"‘Sailor Moon’ condoms combat syphilis but heroine’s fans flustered by age issue"

Text and image from The Japan Times, 11/25/16.

The superheroine from the popular manga and anime series “Sailor Moon” has emerged once again to fight another evil — syphilis.

As a part of its campaign to raise awareness of sexually transmitted diseases, the health ministry will distribute 60,000 condoms wrapped in pink, heart-shaped packages adorned with the blond, doe-eyed character Usagi Tsukino.

The condoms, which call for STD testing on the wrappers, will be sent to 142 municipalities for distribution at events like World AIDS Day on Thursday and at Coming-of-Age-Day ceremonies in January, ministry officials said.

The ministry will also distribute 5,000 posters and 156,000 leaflets illustrated with the junior high school character and a slogan that says: “I will punish you if you don’t get tested!”

By turning to the popular character, the ministry aims to regain control over syphilis, which has made a rapid return among young people, said Kazunari Asanuma, head of the ministry’s Tuberculosis and Infectious Disease Control Division. He said the STD outbreak is especially serious among women in their 20s and men in their 20s to 40s.

According to the ministry, syphilis cases hit 2,697 in 2015, which is more than four times the 2010 level and the highest since the survey began in 1999. As of Nov. 6, cases were at 3,779 and climbing.

Patients infected with STDs like syphilis and AIDS usually don’t notice the symptoms for weeks or even years. The ministry believes early testing and appropriate use of condoms are effective means of prevention.

Although Asanuma says that “Sailor Moon” is popular with people of all sexual orientations and may prove useful in bringing up STDs among those too shy to discuss them, some Usagi Tsukino fans are upset the junior high school student is being used as the “campaign girl” to broach the topic.

“I don’t like it a bit. ‘Sailor Moon’ was a childhood heroine and a sacred figure for me. I still want her to be distant from this issue,” Twitter user @akaimihajiketa wrote Monday. “But I want the leaflet … I am still looking for words to explain my mixed feelings.”

“Sailor Moon,” created by Naoko Takeuchi, made its TV debut in 1992. The tale of magical schoolgirls has been aired in more than 50 countries and attracted millions of fans from around the world.

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/11/25/national/sailor-moon-condoms-combat-syphilis-heroines-fans-flustered-age-issue/

"Sailor Moon fights against spread of STIs on behalf of Japan’s health ministry"

Image and text from Japan Today, 11/24/16.

As the main star of an anime about magical high school girls fighting to protect the universe from forces of evil, this new collaboration between Sailor Moon and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to fight the spread of STIs in the community actually makes a whole lot of sense.

According to the official press release distributed by the ministry, the Pretty Guardian will now be appearing on 156,000 A4-sized leaflets and 5,000 A2-sized posters, with part of the star’s catchphrase, “In the name of the moon, I will punish you!!” reworked to read “If you don’t get tested, I will punish you!!” in the poster’s tagline.

The posters and leaflets will be distributed at coming-of-age ceremonies for the nation’s 20 year-olds around the country in January, along with a total of 142 local governments and groups such as the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention, the Japan Medical Association, the Japanese Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and the Japanese Foundation for Sexual Health Medicine set to receive the specially marked campaign materials for distribution.

In addition to the posters, the campaign materials will also include heart-shaped packages featuring an image of the sailor-suit wearing star of the anime series, with a free condom tucked away inside. The ministry will be distributing 60,000 of these specially marked packs.

Despite the cute appearance of the campaign, preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections is an issue that the government is taking very seriously. Cases of syphilis infections are reportedly on the rise in Japan, with records showing 2,697 people were infected with the disease in 2015, which is 4.3 times more than five years earlier, when 621 cases were reported in 2010. Furthermore, from the beginning of 2016 to mid-October, over 3,000 people contracted syphilis in Japan.

With a large number of females being infected with STIs like syphilis, the ministry wanted to find a way to connect with young women, ranging in age from teens to 30s, which resulted in them seeking out the cooperation of Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi for the new campaign. While it might seem like an unlikely collaboration, using the familiar face of the Pretty Guardian, who speaks to a wide generation of women across the country, might actually be the perfect way to help protect the population after all.

Source, image: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Press Release

Source: https://www.japantoday.com/category/health/view/sailor-moon-fights-against-spread-of-stis-on-behalf-of-japans-health-ministry

At least the government is finally doing something. But is cute manga/anime the cure for everything? Happy Thanksgiving!

"Japan’s picture ID before World War II"

Images and text borrowed from The Japan Times, 2/2/16.

[T]he Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo currently has an exhibition of tourism posters and other promotional material from the 1920s and ’30s. It is a fascinating and at times unusually beautiful glimpse into how different art movements, regional craft practices and the spirit of the times contribute to forming commercial visual culture.

