Book Review: Fashioning Japanese Subcultures by Yuniya Kawamura (2012)
This is going to be a little long - I took a lot of notes :x I borrowed the book from a friend so unfortunately I don't have it here to reference so my review is based on my notes only. Of course as a lolita, I will be writing a lolita-biased review :)
Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. I would rate it 7/10.
The book is split into three basic parts - part 1 is the intro, literature review, and theoretical discussion explaining why these subcultures exist; part 2 is split into five chapters, each describing a Japanese subculture and the area of Tokyo associated with it; and part 3 is more information and speculation about the future of Japanese subcultures.
The five areas of Tokyo and their corresponding subcultures are:
Ch 4: Shibuya and Gyaru/Kogyaru
Ch 5: Harajuku and Lolitas
Ch 6: Akihabara/Ikebukuro and otaku/fujoshi/cosplayers
Ch 7: Shinjuku and Age-jo + a little lolita
Ch 8: Kouenji and Morigirl, also randomly Ginza?
The middle section has some photo plates of Japanese and Western lolitas (a couple I've seen on egl before) and other photos of Japanese alternative fashions but honestly they weren't very interesting to me personally but again I am extremely biased. It's not that the outfits were bad, it was that the photography was pretty amateur and you couldn't really see much. The best photo in the book is on the cover.
Good things:
- It's one of the only academically written books of its kind in English.
- It has a lot of information in a short book.
- As an outsider to Japanese street fashions, the author is a lot more educated on the subject than most and did a lot of research.
- The quotes from interviews with participants in the subcultures are interesting to read.
- It suggests a couple of interesting theories about Japanese street fashion.
Bad things:
- Theoretical discussion lacks depth.
- Some of the info is incorrect or outdated.
- There are some minor grammatical and spelling issues.
- The literature review portion is overly complex while the meat of the discussion about subcultures is simple.
My opinion of this book changes depending on the context I view it in. If I compare it to the pithy attempts I have seen to define the mysterious ~living doll gothic lolita nymphet juicy catchword~ articles I've seen on the topic, it is leagues above. The author speaks Japanese and has conducted a lot of qualitative research and interviews in Japan and abroad and seems to be trying to get past flashy shock value into quality research territory. However, when I view this book in comparison to an academic standard of works, it falls short. The author tends to generalize and simplify things that actually should be described in a more nuanced way, and the writing style leaves something to be desired. I unfortunately tend to equate English writing level with general competence, so when I see mistakes in a book, it really takes away from my willingness to believe in the author. I'm not going to focus on individual typos here but I will discuss some misinformation I found.
A little more detail
There are six sections (intro, + chapters 1-5) you have to read through before you get to actual talk about what you want to hear about: the subcultures themselves. I found this a little tedious, but maybe that's just my lack of attention span.
In Chapter 1, she asks the question: "what is a subculture?" The answer is a group of people who share the same common ideology, clothing, music, media, opinions, political affiliation, drug use, income levels, promiscuity, social class, etc. But I think lolitas do not share the majority of these ideas. In the West (not sure about Japan) we always emphasize that lolita is just clothing - there is no prescribed way one needs to behave to be a lolita. Another "subculture" I had an issue with is Age-jo, girls who work as hostesses in Shinjuku at night and have a particular over the top fashion style. These girls are firstly lumped together because of their profession, and secondly because of their clothing, but I don't really see how that is a subculture. Subcultures get their "sub" from being against popular norms in some form of rebellion. Dressing up to appeal to male customers is not really the same thing.
It can be said that now we are in an age that is post-subculture, that we have lost the innocence required to give oneself 100% over to a group in order to belong. We all believe we are special and individuals and no one would follow blindly what a group of people determined was "cool". Is that true? If so, maybe we have to redefine what a subculture is. But then what makes a subculture and what makes a fashion or hobby club? Interesting questions. The author goes into more detail about this in the book conclusion as well.
One point I did enjoy contemplating was how she explained that each subculture detailed in the book was fueled by women, whereas most Western subcultures are somewhat masculine. Is that because Japanese subcultures are based on fashion? Do Japanese guys have less need to rebel or more pressure to conform? What about Japanese masculine subcultures like yankiis, rapper or otaku guys? I really wanted a lot more focus on the gender aspect during the whole book, but the message was a bit watered down once we left this chapter.
