A J-Pop Culture Identity
JA youth these days are increasingly interested in Japanese popular culture. What they’re finding is that it’s not only entertaining, it’s a way to explore their ancestral roots.
Yonsei Geoff Tsudama likes to spend most of his days listening to his favorite J-pop music artists like Yano Maki, m-flo and Chihiro Onitsuka. Japanese anime like “Bleach” and “One Piece” are regular reads and each week English subtitled Japanese dramas like GTO (“Great Teacher Onizuka”) and “Summer Snow” are must-sees.
Tsudama is an obsessed fan of Japanese pop culture.
“I spend a considerable amount of time and money in feeding my habit/addiction,” the 23-year-old jokingly admits. “I listen to Japanese music on a daily basis, more so than I listen to American music. I own more Japanese comic books than I own American books. I watch Japanese dramas and anime on a weekly basis, sometimes daily if I’m bored.”
Whether its anime, J-pop music, or doramas (Japanese dramas), Japanese popular culture is becoming increasingly trendy among younger generations of Japanese Americans. It’s ironic because many of them do not speak or read Japanese and most have never visited Japan. But it’s an obsession many Yonsei and Gosei are turning to to get in touch with their cultural roots.
“I believe that Japanese popular culture is a way to get in touch with my cultural roots,” said Tsudama, who became interested in J-pop culture after hosting a Japanese exchange student during his senior year of high school. “They are interested in it because they are starting to lose their identities as Japanese people. I’m Yonsei and I don’t speak Japanese. By immersing themselves in Japanese culture, they are able to reconnect to their Japanese roots that are slowly disappearing.”
For most Yonsei and Gosei, the Japanese culture is as foreign to them as say, the Bangladeshi culture. It’s something they didn’t grow up with because many of their older relatives lost touch with Japan a long time ago. Many who experienced the World War II internment camps learned to emphasize being “more American,” a feeling that has been passed on to the younger generations.
But lately there has been a burgeoning movement to get back in touch with the “motherland.” So listening to the latest J-pop artist’s songs all in Japanese and watching Japanese language dramas with subtitles is a new trend that many younger JAs are using to learn about the “Japanese, Japanese” culture.
Gosei Kristin Iwata, 22, had no interest in J-pop culture until she happened to room with an obsessed fan of anime during her first year at UC San Diego. She doesn’t speak Japanese and has never been to Japan but within a few weeks she found herself sucked into the world of Japanese anime and now J-pop music like EXILE and Ito Yuna and the dorama “Hana Yori Dango” are among her favorites.
“After looking back at my initial interest in J-pop culture, I think that there had always been a part of me that wondered what made me ‘Japanese,’” said Iwata. “I look at the culture that is being portrayed and think to myself that if my ancestors didn’t make the journey to America, I would be living in this culture.”
Like Iwata, Yonsei Cindy Nakano, 22, got interested in J-pop culture, especially anime, after being introduced to it in college by her friends. Now she listens to J-pop music daily and her favorite anime include: “Bleach,” “Ranma ?,” and “Fruits Basket.”
“My generation is realizing that it doesn’t know enough about Japanese culture, and it’s a big enough feeling of loss to motivate various efforts to acquire some of that Japanese culture back,” said Nakano.
But these JA youth also realize that the story lines and portrayals they see on the J-dramas and the bubblegum cutesy J-pop stars and anime characters are not accurate representations of today’s Japan. They realize that what J-pop culture offers is entertainment, but it’s something they have found an interest in largely because of their own ancestral background.
“Honestly I feel like for me J-pop culture does not help me in getting in touch with my roots because the Japan that my ancestors came from is a different Japan from that represented in today’s J-pop culture,” said Nakano. “However, I do believe that J-pop culture can serve to inspire people to want to learn more about Japan but it is up to them to find ways to do that themselves.”
“As for music and J-dramas, I think that their popularity is growing because they aren’t upsettingly bad,” said Iwata who finds that today’s American pop culture holds nothing of interest for her. “I believe that at least for me, American pop culture has reached a low point, and J-pop culture provides new and different perspectives and content.”
A perusal of the Internet shows dozens and dozens of J-pop culture sites that get thousands of hits each day with bloggers professing their love for the latest hot J-pop music star. There’s such a vast variety of J-pop artists and the latest in J-dramas and anime, it’s a wonder these youth can keep up with all of the latest trends.
On J-fan.com there are 85 fan sites dedicated to Ayumi Hamasaki, a popular singer. And an Associated Press article recently named model and actress Yuri Ebihara, 26, as one of the most popular “cute” idols in Japan today.
Eric Nakamura, publisher of “Giant Robot,” a leading magazine on Asian pop culture, believes the popularity of Japanese pop culture among JA youth is nothing surprising.
“Japanese popular culture is popular outside of JA youth as well, but I do think there’s a natural curiosity about people’s ancestry especially if it might be perceived as being better,” he said. “Japan has always been technologically ahead at least in my generation, and knowing this makes ‘us’ somewhat curious and appreciative of what happens overseas.”
For many JA youth, their interest in J-pop culture comes from a natural curiosity about their heritage but it’s something that doesn’t need to be overanalyzed they say.
“I just think it’s kind of funny because Japanese Americans aren’t quite Japanese, but not just plain old American either. We take off our shoes when we enter a house, but we shake hands instead of bow to people. We’re a strange hybrid, and it’s nice to see where the other side comes from,” said Tsudama.
“At most, exposure to J-pop culture causes me to wonder about how I would be different if I had been raised in Japan instead of the U.S,” said Nakano. “Maybe more than trying to find out about their culture, today’s JAs are more stimulated by exploring the types of things they’d be experiencing if they were Japanese in this era and the most accessible way to do that is through J-pop media.”
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