Thesis paper 3rd draft

Hsin-Wei Hsu



The Power of Kawaii

Introduction

Nowadays, Godzilla and Hello Kitty speak not only Japanese, but also English, Mandarin and Korean. Japanese subculture which includ comic, animation, movies, street fashion and toys are internationally know and have the cartoonish character. Besides, Japanese popular culture is becoming influential throughout the world. Many Japanese contemporary artists use their own subculture as the idea in their artwork and have positive responds. The most famous Japanese contemporary artist, Takashi Murakami, successfully deals with this issue. He displays cartoon characters and vinyl figures in his exhibitions. His flat cartoonish style has great influence on the contemporary art, and inspire many contemporary artists. As a Taiwanese, I feel a strong influence from Japanese subculture; this phenomenon is unavoidable, just like the culture invasion is unstoppable. However, I think it is good, because Taiwanese culture was formed by mixed culture and Taiwanese can accept different culture styles from other countries easily. It also affects my painting which contains some parts of Japanese teen culture. For instance, I use the falt style which is a characteristic of Japanese sublture and creat cartoon monsters in my painting. As a Taiwanese contemporary artist, I want to express the speciality of Taiwanese subculture.

Japanese pop culturl
The traditional images about Japan were the militarily nation in WWII and an industrial country after the war. However, the status of Japan has been changing. With the developing of tremendous entertainment business, Japanese pop culture becoming a huge power and now drawing global interest. Pop culture such as manga(comics), animations and games now becoming the symbol of Japan. Nakamura(2004) who is an executive director of Stanford Japan Center-Research reported that "The characteristics of the Japanese pop market include the follewing 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 regulation of sexual and violent expression in the media". Besides, Kelts(2006) reported that Japanese pop culture fulls with 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, who is the most famous Japanese contemporary fine artist, created cartoonish characters in his artwork. Murakami announced "Superflact Manifesto" in his exhibitio in Tokyo in 2000. He asserted that Ukiyo-e(Japanese traditional painting) and Japanese contemporary comics have the same characteristics which were flat, delicated, detialed and implicated. Also, as the idea of Pop Art movement, he wanted to make art become more popularized. According one study (Phoenix, 2006), Murakami inspired by popular Japanese culture, 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." Murakami also wants to make art become popular, which as the same idea from Pop Art movement. He combines art and commercial and transfer his unique cartoons on many products like pins, dolls, cards and vinly toys. He uses this way to make people have more opportunity to buy artwork; however, to join art and commercial together makes Murakami become a controversial artist. He asserted that use the art is commercial, and artists need money for making more artwork. Murakami has his own art making factory, called Kaikai Kiki. In the factory, he supports many young artists by providing cases and exhibitions which make them have more opportunities to become famous.

How Japanese subculture affects Taiwanese culture
Japanese, who are good at promoting their productions, successfully sell their culture to other countries. They not only sell the authentic Japanese food, but also the animation, comics and toys. Taiwan, which located near Japan, cannot avoid the great culture trend from it. The history of Taiwanese culture is very complicated, which related to Chinese traditional culture, native Taiwanese culture and parts of Japanese colony culture. It is true that the most specific feature of Taiwan's culture is a multiculture. Recently, the economy of China, Korea and Japan has been raising, which bring up the culture invation, Taiwan has suffered the cultures from them. The most obviously facts happen in the young generation. For example, many youth follow the Japanese fashion, which 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 Japan. Through importing tremendous amounts of Japanese products to Taiwan, the Japanese culture comes with them.

How Japanese subculture and Murakami affect my painting
Murakami shows people the Japanese subcultur, I show people the the influence from Japanese subculture. I have been enjoyed the Japanese pop culture since I was a kid. I saw Japanese cartoons, read Japanese comics, played Japanese toys and video games. I enjoy those entertaining products which are made delicateliy and imaginative. When I make my painting, these enjoyable experience become my inspiration which give me the ideas about the relationship between reality and illusion. People who live in the reality world, usually get along with many unreal stuffs such as the virtual world made from computer, the 3D CG bikini girls in the video games or the giant horrible monsters in the animation. I think it is interesting to discuss this topic, also, it relies on the the Japanese pop culture invasion, because most of the virtual cartoonish characters are from Japan. My painting style is flat, which like Murakami's superflat style, because of the great influence from comics and animations. Through using flat cartoonish characters can show humorous and unformal feeling, which can make audience feel fun and relax. Besides, I totally agree with Murakami's ideas about art: art should be popular and art is commercial. I think popularity and commercial can help each other. If art is popular, which everybody knows and enjoys it, than people would have more chance to purchase artwork or art products. On the other hand, if artwork like commercial products, which appear everywhere in our daily life, people would understand more about art. I am planing to make my artwork into commercial and developing different products such as stickers, toys and t-shirts.

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






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