On Western subcultures being masculine (quote by Lauraine Leblanc):
"Girls in male-dominated youth subcultures such as punk continually confront ideologies of gender that remain largely invisible, perhaps even tacitly accepted, in many young women's everyday lives. Punk girls struggle to construct their gender within the confines of a highly male-dominated and therefore "masculinist" context. The punk subculture highly valorizes the norms of adolescent masculinity, celebrating displays of toughness, coolness, rebelliousness, and aggressiveness. Girls are present in the subculture, but the masculinity of its norms problematizes their participation. Thus, gender is problematic for punk girls in a way that is not for punk guys, because punk girls must accommodate female gender within subcultural identities that are deliberately coded as male."
It was interesting to think about punk and how punk ladies often had to compromise their femininity to fit in - do Japanese guys have to compromise their masculinity to fit into the more feminine of Japanese subcultures? For sure that's true when guys become brolitas, but I think fashion styles like gyaru-o and aristocrat allow guys to participate while retaining a lot of masculinity.
She also made a very valid point that much of the subcultural studies out there are very centered on the West. Her book is one of the first of its kind. Western bias is somewhat expected since the studies are written in English. Another well known aspect of the academic world is the lack of Japanese participation in Western academic journals, especially in non-STEM related fields. (I tried looking for a source for my statement but google failed me. However, after working in both American and Japanese university systems I can assure you that Japan's lack of participation in Western academia is well known.) I think that within Japan, Japanese subcultures are still viewed as somewhat shameful and not really worthy of academic study, especially not in English and exposed to the rest of the world. I really wish there were more Japanese subcultural studies conducted by natives!
Beef time
I had a problem with generalizations in the book. They were most irritating to me in the lolita section because that's what I know most about, but they persisted throughout the book. Absolutes are tasty and easy, but not always correct.
pg. 43 "...if you are a member of Lolita, you hang out in Harajuku and not in Shibuya. If you consider yourself Gyaru-o, you are in Shibuya and nowhere else."
Not always! I think in order to reinforce her theme of the regions of Tokyo she persisted in stating how a Lolita must never been seen in X place, or a Gyaru would just kill herself if spotted in Harajuku! But the truth is, lots of these subcultures mix and it's ridiculous to say that a certain area of Tokyo is off limits to a particular group. Sure, subcultures tend to be centered around one place, but it's not like fashion jail or something. For example, Harajuku doesn't have enough good restaurants for lolita parties so they are often held elsewhere in Tokyo like Shinjuku and Shibuya, and Gyaru is such a widespread fashion that you will find them in any corner of Tokyo (or Japan for that matter).
pg. 91, regarding night club workers
"If a young woman comes from a poor family, does not like school, and drops out of high school or college, the only way she can support herself and become self-sufficient is to work as a bar hostess."
Not sure if she was paraphrasing the work of another author or not here (it is unclear) but still this statement made my eye twitch a little. Maybe she could have rephrased that to say "many" dropouts become hostesses, but saying all of them must become hostesses or die on the streets is pretty dismal.
She also went on and on about how a large percent of Gyaru are involved with gangs or illegal activity, but did not go into any detail about the negatives or problems other subcultures like lolita or morigirl might face. I thought that was a little unfair to gyaru.
pg. 102, quote from a Japanese lolita
"We never use our real names. I call myself Sara. I took it from my favorite anime. My real name is totally different. I go by Sara when I meet friends outside of my school. We never ask each other's real name. We never ask where we live, about our families, or the name of the school we go to. We never talk about our friends at school. We go to different schools so I don't know their friends, and they don't know my friends either. It's boring when you hear about someone you don't know... I can vaguely tell which direction my friends live by the train or the subway they take when they go home. But we never ask the exact address. These things are not important to us. We talk about our favorite music, our favorite fashion labels, and so on. We communicate by e-mails and text messages. We go to concerts and events together."
Ok, this is just one, probably very young, person's perspective but the author made it seem like we all act like this. I don't know if that is a desire to make lolita look more freaky or if she just accepted this information as true for all lolitas without doing further research. It is true that a lot of Japanese lolitas adopt pseudonyms but every relationship is different and more complicated than that.
pg. 104, quote from an American lolita
"Lolita girls are in fact feminists. We feel so strong when we dress Lolita. This is our armor. We don't do this to make boys happy. We couldn't care less if they didn't like us in Lolita."
Again this quote is just one person's opinion but in the book there is no other perspective to temper this generalization so it seems that we all think this way.
