[misc.] Jyousei Seven - 11/26/2009 - Part 2 of 3
Back with more for you to read! If you haven't given this a read yet, I highly recommend it as it brings up many interesting points not only about why older women are becoming fangirls, but the mindsets of fangirls in general.
I'll probably get to the last part of this whole article on Sunday, so look forward to that. The last installment delves more into their mental states and personal feelings towards idols, and also how liking idols has changed their lives. People who wanted to read about them bringing children along might also be interested. :)
Again, all comments are appreciated; enjoy!
The first part can be found here.
Jyousei Seven - 11/26/2009 - Part 2 of 3
A generation with "liking idols"
encoded into their DNA
To begin with, idol is a word with a meaning of "figure of worship" in English. For the around-40s generation, however, to say that they are "worshipping" is a little incorrect... What kind of a presence do the present day idols hold to fans? The idol critic Kitagawa Masahiro explains it as such.
"It is because of the fans generating a market economy with their money that idols are able to come into existence."
Furthermore, Kitagawa-san says this in regards to the difference between male fans and female fans.
"Female groupies move in groups. Even at stage screenings for movies and so on, female groups would gather in the audience when young and handsome actors are present; those who go alone are few and far between. By extension of socialization with friends, this is surely one type of socializing as well. There are more individuals in the case of male fans so even at stage greetings for movies it is rare to see them in groups. Since this difference makes a huge difference in the attendance counts, there are instances were idols are appointed roles in movie casts in order to increase the number of female groups in their audience."
Speaking of movies, the popular movie actors and actresses who appeared on screen were once referred to as stars and not idols, so they were also a bit of a faraway presence as well.
Television began to spread out before long, and as the 1970~1980 era arrived young and popular singers emerged in succession. Gradually, the term idol was established. The aforementioned Chikayo says this.
"With the Hana No Chusan Trio (Mori Masako, Sakurada Junko, Yamaguchi Momoe), Shin Gosanke (Go Hiromi, Saijo Hideki, Noguchi Goro), Tanokin Trio and others, for those who are now in their 40s, the period when they were in their teens was truly the golden age of idols. With that significance in mind, it means they grew up together with idols. More so than saying idols were the first things they were into, it's a matter of them being encoded into their DNA."
Also, while those magnificent idols were active, this generation grew up watching sports-based anime series such as "Attack No. 1" and "Ace wo Nerae!" as well.
"Concepts of a world consisting of sweat and tears was popular at the time. Wanting to support idols who are trying hard is also due to having a foundation like that." (Chikayo-san)
Nevertheless, individual and regional artists were preferred over idols that appealed to the mass public once we reached the 90s, and the idol boom reclined for a period of time.
"As it had become a state of idol saturation, a running current of 'it's a bit lame' emerged. There was a lonely period with a lack of any idols, and the timing just happened to overlap as those who are in their 40s right now got married and had kids." (Chikayo-san)
And now, we have the current revival of the idol boom. With child rearing over with and plenty of time and finances to spare, those forgotten times are once again resurrected for many.
An idol's position is also different now from the past, and has become a presence that is always close by. By leading embarrassing funny talks with comedians on variety programs and taking on MC hosting gigs, opportunities to appear on television before the eyes of housewives have continued to increase.
"Ever since the children were born, they were given priority when it came to picking channels, and all I basically ever did was watch from the side. I never even thought about what programs I would like to watch. It was a bit after the children had grown old enough (to not need constant care) that I saw Arashi on television and everything changed," said Dko-san, a housewife from the metropolitan area.
Every day has been a busy one since becoming an Arashi fan. She would wake up earlier than anyone else in the household and check the homepages of fans who relay the latest news.
"I'd preset the recordings for all the programs that they will appear on that day, and mark down all the magazine releases on a memo pad too. Then I watch the shows that I recorded late at night, when everyone is sleeping and the house is quiet. It almost feels as if all 24 hours revolves purely around Arashi. I haven't had anything to engross myself in for a very long time, so now I'm enjoying each day." (Dko-san)
The aforementioned Chikayo-san claims that the current generation of 40 year olds are "brimming with curiosity and youthful feelings".
"While there are many women in their 50s and older who are set in their ways of liking someone, those in their 40s are prone to a 'speculative picking' mentality of 'this is good, but that might be good too'. Since many women interested in the rest of Asia possess antennas in the 90s, I think there were many who were aware of the likes of Tohoshinki even way before they made their big break in Japan." (Chikayo-san)
Facing forward with constant greed. Behind this sort of era is a generation of youth spent within the bubble economy that would prove to be a huge influence.
