Thesis Paper 5th draft

The Power of Kawaii








How Does Japanese Popular Culture influence Taiwanese Contemporary Artists?








Hsin-Wei Hsu
Intensive English Program
07/FA-ENGL-097-19
Thomas Healy
November 29, 2007


The Power of Kawaii 1

Introduction

Today, the Japanese cultural icons Godzilla and Hello Kitty speak not only Japanese, but also English, Mandarin and Korean. Japanese popular culture, which includes comics, animation, movies, street fashion and toys, is internationally known and is becoming more influential throughout the world. Many Japanese contemporary artists use their own popular culture as the inspiration in their artwork and get positive responses. The most famous of them, Takashi Murakami, is one such example. He displays cartoon characters and vinyl figures in his exhibitions. His flat cartoonish style has had a great influence, and has inspired many other contemporary artists. As a Taiwanese, I feel a strong influence from Japanese subculture. This phenomenon is unavoidable; the culture invasion is unstoppable. However, I think this phenomenon is good, because Taiwanese culture was formed from mixed rourcess and Taiwanese people can accept different styles from other countries easily. The culture invasion also affects my painting which is influenced by Japanese pop culture. For instance, I use the flat style and creat cartoon monsters in my painting. As a Taiwanese contemporary artist, I want to express the speciality of Taiwanese multiculture.
Japanese pop culture
The traditional images of Japan has been the military nation in WWII and an industrial country after the war. However, it's status has been changing. With the development of a tremendous entertainment business, Japanese pop culture has become a huge power and now has drawn global interest. Pop culture such as manga (comics), animation and games is now becoming the symbol of Japan. Nakamura (2004), executive director of Stanford Japan Center reported that "The characteristics of the Japanese pop market include the following points: children's purchasing power is strong; participation of adults in the market is large; 'otaku', who are the obsessive 'maniac' comic and animation fans, contributes significantly to market activities; and the fact that there is less
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regulation of sexual and violent expression in the media". This phenomena happens in Taiwan, too. As well, Kelts (2006) reported that Japanese pop culture is full of animation and cartoon icons. They appear everywhere in Japan such as the cellphone, ATM screen, billboards, train station and the airplane.
Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami, whose fame is based on cartoonish characters in his artwork is an example of "kawaii", which means cute in Japanese (Figure 1). Murakami unveiled his work "Superflact Manifesto" in his exhibition in Tokyo in 2000. He asserted that Ukiyo-e (Japanese traditional printing) and Japanese contemporary comics share the same characteristics: flat, delicate and detailed. Also, Murakami advocates an idea from the Pop Art movement, which is making art become more popular. Murakami was inspired by popular Japanese culture, for example, he said "Sometimes I feel like my work is an extension of popular culture. I think that as an artist, there is usually an element of examination. I enjoy connecting this fantasy cculture to more real discourses, such as history and art. This is also why I have tried to introduce Japanese pop culture to the world. Because it has many connections to concerns of undeniable relevancy" (Phoenix, 2006). He combines art and commercial products, transfering his unique cartoons on many products like pins, dolls, cards and vinly toys. He uses this way to let the gereral public have more opportunity to buy artwork. However, to join art and commercial together makes Murakami become a controversial artist. He asserted that art is business, and artists need money to continue making more artwork. Murakami has his own art making factory, called Kaikai Kiki. In the factory, he supports many young artists by providing jobs and exhibitions which make them have more opportunities to gain exposure.

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Figure 1. Kaikai Kiki News, 2002, Takashi Murakami

How Japanese pop culture affects Taiwanese culture
The Japanese, who are good at promoting their products, successfully sell their culture to other countries. They not only sell the authentic Japanese food, but also animation, comics and toys. Taiwan, which is located near Japan, cannot avoid the great culture trend. Taiwanese culture is related to Chinese traditional culture, native Taiwanese culture and parts of Japanese colonial culture. The most specific feature of Taiwan's culture is that it is a multiculture. Recently, the economies of China, Korea and Japan have been growing, which has created a cultural invation and Taiwan has benefited from cultures surrounding them. This appears most in the younger generation. For example, many youths follow Japanese fashion, wear Japanese brand and mimic the Japanese style. Most comics in Taiwan are come from Japan, and so do the video games. Some Japanese magazines and books even release at the same day in Taiwan as they are in Japan. Through importing tremendous amounts of Japanese products to Taiwan, the Japanese culture comes with them.


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How Japanese pop culture and Murakami affect my painting
Like Murakami, I am also influenced by Japanese popular culture. Murakami as a Japanese, directly shows viewers the Japanese pop cultuer; I as a Taiwanese, show my viewers the influence from Japanese pop culture. I have enjoyed Japanese pop culture since I was a child. I saw Japanese cartoons, read Japanese comics, played Japanese toys and video games. I enjoy those delicate, imaginative and entertaining products. When I paint, these enjoyable experiences become my inspiration, which discribe the relationship between reality and illusion. People interact with virtual worlds everyday, espacially using computers and games. Most of this virtual cartoonish characters in computers and video games are from Japan. I think it is interesting to consider this topic, as it relies on the Japanese pop culture invasion. My painting style is flat, like Murakami's superflat style, because of the influence from comics and animation. Using flat cartoonish characters can make my painting look like comics, which are humorous and make viewers feel fun and relaxed (Figure 2). In addition, I totally agree with Murakami's ideas about art: art should be popular and commercial. I think popularity and commercialism can help each other. If art is popular, people would have more of a chance to purchase artwork or art products. On the other hand, if artwork is like commercial products, which appear everywhere in our daily life, the general public would understand more about art. I am planning to make my artwork into commercial products and developing different products such as stickers, toys and t-shirts.






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Figure 2. HU, 2006, Hsin-Wei Hsu, 162x130cm


Conclusion
Japanese pop culture is a huge cultural entertainment industry in the world. Murakami wisely uses it and develops it into art that provokes the attention of the whole world. A culture invasion is unavoidable, especially the Japanese popular culture that occupies Taiwan. As a victim of it, I do not feel upset; instead, I enjoy the multiculture. Taiwanese culture is becoming multicultural and providing me the resouces and inspirations for making artwork. Living in the global village, I am glad to take the advantage of experencing different cultures and expressing my feeling by painting.




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Reference List
Nakamura, I (2004). Introduction of Pop Culture Policy (Summary). Japanese Institute of Global
Communications.http://www.glocom.org/debates/20040302_nakamura_pop/index.html
Kelts, R (2006). Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., 207
Phoenix, W. (2006). Character Merchandising and Mascots. Plastic Culture: How Japanese Toys
Conquered the World,79-87
Figure 1. Kaikai Kiki News, 2002, Takashi Murakami. http://www.saatchi-
gallery.co.uk/blogon/upload/2006/06/murakami1.jpg
Fugure 2. HU, 2006, Hsin-Wei Hsu, 162x130cm