jaded by the J-content
Sorry, but it's another elaborate tangent on Japanese hype culture
Finally the day is here! You just arrived in Narita airport, so stoked that your Shoshanna (GIRLS reference for those who don’t know) dream is coming to life ー you are going to live in Japan! I found this quote from
recent essay, “Willing to be lucky”Dorothy Parker put it best, ‘London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.’”
If Tokyo was added here, perhaps it would be refreshing, still or unexpected or dare I say, prosaic but not threatening. All in all, you get to live your best yamato nadeshiko girlie life. <3
Japan is often the subject of the world’s cultural trendsetter. This honestly never made sense to me. When people say cultural trends, it normally just means the soft power aspect; anime, tv shows, IP characters and video games etc. Like did Japan set the trend to make matcha popular…? I mean match is a Japanese ingredient, but it’s not like Japan started the fandom for matcha latte cafes, American’s did that for us. Is ramen all over the world because it is the best dish (errr pasta is great too.) in the world? Sure, but also it’s always been a part of our lives that Japan has never intentionally tried to make it trendy. Also the Toto toilets. Heating seats, washing your butthole and all that ー sure as I’ve heard many times from friends, it is the best joys when coming to Japan, but did Japan think celebrities would start installing these in their homes? I don’t think so, it just sort of happened.
This is my theory on things from Japan that gets attention; perhaps Japan makes the best things, but we don’t trendset them as ‘cool’. The rest of the world does that part for us. Thanks to social media and the other corners of the internet, the government didn’t have to put much leg work into it. Frankly, isn’t that how the ‘cool Japan initiative(クールジャパン)’ happened as well? It didn’t even happen actually, it already was happening and I guess the government wanted to put a name to it.
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I’ve been trying to explore this “Japanese fandom” ーthe almost excessive love that you only see for Japan. Needless to say, I’m extremely jaded to be honest. (lol) I’m tired of seeing mostly white (mostly male) narratives on ‘Why Japan is great.’ or on ‘Japan reporting.’ It’s fascinating that most Twitter ‘J-content’ that circulates are created by white people. I don’t care, (well, that could be a stretch) but I recoil myself to see Japan through their eyes. I don’t have any nationalistic ideas on Japan, it’s not that I'm headstrong and I only believe in one way of seeing Japan ー it’s the untraceable-ness of my being that I find myself being frustrated by it all. It’s probably more of a me problem and not a you problem. In short, maybe she still does have an ~identity crisis~ and that’s fine! But to be honest, I think there is such a thing as hype fatigue if that makes sense.
I even wrote about it in Polyester Magazine last year that it was becoming a jealousy issue for me. I thought it was unfair, that the foreigners were enjoying Japan and the Japan I knew was drastically different from what I knew.
Sorz, quoting myself “ーbut it’s without saying that the Japan foreigners are experiencing and the Japan I experienced throughout my life is so different. I find it hard to genuinely be excited with them about Japan. Is the Japan they find so intriguing really the same Japan I have known for 30 years?
I don’t care about the part of being considered Japanese so much anymore because I can claim that for myself and I don’t need anyone else to tell me otherwise. I recently had an interesting conversation with someone who’s American and when his friends come to Japan, they always ask about the Japanese etiquette.
“I shouldn’t stick my chopsticks in the rice bowl right?”
“I shouldn’t eat while walking in public, right?”
“I want to try raw chicken. That’s a thing, right?!”
I told him,
“It’s funny because even when you get everything right, the irony is that it really doesn’t matter. To Japanese people, you are a gaijin and nothing more or less. You won’t be looked differently because you do the ‘right’ thing.”
It’s true. It might sound harsh or a difficult reality to grasp, but as someone who has been in the cultural limbo in Japan my whole life, no matter what you do, if you present yourself slightly foreign or you look foreign, the efforts just doesn’t matter.
Maybe that’s why I’m jealous of the foreigners who visit here who can just simply have fun without any repercussions. It just stops at being cool and there’s nothing more or less to it. (I don’t want people suffer or to have repercussions! But I hope you get my point here.)
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In a rec a couple newsletters ago, I talked about Wim Wenders and his documentary called “Tokyo-ga(東京画)” It’s filmed in the peak of showa period, pachinko slot machines, smoking indoors, big eye glasses, Seiko-chan hair styles and neon signs are at its prime time. In it, while he is in a taxi cab, he describes his experience in Tokyo as, “it feels like you are sleepwalking(夢遊病) through Tokyo.” Sleepwalking made sense to me, and when I saw the Japanese subtitles for it that said, 夢遊病(mu-yu-byo), it made too much sense. The literal meaning of the word translates to ‘dream (夢)’ ‘play(遊)’ ‘sickness(病). I’ve spoken about the ‘Japanese fandom’ to a lot of my friends before and I always ask, “is Japan really that crazy different from the rest of the world?” and I get a unanimous answer all the time. “Absolutely Yes. It’s so different.”
