Eva's guide to Tokyo and other places

Μαθήματα ιαπωνικών

2016-12-18T10:29:00.002-08:00

Ηρθε ο καιρός να γίνει και μια ανάρτηση στα ελληνικά, καθώς τα τελευταία 2 χρόνια είμαι πλέον μόνιμη κάτοικος Αθηνών χωρίς καμία διάθεση μετακίνησης ξανά 😏😏😏

Χαίρομαι για όσους ανακάλυψαν το μπλογκ έστω και στα Αγγλικά και ευχαριστώ για την επικοινωνία σας.

Θα ήθελα λοιπόν να σας ενημερώσω οτι εδώ και 2 χρόνια διδάσκω Ιαπωνικά και στην Ελλάδα (μετά τη Σουηδία) και όποιος ενδιαφέρεται για μαθήματα, είτε ιδιαίτερα, είτε σε χώρο φροντιστηρίου, μπορεί να επικοινωνήσει μαζί μου.

ABOUT ME:

🎓Είμαι απόφοιτος Ιαπωνικού Πανεπιστημίου (ισοδύναμο επάρκειας) International Budo University - 国際武道大学 - έχοντας ζήσει 5 χρόνια στην Ιαπωνία. Ως διερμηνέας Ιαπωνικών έχω συνεργαστεί με Πρεσβεία Ελλάδος στο Τόκιο, ΕΟΤ Τόκιο, Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης, TV Tokyo κ.α. Πλήρες βιογραφικό μπορείτε να βρείτε στο https://gr.linkedin.com/in/eva-angelaka-12442b30

🎓Έχω μεταπτυχιακό MSc Ασιατικών Σπουδών με specialisation στην Ιαπωνία από το πανεπιστήμιο Lund Σουηδίας και ως ερευνήτρια πήρα υποτροφία για το Waseda University (Τόκιο).

INFO:

💡 Το μάθημα προσαρμόζεται και αλλάζει ανάλογα με τις ανάγκες του μαθητή. Για παράδειγμα, δεν είναι ίδιες οι ανάγκες κάποιου που ενδιαφέρεται για τις εξετάσεις επάρκειας στην Ιαπωνική γλώσσα ή την εισαγωγή σε ιαπωνικό πανεπιστήμιο, με κάποιου που εργάζεται στον τουρισμό ή σε ναυτιλιακή.

💡Θα ήθελα να επισημάνω οτι οι εξετάσεις επάρκειας της Ιαπωνικής γλώσσας ΔΕΝ περιλαμβάνουν προφορική εξέταση. Προσωπικά θεωρώ πιο ολοκληρωμένο μέσα στο μάθημα να κάνουμε και αρκέτα προφορικά, καθώς η καθομιλουμενη Ιαπωνική είναι μια ζωντανή γλώσσα. Ειδικά αν κάποιος θέλει να επισκεφθεί ή να εργαστεί στην Ιαπωνία, χρειάζεται να έχει άνεση στα προφορικά.

💡Ένας από τους σημαντικότερους λόγους που το λέω αυτό, είναι διότι στην Ιαπωνία και ειδικά στις μεγάλες πόλεις, πινακίδες στα Αγγλικά υπάρχουν παντού οπότε είναι πολύ εύκολο να κυκλοφορήσει κανείς. Όμως οι περισσότεροι Ιάπωνες δεν μιλούν Αγγλικά επειδή α) είναι τελειομανείς και ντρέπονται να μιλήσουν αν οι ίδιοι δεν θεωρούν το επίπεδό τους αρκετά καλό και β) αν μιλούν, έχουν μια πολύ ιδιαίτερη προφορά την οποία συνήθως μόνο οι γείτονες τους -της ΄Απω Ανατολής- καταλαβαίνουν. Aυτό συμβαίνει επειδή έχουν συλλαβικό αλφάβητο (πχ. sa, shi, su, se, so, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, na, ni, nu, ne, no) που τους κάνει να μεταγλωττίζουν ακόμα και τα αγγλικά με βάση αυτό ( πχ. girl= gaaru, christmas tree= kurisumasu tsuri, Australia= osutoraria κλπ), πράγμα που κάνει την προφορά τους ακατανόητη στους περισσότερους τουρίστες.

Για να μην πολυλογώ, τα υπόλοιπα από κοντά 🎌

Women's face shaving in Japan

2015-04-26T13:41:00.001-07:00

I was very surprised the first time I saw women's facial razors at the conbini.. Anyone tried it?

The Secret to Flawless Japanese Skin Care

By Yumi Nakata

(Source: http://blog.gaijinpot.com/secret-to-flawless-japanese-skin/ )

Japanese women are known for their beautiful skin. We don’t just have good genes (although it is one of the contributing factors), but we often use different types of toners and lotions that contain ingredients that improve the skin texture and the complexion. Aging cannot be avoided entirely, but a healthy Japanese diet and lifestyle combined with skin products seem to keep our skin looking healthy and young.

…but there is one more secret to our flawless skin!

This may surprise you, but many women in Japan shave their face.

Not all Japanese women shave their face, but it is definitely a more common practice skin care regime in Japan than in western societies. I started to do it when my Japanese roommate in college introduced me to this unique practice. She had the most beautiful skin and she told me that shaving it got rid of her facial fuzz while enhancing skin’s exfoliation process and also toners and lotions seemed to work better when applied to the shaved skin. Of course, shaving also made cosmetic products such as foundations to blend in and create a smooth surface of our skin.

Whether shaving really helps us maintain our flawless skin or not, it certainly seems to keep our skin clean and once you start shaving your skin, it is hard to stop. What surprises many foreigners is that many Japanese hair salons offer face shaving services for women!

When I was traveling with my American girlfriend, she was actually surprised to find out I shaved my arms. She said she shaved her legs but didn’t realize that Japanese women shaved the arms. We have dark hair so it wasn’t even a question for us, but I didn’t tell her about face shaving as I did not want to creep her out.

Another interesting fact about this is that although Japanese women shave their face, arms, and legs, waxing bikini line isn’t as common. Many women prefer to go au natural down there, but this is slowly changing as more Japanese women watch American TV shows like Sex in the City.

