The Making and Marking of The ‘Japanese’ and the ‘Western’ in Japanese Contemporary Material Culture

Abstract

This article uses the analysis of sets of contemporary Japanese cultural materials in order to explore the dynamics of the significant process of making and marking of the ‘Japanese’ and the ‘Western’ in contemporary Japanese culture. Through the observation of material culture - mainly food and clothing - in its public presentational arenas, it aims at reaching a better understanding of the processes in which the foreign and the local interact in this so-called era of globalization. Both the ‘Western’ and the ‘Japanese’ are illustrated as cultural constructs. The distinction between them is not based on objective classification. Their cultural making and marking is described on the background of the formation of the modern Japanese culture and cultural identity.

The Banality of Boundaries: Performance of the Nation in a Japanese Television Comedy

“…This trend attempts to document and explain how this phenomenon is collectively maintained and manifests in different facets of public life (e.g. Clammer, 2001;Hogan, 1999;Goldstein-Gidoni, 2001;McVeigh, 2000McVeigh, , 2004Nagatani and Tanaka, 1998;Takeda, 2008;Tsuruta, 1998). The current argument is situated within this trend.…”

“…For example, Takeda (2008: 24-25) focuses on food nationalism in Japan, suggesting that food discourses contribute towards the reproduction of 'Japanese' minds and bodies, and arguing that food discourses draw upon well-known stereotypical Japanese foods (sushi, rice, edamame), which further fix their semiotic relationships to a cultural 'Japaneseness' (see also Goldstein-Gidoni, 2001;McVeigh, 2004). In fact, it is the nature of the production of television as both a material process and a textual construction that leads to the category of the nation to be reproduced.…”

The contradictions of pop nationalism in the mangaGate: Thus the JSDF Fought There!

“…While wartime Japanese nationalism was marked by absolute devotion to Japan (chuukun aikoku) and absolute obedience to the emperor (zettai fukujuu), petit nationalism is a casual love of country displayed through national sporting events, interest in the Japanese language, and the learning of traditional Japanese crafts. Some writers (Hiroko 2008;Goldstein-Gidoni 2001;Perkins 2010) have equated petit nationalism with Michael Billig's (1995) 'banal nationalism'. However, while both concepts identify a casual form of nationalism there are important differences.…”

“Text, Textiles andTechnê”: On the Barthesian Myth of the T-shirt

“…Instead, both cloth and clothing are celebrated as social products, a textile "dispositif" that ties together the dialectical conflicts of: production/ consumption; utility/beauty; the gift/the commodity; and symbolic communication/the materiality of colors, designs, and shapes. Thus, the material culture of cloth and clothing speak not just about textile and style; they also speak about consumption (Dietler 2010: 223), about capitalism (Schneider 2006), about cultural dispositions between East and West (Goldstein-Gidoni 2001), about commodification (Reddy 1988), in short, about broader debates of social values. As the anthropologist Kaori O'Connor (2005: 44) suggests:…”