Jul 29

WIT Life #46: Defining adulthood, hostess envy and 2-D love

Anecdote Article, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life Add Comment (3)

WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

There is talk in Japan of changing the legal adult age of 20 down to 18, as a government advisory panel introduced this idea on Wednesday.  This was put forth by the Democratic Party, who is expected to take power from the long-reigning Liberal Democratic Party in the upcoming general election.  The proposal will be submitted to Japan’s justice minister if the Legislative Council approves it at its general meeting in September.  This could go through sas early as May of next year, and it would allow people to vote in elections and get married without permission from their parents two years earlier than is currently permitted (the current marriage age is 18 for men and 16 for men, but they suggest making it 18 for both).

It has been said that this idea is being floated for the purpose of “young people’s self-sustainability,” but the word on the street from those interviewed on the news was that kids wanted to stay kids for a bit longer.  One girl said she felt she couldn’t handle the pressure, and another said that if she were allowed to have her own credit cards she would soon max them out.  Other social aspects that would change for young people are the legal ages for voting, smoking, drinking and horse racing.  In a separate survey carried out by Japan Today, 70% of respondents opposed the proposed lowering.

In other news about young people, there was an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday about the surging popularity of the hostessing profession entitled Young Japanese Women Via for a Once Scorned Job.  Among the upsetting statistics cited in the article is a recent survey of 1,154 high school girls by the Culture Studies Institute in Tokyo that found hostessing to rank No. 12 out of the 40 most popular professions, ahead of public servant (18) and nurse (22).  In addition, a quote from a former hostess who has gone onto to larger fame in fashion (designing her own hostess clothing line) and on tv was, “I often get fan mail from young girls in elementary school who say they want to be like me.”  The recession is certainly a factor and the pay cannot be beat, but one would hope that young Japanese women could find their inspiration somewhere besides hostessing.

An article featured in the Times’ magazine this past weekend also highlighted another notable Japanese trend, that of 2-D lovers.   This is a thriving subculture of men and women in who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters, and they are a subcategory of otaku.  This fetishistic love for 2-D characters is also known as 萌え (moe, literally budding) and according to author Lisa Katayama, “In an ideal moe relationship, a man frees himself from the expectations of an ordinary human relationship and expresses his passion for a chosen character, without fear of being judged or rejected.”  All those profiled in the article are all men, with this gender dominating as in the hikikomori phenomenon.  In the midst of all the recent konkatsu pressure in Japan, perhaps 2-D love is an escape route for a certain segment of the population.   

Is it just me or does the media always seem to focus on the most salacious aspects of Japanese culture?  I understand that you have to attract readers/viewers, but this constant portrayal of Japan as a sexually charged nation full of freaks gets old after a while.  Of course such fringe aspects exist, but they are probably about as mainstream as furryism is here in the States (people who dress up in furry costumes like animals, a trend captured in tv shows such as Entourage and CSI).

Funny enough, on my last State Department interpreting gig one of our destinations was Pittsburgh, and we happened to be there the same weekend as an event called Anthro-Con, the world’s largest furry convention.  Where we were staying was actually the official furry hotel, so every time we got on or off the elevators there were new animals awaiting us.  Our group ate it up, one of them even purchasing his own Siberian Husky tail!  Seeing and learning about all aspects of a country is a wonderful thing, but my worry is that people exposed exclusively to sensationalistic coverage end up making assumptions that are largely unfounded.