Steps to shaving your face properly

– make sure to thoroughly clean your face, and remove all makeup.

– apply shaving cream and use a new razor (I use a five blade women’s razor). Don’t press a razor too hard on your face. Apply it lightly and shave it so you feel as if you are gently putting foundation on with a sponge.

– once it’s done, wash your face with cleansing soap and rinse your razor thoroughly and keep it in a dry place.

– use cotton pads to apply toner on your face and finish it with lotions. If you have acne prone skin, you should use oil free products and also make sure not to shave when your skin when it is breaking out as shaving, can cause irritation to sensitive skins.

I highly recommend that you try this new skin care routine. Trying it once isn’t going to hurt your skin and you could be pleasantly surprised with your new soft skin. But be sure to follow the proper protocols stated above! Please let me know your thoughts on this and I will be answering any questions you may have.

Orientalism

2015-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Reading again and again -on various sites and blogs- accounts of Europeans in Japan and their absolute "expert" opinions on what the East is.. All it comes to my mind is how contemporary Said still is with his "Orientalism"..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_%28book%29

http://www.odsg.org/Said_Edward(1977)_Orientalism.pdf

(Picture taken from Wikipedia)

My pumpkin soup recipe - Xmas special

2015-01-11T07:47:00.002-08:00

Well, I usually don't blog about recipes but that's the one I get asked about and I thought it's a nice thing to do during Christmas/ winter.

It's quite an easy recipe but just requires some time and.. mess.

What we need:

- a pumpkin, small to medium sized
- some leek (one or half)
- a teaspoonful of minced ginger
- Cream (I use reduced fat or soy cream)
- Orange peel and the juice of the orange (optional)
Spices: pepper, turmeric (kurkuma), pine nuts

And of course, inspired by my years in Japan, I sprinkle a little Japanese toogarashi in the end

Tōgarashi: 七味唐辛子 (see wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shichimi). Avoid if you don't like spicy. As for me, it's my little treasure and I eat it on almost everything.

The Japanese Tougarashi

When cooking, I never use or count specific amounts of anything, so just use the ingredients in amount according to your taste and sense. More ginger or the Japanese toogarashi will make it spicier, the orange will make it sweeter and so on.

(I also never use salt but you can add it, of course. With all the spices, it's quite as tasty without salt though).

Preparation:

1) Peel the pumpkin's skin using a potato peeler and cut it in as many pieces as you can (not easy as it's very hard, uncooked). This is the messiest part

2) Put the pumpkin pieces and the leek into boiling water, until the pieces are soft and easily cut.
In the meantime, chop the ginger using a Moulinette type multi-cutter or stabmixer. It should come out pasty, without ginger "hairs " that get stuck in teeth, so it needs a powerful cutting tool ( in lack of, you can use dried ginger powder but the taste won't come out as sharp).

3) When the pumpkin- leek are boiled, put all the pieces into the Moulinette cutter or just use the stabmixer until they become velvety. This part is easy because the pumpkin will be very soft.

4) Put the final puree into a pot, add the orange juice/peel if you want, the spices, some water until it gets the velvety texture you want, stir and simmer in low fire for 5 minutes.

5) Serve with some cream, pine nuts and spices on top! ( I don't actually have pine nuts this time though)

The final result

Attractiveness and the Erotic Capital concept

2014-10-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have recently been thinking of the difference in regards to the importance of beauty, between Asian and European societies (that I have the experience of living in). In certain European societies, the importance of appearance is rather diminished in some contexts or even demonised, thought of as superficial, skin deep and not going together with brains. On the other hand, in many Asian societies it is openly expressed and believed that a beautiful face can bring fortune, a good future, better chances in life etc. Hence the increase in plastic surgery in those countries.

Related to this topic, there is an upcoming open lecture by Catherine Hakim at NIAS in Copenhagen (that unfortunately I cannot attend) on October 9.

The lecture is called "Erotic Capital in the Northern European and Asian Context". I copy paste from the event the following:

<< NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and the Centre for Stratification Research at Copenhagen University invite you and others in your network to an open lecture by Catherine Hakim on 'Erotic Capital in the Northern European and Asian Context'.
Thursday, 9th October 2014 at SFI - The Danish National Center for Social Research.

Catherine Hakim is a renowned British sociologist and the mind behind the concept Erotic Capital:

"Erotic capital is the unacknowledged but powerful personal asset that counts just as much as educational qualifications for success in jobs, politics, media, sport and the arts. It is a combination of physical and social attractiveness that is just as important as economic, human and social capital for success in all areas of public life, as well as in private romantic and sexual relationships. Like money, attractiveness is transportable, instantly recognisable, so is more universally valuable than qualifications, for example.

Attractive people earn more, have more friends, get more co-operation and support and achieve goals more easily both in public and private life. Doors open for them. In her bold and eye-opening book (Honey Money in Europe and Erotic Capital in the USA), renowned sociologist Catherine Hakim reveals the power and steadily-growing importance of erotic capital in our winner-takes-all societies and challenges the disapproval meted out to women and men who use sex appeal to get ahead.

During the lecture Hakim also presents evidence that beauty and elegance are valued more highly in Asian cultures (such as Thailand, China and Japan) than in the dominant Puritan Anglo-Saxon culture of northern America and northern Europe that has traditionally disparaged beauty as superficial and even dangerous or sinful.

Hakim sets out the three social and economic developments that make appearance and style more influential today than they ever were in the past: the increasing importance of white-collar and service work, rising affluence that allows people to seek luxuries, and the ubiquity of digital photographs in the media, on the internet, and on social networking sites."

http://www.stratifikation.ku.dk/kalender/arrangementer/erotic-capital---in-the-northern-european-and-asian-context/

Date: Thursday, October 9, 2014 14:15-16:00
Venue: SFI - The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Herluf Trolle Gade 11, 1052 CPH K >>

If any of you go, please keep me updated or pm me about it!

We like to think of ourselves ("western", European, etc) as rather logic driven, scientific minded and pragmatic, but what if the Asian mindset of accepting the importance of appearance is even more pragmatic, holistic and down to earth?

