Weird Japan - Zen Pet Boom?

Conan the Chihuahua prays with his master at a Zen temple in Okinawa (Image borrowed from MSNBC.com.). Read the whole story:

Link to story at MSNBC.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23774245/wid/11915773/

In Body/Comm class we discuss many different examples of Japanese gesture. This semester we have discussed Buddhist mudras, our favorite coming from the story of Buddha and the Drunk Elephant. Yesterday we were analyzing the para para and other dance gestures in Maeken's Trance Project video. All of these things seemed to come together in the Zen dog story above.

But we might want to ask, is this visual anthropology? Or yet another example of weird Japan? There are a number of blogs that deal with weird aspects of Japan and Asia that have some great photos and videos. The danger of these blogs of course is the representation of Japan as being uniformly weird. Japan is often stereotyped as a homogeneous nation, so when we see these weird things, we might believe that such things are normal to the Japanese when in fact they are not. Japan has a population of over 127.4 million people all squeezed into an area slightly smaller than the state of California. So it makes sense that weirdness and creativity run rampant. Check out these sites for more doses of weirdness; place the photos and stories in a larger context and we might indeed have some data for visual anthropology...

Tokyo Mango: Everything you ever wanted to know about the birth city of Godzilla, Gundam, all-you-can-eat shabu shabu, panty vending machines, and me.
http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/

An Englishman in Osaka: he's english, he's a man, and he's in osaka.
http://anenglishmaninosaka.blogspot.com/

TV in Japan: This is what TV is like. In Japan.
http://tvinjapan.com/

Weird Asia News brings the best of weird, strange, funny, odd, and just plain crazy news and stories from the lands of the Far East. We have 6 authors who dedicate their time to bringing you the best breaking news possible.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/

If you have some recommendations for similar sites, please share via a comment.

Spring Break 2008 in Osaka

This is a completely self-indulgent post by the author who apparently is becoming a real blogger more and more everyday... With a few days off I was able to explore my city and take hundreds of photographs. Here are some that I like the best. Click on the way too many links for more information on particular items featured in the photos.

Aloha! Who is Hawaiian and who is Japanese? (This one and only photo taken in Tenri-shi, actually...)

Early hanami at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park.

Spring activities at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park.

Many ways to relax at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park.

Dotombori's oh so many sights...

Taking pictures of people taking pictures of their friends with a famous Osaka character, Guriko-man.

Different paths of life in Namba.

Den Den Town: home of multitudes of electronics shops and otaku stuffs.

Also in Den Den Town: A maid massage parlor on the third floor; cosplay space on the second floor.

Shinsekai with Tsutenkaku Tower in the background.

Cleaning Billiken; although not originally from Osaka, he has become an important symbol of Osaka.

Sumo. These shots are from the Spring Basho (Day 12) at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. These are lower ranked wrestlers that fought early in the day. The matches start at 8:50 AM and last until almost 6:00 PM.

I took over 200 pictures at the basho. This one I worked the hardest for - trying to get a shot of the purifying salt throwing.

You can see more of my sumo pictures here.

Now the break is over - back to work we go. 頑張りましょう！

New Camera (not a product endorsement...)

Kids front and center

Do you know how to take a decent photograph of your kids? Sony, apparently, thinks not, which is why it has just introduced a Cyber-shot camera with something it calls “Child Priority Mode.”

The DSC-T300 (10.1 megapixels, 5x optical zoom) is capable of picking out any kids in the frame and automatically shooting a snap off when they smile. Any adults involved can look like death warmed over for all Sony cares, as long as they pay for the wretched thing and are happy to be ignored by the smart snapper.

From (the newly reformatted) Japan Today, March 24, 2008
http://www.japantoday.com/category/new-products/view/kids-front-and-center

Now how does this thing work? Are there other priority modes? What kinds of priority modes would you like for your camera?

Some Thoughts on Photographing in Public

(Image and caption borrowed from The Daily Yomiuri, March 22, 2008, p. 3)

This post continues from a recent entry and subsequent discussion on the ethics and responsibilities of visual anthropologists photographing people in public places. I have been researching this topic during the spring break and find myself with a lot of data and sources to go through before I can make a coherent report. But in the meantime here are two recent news articles dealing with this subject. The first is about a secret shot of the reclusive Meiji Emperor sniped by a professional photographer.

Secretly taken photograph of Emperor Meiji released

A secretly taken photograph of Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) has been made public for the first time--nearly 100 years after a student at an Imperial Japanese Army accounting school had a photographer surreptitiously snap the shot at a graduation ceremony in 1911.