Given that the function of a promotional poster is to seduce you, with perhaps only a few seconds in which to do it, you can expect to feel pandered to — complex history and culture, beautiful landscapes and far-east exoticism have been condensed into powerfully sweet eye-candy. A surprising range of media were employed in this, including traditional woodblock prints, painting and photography. For many of the exhibits, the level of creativity and design is very high, commensurate with the desire to show off Japan at its best.

Apart from this, the exhibition is a great opportunity to consider how Japan’s national identity was constructed in the interwar years. It should be no surprise that the “come hither” message relied heavily on sexuality to catch the viewer’s eye. Many of the posters use images of young women in kimono as a stand in for Japan as a whole.

In a 1911 poster for the South Manchurian Railway by artist Renzo Kita, a demure female companion sits across from us in a railway carriage with the sun setting behind an ancient stupa in the window behind her. The poster is sponsored by Thomas Cook, and is in the style of an Edwardian illustration. The copy tells us that the new rail link brings London “within a fortnight’s journey from Tokyo, Peking and Shanghai, thus saving much time and money, as well as the tedium of a long sea-voyage.”

Our female companion is depicted in a style characteristic of the Gothic period to portray aristocratic or sacred figures; languid, expressionless, elongated and pale. Her blue kimono is decorated with white lilies, symbolic of chastity and purity. On her obi is a butterfly, the symbol of the soul, and perhaps a nod to the opera by Puccini, which had premiered seven years earlier. The undergarment below the kimono is a warm ruddy orange, and using a visual pun common to shunga (erotic prints), appears at the edge of the sleeves as wrinkled slit-shaped orifices. The artist seems to be the same Renzo Kita who later created the solemn historical painting “Last Moments of Admiral Yamaguchi,” which commemorates the admiral’s death in the 1942 Battle of Midway.

...

“Visit Japan: Tourism Promotion in the 1920s and 1930s” at the The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo runs until Feb. 28; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. ¥430 (includes admission to the “MOMAT Collection”). Closed Mon.

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/02/02/arts/japans-picture-id-world-war-ii/

Exhibition website: http://www.momat.go.jp/english/am/exhibition/visit_japan/

HIV Check-up and Cold/Flu Prevention Posters in the Center for International Education

I was happily surprised to see a poster promoting HIV check-ups on the lonely wall across from the student lounge at the Center for International Education (CIE) at my university yesterday morning. By the end of the day there was a cold/flu prevention poster next to it. Aside from an old and torn poster about sexually transmitted diseases at the university health center (that recommends not having sex or at least not being promiscuous as the best ways to avoid HIV and other STDs - no mention of safe sex or condoms) this was the first HIV-specific poster I have ever seen at my university. I asked a CIE administrator and he told me it was placed there by the university health center.

The timing of the poster coincides with World AIDS Day, which is today, December 1st. Usually this is one of the few occasions in Japan when the problem of HIV/AIDS gets wide coverage in the media. This poster encourages people to get checked for HIV infection. It promises anonymous testing at local health clinics for free. There is no direct mention of prevention or education. (There is a hotline number and website included at the bottom of the poster.) Some might suggest that the "I" in HIV appears to be a condom - a subversive attempt to suggest safe sex?

The second poster, intended as advice for students from the CIE, says that the cold weather ("samui desu ne") season is coming so please don't forget to gargle and wash your hands. So this poster suggests ways to prevent colds and flu. Very nice - I hope the students heed this advice.

It would be nice if the HIV poster had prevention advice as well. Colds and flu can be prevented but HIV can only be tested for? When I asked the CIE administrator about the poster he was helpful and interested. His first question was about so-called HIV "patients" and how to deal with them. This seems to be a common approach rather than thinking about education, prevention, counseling and treatment. I don't mean to be critical of the administrator as he displayed real concern for the issues and the students. Nor do I mean to be critical of the health center - hopefully this is a start on their part in addressing HIV/AIDS at the university. (A colleague told me that he saw HIV information cards during a recent trip to the health center as well.) I should also mention that the Asian Studies Program has had a sexual health component (created primarily by one faculty member) as part of its orientation program for the last several years. But there is no such orientation for the local (and majority of) students on campus. Other faculty members in the ASP bring up these issues in class.

VAOJ has long been interested with the problematic HIV/AIDS situation in Japan, beginning with a research project examining HIV/AIDS in the Japanese Deaf World. HIV/AIDS continues to increase in Japan (along with the spread of other STDs). VAOJ advocates discourse on this subject from multiple and many varied perspectives. Ignorance, stigma and silence do nothing but add to the problem; please participate and contribute to open dialogues.

Click here for previous coverage of HIV/AIDS on VAOJ.

Just say no... in Japan.

