J-Pop Culture Identity
I just read a really interesting article about how JA youth are increasingly interested in Japanese popular culture on the Pacific Citizen's website. According to the article, most don't speak Japanese and were not previously very interested in Japanese culture. In addition finding J-Pop music, anime, and doramas (Japanese dramas) entertaining, they're also finding it a way to get in touch with their cultural roots. The article really resonated with me, because I went through the same experience when I was in junior/high school in the '80s. My sister, cousin, and her best friend really got into buying J-Pop records and magazines, renting videos (doramas and music shows), and avidly watching the annual New Year's music shows. One thing that J-pop music in particular helped me with back then was improving my Japanese language skills. I would "practice" my Japanese reading skills by watching Japanese music programs because they always provided the lyrics at the bottom of the screen (actually, that's why I'm familiar with enka music of the time - since it's slower, it was easier to read/follow along). At some point along the way, our interest in the Checkers, Otokogumi, Shibugakitai, Nakamori Akina, and others started to fade (it was an expensive habit to keep, especially in the era before internet proliferation), but I still have and listen to some. Of course, the difficulty is that our music collection consisted of vinyl records and cassette tapes, neither of which I use anymore (I was very disappointed to learn that I couldn't purchase from the Japanese iTunes store!). Here's the article that began my journey down memory lane... "A J-Pop Culture Identity" |
