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THINGS JAPANESE: Boom!

The "boom" is one of the most distinctive features of modern Japanese culture, and perhaps a reflection of the much-feted Japanese "group mentality" (often overstressed in studies of Japan).

Japanese society is swept by fashions at a rate unheard of in any other country I have been to. Witness mobile phones which almost every person in the country has - they were virtually unheard of five years ago. Before that it was the "pockeberu" or Pocket Bell pager. Every schoolgirl had one and could be seen busily writing messages to friends probably no further than ten meters away. The mobile phone has taken over this function, and now they are busily writing emails, surfing the Internet and even talking on their phones.

I mention high-school girls, as they are the group that most clearly exhibits this trait, being swept by booms at a phenomenal rate. For example, the "ganguro" or "yamamba" makeup style that is (in some people's opinion) presently defacing the streets of Japan. The suntan might be called by some excessive, by Life Insurance Companies suitable grounds for cancelling your policy. The white eye makeup on top is just unsightly. However, it is interesting as an example of a group of people defining their own identity in confrontation to the establishment (why they choose to do so by making themselves look like racoons I don't know).

Personal prejudice aside, booms are not limited to any one age or gender group. They are as diverse as types of food (the sudden increase in Korean restaurants and sales of kimchi a few years ago); the time to eat it (often by season - see below); and sports - e.g. football, volleyball, and so on. Football (ie soccer) which saw huge popularity when the Japanese J-league first started some years ago, almost caught up with baseball. There's no accounting for taste in sports that involve bats. While this is slowly declining, it will soon rise up again as the World Cup comes to Japan and Korea in 2002. At that time, everyone will be a football fan, football clubs will be filled with young hopeful Nakatas...

So booms sometimes stay. The other enduring boom last decade was English. While the Japanese have studied English for years, it was only in the mid-nineties that it really took off. Other booms come and go, and as each one sweeps through, everyone is for a brief time a fan of that thing - at the same time. So, at the moment the national high school baseball championships are on, so everyone is even more focussed on baseball than usual. About three months ago, the world volleyball championships were on, and everyone was a volleyball fan. Soon, everyone will be a football fan. As autumn comes around, everyone will be eating traditional seasonal food - supposedly the best of the year - and come spring, as everyone gets over skiing in the Japanese Alps, it will be time to go to Hokkaido for the tastiest crab and seafood. So sometimes they attain the status of customs, like honeymoons in Hawaii or Australia, but this may be part of the Japanese ability to adapt quickly to new trends. Although, as with any country, whether this is more than skin deep is debatable.

[Feedback and comments to newsletter@yamasa.org. All comments are due to the opinion/prejudice/general stirring of the author and are not official opinion of the Yamasa Institute.]