Image borrowed from Japan Today, 3/15/14. Caption reads: What do you think of this ad by the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations warning people to be aware of the danger of marijuana. It features Monster Engine, a comedy duo from Osaka, and says Dame Zettai or Absolutely No.

The bottom text includes the kanji characters for cannabis (大麻 or taima) and marijuana written in katakana (マリファナ or marifana). The text on the right side of the image can be translated as "the wrath of the gods." Monster Engine seems to have skits where they portray the play of the gods. Here is a YouTube clip to get an idea of who these guys are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJODLiCIvS8

I'm not sure whoever made this poster was thinking. Japan and the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations need to reassess their ideas about marijuana, especially when countries, states and communities have lax laws or even support medical and/or recreational uses of it. An acquaintance of mine recently went to consult his English speaking Japanese doctor about stress related illnesses both mental and physical. The doctor prescribed handfuls of pills without explaining possible side effects. My acquaintance did some simple research on the internet and found many negative side effects of the stress relieving prescriptions, including addiction, depression and sexual dysfunction that would not go away for two years after the use of the drugs. At their next meeting my acquaintance asked the doctor about medical marijuana in Japan. The doctor just laughed... "Oh! Not in Japan!"

I recently had a cold and went to the doctor and requested a prescription for a strong cough syrup. He seemed confused. Both my Japanese interpreter and I extensively explained what I wanted and he seemed to understand. When I took the prescription to the drug store I was handed four different sets of pills and no cough syrup. The doctor didn't seem to understand in the end, or perhaps he thought he knew best and simply prescribed drugs made by company members of the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations.

It would be nice if individuals had the opportunity, choice and respect to collaborate in their own health... And not be subject to such blatantly biased (and misinformed) propaganda. (Sorry for the rant. Being sick sucks no matter where you are...)

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/crock-pot

Body/Comm Spring 2012 Poster Workshop: Beauty in Contemporary Japan

Beauty in Contemporary Japan was once again taken up by students of "The Body and Communication in Japan" class during a recent poster workshop session. Students balanced academic sources and their own observations of beautiful women and men (both were assigned as homework) in their creative endeavors. Common themes included youthful cuteness, thinness, light skin (from products and through genetics via the popular half Japanese phenomena), small faces and big eyes (and various methods to accomplish these goals), shorts to emphasize/create long, shapely legs, fingernail art and accessories. See each poster for more details. Students will next take up fashion and other forms of body ornamentation (tattoos, body pierces) to explore the ultimate question of how body image and presentation contribute to communication.

Click here to see posters from previous semesters.

Cute "Subway Manners"

A reminder to mind your manners on the train, even if you have been drinking...

Image from today's Japan Today's "Picture of the Day."
Link: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/subway-manners

UPDATE 2/3/12:

Another poster in the series...

Link: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/good-manners

"Posters convey victims' hopeful messages"

Image borrowed from "A Beacon of Rebirth Poster Project."

From The Daily Yomiuri Online, June 14, 2011:

Posters that feature devastated residents of Kamaishi and Otsuchicho in Iwate Prefecture and carry messages of hope, inspiration and determination to recover have attracted people's attention.

The posters, produced by a 32-year-old advertising company employee in Morioka and others, have drawn reaction from overseas after they were introduced via the Internet.

On a visit to Kamaishi at the end of March, the 32-year-old man was moved by his encounters with people who had not abandoned their hope for the future even after losing everything. He decided to start the "'A Beacon of Rebirth' Poster Project" to inform people in other parts of Iwate Prefecture of their positive attitudes.

He asked his cameraman friend to take photos of the devastated people in Kamaishi and Otsuchicho against a background of debris. Based on interviews with the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the man and his company colleague came up with slogans and included messages from victims to accompany the photos.

At first, the posters were displayed only at izakaya pubs and other locations in the prefecture. However, when the friend publicized the project on his Twitter account, messages from Internet users flooded in, including many from those who said they were moved by the project.

The man and his friend started a Web site at once and began to sell posters featuring the people of Kamaishi in sets of 13 at a price of 3,675 yen. They received more than 500 orders for the B-3 size posters by e-mail not only from within Japan, but also from overseas, including China and the United States.

The pair have also decided to translate the messages into English by August and sell the posters overseas. All of the profits will be donated to disaster relief funds.

Takeichi Kimigahora, 33, who works for a marine products company in Kamaishi and aims to revive scallop fishing in the coastal Sanriku district in the prefecture, appears in a poster with his message of hope: "Don't give up! My scallops call out to me."

Kimigahora said, "I want to promote scallops in Sanriku for people I knew in the fishing industry who were killed in the disaster."

The message carried with a photo of Ryoichi Sasaki, 44, who clears rubble for a building maintenance company in Kamaishi, says, "Making memories, even out of mud and dust."

