The World of JE from the n00b POV, Part 2: Boys in skirts and yaoi
NOTE: The following discusses slash and boy/boy pairings. If this offends you, please do not read.
The World of JE mystifies me...
Why? It's so different from anything I'm used to, I suppose is the easy answer, but it's more than that. It's not just a world of pop music. It's a world of Image just as much as (if not more than) it is a world of music. As the first picspam indicated, it's a world of excessively pretty boys, and the way that the company presents them to the world.
JE trains boys to be multi-talented - not just musical, but also athletic. Acrobatics and gymnastics are requisite as well as other talents like roller skating. The first time I saw guys on roller skates during a performance, I nearly died laughing (I've gotten used to it by now). Back flips and one-armed cartwheels during performances are also fairly common, either from the showcased group or their back dancers.
But one of the things that grabbed me when I first started watching performances was how these boys are visually presented.
The boys of JE are often costumed in loud, flamboyant outfits - these things sometimes make my eyes bleed! Shiny fabrics, fur collars and fur ornamentation, feathers, boas, huge ruffled sleeves, etc. And skirts. Yes, skirts. Sometimes they look like dresses. Sometimes they are kilts, or sarongs, or half-skirts. Sometimes they are just a shirt tied around the waist. But for whatever reason, Johnny likes these boys to wear skirty-type things on a fairly regular basis.
It seems to me as though JE does try to feminize these boys (to a certain extent): for starters, they are all so pretty to begin with, but then through their costuming, makeup and hair, they are made even prettier and girlier. If it was just a few guys here and there, it would be one thing, but it seems pretty widespread amongst most of the younger JE boys - this feminization seems particularly focused on the older teens and twenty-somethings in JE.
But it's more than just the girly way they are presented.
These boys are eminently slashable. As catdecember has explained to me, "yaoi" is the Japanese word for what I would call "slash." The fact is, for most western usage of slash, it's pure fantasy, rarely with any textual support for the slash pairings. But my impression of the world of JE is that the JE boys are actually promoted this way! (?) Yeah, I know, sounds totally whacked, and it would never happen in the U.S. (as far as I know) - but there is a distinct impression given through interviews, etc. that that they are perhaps friendlier with one another than is the norm. Sure, ostensibly it's all just "close friendship" - and after all, being in JE from the time they're rather young, they pretty much grow up together, so I can totally see them realistically becoming very close and good friends with the guys that they spend ALL their time with. But the way that they are marketed goes beyond just being good friends with their mates in the group. It really looks to me as though they are encouraged to behave in a way that titillates with the promise of secret relationships with one another.
I was really curious about this, so I wondered: Does Johnny Kitagawa promote these boys in such manner to respond to the market's desires, or does he generate the market?
My friend Google came to the rescue as I looked up "yaoi." First, I came across the Wikipedia "Yaoi" page which is a very interesting read on the phenomenon. And then I found this:Friday, February 25, 2005
All about Japanese girl & guy idols
One of the more interesting aspects of Japan is the effect Japan's "idol culture" has on everyday life. You can't turn on the television or go into a CD store without coming into contact with Japan's various idols, which are also known as "talents" (a generic term for a popular actor/singer/comedian). Whether it's Yuko Ogura appearing in the new commercial for Georgia Coffee Morning Shot, Harumi Nemoto guest-starring on my son's favorite show in which people have to live for a month on just $100, or a cardboard cut-out of Aya Ueto selling the latest Panasonic products in an electronics store, the culture of "cuteness" that Japan has refined to an exact art is a major source of pop culture imagery in Japan. The idea of stars being pre-packaged for national consumption is often hard for Westerners to accept, but Japan's idol world is refreshingly open and honest about how the popularity of top stars is created. Resistance is futile when you live in Japan -- no matter how you try to resist, your eyes will lock on to one pretty face or another, and you'll soon belong to them.
