Truly that tiny island has a larger impact on the world than one might think. With Japan standing tall as a mass producer of global entertainment, it is important to learn the modern culture that a typical Japanese teenager experiences every day. What kind of media is Japan exposed to? How much does America influence Japan? I asked my friend Miyu, a nineteen-year old Japanese girl studying in America, such questions.
I met Miyu in my band class at the beginning of the fall semester, and despite some language barriers, the two of us became friends. Even before a class assignment to interview an international student about media, I have been interested in learning about her culture. It’s usually an even trade. She tells me how Japan celebrates Christmas and then I tell her how we celebrate the same holiday in America. I have already learned so many things from her about Japanese holidays and traditions and have been surprised at how many differences there are. In our conversations, however, we never really discussed media in Japan. So I wrote a list of questions to ask her about Japanese media, and I was very surprised by most of her answers.
Beauty Standards
The thing I was most surprised to learn about was Japan’s standards of beauty. I asked about the standard of beauty because the media plays a big part in what kinds of people we see as beautiful. Gatekeepers show us models in magazines and T.V. (usually thin, busty blondes in America) and we try to be like them with weight loss, boob jobs, and dyeing our hair; and for guys, weight sets to get that Mr. Universe physique. So I asked Miyu what Japanese people were encouraged to look like by the media. She said men and women were expected to be thin, I expected that. She also said that men were expected to be toned, but not overly muscled. I expected that response as well because I have never seen a hulk-like Japanese man. I was surprised to learn, however, that Japanese women are seen as more beautiful with brown curly hair, something that the majority of them aren’t born with. I Googled “Japanese fashion magazine” and saw that, as Miyu had said, the majority of the models were sporting curly brown hair. Is it really human nature to be something we’re not?
Entertainment
I was also surprised to learn how much American T.V. and music the people of Japan watch. Miyu listed many American artists who were popular in Japan including Avril Lavene, Myriah Carey, The Fray, Rhiana, and Sean Kingston among others. “’Bad Day’ [by Daniel Powter] is really popular in Japan,” Miyu added. She also listed High School Musical, Heroes, 24, Hairspray, and Pirates of the Caribbean as popular movies and T.V. shows in Japan. Japan gets a lot of its action movies from America, she told me, while romantic movies are made locally. Our interests in sports differ slightly. While both America and Japan enjoy watching baseball games on television, Miyu had never heard of foot-ball before coming to the U.S. And although we’ve heard of it, televised soccer isn’t as popular here as it is in Japan. America is mentioned a lot on world news in Japan, especially with Barack Obama taking office, and according to Miyu, most news of America is positive. “We like America,” she said.
Japan and America share another thing in common besides entertainment: advertisement. Go to Japan, and you will find just as many billboards, commercials, and ads as in the States. When I asked Miyu what are the top three things advertised in Japan, she said cars, make-up, and food. Some things are universal.
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