Some misinformation
pg. 52: Gyaru shop at Alba Rosa in Shibuya 109 - not for many years now, actually.
pg. 55: "The loose socks have been a necessary item for junior high and high school girls." What does this even mean? Because it sounds like she's saying loose socks are popular now, which is way outdated. The only girls who wear them now are hipster gyaru trying to relive the 90s.
pg. 67: Innocent World was founded in 2009 - actually much before that, in 1999. I believe she got that year from the Japanese wikipedia article on lolita which is somewhat worrying as a source for academic info, and she didn't pay attention to the fact it's not talking about the founding of the brand at all, just talking about a temporary shop they made in 2009.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innocent_World#Innocent_World
This stuff made me cringe (about lolita). It's not exactly misinformation, maybe just annoying:
pg. 68 "None of them consider their community as a counterculture." "Having no message to express does, however, convey a message; it may be a hidden one of helplessness and hopelessness. Thus, group members do have a message--silent rebellion."
Choice bits
I loved the interviews because a lot of them were pretty amusing and cute.
About Harajuku/Meiji Jingu Bridge (pg. 66):
"I've been there only a few times. The Lolita girls you see on that bridge are simply cosplaying and are not real Lolita. We, the real ones, never go there. Those who used to hang out there were the fans of Visual-kei musicians with heavy makeup and flashy outfits, and they are not real Lolita. The real ones are well and alive, and we are here to stay."
lol so snarky!
Also from the same page: [you can] "remain a lolita as long as you look young and don't have wrinkles around your eyes."
Watch those eye wrinkles!
pg. 70: "When I pass another Lolita girl on the street, I cannot help but check her out. Just look at her in the corner of my eyes to see how she put her Lolita outfit together from head to toe. If she looks great, there is a slight sense of jealousy, I admit."
pg. 74: "I didn't buy Kera for two months because I wanted to be an ordinary girl. But I saw the January issue and felt an intense urge to buy it. I am now convinced that it is a source of my life. I don't care if people around me don't understand me... Whats best for me is not normal for others or how people look at me strange as long as I am happy, I can bear it... I am back to Kera-kko." (from kera blurb)
After I read the book, I had the opportunity to hear Professor Kawamura present a lecture on the same topic. She did verbally correct some of the issues I had with the book such as the loose socks thing and tried to tone down some of the generalizations, which I was happy about, but still there was the simple tone of absolutes over everything. Statements like, "A lolita must only drink tea, never coffee, and certainly never alcohol!" and other such blurbs are great for oohs and ahhs or snickers from the audience, but are just obstacles to the deeper and more interesting academic approach to the topic that I would like to hear about.
I hope this review didn't come off as harsh, but this is a topic I'm highly invested in! I thought the book was a great starting point for debate, and I hope we see more research and books like this in the future!
Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. I would rate it 7/10.
The book is split into three basic parts - part 1 is the intro, literature review, and theoretical discussion explaining why these subcultures exist; part 2 is split into five chapters, each describing a Japanese subculture and the area of Tokyo associated with it; and part 3 is more information and speculation about the future of Japanese subcultures.
The five areas of Tokyo and their corresponding subcultures are:
Ch 4: Shibuya and Gyaru/Kogyaru
Ch 5: Harajuku and Lolitas
Ch 6: Akihabara/Ikebukuro and otaku/fujoshi/cosplayers
Ch 7: Shinjuku and Age-jo + a little lolita
Ch 8: Kouenji and Morigirl, also randomly Ginza?
The middle section has some photo plates of Japanese and Western lolitas (a couple I've seen on egl before) and other photos of Japanese alternative fashions but honestly they weren't very interesting to me personally but again I am extremely biased. It's not that the outfits were bad, it was that the photography was pretty amateur and you couldn't really see much. The best photo in the book is on the cover.
Good things:
- It's one of the only academically written books of its kind in English.
- It has a lot of information in a short book.
- As an outsider to Japanese street fashions, the author is a lot more educated on the subject than most and did a lot of research.
- The quotes from interviews with participants in the subcultures are interesting to read.
- It suggests a couple of interesting theories about Japanese street fashion.
Bad things:
- Theoretical discussion lacks depth.
- Some of the info is incorrect or outdated.
- There are some minor grammatical and spelling issues.
- The literature review portion is overly complex while the meat of the discussion about subcultures is simple.
My opinion of this book changes depending on the context I view it in. If I compare it to the pithy attempts I have seen to define the mysterious ~living doll gothic lolita nymphet juicy catchword~ articles I've seen on the topic, it is leagues above. The author speaks Japanese and has conducted a lot of qualitative research and interviews in Japan and abroad and seems to be trying to get past flashy shock value into quality research territory. However, when I view this book in comparison to an academic standard of works, it falls short. The author tends to generalize and simplify things that actually should be described in a more nuanced way, and the writing style leaves something to be desired. I unfortunately tend to equate English writing level with general competence, so when I see mistakes in a book, it really takes away from my willingness to believe in the author. I'm not going to focus on individual typos here but I will discuss some misinformation I found.
