Mother and Shojo & and the Japanese cult of cuteness. The reality of war has become so detac
Mother and Shojo & and the Japanese cult of cuteness. The reality of war has become so detached from everyday lives, that for most young Japanese people the media has become the dominant source for learning about the war. At the level of pop culture there still exists a percieved infantilism and/or amorphous libido for violence in today’s Japan. The image of the young girl (shojo) permeates Japanese culture today in contrast to the time of the Asia Pacific war where the image of the mother where young Japanese soldiers anchored their deepest emotions. The mother figure is well represented in this time. #1 Meiji era woodblock print of a mother and child #2 Cover of one of the earliest shōjo magazines, Shōjo Sekai, published July 1, 1908 by Hakubunkan After the war there occurred a gradual shift in subculture from the mother to the Shojo (young girl) leading to Japans culture of cuteness. Soon mainstream embraced this fad and it became a marketing fad for almost everything. Of course this is best exemplified by hello kitty. At first hello kitty was strictly a child’s product but it soon became popular amongst adults. #3 hello kitty In 1975 emperor Hirohito and his wife visited the US. Soon the media became flooded with images of them at Disneyland. Many people saw this image as “cute” indelibly stamping the image of the emperor as cute among Japanese girls. This image lingered until his death in 1994. #4 Hirohito and Mickey Mouse. If the predominant self-image of postwar Japanese culture is that of the innocuous boy/girl the question arises as to whether the root of the image lies in the fact that Japan continues to relive the trauma of being publicly referred to as “12 year olds” by the former conquerer and protector, Genera MacArthur. Was the image of the two side by side so piercing that the Japanese internalized by the relationship in the photo? Anyone who see’s the photo cannot fail to notice the contrast. This image has long been seen as that of guardian and innocent boy/girl. #5 MacAthur & Hirohito Ambivalence and ambiguity associated with 14 year olds function as potent metaphors for the national image in present day Japan. What lies ahead is hope that this narrow passage created by the image of the shojo can evade appropriation by the movement refered to as infantile capitalism. *oddly i couldn’t find a decent photo of hirohito at disneyland. -- source link