"I gave it my all whether during work or play. Even now, us mothers in our 40s often go out for drinking parties and go on onsen trips; all of us are very tough. Compared to us, the mothers in their early 30s are very passive." (aforementioned Dko-san)
Catherine-san also said this in regards to the "boys' club power".
"'Gokusen' and 'ROOKIES' are also very popular among the generations of mothers, but I believe that is because they like the storyline of everyone joining forces to overcome the obstacles before them. Their power of unity increases with every problem that comes up and they become one. When (the housewife generation) sees that, they're affected by those feelings of overcoming hardships together. That's likely a part of what makes idols so attractive too."
On the other hand, psychologist Nakoshi Yasufumi-san analyzes one aspect of the generation of housewives going crazy over idols like young girls as such.
"Up until about 30 years ago, not revealing your emotions and repressing them were the virtues of being an adult. However, in the 20 years following the bubble burst of the economy, people were imprinted with thoughts of 'it's great to express your feelings honestly' and 'being impulsive is a mark of youthfulness'. As they are purchasing expensive merchandise based not upon reason but impulse, both market consumption and the economy would not advance if not for people being affected by their impulses. As a result, us adults have in a sense regressed back to children. When mother-daughter pairs go to concerts, not only are they having fun connecting with their children, they also feel more youthful."
The present day adult is evaluated upon how youthful they come off both outwardly and inwardly.
"With measures of things such as maturity levels nowadays, the value of education has all but dwindled to nothing. It has become an era where anything besides youthfulness is worthless." (Nakoshi-san)
Those in their 40s certainly did come from an era that glorified the consumption culture of the bubble economy. Going overseas for vacations, collecting countless expensive name brand bags, and when night falls, enjoying dinner at a popular restaurant.
"During a time when it was difficult to get hold of tickets for the concerts of a certain idol, tickets were sold off on the auctions for final bids of 750,000 yen. Someone I know even bought two tickets despite that price." (Aforementioned Bko-san)
Within that, there are also some who borrow money without telling their husbands in order to buy tickets.
In order to have fun, they would end up plopping their money down in what may also be another characteristic of this generation.
I'll probably get to the last part of this whole article on Sunday, so look forward to that. The last installment delves more into their mental states and personal feelings towards idols, and also how liking idols has changed their lives. People who wanted to read about them bringing children along might also be interested. :)
Again, all comments are appreciated; enjoy!
The first part can be found here.
Jyousei Seven - 11/26/2009 - Part 2 of 3
A generation with "liking idols"
encoded into their DNA
To begin with, idol is a word with a meaning of "figure of worship" in English. For the around-40s generation, however, to say that they are "worshipping" is a little incorrect... What kind of a presence do the present day idols hold to fans? The idol critic Kitagawa Masahiro explains it as such.
"It is because of the fans generating a market economy with their money that idols are able to come into existence."
Furthermore, Kitagawa-san says this in regards to the difference between male fans and female fans.
"Female groupies move in groups. Even at stage screenings for movies and so on, female groups would gather in the audience when young and handsome actors are present; those who go alone are few and far between. By extension of socialization with friends, this is surely one type of socializing as well. There are more individuals in the case of male fans so even at stage greetings for movies it is rare to see them in groups. Since this difference makes a huge difference in the attendance counts, there are instances were idols are appointed roles in movie casts in order to increase the number of female groups in their audience."
Speaking of movies, the popular movie actors and actresses who appeared on screen were once referred to as stars and not idols, so they were also a bit of a faraway presence as well.
Television began to spread out before long, and as the 1970~1980 era arrived young and popular singers emerged in succession. Gradually, the term idol was established. The aforementioned Chikayo says this.
"With the Hana No Chusan Trio (Mori Masako, Sakurada Junko, Yamaguchi Momoe), Shin Gosanke (Go Hiromi, Saijo Hideki, Noguchi Goro), Tanokin Trio and others, for those who are now in their 40s, the period when they were in their teens was truly the golden age of idols. With that significance in mind, it means they grew up together with idols. More so than saying idols were the first things they were into, it's a matter of them being encoded into their DNA."
Also, while those magnificent idols were active, this generation grew up watching sports-based anime series such as "Attack No. 1" and "Ace wo Nerae!" as well.