I recently found the following statistic from a job listing site, in this Guardian article:

I don't know if it's unfair, sad or good or just natural, but it definitely is something to think about.

Japanese Beauty Ideals and the National Museum of Denmark Purikura - Cosplay event discussion

2014-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well, a lot has happened in the past months and I really didn't have the time or energy to update my blog.. On the positive side, in my consulting company I have been very busy teaching company executives transferring to Japan about intercultural communication and Japanese business.

But I have been wanting to discuss and follow up on the cosplay and Japanese culture event at the National Museum of Denmark.

It was a very successful event and I was surprised to see the appeal of Japanese culture on such a number of very young people. I wonder what it is that triggers their initial interest for Japan. (For me it was Kendo and the Japanese aesthetics).

First, some pictures from the event discussion:

National Museum of Denmark, Discussing Purikura and beauty ideals with Martin Petersen, curator of the Japanese photography exhibition (that I loved and blogged about before) and Line, Danish K-pop blogger.

(And I spent some more time searching for the cosplay pictures or the name of the event's official photographer but I cannot find them, sorry next time!)

But what I really wanted to discuss here was the question directed during the talk and the one I usually get when I discuss Japanese women and beauty: "Do the Japanese do this/ that makeup/ make these changes on Purikura, because they want to look Western, like us?"

While there is some global consensus on certain beauty ideals, local, cultural or ideal differences (of what is beautiful) exist and are strong, even inside Europe.. One example, the different beauty and gender ideals I encountered between Sweden and Greece.

Some people asked during the discussion at the Museum, if the changes Purikura machines make on the pictures is the result of the Japanese women's desire to look Western. Even if there is some partial truth to it (because of the globalisation of beauty that applies to all countries) and some of the characteristics that are considered to be Western are sought after in Japan, this doesn't mean that they (characteristics) are sought after because they are Western but because they objectively satisfy the Japanese beauty ideals and aesthetic. In previous academic research (see for list of references my MSc research), it was discussed how the Japanese think of whiteness as a characteristic of Japaneseness, and regard it as the true Japanese colour.

White skin is regarded as the original Japanese skin. Big eyes are also considered beautiful. I did not focus on discussing eyes with my informants during my research but I was told that "foreigners have beautiful eyes because they are big, with long eyelashes". So the focus is not on looking like foreigner, but looking like the Japanese idea of beautiful, which includes big eyes. Also, in Japanese manga, "good" characters are drawn with big eyes usually, while the "bad" guys have small "linear" eyes, that express their evil thinking and anger. It's not at all that in Manga the good guys are european and the bad guys are asian! The eyes are merely expressing the characters. In that case, the big eyes symbolize the good and pure character probably. Maybe, this explains the preference for big eyes.

Purikura machines also cater to the Japanese ideal and importance of youth. The face shall have big eyes, small mouth, soft skin, like all babies have. Purikura machines usually enlarge the upper part of head so that the lower part looks smaller (or vice versa). It looks pretty weird (like a baby) on the result, but I've noticed most purikura machines the last years give this result. How is THAT beauty ideal Western?

This ideal is in sharp contrast with the Mediterranean countries that I can speak of, for example. I know in Greece and Italy, the ideal is to have a fuller, big mouth and the naturally round eyes are made to look almond shaped with smoky eye makeup. Also, we are supposed to have a TAN, not be white. Baby faces are desexualised, so that men might be heard saying: "look at her, her face changed and she's finally become a woman". And if one has a baby face, they're trying to look older with make up or clothes.

...... And I can think of many more examples of why we should not think that "they want to look like us"....

It's a Eurocentric opinion to think that big eyes and white skin symbolise "western" or "us".. Instead we should look at it from the Japanese (or Asian) perspective. It doesn't have to be that everyone has an obsession with looking Western.

J-PopCon in Copenhagen

2014-03-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

J-popcon is a Danish Japanese pop culture convention that started back in 2000 and has been happening since 2003 non stop. As I hear, every year it becomes bigger and better.

This year it takes place March 28-30, so there's still time to visit this weekend! For the official site and program, visit http://www.j-popcon.dk/en/

J-popcon has a big focus on cosplay, with shows, competitions etc and as such it attracts a quite young group of people. However, its variety of events and themes turn it into a full celebration of Japanese pop culture! I was very surprised to see so much Japanese pop culture in Denmark. At the convention one can try kendo, karate, calligraphy, Japanese tea ceremony, learn about J-kei and K-pop or Japanese fashion subcultures, eat Japanese food provided by Japanese restaurants in Denmark (even sweets such as kakigori and taiyaki), read in the manga cafe, visit the maid cafe, watch Japanese animation and films in the two cinema rooms, and much much more. This year they also had the Swedish Yohio in concert.

In the dealer room, you can buy anything from cosplay costume clothes to bento boxes, Japanese snacks, gyaru accessories, kigurumi, character goods, kawaii bags and all those awesomely beautiful and cute Japanese thingies that we all love to find in Japan.

The dealer room, above.

For your gyaru, lolita etc needs

New kawaii characters. I love the bunny on the right bottom corner.

The Japanese omatsuri style tent where you can eat your bento, taiyaki or Japanese curry.

Some cosplayers preparing

Besides finding matcha chocolate and my favorite character stickers

what I enjoyed most was the handmade items being sold by young artists. So much creativity, I wish I could buy from each one of them so as to support them all! Handmade jewellery, manga art, paintings, and small handmade gifts. Here are some links and addresses of the ones I really loved:

sw-13.deviantart.com

winter-lark.dk

theluckyangel

Notebook decorated with hand sketch painting

Sagoslottet Creations makes this Dekoden art. Decoden means decoration for electronic devices, such as smartphones and iPods.

Visit the pages and support these kids :) Again, I'm not advertising anyone and these kids don't even know me, I just love art and I think that these talented young artists have great aesthetic sense and taste.

Harajuku is a Tokyo neighborhood that gave and gives birth to many visual and fashion styles for the world. If you spot a trend in Harajuku, six months to a year later you'll probably see it in European and American fashion magazines and young brands such as Berska, Topshop etc. "Western" magazine editorials often feature unique accessories that are obviously bought from the countless stores of Harajuku.

