社会学は全く初心者ですが、せっかく授業でこの二つの分析の仕方を学んだので、
これを使って、Kawaiiを分析してみました
英語も、内容的にもまだまだです。間違いなど発見されましたら、ご指導の程、よろしくお願いします。
I apply the interpretive and explanatory analysis to the Japanese original culture of “kawaii”. The word “kawaii” is a Japanese adjective that normally translated into cute or pretty in English. However technically it is not same as them because “kawaii” is Japanese original notion that is defined as lovableness based on immaturity. Japanese have been obsessed with “kawaii” for long time. We can see similar meaning of word (the form of Japanese words are changeable so “kawaii” also derived from a similar form of other words.) in the old Japanese literature “Makurano-sou-shi” written in A.D. 1000 and by a woman writer, Sei-shounagon. Now “kawaii” dominates consuming society not only in Japan but also in American certain market. “Kawaii” is getting the international word as a symbol of Japanese pop cultures in these days. In other word, many people are obsessed with Japanese “kawaii” culture. I analyze the culture of “kawaii” from the viewpoint of both interpretive and explanatory analysis.
To begin with, I analyze explanatorily how “kawaii” makes Japanese people obsessed with it. If we look at the medium in Japan (such as advertisements, TV, magazines, etc.), the word “kawaii” is used so regularly that it’s rare to see something that the word cannot be applied to. This phenomenon is more outstanding in women’s fashion magazine. It can be said that “kawaii” culture is deeply rooted in Japanese consuming society. So I use women’s fashion magazines as a way to find what is considered as “kawaii” and how ordinal products become “kawaii” in Japanese consuming culture.
Firstly, I need to analyze Japanese women’s fashion magazines by categorizing them. There are so many categories of fashion magazines in Japan, and the number of kinds of women’s fashion magazines is about seventy. And they range from high fashion to street fashion. Seeing these fashion magazines, we can realize that the definitions of “kawaii” are distinct from each category and even in a same category, the definitions of kawaii are slightly different. Then why these definitions are different from each magazines? And why the definition of “kawaii” is so changeable even though the notion of “kawaii” has come down for a long time in Japan? The answers of these questions are very obvious. These fashion magazines play role as the stimulus which make consumers eager to buy products in the consuming society. Editors of these magazines perfectly understand the taste of subscribers or the subscribers really like the worldview that created by each magazine. So either way, the subscribers are willing to follow the suggestion of these magazines that what the most “kawaii” fashion is in this season. And editors use the “kawaii” to sell products. For consumers, the criterion for buying decision is whether a product is “kawaii” or not.
Secondly, I need to analyze fashion magazines which were issued in different time to find how the definition of “kawaii” varies as time passes. The oldest women’s fashion magazine in Japanese history is “少女文化 (Shouzyo-Bunka)” which was published in 1900. (Koga 24) Obviously, the products which were carried in the magazine as “kawaii” are different from the products now on fashion magazines as “kawaii”. This is because that the role of fashion magazines is selling new products to consumer, and they can’t carry same products as last year or preceding years. Rather they try to make preceding products “out- of- date”, that is “not kawaii” to sell new products.
Third, I need to analyze “kawaii” created by consumers themselves. As I mentioned above, “kawaii” is defined by each women’s fashion magazines to sell products which match to their subscribers’ tastes while “kawaii” is also made by consumers. That is to say, there are two types of “kawaii” in the consuming society: top-down “kawaii” and bottom-up “kawaii”. There are some fashion magazines which composed of pictures of ordinary girls who are not professional fashion models but considered as fashion leaders among their friends. And they show what they bought recently and what they want to buy next. Apparently these magazines reflect what ordinary women believe as “kawaii” on the magazines through the daily life, however their editors make a choice whether or not which people use based on their criterion of “kawaii”. After all, it is true that ordinary people find and feel “kawaii” through their experience but each editor of magazine has the final say.
Through conducting these three analyses of magazine, we can find people are embedded in the consuming society of “kawaii” and swayed by mass medium. Therefore it can be said that people’s obsession with “kawaii” is caused by the intention of mass medium that try to make people buy new products.
Next, I analyze interpretively what makes people obsessed with “kawaii”. As I mentioned above, “kawaii” is created by medium to prompt people to buy new products whereas basically it is defined as “lovableness based on immaturity”. I suspect that there are internal factors make people obsessed with “kawaii”. So I analyze what Japanese consider as “kawaii”.
Firstly, I need to analyze cartoon characters such as Pikachu (which is an imaginary creature in Pokemon) and Hello Kitty. Seeing these cartoon-characters, we realize that they have similar features in common. For instance, both Pikachu and Hello Kitty have fevered a big head and tiny limbs comparing to their body. While a well-formed beauty such as s super model is normally praised, why these “chibi” cartoon characters enchant so many people? This is because that these unbalanced bodies remind people of infants. We will feel affection toward babies instinctively. In this meaning, the definition of the babies means not only human’s baby but also babies of any animals. What we can commonly find in these babies is their unbalanced body proportion. The exaggerated features of a baby which are seen in cartoon characters are symbol that means the affection to infants.
Secondly, I need to analyze situations where Japanese use “kawaii” a lot in a daily life. Japanese use “kawaii” for not only physical products or explanation of appearance of people but also for someone’s certain behaviors. For example, people use “kawaii” for someone who makes a small mistake unexpectedly though it may be hard to understand for non-Japanese people. This is because, as definition, “kawaii” is a loveableness base on immaturity. Imaging infants, we easily realize that they are far from perfection and they need protection from others. As I mentioned, we feel affection to infants instinctively and recognized characters that make what they are such as immaturity, imperfection, tininess and innocence as “kawaii”. The word “kawaii” used for someone has a defect is a symbol that means the inclination to imperfectness which is a unique idea to Japanese.
Thirdly, I also need to analyze Japanese people’s states of mind when they use the word “kawaii”. Japanese try to get approval from other people toward what they consider as “kawaii”. Even though they feel “kawaii” for something, sometime they are not sure whether it is really “kawaii” or not without someone’s approval. In addition, people use “ kawaii” as if it’s a ritual or greeting when someone shows some “kawaii” stuff. Even if they don’t think “kawaii”, they do say, “Oh, it’s so “kawaii”!” These situations may look funny for American but they are caused by the character of Japanese people that value on harmony. They prefer being “same” as other people, long for sympathy, and even feel relieved. So Japanese use “kawaii” as a tool for communication. And we can find that “kawaii” is a symbol of Japanese characters that value on harmony.
We can find that the notion of “kawaii” surely arises from the instinctive affection for babies and it also deeply rooted in the national character of Japanese. So what makes people obsessed with “kawaii” is that the Japanese original notion that has been built through a long history of Japan. And “kawaii” is a symbol to represent these unique Japanese notions.
In conclusion, through these two types of analyses, explanative analysis and interpretive analysis, we can fine out that people are obsessed with kawaii because of the strategy of mass medium in consuming society and Japanese affection for infants and inclination for sympathy make them affected with “kawaii” so much.
Work Cited
Yomota, Inuhiko. 「かわいい」論. Vol. 1. Tokyo,Japan: Chikumashobo Ltd, 2006. Print.
Koga, Reiko. 「かわいい」の帝国 モードとメディアと女の子たち. 1st ed. Tokyo, Japan: Seidoshya,Inc, 2009. Print.
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