is about things visual! 
interesting... the majority of people, have Dir en grey as their first j-rock band (66), followed by by Malice Mizer with 38 and X Japan with 31. Laruku also quite close at 25, and Gackt at 19 and Glay at 12 are the other double-figure ones. (I counted every mention for example if someone mentioned X Japan and Laruku I'd put them down one time for each band.)
) and one person particularly likes the use of synths. Interestingly, one person mentioned that they liked the fact it is somewhat 'anti-conventional', and another person mentioned the relative lack of drugs in the j-music scene as an attractive aspect.
