I never know how to take this type of comment. I know we don’t always have the words to express how we feel and that may be the case here. …but I don’t like this type of comment. I don’t understand it. So I tried to understand it and I thought… I like dope shit. I like history. I like refined aesthetics… I also grew up in america in the eighties, of course I have a relationship to japanese culture. For better and often worse, our cultures have been tied together since Commodore Perry’s black ships forced their way into Japans world. So why does this comment rub me the wrong way? I think it’s because it assumes something about my identity and maybe because it reduces the entirety of a people’s history and culture into something that could fit on a drop down list on amazon… I mean by “japanese stuff” does he mean ikebana AND ignoring horrific war crimes against china? ┐(‘～`；)┌
(I certainly fucks with japanese emojii though!)
(Kibo’s cameo and some of Kibo’s contribution to Prince of Cats)
Recently, writing a letter to an old friend who moved back to Japan and who helps edit my Gratnin stuff; he helped me with the japanese in Prince of Cats- Oh shit, he’s IN Prince of Cats! I forgot..anyway, it dawned on me how to better explain my feelings about my relationship with Japanese culture or any culture that I may use in my work for that matter. Aside from the fact that ultimately they are human cultures and therefore pertinent to me and my history, they also serve as a mirror to my culture. Just visiting another place gives a perspective to the place you call home. In the case of Japan, our histories and cultures are tied together closely.
(I think Toei handled a lot of the animation of the eighties GI Joe animated series. For me, as an adult, this brought up interesting issues of identity and labor.)
There is a lot we can learn from each other, if only to look at our shared faults. Also, seeing how different someplace can be and also quite the same is awe inspiring. That said, In my work, I usually only use cultures that have informed my life, identity or history. I don’t use culture as wallpaper.
Like I said, I grew up in the eighties, it was a time when Japan was years deep in an economic boom (I’ve read somewhere that after losing the war, Japan turned around and kicked our asses economically). That swagger reached my world in the form of cultural artifacts. Not only would Japan slowly infiltrate my world replacing english or european names such as Frigidair, Ford, Magnavox, Zenith with Japanese names like Toyota, Panasonic, Sony and Nintendo, but a strange aesthetic and narrative made its way to me too in the way of toys and cartoons. Ninja were in EVERYTHING. There was a strange different set of values present in some animation, different emphasis. Even something as american as GI Joe all of a sudden had a strange flavor to it. Around 6th grade I had a name for what it was. It was Japan.
(Mercutio toys with Tybalt.)
Tybalt (from Prince of Cats) carries a katana in the same way I carried a gameboy or a sony walkman. It speaks to the time. It speaks to how other cultures inform ours. In the eighties, the dopest electronics were japanese; in Tybalt’s eighties, the dopest steel is japanese. Contrast this with what Mercutio uses. This is a comment on their values. This is a comment on consumerism and how it shapes values and identity in our culture. It’s not because I like “Japanese stuff”.
Growing up, seeing ultraman on TV or Godzilla vs the Smog Monster wasn’t the first time I would see a culture that presented a counter point to the western culture around me. I was familiar with chinese films and what passed for chinese food in Washington DC. This was excellence outside of the west’s value settings. This was important for me. This shaped how I viewed the west and my place in it. It was a counterpoint.
So looking back, I see, aside from the “exotic” quality of the aesthetic, the allure of these cultural artifacts–and maybe this is what you were talking about the19thgalaxy– is that it presented a world somewhat like my own where the cultural dynamic, including the certain social physics, were different. Specifically “White People” were othered as much as black people and the hero wasn’t white. This gave space for my imagination.
As I got older, my experience with Japan evolved from one of just cultural influence to cultural interaction. I met japanese people who had experienced america the way I had experienced Japan. I fell in love with a Japanese woman, ironically, our connecting point was design, punk and roots reggae, arguably tertiary cultural artifacts we both enjoyed; I learned a lot in that relationship. I’ve had the opportunity to visit parts of japan. I have fam there. It’s a beautiful place. But I’ve met other east asian people who felt about Japan the way I felt about America and Europe. So it’s difficult to hear something so complex reduced to “like japanese stuff”.
…ok, I’m tired of writing about this for now. Maybe more later. Sorry the19thgalaxy, I didn’t mean to snap on you like that, but this gives some context to why I did. Thanks for watching/reading what have you. Hope this sheds some light.
Gratnin is an exercise…exorcise… it’s this conversation. I hope you will enjoy what I have planned to share with you.
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