Tuesday, May 25, 2004
JAPAN
I was inspired by one of the blogs looking at Japanese Lolita Goths to recall my love of all things Japanese and the extreme qualities of the culture… as in the bizarre role of perfectionism present in youth cultures. Specifically in the manner that western subcultures are reinterpreted through a perfectionist replication of styles and looks that in the end achieves some degree of hybridity. The first time I saw what I refer to as hospital Goths I was absolutely fascinated… a strange mixture of doctors, nurses, hospital patients and the standard goth styling. Just fantastic the degree of detail and spectacle as hung out in large groups in the parks. Then there was the strange take on surfie culture where the participants looked like a surreal mixture of distorted barbie dolls and cave boys. It seems there is an acceptance and encouragement for this type of radical expression in youth… to liberate their rebellious side before adult responsibilities set in. The pressures in Japan enter weird zones though… and there is a movement called "hikikomori" whereby youths lock themselves in their bedrooms and basically speak and see no one. Maybe their mother will communicate with them in a rather alienated fashion, serving them food and being there… but they completely shut down all social interaction and stay in their rooms maybe leaving the room at night to move around the house if that. Possibly the result of education pressures or even time spent on computers… that can lead to possible suicide, it is these types of developments that appear to be extreme reactions to modern society that are strangely fascinating.
When it comes to music, art, literature and film it again leans towards amazing examples of extremes and detail. From Mishima to Murakami, In the Realm of the Senses to Tetsuo: Body Hammer and Battle Royale, Kurosawa to Beat Takeshi, Ultraman to Manga… there is just an incredible body of work to pursue. Music is no different… from the incredible BOREDOMS (from Osaka) one of the world’s seminal noise artists and the large array of spinoff and affiliated projects around them… to AUDIO ACTIVE taking dub into an electro space realm along with affiliated dub purists DRY & HEAVY… the incredible electronic exponents including DJ KRUSH, KEN IISHI, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, TOWA TEI and beyond… the brilliant examples of indie pop experimentalists BUFFALO DAUGHTER, CIBO MATTO (although based in New York for sometime now)… trash revivalists THE 5678’s, and in some respects their precursors SHONEN KNIFE… and then retro 60s surreal pop culturalists PIZZICATO FIVE… and the lo-fi kitsch-maniac CORNELIUS with his label TRATTORIA… to more rock orientated experiences like THE ZOOBOMBS, MELT BANANA, THEE MACHINE GUN ELEPHANT and THE MAD CAPSULE MARKETS… and if the range of Japanese artists doesn’t completely flip you out then the other amazing aspect is if you are trying to locate an album release the possibilities of finding it in Japan are highly exaggerated… there are so many record stores as well as the largest record store in the world – an 8 floor Tower store in Tokyo.
I’m only skimming the surface here… the one thing that becomes immediately apparent there is the fact that time is such a modicum when it comes to the amount of artefacts to excavate… but I suppose that’s what comes with 20 million plus people in one city.
(PS I’ll try and get links to all of the above if I find time… things are getting hectic around here.)
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I was inspired by one of the blogs looking at Japanese Lolita Goths to recall my love of all things Japanese and the extreme qualities of the culture… as in the bizarre role of perfectionism present in youth cultures. Specifically in the manner that western subcultures are reinterpreted through a perfectionist replication of styles and looks that in the end achieves some degree of hybridity. The first time I saw what I refer to as hospital Goths I was absolutely fascinated… a strange mixture of doctors, nurses, hospital patients and the standard goth styling. Just fantastic the degree of detail and spectacle as hung out in large groups in the parks. Then there was the strange take on surfie culture where the participants looked like a surreal mixture of distorted barbie dolls and cave boys. It seems there is an acceptance and encouragement for this type of radical expression in youth… to liberate their rebellious side before adult responsibilities set in. The pressures in Japan enter weird zones though… and there is a movement called "hikikomori" whereby youths lock themselves in their bedrooms and basically speak and see no one. Maybe their mother will communicate with them in a rather alienated fashion, serving them food and being there… but they completely shut down all social interaction and stay in their rooms maybe leaving the room at night to move around the house if that. Possibly the result of education pressures or even time spent on computers… that can lead to possible suicide, it is these types of developments that appear to be extreme reactions to modern society that are strangely fascinating.
When it comes to music, art, literature and film it again leans towards amazing examples of extremes and detail. From Mishima to Murakami, In the Realm of the Senses to Tetsuo: Body Hammer and Battle Royale, Kurosawa to Beat Takeshi, Ultraman to Manga… there is just an incredible body of work to pursue. Music is no different… from the incredible BOREDOMS (from Osaka) one of the world’s seminal noise artists and the large array of spinoff and affiliated projects around them… to AUDIO ACTIVE taking dub into an electro space realm along with affiliated dub purists DRY & HEAVY… the incredible electronic exponents including DJ KRUSH, KEN IISHI, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, TOWA TEI and beyond… the brilliant examples of indie pop experimentalists BUFFALO DAUGHTER, CIBO MATTO (although based in New York for sometime now)… trash revivalists THE 5678’s, and in some respects their precursors SHONEN KNIFE… and then retro 60s surreal pop culturalists PIZZICATO FIVE… and the lo-fi kitsch-maniac CORNELIUS with his label TRATTORIA… to more rock orientated experiences like THE ZOOBOMBS, MELT BANANA, THEE MACHINE GUN ELEPHANT and THE MAD CAPSULE MARKETS… and if the range of Japanese artists doesn’t completely flip you out then the other amazing aspect is if you are trying to locate an album release the possibilities of finding it in Japan are highly exaggerated… there are so many record stores as well as the largest record store in the world – an 8 floor Tower store in Tokyo.
I’m only skimming the surface here… the one thing that becomes immediately apparent there is the fact that time is such a modicum when it comes to the amount of artefacts to excavate… but I suppose that’s what comes with 20 million plus people in one city.
(PS I’ll try and get links to all of the above if I find time… things are getting hectic around here.)
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