A little more detail
There are six sections (intro, + chapters 1-5) you have to read through before you get to actual talk about what you want to hear about: the subcultures themselves. I found this a little tedious, but maybe that's just my lack of attention span.
In Chapter 1, she asks the question: "what is a subculture?" The answer is a group of people who share the same common ideology, clothing, music, media, opinions, political affiliation, drug use, income levels, promiscuity, social class, etc. But I think lolitas do not share the majority of these ideas. In the West (not sure about Japan) we always emphasize that lolita is just clothing - there is no prescribed way one needs to behave to be a lolita. Another "subculture" I had an issue with is Age-jo, girls who work as hostesses in Shinjuku at night and have a particular over the top fashion style. These girls are firstly lumped together because of their profession, and secondly because of their clothing, but I don't really see how that is a subculture. Subcultures get their "sub" from being against popular norms in some form of rebellion. Dressing up to appeal to male customers is not really the same thing.
It can be said that now we are in an age that is post-subculture, that we have lost the innocence required to give oneself 100% over to a group in order to belong. We all believe we are special and individuals and no one would follow blindly what a group of people determined was "cool". Is that true? If so, maybe we have to redefine what a subculture is. But then what makes a subculture and what makes a fashion or hobby club? Interesting questions. The author goes into more detail about this in the book conclusion as well.
One point I did enjoy contemplating was how she explained that each subculture detailed in the book was fueled by women, whereas most Western subcultures are somewhat masculine. Is that because Japanese subcultures are based on fashion? Do Japanese guys have less need to rebel or more pressure to conform? What about Japanese masculine subcultures like yankiis, rapper or otaku guys? I really wanted a lot more focus on the gender aspect during the whole book, but the message was a bit watered down once we left this chapter.
On Western subcultures being masculine (quote by Lauraine Leblanc):
"Girls in male-dominated youth subcultures such as punk continually confront ideologies of gender that remain largely invisible, perhaps even tacitly accepted, in many young women's everyday lives. Punk girls struggle to construct their gender within the confines of a highly male-dominated and therefore "masculinist" context. The punk subculture highly valorizes the norms of adolescent masculinity, celebrating displays of toughness, coolness, rebelliousness, and aggressiveness. Girls are present in the subculture, but the masculinity of its norms problematizes their participation. Thus, gender is problematic for punk girls in a way that is not for punk guys, because punk girls must accommodate female gender within subcultural identities that are deliberately coded as male."
It was interesting to think about punk and how punk ladies often had to compromise their femininity to fit in - do Japanese guys have to compromise their masculinity to fit into the more feminine of Japanese subcultures? For sure that's true when guys become brolitas, but I think fashion styles like gyaru-o and aristocrat allow guys to participate while retaining a lot of masculinity.
She also made a very valid point that much of the subcultural studies out there are very centered on the West. Her book is one of the first of its kind. Western bias is somewhat expected since the studies are written in English. Another well known aspect of the academic world is the lack of Japanese participation in Western academic journals, especially in non-STEM related fields. (I tried looking for a source for my statement but google failed me. However, after working in both American and Japanese university systems I can assure you that Japan's lack of participation in Western academia is well known.) I think that within Japan, Japanese subcultures are still viewed as somewhat shameful and not really worthy of academic study, especially not in English and exposed to the rest of the world. I really wish there were more Japanese subcultural studies conducted by natives!
Beef time
I had a problem with generalizations in the book. They were most irritating to me in the lolita section because that's what I know most about, but they persisted throughout the book. Absolutes are tasty and easy, but not always correct.
pg. 43 "...if you are a member of Lolita, you hang out in Harajuku and not in Shibuya. If you consider yourself Gyaru-o, you are in Shibuya and nowhere else."
Not always! I think in order to reinforce her theme of the regions of Tokyo she persisted in stating how a Lolita must never been seen in X place, or a Gyaru would just kill herself if spotted in Harajuku! But the truth is, lots of these subcultures mix and it's ridiculous to say that a certain area of Tokyo is off limits to a particular group. Sure, subcultures tend to be centered around one place, but it's not like fashion jail or something. For example, Harajuku doesn't have enough good restaurants for lolita parties so they are often held elsewhere in Tokyo like Shinjuku and Shibuya, and Gyaru is such a widespread fashion that you will find them in any corner of Tokyo (or Japan for that matter).
pg. 91, regarding night club workers
"If a young woman comes from a poor family, does not like school, and drops out of high school or college, the only way she can support herself and become self-sufficient is to work as a bar hostess."