"Concepts of a world consisting of sweat and tears was popular at the time. Wanting to support idols who are trying hard is also due to having a foundation like that." (Chikayo-san)
Nevertheless, individual and regional artists were preferred over idols that appealed to the mass public once we reached the 90s, and the idol boom reclined for a period of time.
"As it had become a state of idol saturation, a running current of 'it's a bit lame' emerged. There was a lonely period with a lack of any idols, and the timing just happened to overlap as those who are in their 40s right now got married and had kids." (Chikayo-san)
And now, we have the current revival of the idol boom. With child rearing over with and plenty of time and finances to spare, those forgotten times are once again resurrected for many.
An idol's position is also different now from the past, and has become a presence that is always close by. By leading embarrassing funny talks with comedians on variety programs and taking on MC hosting gigs, opportunities to appear on television before the eyes of housewives have continued to increase.
"Ever since the children were born, they were given priority when it came to picking channels, and all I basically ever did was watch from the side. I never even thought about what programs I would like to watch. It was a bit after the children had grown old enough (to not need constant care) that I saw Arashi on television and everything changed," said Dko-san, a housewife from the metropolitan area.
Every day has been a busy one since becoming an Arashi fan. She would wake up earlier than anyone else in the household and check the homepages of fans who relay the latest news.
"I'd preset the recordings for all the programs that they will appear on that day, and mark down all the magazine releases on a memo pad too. Then I watch the shows that I recorded late at night, when everyone is sleeping and the house is quiet. It almost feels as if all 24 hours revolves purely around Arashi. I haven't had anything to engross myself in for a very long time, so now I'm enjoying each day." (Dko-san)
The aforementioned Chikayo-san claims that the current generation of 40 year olds are "brimming with curiosity and youthful feelings".
"While there are many women in their 50s and older who are set in their ways of liking someone, those in their 40s are prone to a 'speculative picking' mentality of 'this is good, but that might be good too'. Since many women interested in the rest of Asia possess antennas in the 90s, I think there were many who were aware of the likes of Tohoshinki even way before they made their big break in Japan." (Chikayo-san)
Facing forward with constant greed. Behind this sort of era is a generation of youth spent within the bubble economy that would prove to be a huge influence.
"I gave it my all whether during work or play. Even now, us mothers in our 40s often go out for drinking parties and go on onsen trips; all of us are very tough. Compared to us, the mothers in their early 30s are very passive." (aforementioned Dko-san)
Catherine-san also said this in regards to the "boys' club power".
"'Gokusen' and 'ROOKIES' are also very popular among the generations of mothers, but I believe that is because they like the storyline of everyone joining forces to overcome the obstacles before them. Their power of unity increases with every problem that comes up and they become one. When (the housewife generation) sees that, they're affected by those feelings of overcoming hardships together. That's likely a part of what makes idols so attractive too."
On the other hand, psychologist Nakoshi Yasufumi-san analyzes one aspect of the generation of housewives going crazy over idols like young girls as such.
"Up until about 30 years ago, not revealing your emotions and repressing them were the virtues of being an adult. However, in the 20 years following the bubble burst of the economy, people were imprinted with thoughts of 'it's great to express your feelings honestly' and 'being impulsive is a mark of youthfulness'. As they are purchasing expensive merchandise based not upon reason but impulse, both market consumption and the economy would not advance if not for people being affected by their impulses. As a result, us adults have in a sense regressed back to children. When mother-daughter pairs go to concerts, not only are they having fun connecting with their children, they also feel more youthful."
The present day adult is evaluated upon how youthful they come off both outwardly and inwardly.
"With measures of things such as maturity levels nowadays, the value of education has all but dwindled to nothing. It has become an era where anything besides youthfulness is worthless." (Nakoshi-san)
Those in their 40s certainly did come from an era that glorified the consumption culture of the bubble economy. Going overseas for vacations, collecting countless expensive name brand bags, and when night falls, enjoying dinner at a popular restaurant.
"During a time when it was difficult to get hold of tickets for the concerts of a certain idol, tickets were sold off on the auctions for final bids of 750,000 yen. Someone I know even bought two tickets despite that price." (Aforementioned Bko-san)
Within that, there are also some who borrow money without telling their husbands in order to buy tickets.
In order to have fun, they would end up plopping their money down in what may also be another characteristic of this generation.