My friends will tell me, “Still going back and forth between my country and other Asian countries, Japan still feels so different.” Japan is so inherently “out there” and nowhere else can imitate the feeling or the landscape; it’s so foreign that it’s easy to catch ‘dream-play-sickness.’ It’s easy to dream around, and be totally entranced by the feeling of being in a country where no rules apply from what you grew up learning; your life anew. You are sort of accustomed to catching this sickness, or cold or whatever form of sleepwalking. Once you stay in Japan long enough, you end up catching this ‘Japanese fandom.’ A magic spell that you can’t break, because it’s so refreshing but yet manageable in an unexpected way.
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I’m not a doctor after all, so I can’t diagnose you for having ‘Japanese fandom’. (thank god!)
Jokes aside, my arguments are similar to the discourse of the year long appreciation v.s. appropriation. I don’t have a clear answer but this was more so an elaborate tangent for now. As a grow older, and wiser, it’s becoming more easier to point the ‘icks’ I have.
How would you describe Tokyo in one word if you had to? How is your experience like living in Tokyo? Does my ‘Sleepwalking’ rhetoric make sense? Would love to hear from you.
Other Stuff
Each week, I give you some extra things you can read/listen/watch that I consumed and thought was interesting. Here is this week’s edition! If you like this portion of the newsletter, I do a whole section dedicated for it once every month called #juststuff where you can read all the archive here. Enjoy.
Reads
I really loved this story by
on cup of jo. She left her marriage ー for her to become the hero of her own story. (I found out about her on Forever 35 podcast! My favorite weekly chat shesh pod)Also on
! This essay on was so so good!!! As an essayist myself, I completely relate to this feeling of being writing as a honest manifesto and it’s much more easier for us to write our feelings out then actually communicate them sometimes. “I chose my career over my marriage because it brought me more joy”Edward Enninful’s last as editor in chief for British Vogue, this piece on Vogue written by him was great. This diary of a CEO with him was a great listen too. His life story is truly powerful; his ‘moving forward’ mentality is encouraging and refreshing!
I also found this on
, Shani Silver’s Instagram who has beautiful notes on being single.
You know that I love seeing how other people take notes, and what kind of notes they take.
posted P.S. Six of My Favorite Notebooks on Substack and I have saved the post, of course. Also in it, has once shared this absolute GEM of How to keep a writer’s notebook It’s so so useful as I’m just getting into writing down all my thoughts in a notebook, and not my iphone notes app :(I loved this advise, “Only write on the right-hand page - leave the left blank.” For reasons I found convincing!
- Against the brave was so good. A critical and honest look into our current Israel and Palestine activism. I would actually love to hear other people’s thoughts on this.
- did a guest shopper with and of course if it’s about finding the best red lip, I had to see. Suffice to say, Chanel’s Le Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue in daring red was purchased! It’s seriously long wear and a red that won’t disappoint. Leave it to Chanel for all the red lips.
Listen
Recommend by
, On the Infamous podcast, was on Anna Wintour and Fashion’s discontent. I am now eager to get Anna, a biography written by Odell.Very much enjoyed this episode with Lily Gladstone, who I knew from her voice that she grew up in WA!!! A very PNW esque accent I feel.
Some extra things I’ve been wanting
I’m in need of a good grocery shopping bag! Who knows a good brand? Since I recently bought a Baggu for a friend for her Bday, I might get this one? Very cute? OK, Hillhouse. A brand I’ve never tried and honestly too girly for my taste? but I’m sort of into this cape-like thing for whatever occasion. Speaking of red lips, YSL Tatouge 201 rouge also has a very yum delish lip according to
But the 201 color is literally sold out everywhere. Went to the counter and the lady was like, yea…lost cause babe. I’ve been looking for comfy pants, and these Donni (recced by )are sort of cute. Last black friday, I got my Agolde denim on sale and due to massive sizing disappointment, I’m lost. I’ve heard already that these Still Here Everyday denim are pretttttyy good, and I’m conflicted because I’ve already spent about the same money with the Agolde ones too. I got my first every Yossy Arefi baking book, “Snacking cakes” and oh boy it’s good! So easy!! and I love her directions! My eyes are somehow going to silver jewelry now ーdon’t know why but these Missoma ones could be my imminent purchase.Thank you for reading this week’s love or not to love :) I appreciate you as always, and you can follow me on Instagram megsgumis for some more fun and yum content. As always Bisous x Megumi
Hi! Thanks so much for the shout out - and I’m still in the Infamous rabbit hole. Such a great podcast! And love following Amy Odell’s substack.