So on the way back from J-PopCon, I felt like I'm walking for the last train home from Harajuku: girls in full Japanese uniform were dragging their little suitcases in a total Harajuku style (for those who've been there, you know what kind of suitcases I mean). From behind I couldn't guess if they're Japanese or Danish. Japanese culture is becoming seriously popular and mainstream abroad. This year, J-PopCon counts approx. 3000 visitors.

Seeing so much demand for Japanese culture makes me very proud and happy, as in my heart I feel a part Japanese. Not only because I spent a long time as a resident there, but also because I was there young, I grew up in Japan and the culture shaped me as a person as much as my birth culture did. I don't say "home" culture, because that, I consider Japan to be "a home away from home" as well. The fact that the Japanese made me feel like family also adds to my affection.

And Japanese culture is so powerful visually and so rich in context, aesthetics and meaning, that of course it was a matter of time (and digital communication) before it was transferred and localised abroad. Go Japan!
And congratulations to the J-PopCon organizers, of course, for managing this convention!

Japanese Whiteness and Ideal Femininity

2014-03-03T09:52:00.001-08:00

In my forthcoming participation in the panel discussion organised by the National Museum of Denmark (see here ), I am going to discuss Japanese beauty ideals, based on the research findings of my Master's thesis.

The original thesis, complete with the interviewed women's profiles, methodology, interview quotes and analysis can be downloaded from the Lund University archive: http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24923&postid=3990921 . Beware, its 66 pages!

And here is an abstract:

"The purpose of this thesis was to explore gender norms, beauty ideals and social
practices and the way these become ‘visible’ on the Japanese female body as
(re)producing the ideal Japanese femininity and skin color in particular. In order to
achieve that, I investigate and identify these norms, the mechanisms that implement
them on the body and the attitudes and expression of resistance against them. The
concept of biopower is used to explain the above process and findings. The research
used both secondary and primary data that was retrieved through eleven deep
interviews and participant observation, during two months of fieldwork in Japan in
2013. As the effects of power on the gendered body become central in this research,
gender and Foucauldian theoretical perspectives were used to analyse the data. During
the analysis I found patterns in the women’s opinions, enabling me to answer my
research questions. The study found the main norms to maintain that Japanese women
have a unique Japanese skin that should be baby soft, ‘white’ and fair, should have
natural beauty, look young and innocent, behave in a cute way, avoid conflict or
standing out and be subservient to men. The mechanism of implementation of these
norms is self-surveillance, based on the forbidding and producing character of
biopower. Women supervise themselves to conform to the norms, fearing that their
lack of conformity will lead to social sanctions such as loneliness and social
exclusion. While they have positive attitudes towards resisting biopower and are
willing to resist some norms, in the end they find it difficult to overcome all the
disciplinary norms they are subjected to".

Feel free to contact me for more information.

Purikura and Cosplay event at the National Museum of Denmark

2014-02-28T05:18:00.002-08:00

You remember my blog review of the excellent exhibition on Japanese photography in the National Museum of Denmark. You can find it here.

This coming Friday on the 7th of March, I will be discussing Japanese beauty ideals in a "late" event organised by the Danish National Museum. The event focuses on Cosplay and Purikura and in relation to these there will be a panel discussion on beauty ideals in Japan and Korea.

Details about the event are here: http://natmus.dk/nationalmuseet/aktiviteter/museum-late/ and here
http://www.mynewsdesk.com/dk/nationalmuseet/pressreleases/selfies-og-selviscenesaettelse-paa-nationalmuseet-963669

The information is only in Danish though, sorry about that my non-Danish speaking readers in Sweden.. Visitors are welcome to visit in costume. Even if cosplay is not your cup of tea, at the event you can have fun taking pictures in the Purikura booth, listen to the panel discussion on beauty norms and purchase food and drinks.

The important thing to note is that entrance is free and it's from 6 to 9 pm. 18.00 to 21:00 in Scandinavian translation, that is. Hope to see you there!

Documentary on Suicide in Japan

2014-02-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

In Japan it's very important to respect social rules and norms and work as hard as possible to achieve the best possible result. It is not so easy to overcome the well established rules and social norms if one wants to continue being a part of society, as they say.
Japan is also famous for its sophisticated and high aesthetic criteria, superb quality of services and overall dedication to perfectionism. Living in Japan is a luxury to the eyes and senses but also frees one from having to worry about belated trains, being tricked with bad services etc. But such a state of "perfection" in the way that everything works or looks, of course has its price. People have to work as much as possible, there is a word for death from overworking (karoshi or 過労死) and it's not so easy to escape one's prescribed "route" or role in life, even if one feels under extreme pressure.

Living in Japan as a foreigner of course is easier, as the Japanese are forgiving of foreigners' various social faux pas and thus it's almost impossible to experience pressure the way the Japanese are experiencing it.

As a result of this pressure on the Japanese individual, sensationalist coverage of "glorified" death by the media and other reasons, Japan is known to have one of the world's highest suicide rates. These and other suicide facts on Japan explained in this excellent documentary that provokes a lot of thought:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0SHLxc2d0

"Saving 10.000- 自殺者１万人を救う戦い" was nominated for 12 film festival awards and was also screened in the Japanese parliament as part of their 2013 suicide prevention campaign. The documentary's official site is http://www.Saving10000.com

Japanese Photography Exhibition "Girl with Parasol" at the National Museum of Denmark

2014-01-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

It's really been quite some time since I published on this blog. I really don't have much free time right now, but since this exhibition is still up and running, I thought I'd write something in case someone in the Oresund region wants to visit.

