Thesis paper 4th draft

The Power of Kawaii








How Does Japanese Popular Culture influence Contemporary Art?








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


The Power of Kawaii 1

Introduction

Todays, 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 cultures as the inspiration in their artwork and have positive responses. The most famous Japanese contemporary artist, 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 on contemporary art, and has inspired many 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 by mixed cultures and Taiwanese people can accept different cultural 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 subculture.
Japanese pop culturl
The traditional images of Japan were the militarily nation in WWII and an industrial country after the war. However, the status of Japan has been changing. With the develoment of a tremendous entertainment business, Japanese pop culture have become huge power and now drawn global interest. Pop culture such as manga(comics), animation and games are now becoming the symbols 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
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the fact that there is less 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, who is the most famous Japanese contemporary fine artist, created cartoonish characters in his artwork(Fighre 1). His artwork is very "kawaii", which means cute in Japanese. Murakami unveiled his work "Superflact Manifesto" in his exhibitio in Tokyo in 2000. He asserted that Ukiyo-e (Japanese traditional printing) and Japanese contemporary comics share the same characteristics, flat, delicated and detailed. Also, Murakami advocates the idea of Pop Art movement, which is making art become more popular. According to one study (Phoenix, 2006), 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." 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 subculture 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. The history of Taiwanese culture is very complicated, which 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 bring up the culture invation and Taiwan has benefited from cultures surrounding them. This is most appears 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 subculture and Murakami affect my painting
While Murakami shows viewers the Japanese subcultuer, I show my viewers the influence from Japanese subculture. I have enjoyed Japanese pop culture since I was a kid. I saw Japanese cartoons, read Japanese comics, played Japanese toys and video games. I enjoy those delicate, imaginative and entertaining products. When I do 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. I think it is interesting to consider this topic, as it relies on the Japanese pop culture invasion, because most of the virtual cartoonish characters are from Japan. 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 have humorous and make viewers feel fun and relax (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 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.



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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