Few photographs of the camera-shy emperor exist, and very little is known of pictures taken by private citizens of the emperor at a time when the act of taking photographs was deemed disrespectful, so the picture is expected to draw considerable interest.

Tsuneo Ando, 83, a former company executive of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, has donated copies of the photograph given to him by his father to places including Togo Shrine in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, as he believes it is of historical value.

The picture shows the emperor attending a graduation ceremony at an Imperial Japanese Army accounting school in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, on May 16, 1911--the year before his death.

In the picture, the emperor is being led by the school's principal along a carpet rolled out on the school grounds from a tent bearing the Imperial crest of the chrysanthemum. Senior army officers are standing in a row in the background saluting him.

Ando's father, Noboru, a student at the school in its seventh graduating class, reportedly secretly asked a professional photographer to take a picture from the second floor of the school building.

From: The Daily Yomiuri Online, March 22, 2008


Are there still occasions today when the act of taking photographs is disrespectful?

The second article comes from Wm. Penn's TELEVIEW column that appears in The Daily Yomiuri every Friday. In a recent column he questions the use of photos taken in public.

TELEVIEW / TV raises questions in more ways than one

Am I the only one who finds CNN's use of other people's tragedies in the network's "distinctive journalism" commercials offensive? The scenes of little children and old men sifting through the rubble of their homes in the Middle East or an African child about to lose his parents to AIDS were definitely examples of distinctive reporting when they happened. But playing the scenes over and over again a dozen times a day now to advertise CNN seems like using their pain for profit. Or is it only me?

Link to "TELEVIEW / TV raises questions in more ways than one" at The Daily Yomiuri Online:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20080314TDY16002.htm

No, it is not only you, Mr. Penn. The use of photos taken in public that exploit the subjects and serve to profit the photographer remains problematic. The news media is not exempt, nor unfortunately are anthropologists. It is my hope to reconcile Japanese media standards, privacy laws and anthropological ethics to come up with some guidelines to share with students of visual anthropology. Any advice in this endeavor is greatly appreciated. Stayed tuned...

Globalization in Kobe Fieldtrip Spring 2008

Another new semester, another globalization trip to Kobe... It was a great time - the weather was perfect for our walking tour of Kitano, Nankin-machi and the harbor area. Here are the usual group pictures, in Google video form:



Click here to get still group pictures.

Below are some photos taken by fieldtrip participants. I was hoping to get a few more but I will post what I have received so far. Feel free to send more photos if you wish... How do the following photos illustrate Globalization in Japan?






Photos by Antti.

Photo by Yurie.

...[M]y best globalization picture. I found it in Chinatown and it's funny because it said in French "product of China Popular Republic" and you have Arabic too but I can't read it. So it's from China but the package is written in French and Arabic, weird! Photo and text by Camille.






Photos by Csaba.

Sherlock Holmes in Kobe? Apparently SHE is alive and well in Kitano.

A sampling of Chinese food goodies available on the street. Yum...

All sorts of oriental(ist) treasures can be found in various shops.

Weddings are plentiful in Kobe, especially western style weddings. Here is a close-up of a ceremony at a wedding chapel near the harbor.

We weren't the only ones watching the wedding... They are popular tourist attractions. Photos and text by Steven.

See posts from previous Kobe fieldtrips here.

Another first...

VAOJ received its first obscene comment and link about this post from March 17. My apologies to anyone who saw it and/or was offended by it. The comment was in Japanese and I wonder how it got there... Anyway I turned back on that pesky word verification function for comments; I don't want to turn into a fascist moderator. But as you know, I am new to these things. What do you think? Should I be happy about the obscene link (does it mean people or machines are reading the blog?) or concerned? Is moderation really necessary for blog post comments? What does this say open open access and collaboration?

Another "Yasukuni" Update

VAOJ readers have been following the story about the controversial documentary film "Yasukuni" directed by Li Ying. Now it turns out a movie theater in Tokyo has decided against showing the film for fear of inconveniencing its neighbors.

According to the theater spokesperson, "The film is talked about so much that it may create trouble and we don't want to cause inconvenience to building tenants."

Read more about the story at Japan Today.

Link to "Tokyo cinema decides against screening 'Yasukuni' documentary"
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431475

Also in the news today is a story about a teachers' union suing a hotel for canceling a reservation and contract for a venue for their meeting. The hotel canceled because it feared actions against the union from right wing extremist groups. Read more...

Link to Teachers union chief criticizes Prince Hotel for not letting them hold meeting
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431431

What is going on here? Businesses are deciding not to let people see controversial films and teachers hold union meetings. Are the lines being drawn? Business to the right? All to avoid inconvenience? Again, what is going on? Big black trucks blast loud music and propaganda not so the people can hear it but to drown out other voices. VAOJ is certainly not hiding its biases, but the major issue here is an unwillingness for dialogue and discussion. And of course visual anthropologists want to see the film... Hopefully coming to a theater near you (Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka) on April 12. Please check your local listing. Or ask a teacher...