By the way, I visited this exhibition on the day of the last lecture of a very interesting PhD course I took at the University of Copenhagen. The course was titled "Food, Medicine and Philosophy in East and West" and it was a truly interdisciplinary look on food habits, philosophy and much much more between East and West. Well, the East/West division is really subjective in my opinion, but that's another topic. The course on its whole was fantastic, very interesting and I am so happy for being accepted to participate :)

Well, back to Japanese photography. How do I end the final lecture day of the course in Copenhagen then (after feeling a little sad that this exciting course was over)? Of course by visiting the Danish National Museum, where there is this very clever exhibition on Japanese photography. ------>

http://natmus.dk/en/the-national-museum-of-denmark/exhibitions/temporary-exhibitions/girl-with-parasol/

It's NOT what you imagine if you've never been to Japan! Half of it is about Purikura! In the installed Purikura booth visitors can take pictures, decorate them & print them (thus the name PuriKura= print club in Japanese). The pictures are automatically projected on the wall of the room as a slide show, so if you take pictures you become part of the installation as a guest. Brilliant!!

Purikura has always been one of the best contemporary Japanese "things", in my opinion. It characterises the young Tokyo lifestyle, friendships/nights out -in Shibuya- , memories created in the smartphone era (that began much earlier in Japan) and of course illustrates some of the Japanese aesthetics/gender norms of today.

I will come back one day to write more on the Purikura culture and subcultures around it.

In the exhibition, there is also a documentary playing & comments or explanations on Japanese beauty norms and the retouching that is usually done on the pictures.
All these reminded me a lot of my MSc thesis (on beauty norms and the Japanese female body) which can be read here http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24923&postid=3990921.

A definite must- see if you are in Copenhagen (well this whole museum is a must-see anyway). I would like to meet the people that organised this brilliant exhibition, that really "transfers" someone to the feeling and young culture of contemporary Japan. And I was kind of sorry that I was not involved in it. Danish curators working with Japan, please call me!! :D

Well, here is just an idea of the installation! (Obviously I cannot/am not going to upload snapshots of the exhibition content).

Well, I know I am cheating by posting this but it was so exciting! Kendo (see wiki or my previous posts) in Copenhagen in 1902!! I was happily surprised to read that there is a long history of cultural exchange between Denmark and Japan.

This is not in Japan but in Copenhagen! You can see the girls taking pictures in the booth, being projected on the wall! The photo booth is themed "Heroine Face" and it says on the booth top in Japanese that:

"with this cuteness, fate can (is possible to) be changed" ...

Thank you Danish National Museum for travelling us to Shibuya!

"Dog" store in Harajuku

2013-01-22T08:49:00.001-08:00

I came across this store, while walking around Harajuku. It's called DOG. I liked the fact that I couldn't really label it, or name it's target group; I guess both men, women, superheros and everything in between.

Really artistic and imaginative. Take a look:

This guy's head is made up of small bunnies and piggies.

I'd love to wear this helmet and ride a bike in any city (except Tokyo).

This handsome guy lured me into entering the store. Would you enter if you saw him or would he appall you?

"Dog" store also appears in Muse's video "Panic Station" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uBK5kvakD8

Website is www.dog-hjk.com and address is Jingumae 3-23- 3 Trinity Bld. B1F

Shinokubo and Gangnam Style cosmetics

2013-01-22T07:34:00.001-08:00

Dinner tonight at Shinokubo (the Korean town of Tokyo), with Chijimi and yummy Hottoku! Korean food is so SO delicious!!! Especially Hottoku, Chijimi, Toppoki and Kimuchi.

I think I'll eat there every second day and swim back to Sweden to burn it off..

Also, found a store with cheap korean cosmetics. Snake eye serum, collagen masks etc. BB creams always make nice and useful gifts to girlfriends :)

The grand finale was the "Gangnam style" plastic bag! Its a keeper, for future memories of Asia :)

Absinthe bar in Ebisu

2013-01-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

Visited Tram bar in Ebisu today. Tram bar is an Absinthe specialty bar with a big variety of absinthe and also lots of cocktails (and non- absinthe too). It's a wonderful retro French styled bar with leather couches, stylish waiters and good music. I really recommend it, maybe not so much for an evening with friends, as for a romantic date or a heart to heart discussion and catching up with a best friend.

Its address is Ebisu Nishi1-7-13 2F

And, I LOVE ABSINTHE :)

Also, even if you don't like his music, you really have to taste Marilyn Manson's
absinthe brand "Mansinthe" with 66.6 % alcohol and wormwood (5 stars for the name and percentage haha). It was the barman's recommendation, as I didn't know which one to try. I had never tried absinthe before, but I will prefer it from now on. It's difficult to describe it, but was a really refined and herbal/woody (?) taste.

Apart from that, I really don't understand what all the fuss with the effects of absinthe is. It is a really refined and better tasting herbal liquer, better than Raki, Tsipouro, Pastis or Grappa mixed with water. Not that I drank enough to be drunk though.

My friend who got an absinthe cocktail, said it made her a little dizzy. I drank it pure with water but didn't feel any effect at all. Maybe just a little bit, but less than from other spirits.

And extra points for this in the WC :)

The menu:

The bar:

Toilet paper rolls in Japan

2013-01-12T20:45:00.002-08:00

In Japan, even the toilet paper is very polite: when you finish it, it writes something like "thank you for your preference every time" :D I ♥ Japan

Hidden shrine in Ginza

2013-01-06T07:02:00.001-08:00

These photos are from a very small, almost hidden shrine in Ginza, behind the Shiseido parlor and cafe. I especially liked it because it's dedicated to love :) Can you find it? it's somewhere you wouldn't imagine (like love, maybe?) ;)

And here's me wearing the Glad News shoes I discovered that day in Shibuya 109. They are spiked, with cat ears design and fluffy ponpon tails at the back.

Mitsuo Aida and Sony Plaza

2012-10-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of Mitsuo Aida?
He was a Japanese calligrapher and poet with a distinctive writing style. And it's funny how he intentionally mispells the last "o"　(お) of his name with the preposition "o"　(を).