Not sure if she was paraphrasing the work of another author or not here (it is unclear) but still this statement made my eye twitch a little. Maybe she could have rephrased that to say "many" dropouts become hostesses, but saying all of them must become hostesses or die on the streets is pretty dismal.
She also went on and on about how a large percent of Gyaru are involved with gangs or illegal activity, but did not go into any detail about the negatives or problems other subcultures like lolita or morigirl might face. I thought that was a little unfair to gyaru.
pg. 102, quote from a Japanese lolita
"We never use our real names. I call myself Sara. I took it from my favorite anime. My real name is totally different. I go by Sara when I meet friends outside of my school. We never ask each other's real name. We never ask where we live, about our families, or the name of the school we go to. We never talk about our friends at school. We go to different schools so I don't know their friends, and they don't know my friends either. It's boring when you hear about someone you don't know... I can vaguely tell which direction my friends live by the train or the subway they take when they go home. But we never ask the exact address. These things are not important to us. We talk about our favorite music, our favorite fashion labels, and so on. We communicate by e-mails and text messages. We go to concerts and events together."
Ok, this is just one, probably very young, person's perspective but the author made it seem like we all act like this. I don't know if that is a desire to make lolita look more freaky or if she just accepted this information as true for all lolitas without doing further research. It is true that a lot of Japanese lolitas adopt pseudonyms but every relationship is different and more complicated than that.
pg. 104, quote from an American lolita
"Lolita girls are in fact feminists. We feel so strong when we dress Lolita. This is our armor. We don't do this to make boys happy. We couldn't care less if they didn't like us in Lolita."
Again this quote is just one person's opinion but in the book there is no other perspective to temper this generalization so it seems that we all think this way.
Some misinformation
pg. 52: Gyaru shop at Alba Rosa in Shibuya 109 - not for many years now, actually.
pg. 55: "The loose socks have been a necessary item for junior high and high school girls." What does this even mean? Because it sounds like she's saying loose socks are popular now, which is way outdated. The only girls who wear them now are hipster gyaru trying to relive the 90s.
pg. 67: Innocent World was founded in 2009 - actually much before that, in 1999. I believe she got that year from the Japanese wikipedia article on lolita which is somewhat worrying as a source for academic info, and she didn't pay attention to the fact it's not talking about the founding of the brand at all, just talking about a temporary shop they made in 2009.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innocent_World#Innocent_World
This stuff made me cringe (about lolita). It's not exactly misinformation, maybe just annoying:
pg. 68 "None of them consider their community as a counterculture." "Having no message to express does, however, convey a message; it may be a hidden one of helplessness and hopelessness. Thus, group members do have a message--silent rebellion."
Choice bits
I loved the interviews because a lot of them were pretty amusing and cute.
About Harajuku/Meiji Jingu Bridge (pg. 66):
"I've been there only a few times. The Lolita girls you see on that bridge are simply cosplaying and are not real Lolita. We, the real ones, never go there. Those who used to hang out there were the fans of Visual-kei musicians with heavy makeup and flashy outfits, and they are not real Lolita. The real ones are well and alive, and we are here to stay."
lol so snarky!
Also from the same page: [you can] "remain a lolita as long as you look young and don't have wrinkles around your eyes."
Watch those eye wrinkles!
pg. 70: "When I pass another Lolita girl on the street, I cannot help but check her out. Just look at her in the corner of my eyes to see how she put her Lolita outfit together from head to toe. If she looks great, there is a slight sense of jealousy, I admit."
pg. 74: "I didn't buy Kera for two months because I wanted to be an ordinary girl. But I saw the January issue and felt an intense urge to buy it. I am now convinced that it is a source of my life. I don't care if people around me don't understand me... Whats best for me is not normal for others or how people look at me strange as long as I am happy, I can bear it... I am back to Kera-kko." (from kera blurb)
After I read the book, I had the opportunity to hear Professor Kawamura present a lecture on the same topic. She did verbally correct some of the issues I had with the book such as the loose socks thing and tried to tone down some of the generalizations, which I was happy about, but still there was the simple tone of absolutes over everything. Statements like, "A lolita must only drink tea, never coffee, and certainly never alcohol!" and other such blurbs are great for oohs and ahhs or snickers from the audience, but are just obstacles to the deeper and more interesting academic approach to the topic that I would like to hear about.
I hope this review didn't come off as harsh, but this is a topic I'm highly invested in! I thought the book was a great starting point for debate, and I hope we see more research and books like this in the future!