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Japan and exportation of culture

kireikoori

Sempai
3 Aug 2007
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LOOK OUT I'M CROSS FORUM POSTIN

Poster at another forum says:
Japan doesn't want to export Idol culture. Japan wants foreigners to come to Japan to see temples, maybe look at some anime if they're young, and then go home. They don't want/expect/care about us seeing their real society, and the real problems that give birth to these sort of sub-cultures.
So, how much do you Japan experts agree with this statement?

Why or why not?
 
I wonder where the original poster of the statement you've quoted got such an idea.

There might be some individuals in Japan who have such an opinion, but it is not a general idea among Japanese people.

Edit: after reading Glenski's post and then re-read the original quotation, I wonder what is the definition of the "idol culture" and even though I'm not interested in pop culture in general myself, I wonder if it is really just a negative thing??
 
Does any country want tourists to come and see the negative side of things? That part is true in Japan or elsewhere.
 
i have to agree no sane person would even want to know everything about another culture(yes i admitted it we on this forum arn't sane)
but nobody wants to show the truth especially since it doesn't pay.
americanized culture that seems foreign is much more likely to make money for them than true foreign culture since they are somewhat used to it already.
 
I don't know what the guy tried to say about the Idol culture, but if the Idol means young male/female pop stars/singers, it is just a cost/benefit matter.

I don't know how much money Udata Hikaru spent for the US promotion, probably a huge amount of money, but so far, she still lives here.

What is the most interesting topic for me in this forum is the ones about so-called visual kei or J-rock groups/singers. The first-time poster must be surprised to see so many posts about them here, but I cannot necessarily say it is a major music in Japan (it is popular, but it is rather hard to hijack whole music forums in Japan).
A Romanian anime producer made his dream come true to make his anime in Japan or the great guitarist, Marty Friedman, was in an English education program in Japan. So nobody knows the future.
Personally I wish to watch a NHK TV British English program with Liam Gallagher.
 
Honestly, I'm not sure what the person was trying to say about idol either.
But I assume it's meant all together. That idol is considered a problem subculture.
And that idol specifically refers to groups like Johnny's, Morning Musume, Akihabara48 and the like. Who perhaps live by stricter rules than the rest of Japanese pop stars.

The claim is that Japan at large believes in enforcing idol rules, is not as mainstream as other Jpop, yet is just as popular(oxymoron?). And that the looked down upon wota are the ones keeping fallen stars going while Japanese society at large wants to expell and look down upon those who get caught going against their idol image and breaking the rules.

Another question about this whole thing, is how the concept got started. I know of some of the earlier idols like Yukiko Okada, but I do not know how the concept got started, why Japan is so strict on their stars, especially idols. And the people at the other forum, are not interested in explaining this to me. I've read the wikipedia article on Japanese idol, it does not explain it for me either.
 
I don't think it's as simplistic as what you said...having been on various Japanese H!P communities like the ones on mixi and 2ch, there are some people who will look down upon those H!P members who got in trouble with UFA and were suspended for a bit (these types tend to be more prevalent on 2ch and a lot of times it's hard to tell whether they're serious or just trying to create drama), but there are also many fans who still support them. Even after Fujimoto Miki left Morning Musume, there were still lots of Miki fans who came to the remaining GAM concerts and showed their support. The fans on mixi were also happy to hear that she's back to a solo career again. Similarly, members of the Kago Ai community on mixi were glad to see her back again trying to get her career back on track, posting messages such as "いよいよですね。
とても嬉しいです。
応援してるので前の失敗をバネに頑張ってほしいです!!(Finally. I'm really happy. I'm supporting her and I want her to work hard and spring back from her previous mistakes!)" and "あいぼんおかえり (Welcome back Aibon)".

I think it's a rather sweeping generalization to say that all Japanese people look down upon idols who break rules, just because of the behavior of some "fans".

Besides, other entertainers have gotten punished for getting in trouble/breaking rules of their agencies as well, not just idols. All entertainers have to live up to a certain image.
 
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