I know there are a lot of consumer related things to do in Ginza.. But once you are there, it's worth experiencing something more Japanese and visit his museum in Tokyo International Forum where you can read about his poetry and art. It won't take more than an hour and it's mostly in Japanese, although really simple (as you see it's usually hiragana). My favorite thing was the fukubukuro* that included a calendar with his poetry, postcards, pens, towel, a book, cookies and other useless fun stuff that gave me something to take home and remember :)

*Fukubukuro: let's say it's a surprise goodie bag for half the price of the included items but you never know what's inside- the full explanation of fukubukuro requires another post. There are even Tokyo urban myths of Louis Vuitton giving away fukubukuro on new years day but I've never actually known anyone who bought a fukubukuro from LV.
End of break, back to spirituality and away from consumerism ----->>>

This painting says that "happiness is something that your soul decides (to be happy or not)" or that "happiness comes from within (oneself)"

This one says: (Thank God or Thank goodness or Thankfully) "I'm well"

*I do not own any of the Mitsuo Aida images.

You can access the Museum from the Sony Building underground passage as well.
Once you're there, you might also want to visit the amazing Sony Plaza store with lots of contemporary Japanese -in the cute and colorful way, don't expect any geisha stuff- cosmetics and house items.

For example, this insanely cute blind- mouthless bunny speaker for iPods and smartphones can be found in SonyPlaza. I love it because its face is even more abstract and deductive than hello kitty. Is the bunny happy? Is it sad? Where is it looking? I can't say!

Even though I was working for 3 years in an office just across the Sony Building, I never got around to seeing the rest of it..So I can only speak about Sony Plaza and the musicnote-and-rainbow-colour producing steps that you encounter when you are exiting the store, towards the Metro entrance. I'm sure the rest of the Building has a lot of interesting Sony- related things to offer.

Sakura in Tokyo- 2008

2012-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

After requests from friends, I decided that this will be more of a visual blog. Looks like my friends prefer to see pictures.. And indeed, they are always hidden in my hard drive without anyone seeing them because I'm too lazy to show them :)

So, here are some pictures of Hanami (flower viewing, literally) in various places of Tokyo, 2008.

Near Ark Hills

Shinjuku Gyouen Park

Ark Hills

Nippon Budokan

Budokan

The Old and the New Coexist

Dantelles of Sakura

Tokyo Ark Hills at Night

Baskin Robins in Japan

2012-10-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Baskin Robins is a US ice-cream company, but in Japan it has taken an extremely innovative attitude. Every season, Baskin Robins in Japan offers different sundae creations to match the traditional Japanese food, fruit and spirit of the season. In autumn, it is a custom to eat Matcha sweets. I do not why but specifically in autumn, one can find more matcha sweets that in any other season.

There are two kinds of non- Japanese people regarding matcha attitudes: those who love it and those who can't stand it. I belong to the former so I was ecstatic to see this green haze as I was approaching the store.

The matcha sundae in the picture had matcha ice-cream (obviously), whipped cream, matcha macaron (or something like that) and matcha mochi, all sprinkled with matcha powder! One word: Heavenly!

Katsuura- shrines, beaches and Budo

2012-10-08T12:02:00.001-07:00

Last post was about the new Japan. Traditional Japan is amazing as well.

If you want to experience old Japan (and not in a theme park) go to the Chiba Pacific shore towns and villages. My most beloved place in Japan is Katsuura, a small fishing village on the Pacific side, in Chiba. It's about 3 hours from Tokyo with the Sotobo Line (I recommend it because the train is old, picturesque and the view along the way is breathtaking, with old traditional houses and forests that you think Totoro will jump out at some point) and 1.5 hrs with a Wakashio line from Shinjuku that I've never tried because I liked the Sotobo so much. Sotobo 外房 means outer Boso line and after some stop it goes along the east coast, arriving at magnificent beaches famous for surfing or hanging out in the summer.

From Katsuura, you can go to Hebara beach, Mobara beach, Onjuku (its 5 mins train ride or 20 mins by bicycle) and Kazusa Ichinomiya, famous for its small island in a walking distance from the beachside. You can walk to that island in the water and climb up to the shrine that is built on it. Further down the Sotobo line, you can reach Tateyama. They have a nature park called "Tateyama Paradise" there, where you can see rare flowers and touch cute animals like sheep. I think it's mostly for kids, but we're all kids aren't we :)

(Kazusa-ichinomiya beach- couldn't find a better picture)

On the beach of Katsuura you can also find a torii mon (tori gate) which points directly to another one deep in the water (I've never swam to it, the beach is restrained and you can't go very deep). These torii mons are supposed to be the gates for the Shinto Gods to pass through, as an old lady told me (or, are passages from the profane to the sacred thus marking the entrance to a sacred place), so that's why they are lineated and on every possible surface. Another shrine is situated on top of a long line of stairs but it does not correspond to the ones on the beach. This is Tomisaki shrine, where you can have a wonderful view of Katsuura from the top. There are other Torii mons on the mountain in Katsuura and if you are curious enough and walk a lot, you will find them. In those shrines, people leave their wishes written on small wooden pieces. I was surprised when I saw one written in Greek once.

(The torii on the Katsuura beach)

(Going up to the shrine)

(View of Katsuura from the mountain shrine)

In the streets of Katsuura you can have wonderful sushi and other Japanese food. There is a local (I think) specialty, called soyu-batta kinme which is a white fish (red outside, don't know the English name) cooked in soy sauce, butter and sugar. It's divine! After 8pm, at all the fishershops you can buy fish for reduced price, as they are not considered fresh anymore.

Because of the many students, the places are filled at night with people drinking and talking loud. It's never a dull moment at Katsuura, even if you go out to eat alone. You will find someone you know, or the shop owner or the customers will most likely speak to you and you will all be a big group of friends eating together in the end. Happened in every place and even in Tsukiji, Tokyo. The Japanese are very friendly, warm and welcoming people. They remind me of people in the Greek countryside or islands. THAT friendly.

But enough with the fun and vacation part. Katsuura is also the home of the International Budo University 国際武道大学 which is the reason that I went to Japan in the first place. International students in IBU are taught specific courses so as to be able to teach Judo or Kendo and Japanese culture in their home countries but you are required to have practiced for many years before you go there.I mean, for your own sake, you're not going to take much of it if you are a beginner. I went there because I wanted to study kendo in its birthplace and it was a good decision. Don't listen to anyone who says that in Europe "we teach it better".. Kendo (Budo) is Japanese and that's where you should study it. I mean, if you like something, at least respect its roots. I met some wonderful people while studying and our teachers were inspiring. I feel so lucky to have had that experience. I'm going to stop writing about IBU because it will take another post.