"All I wanna do is play ball, please...god." This message comes from Yuta Furusaki, 14, a third-year student at Kamaishi Higashi Middle School. He lost his baseball glove in the tsunami, then later received one as a donation. "My school was destroyed, but I'm glad if my message conveyed to people overseas how much I enjoy playing baseball," he said.

The posters can be found on the Web at: http://fukkou-noroshi.jp/

Link: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110613004853.htm

Announcement: "Poster Power: Images from Mao's China, Then and Now"

Announcement from H-ASIA:

The Contemporary China Centre at the University of Westminster presents:

"Poster Power: Images from Mao's China, Then and Now"

Dates: 11 May 2011 - 14 July 2011
Location: The University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London

Posters from Mao's China exercise an enduring appeal to audiences across the globe, more than sixty years after the events that produced them. They are revisited in modern and contemporary Chinese art and commercial design, and curated in exhibitions in China, the US and Europe.

So why does imagery produced to support a revolutionary ideology half a century ago continue to resonate with current Chinese and Western audiences? What is the China we see between posters of the Mao years and their contemporary consumerist reinventions? How do we explain the diverse responses such imagery evokes? And what does the appeal of the posters of Mao's China tell us about the country's 'red legacy'?

Poster Power explores some of these questions through setting up a visual dialogue between posters produced between the 1950s and the 1970s and their echoes in recent years. With posters from the University of Westminster's Chinese Poster Collection, Chinese video art, documentary film, photographs, and contemporary items such as playing cards and nightclub advertising, the exhibition invites viewers to explore the posters' ambiguities of appeal to their audiences. As visual reminders of both autocratic rule and exuberant youthful idealism, they evoke diverse responses, challenging the idea that Cultural Revolution poster propaganda transmitted a single, transparent meaning. These posters' capacity to inspire ambiguous responses opens up new narratives of what remains a complex period of China's recent past, and sheds light on its changing significance in contemporary China.

Website:
http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about/news-and-events/events/2011/poster-power

Spring 2011 Body/Comm Japan Beauty Poster Workshop

Spring has sprung and once again Body/Comm students are contemplating beauty in Japan: this semester's poster workshop, tempered with research and discussion, produced creative illustrations of cool, cute, sexy, and western influences combined with leg-enhancing, eye-opening, nail decorating and slim/youthful body manipulations that make up notions of contemporary beauty in Japan.

Great stuff this semester! Thanks for all of your efforts. Click here to see posters from previous semesters.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Fall 2010 Body/Comm Poster Workshop

Beauty entails paying special attention to specific problem areas.

Beauty expressed in advertisements entails computer generated imagery.

Beauty entails sexy poses inspired by animals.

Body/Comm students working on their posters.

Once again Body/Comm students earnestly researched and created posters about ideal body image and beauty in Japan. Commons themes included working on and fixing specific problem areas through make-up, surgery, enhancement products and weight loss devices and the impossibly of a living ideal body. Kinda depressing this semester... Anyway here are their posters:

See posters from previous semesters here.

Beauty in Contemporary Japan: Spring 2010 Body/Comm Poster Workshop

Once again Body/Comm students are searching for beauty in contemporary Japan. In this semester's poster workshop, students cut and pasted images from fashion magazines to illustrate recent trends. Consistent themes included big eyes, skinny legs and bodies (and the diets, cremes and other methods to attain them), fair skin (and methods to attain it if you are not half Japanese), accessories and boots. See what each group came up with:






See posters from previous semesters here.

Body/Comm Fall 2009 Poster Workshop: Beauty in Contemporary Japan

It's that time of year again when Body/Comm students ponder the meaning of beauty in contemporary Japan. What are the criteria for beauty in Japan and how does one get and retain beauty (if not already naturally endowed)? We read Spievogel and Miller for an anthropological context of beauty. We explored cosmetic surgery and watched Beauty Coliseum. We discussed fashion and accessories. Putting all of our research and discussion into application, we made posters to illustrate beauty in Japan. What I found to be most interesting this semester was that more attention was paid to men than in the past. This is not to say that there have never been any beautiful/handsome men before. Perhaps the interest in men is a result of the latest trendy term, herbivore men. These are, apparently, men who aren't as interested in sex and female conquest as they are in their own fashion and looks. While there might be some truth to these claims, one needs to be careful not to jump to conclusions about sexual orientation and a lack of masculinity. Also, these herbivore men seem to be the latest to blame the ills of Japanese society on following the likes of parasite singles, freeters, NEETs and hikikomori. But I digress. Let's get back to beauty and see what the students came up with this semester. Click on the photos to see more details on the posters. Enjoy.







Click here to see photos from previous semesters' workshops.