Update to the Update (March 26, 2008): Read more about one of the film's producers, Ai Wan, in Japan Today: http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment-arts/view/from-china-doll-to-yasukuni-shrine

Hair!

Another announcement from the Society for Cultural Anthropology listserv. This session seems perfect for visual anthropology...

Call for papers for a Volunteered Session at 2008 AAA Meeting in San Francisco

Hair, Pubic and Beyond

This session sets out to explore the complex intersections between hair practices, particular forms of human hair, and their connections to larger global markets. The aim is to undress human hair practices, to disentangle local and personal meanings, especially as they are related to "economies of choice" and issues of identity and self, articulated in practices of consumption. As Obeyeskere argued in Medusa's Hair, the hair of the head is culturally elaborated to publicly denote categories of gender, age, sex, and sexuality, at the same time that it is linked, both sensuously and symbolically, to personal and emotional understandings of selfhood. Hair is also implicated in wider processes of globalization, especially in relation to the interaction of groups and individuals with fashion trends. Hairstyles have been set apart by anthropologists, especially in relation to globalization and cultural change, diametrically as either "traditional" or "modern/fashionable." It is not enough, however, to assume that "modern" hairstyles, or the commodified dressing of hair are simply adopted forms and practices that signify consumers as a unified category of personhood. Rather, by considering localized histories and personal choices involved in the dressing of hair, structural constraints, the making of the self through hair practices and consumer practices, can fruitfully be explored.

Pubic hair and the hair of the body are also embedded in these processes. However, there has been a tendency in anthropology to consider pubic hair and body hair as different analytical categories to the hair of the head. How does the recent growth in the availability of consumer products and services, in the form of waxes and dyes, shaping and laser-removal, and the much celebrated "Brazilian" in North America, fit into a person's bodily practices of selfhood? How might these practices provide possibilities for exploring questions of sexuality and sexualization as individuals adopt and seek to define themselves in relation to these relatively emergent consumer practices? If pubic and body hair are seen as critical sites for exploring the connections between desire, pleasure, sexuality, consumption and selfhood, how are these constructed, negotiated, rejected and defined in relation to new consumer products? And how can the adoption of hairstyles, whether pubic or otherwise, be understood anthropologically as both embedded in political economies of consumption under capitalism and as processes of meaning creation for individual subjects?

Please contact :

Angelique Lalonde (PhD Candidate, Anthropology) University of
Victoria, SSHRC Fellow angeliquelalonde@gmail.com

Again, this seems like a great opportunity for a visual anthropology project. And Japan would certainly offer an interesting setting for such a study...

Exhibition: Disconnected Joints

NU+MAN presents Disconnected Joints featuring Dada Docot and Jong Pairez

This exhibition opens march 20, 2008 in Tokyo. Dada is a visual anthropologist and author of the interesting blog, "Here, there, and somewhere else." Below is an excerpt of the description of her upcoming show.

Dada Docot, a masters graduate of the University of Tokyo, who has combined random concepts about gender with the visual, is showing a video documentation of a performance staged at Shinagawa train station. In her work, she provides a critique of the general attitude of Japanese society towards foreigners in the country, highlighting an instance of racial profiling on a particularly "normal" day in Tokyo.

For more information visit the exhibition's website:

Link to Disconnected Joints
http://disconnectedjoints.kulturavolunteers.org/

Update: Documentary Film "Yasukuni"

(Movie poster; image borrowed from China.org.cn)

There is a lot of buzz about the documentary film, Yasukuni, that I wrote about last October. Apparently the filmmaker received some sort of Japanese government subsidy to make the film. With this as a possible excuse, some Japanese lawmakers got a special sneak preview of the film to judge its tone and make sure it is not overly anti-Japanese. Read more in the story reported in today's Japan Today.

Link to story in Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/430857

Also, apparently the filmmakers have been threatened by Japanese right wing groups.

Link to story at Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080220/film_nm/japan_dc_1#

A synopsis of the film can be found at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival webpage.

Link to Yasukuni
http://filmguide.festival.asianamericanmedia.org/tixSYS/2008/filmguide/eventnote.php?EventNumber=1124¬epg=1

Many blogs have been reporting on this subject as well. Here is an interesting post from Tokyomango.

Link to "Yasukuni: A Documentary Explores the Ethics of War Memory" at Tokyomango
http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/03/post.html

The film is scheduled to be released in Japan in April.