( This picture of IBU campus and Katsuura was taken by the IBU staff)

P.S. I erased by mistake ALL my pictures from Japan when I was transferring them to a new hard drive, but luckily some were saved on Facebook or Webshots and that's why I can post them here.

Gyaru: Popular Culture, Globalization and the Reflection of a Trend

2012-10-07T09:19:00.004-07:00

Here is the paper that I have to submit tonight. I made the references really small so that the rest is more comfortable to read. The reference list is at the end for anyone interested.

The Japanese Gyaru:

Popular Culture, Globalization and the Reflection of a Trend

Introduction

In recent years, it has been noted that Japanese popular culture has become very influencing worldwide. This is not only a consequence of MOFA’s Cool Japan campaign, but the result of sincere audience choices, audiences which come into contact with Japanese popular culture through the new media, ICT and by direct interaction (with travel being easily accessible).

This paper examines how globalization made fashion trends in different parts of the world become aware of and feed off each other. First, a local adaptation of US fashion styles created a Japanese young fashion. Secondly, this trend became visible to Westerners who aspired to follow the Japanese adaptation. Finally, this Western interest reflected for a third time, now back to Japan, where increased Western acceptance gave this trend added value and new media attention.

Popular Culture, Subculture or Pop Subculture?

What does the term Popular Culture mean? Storey (1996) identifies various definitions of popular culture (but suggests that none of these definitions are unproblematic): Popular culture is favoured by many people; culture that is left over after we decide what is high culture; mass produced for mass consumption; originating from the people; or a place of struggle between the dominant and the subordinate groups of society.

A subculture then, is an act of “resistance against the dominant culture”. Subcultures mostly identify with youth cultures, but when does a subculture become pop culture? It is difficult to define the point when a subculture becomes popular and separate the two: “rap music in the United States, where, with the incorporation of youth culture into popular culture, the concept of subculture becomes difficult to delineate” because “(sub)cultural practices are co-opted and commodified by larger socioeconomic processes” (Marcelin, 2006).

In that sense, the term popular culture is accepted as an adequate term to include the contemporary Gyaru fashion and lifestyle pop (sub) cultures, since this trend cannot be included in high culture, is originating from the working class and exists in a contested place of struggle between the dominant and subordinate groups of Japanese society.

Globalization and Transnational Japanese Popular Culture

When looking at popular culture today, it is rather impossible to avoid considering the theoretical perspectives of globalization and transnationalism. Globalization was originally considered as emanating from the West (Giddens,1990; Axford; 1995; Spybey,1996 cited in Allen& Sakamoto, 2006) but media globalization also facilitates ‘the de-centering of capitalism from the West’ (Tomlinson, 1997 cited in Iwabuchi, 2002). Empowered by globalization processes, transnationalism makes people, ideas and commodities cross national boundaries and become unidentified with a single place of origin (Watson, 1997 cited in Iwabuchi, 2002).

This re-centered globalization process of the 21^st century brings Japanese cultural exports such as manga and anime into the Western markets, thus making Japan a “visual superpower” (Norris, 2009 cited in Sugimoto, 2009), bringing forth a “Japanization” of the West (Iwabuchi, 2002). This includes the case of young women’s imaginative fashion styles in Japan. Already popular in Asia (Ibid), Japanese fashion has now expanded its popularity into the western youth. An earlier example is the Harajuku fashion (named after a Tokyo district which has countless clothing stores) which quickly drew western attention, books’ publications (“Fruits”), countless blogs and a popular American singer (Gwen Stefani) naming a song, a perfume line and her style after visiting this Tokyo neighbourhood.

The notion of transculturation can furthermore explain the evolution and spread of the Gyaru fashion. Transculturation is the process where the encounter and creative misuse of various cultures results in the transformation of an existing cultural commodity and the creation of a new style (Pratt, 1992 cited in Iwabuchi, 2002), hybridization (Piaterse, 2004; Thomlinson,1999 cited in Allen& Sakamoto, 2006) or stateless globalism aesthetic through stylistic sampling (Miller, 2004).

The Gyaru Fashion

A striking example of Japanese popular fashion is the Gal or Gyaru (girl) or Kogal (small girl) trend which is not simply a fashion trend but a “social type” (Suzuki& Best, 2003) with its own slang (Marx, 2012; Miller, 2004), away from the traditional Japanese feminine ideals of whiteness (Ashikari, 2005) and cuteness (McVeigh, 2000) which resulted in much controversy around the style.

There are numerous subcategories within the Gyaru term, each with particular characteristics: the ane-gal (older gal), the mama gal, the b-gal (“black” i.e. rap culture girl), the ganguro (to an Afrikan shade tanned gal), the bihaku-gal (white-skinned gal), the yamamba (mountain witch- with “negative makeup” i.e. black face, white features and silver hair), the Gyaru-o (man gyaru) and so on (Watrous, 2000 et al cited in Suzuki&Best, 2003; Marx, 2012).

Emerging in the 1980s (Marx, 2012) the Gyaru look was originally characterized by appropriation, domestication and indigenization (Iwabuchi, 2002) of various American looks discovered on TV, such as the California girl or the hip-hop look (Marx, 2012; Miller, 2004) but it finally evolved to represent a unique image of Japanese cultural identity, something that was “not seen before” (Miller, 2004), in the extreme faces of the ganguro and yamamba categories. No one might have noticed, but Japan found “its own domestic, non-designer fashion” (Marx, 2012). Invented by teens, Gyaru fashion “emphasizes fakeness and kitsch (…) appropriation of the elegant and the awful” but it is also egalitarian because girls from any economic background can acquire the look (Miller, 2004).

Because of their popularity and controversy, the Gyaru occupied a big share of media interest (Ibid; Marx, 2012) and became advertising targets, “in hopes of sparking national and even international crazes" (Watanabe 1997 cited in Suzuki&Best, 2003). Breaking into the mainstream in the 1990s, a large number of magazines in Japan address the Gyaru tastes and large shopping districts -such as Shibuya (Marx,2012; Suziki&Best, 2003) and Ikebukuro, with Shibuya’s “109” stores being the most popular - cater to their lifestyle.