Male idols are big business in Japan, too, and the primary force behind this profitable corner of the industry is Johnny's Entertainment, the management agency started by Johnny Kitagawa to promote male stars. In the same way that the "Komuro Family" of music producer Tetsuya Komuro -- the man responsible for such English lyrics as "Body Feels EXIT" and "Get Chance and Luck" -- defined a chunk of the 1990s with singers that he discovered, Johnny's has created a slew of popular male stars that have universal popularity. The list of Johnny's-kei (Johnny's affiliated) JPOP bands include V6, TOKIO, the oddly-named Kinki Kids, a duo who hail from the Kinki region, where Osaka is located, and SMAP, whose lead singer Takuya Kimura is regularly voted the sexiest man in Japan. (He did the voice of Howl in Howl's Moving Castle, which matches his personality quite well.) The planners at Johnny's have made careful use of the popularity of yaoi in Japan today, promoting stars that are very close to the image of bishounen ("beautiful boy") that are especially popular with female fans.
http://www.peterpayne.net/2005_02_01_archive.html
So according to the wiki site, "yaoi" is an established movement particularly in manga, in which boy/boy romantic and/or sexual relationships are written by women for women. So then it seems to me as though JE is promoting at least some of their talents in response to the popularity of yaoi, particularly since those talents are aimed at the young female audience. In other words, Johnny is merely responding to the market by generating young male idols who are pretty, and quite friendly with one another - and who purposefully titillate their fan-base who are of course aware that it's just an affectionate ruse. To put it another way, projecting yaoi onto their male idols is a fantasy on the part of the fans, but JE has actually chosen to participate in that fantasy. Interesting, hmmm?
So enough theorizing - on with the picspam!
Skirts, Dresses, Lipgloss and More Pretty Boys!
Caps by me, from Kaizokuban 2005
Jin's white skirt
Kame wears a long tunic thing.
My eyes! Well, these costumes are in keeping with the pirate theme of the concert. What's up with JE and pirates? SMAP's 2005 concerts also had a bit of a pirate theme although not as pronounced as the KAT-TUN shows which had a cool moveable ship stage design.
Check out Ueda's spectacular hat!
The costume designers love putting these boys in fur - Jin's coat has fur overkill going on. At least Kame's costume is more palatable.
Jin in a half skirt
Kame in a half skirt
Ueda in a dress!
I actually really like Kame in this kimono outfit.
Awwww, I love this bit with Kame and Ueda singing into each other's microphones - and even more, that Ueda initiated it! But, um, Ueda's kimono is a bit loud.
Jin's turn to wear the dress.
Hee, Maru's wearing so much lipgloss, and check out those gloves. Yikes!
Ueda's "Love in Snow" solo is so pretty, even if he is wearing an enormous white furry hat.
Koki's multi-colored hair amuses me for some reason.
NO COMMENT! :D
On to Part THREE
The World of JE mystifies me...
Why? It's so different from anything I'm used to, I suppose is the easy answer, but it's more than that. It's not just a world of pop music. It's a world of Image just as much as (if not more than) it is a world of music. As the first picspam indicated, it's a world of excessively pretty boys, and the way that the company presents them to the world.
JE trains boys to be multi-talented - not just musical, but also athletic. Acrobatics and gymnastics are requisite as well as other talents like roller skating. The first time I saw guys on roller skates during a performance, I nearly died laughing (I've gotten used to it by now). Back flips and one-armed cartwheels during performances are also fairly common, either from the showcased group or their back dancers.
But one of the things that grabbed me when I first started watching performances was how these boys are visually presented.
The boys of JE are often costumed in loud, flamboyant outfits - these things sometimes make my eyes bleed! Shiny fabrics, fur collars and fur ornamentation, feathers, boas, huge ruffled sleeves, etc. And skirts. Yes, skirts. Sometimes they look like dresses. Sometimes they are kilts, or sarongs, or half-skirts. Sometimes they are just a shirt tied around the waist. But for whatever reason, Johnny likes these boys to wear skirty-type things on a fairly regular basis.
It seems to me as though JE does try to feminize these boys (to a certain extent): for starters, they are all so pretty to begin with, but then through their costuming, makeup and hair, they are made even prettier and girlier. If it was just a few guys here and there, it would be one thing, but it seems pretty widespread amongst most of the younger JE boys - this feminization seems particularly focused on the older teens and twenty-somethings in JE.
But it's more than just the girly way they are presented.
These boys are eminently slashable. As catdecember has explained to me, "yaoi" is the Japanese word for what I would call "slash." The fact is, for most western usage of slash, it's pure fantasy, rarely with any textual support for the slash pairings. But my impression of the world of JE is that the JE boys are actually promoted this way! (?) Yeah, I know, sounds totally whacked, and it would never happen in the U.S. (as far as I know) - but there is a distinct impression given through interviews, etc. that that they are perhaps friendlier with one another than is the norm. Sure, ostensibly it's all just "close friendship" - and after all, being in JE from the time they're rather young, they pretty much grow up together, so I can totally see them realistically becoming very close and good friends with the guys that they spend ALL their time with. But the way that they are marketed goes beyond just being good friends with their mates in the group. It really looks to me as though they are encouraged to behave in a way that titillates with the promise of secret relationships with one another.