The Western Gyaru Reception

Westerners who visit Japan or young people following fashion blogs are often excited with the Gyaru trend. It is indeed a brand new appearance that was never seen before and has now succeeded in being a unique part of Japanese popular culture that appeals to the West. It is worth mentioning that not only the moderate Kogal style (with medium tan and makeup) has made an impact on western youth, but the shocking Yamamba and Ganguro styles as well. Some informed western followers acknowledge the paradox of the situation and admit being “Western girls trying to be Japanese girls, trying to be Western” (Robinson, 2009).

There is a big number of Western gyaru blogs who imitate the fashion and demonstrate their own versions of it. A simple Google search on “gyaru blogs” will bring up examples of non- Japanese gyaru bloggers such as http://everyday-gyaru.livejournal.com/ and http://bloggers.com/tag/gyaru. Online communities such as YouTube popularize Japanese gyaru fashion brands and cosmetics. Even western traditional media have featured cosmetics that are sold in gyaru stores such as “109” (see Panych, 2012 in Allure magazine). Kirin (2009) mentions women visiting Tokyo just to shop at “109” (spending amounts like 1800€), Japanese culture events in Barcelona that attract 60.000 people and even foreign gyaruo (men gyaru).

Back to Japan

Japanese bloggers and media, on their turn, became aware of the western gyaru appeal. For example, a show broadcasted by NHK (national television channel) in Japan featured western gyaru that were mentored by their favourite Japanese gyaru model, Aina Tanaka (Kirin, 2009).

Unlike other Japanese popular cultures (i.e. anime, J-pop) which were also regarded as social evils but were later re-evaluated and promoted as cultural exports (Linhart, 2009 cited in Sugimoto, 2009), the western popularity of the gyaru culture- facilitated by globalization- was an authentic proof that the real cool Japan did not need to be promoted by MOFA’s ‘Cool Japan’ soft power foreign policy campaign in order to captivate the West. But indeed, responding to the western popularity, the Japanese government has “approved plans to recreate fashionable districts of Tokyo in foreign cities and it hopes to export four trillion yen worth of "Cool Japan" fashion by 2020” ( Oi, 2012).

Conclusion

This paper demonstrated how the processes of globalization made a (once controversial) Japanese fashion that was an adaptation of western images, take part in a global reflection process where the Japanese appropriation of the look became popular in the West and finally was received with renewed value (because of its western popularity) in Japan, with plans to be included in MOFA’s ‘Cool Japan’ future foreign policy campaign.

References

Allen M.& Sakamoto R., eds.: Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. London: Routledge
Ashikari, Mikiko (2005) “Cultivating Japanese Whiteness: The “Whitening” Cosmetics Boom & the Japanese Identity”. Journal of Material Culture, 10:73.
Iwabuchi, Koichi (2002) Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. London: Duke University Press
Kirin (2009) “Gaijin Gyaru” Tokyokawaiietc (accessed September 6, 2012) http://tokyokawaiietc.com/archives/3218
Marcelin, Louis Herns (2006) “Subcultures” in Birx, J.H. Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/anthropology/n840.xml?rskey=a3K37w&row=2 (accessed online September 3, 2012)
Marx, David W. (2012) “The History of the Gyaru” parts 1-4 http://neojaponisme.com/2012/02/28/the-history-of-the-gyaru-part-one/ (accessed October 4, 2012).
McVeigh, Brian J. (2000) Wearing Ideology: State, Schooling and Self- Presentation in Japan. Oxford: Berg.
Miller, Laura (2004) “Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments”. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 14:2,225–247.
Oi, Mariko (2012) “Japan Harnesses Fashion Power of Gals”. Tokyo: BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19332694 (accessed September 6, 2012)
Panych, Sophia (2012) “Foreign Exchange” in Allure, 5: 73.
Robinson, Nina (2009) “Japan’s Fashion Rebellion Goes West”. London: BBC World Service. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8132726.stm

(accessed October 5, 2012).

Storey, John (1996) “What is Popular Culture?” in Storey, J., ed.: An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Prentice Hall: London
Sugimoto, Yoshio, ed. (2009) The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Suzuki, Tadashi& Best, Joel (2003) “Emergence of Trendsetters for Fashions and Fads: Kogaru in 1990s Japan”, Sociological Quarterly, 44:1, 61-79.

2012-10-06T17:56:00.002-07:00

I have to say that I'm very sorry for the onlinedating and asiangirls ads. I spent one hour trying to block them but they still keep popping in with different URLs.

Gyaru, Globalization and the "Cool Japan" campaign

2012-10-06T09:03:00.002-07:00

Speaking of ways to relax from studying...

My first post is going to be a paper that I have to submit tomorrow. I'm not posting it because of my divine academic writing skills but because I think it's a very interesting subject that has not been suggested much before..
Actually since 2005 when I first went to Japan (I went there to study Japanese and Kendo, my absolutely favourite thing in Japan ) I was so intrigued by the Bihaku Gyaru, the Ganguro and Yamamba, that I even wrote in a university essay (it was Kokusai Budo Daigaku that I was attending then) that one of my favorite things about Japan was the Gyaru trend, (when asked about our favorite things, obviously). While writing this paper now, I was thinking how great it'd be if it was actually promoted by MOFA's (Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) "Cool Japan" foreign policy campaign (the one that promoted Anime, Manga etc in various countries)and I planned on suggesting it on the conclusion but then I read on one BBC article that it is indeed scheduled to be promoted in this campaign by 2020. Anybody knows more about it? I didn't have time to look into it much further, actually.

So, before my paper, if someone wants to know more about it, this is a very good source:

http://neojaponisme.com/2012/02/28/the-history-of-the-gyaru-part-one/ (there are parts 1-4 but part 4 is still not published. Looking forward to it! Very good history of the Gyaru culture in general)

there is also a BBC documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPYLUyGR7Ms and countless videos on YouTube.