I was really curious about this, so I wondered: Does Johnny Kitagawa promote these boys in such manner to respond to the market's desires, or does he generate the market?
My friend Google came to the rescue as I looked up "yaoi." First, I came across the Wikipedia "Yaoi" page which is a very interesting read on the phenomenon. And then I found this:Friday, February 25, 2005
All about Japanese girl & guy idols
One of the more interesting aspects of Japan is the effect Japan's "idol culture" has on everyday life. You can't turn on the television or go into a CD store without coming into contact with Japan's various idols, which are also known as "talents" (a generic term for a popular actor/singer/comedian). Whether it's Yuko Ogura appearing in the new commercial for Georgia Coffee Morning Shot, Harumi Nemoto guest-starring on my son's favorite show in which people have to live for a month on just $100, or a cardboard cut-out of Aya Ueto selling the latest Panasonic products in an electronics store, the culture of "cuteness" that Japan has refined to an exact art is a major source of pop culture imagery in Japan. The idea of stars being pre-packaged for national consumption is often hard for Westerners to accept, but Japan's idol world is refreshingly open and honest about how the popularity of top stars is created. Resistance is futile when you live in Japan -- no matter how you try to resist, your eyes will lock on to one pretty face or another, and you'll soon belong to them.
Male idols are big business in Japan, too, and the primary force behind this profitable corner of the industry is Johnny's Entertainment, the management agency started by Johnny Kitagawa to promote male stars. In the same way that the "Komuro Family" of music producer Tetsuya Komuro -- the man responsible for such English lyrics as "Body Feels EXIT" and "Get Chance and Luck" -- defined a chunk of the 1990s with singers that he discovered, Johnny's has created a slew of popular male stars that have universal popularity. The list of Johnny's-kei (Johnny's affiliated) JPOP bands include V6, TOKIO, the oddly-named Kinki Kids, a duo who hail from the Kinki region, where Osaka is located, and SMAP, whose lead singer Takuya Kimura is regularly voted the sexiest man in Japan. (He did the voice of Howl in Howl's Moving Castle, which matches his personality quite well.) The planners at Johnny's have made careful use of the popularity of yaoi in Japan today, promoting stars that are very close to the image of bishounen ("beautiful boy") that are especially popular with female fans.
http://www.peterpayne.net/2005_02_01_archive.html
So according to the wiki site, "yaoi" is an established movement particularly in manga, in which boy/boy romantic and/or sexual relationships are written by women for women. So then it seems to me as though JE is promoting at least some of their talents in response to the popularity of yaoi, particularly since those talents are aimed at the young female audience. In other words, Johnny is merely responding to the market by generating young male idols who are pretty, and quite friendly with one another - and who purposefully titillate their fan-base who are of course aware that it's just an affectionate ruse. To put it another way, projecting yaoi onto their male idols is a fantasy on the part of the fans, but JE has actually chosen to participate in that fantasy. Interesting, hmmm?
So enough theorizing - on with the picspam!
Skirts, Dresses, Lipgloss and More Pretty Boys!
Caps by me, from Kaizokuban 2005
Jin's white skirt
Kame wears a long tunic thing.
My eyes! Well, these costumes are in keeping with the pirate theme of the concert. What's up with JE and pirates? SMAP's 2005 concerts also had a bit of a pirate theme although not as pronounced as the KAT-TUN shows which had a cool moveable ship stage design.
Check out Ueda's spectacular hat!
The costume designers love putting these boys in fur - Jin's coat has fur overkill going on. At least Kame's costume is more palatable.
Jin in a half skirt
Kame in a half skirt
Ueda in a dress!
I actually really like Kame in this kimono outfit.
Awwww, I love this bit with Kame and Ueda singing into each other's microphones - and even more, that Ueda initiated it! But, um, Ueda's kimono is a bit loud.
Jin's turn to wear the dress.
Hee, Maru's wearing so much lipgloss, and check out those gloves. Yikes!
Ueda's "Love in Snow" solo is so pretty, even if he is wearing an enormous white furry hat.
Koki's multi-colored hair amuses me for some reason.
NO COMMENT! :D
On to Part THREE