Popular Subcultures: Japan and America MixesReturn to Essay List

    In our modern age, popular subcultures have represented the identity and the soul of many ethnicities throughout the world. Due to the exponential growth of our information age and the extremely vast amount of information channels available today, the world has become one large melting pot of sub cultures. Distinct popular sub cultures can be found throughout the world, with added style due to the infusion of local traditional culture. Citizens of the world have been able to adopt popular sub cultures as their own, and at times, adding one’s own taste and points of view. American and Japan have traded many sub cultures particularly since the post WWII era. When it comes to modern popular sub cultures that involve music, arts, and lifestyles, America and Japan continue to share its culture with one another, though sometimes a few people may notice it. Today, people share the same backgrounds and lifestyles with others around the world through sub cultures.

     Today, if one were to visit Japan and return to America, one would be exposed to cultural differences, but not everyone may see similarities between the two countries’ cultures. What was once known as an American pass time can be found in many places in Japan and vice versa. For example, the popular sub culture of hip hop, which involves the elements of dance, art, and music, is widely spread throughout Japan. Sub cultures do not go only one way. America has also adopted the very popular Japanese sub culture of the “otaku,” with Americans immersing themselves in popular Japanese comic books known as manga and animations known as anime. What was once local to the citizens of Japan or America has become the common lifestyles of people on different sides of the world.

     The sharing of subcultures is made possible by the vast amount of information channels available today. In today’s information age, one is able to simply log onto the internet through a PC and find the most popular singer in Japan or America instantly. Many documentaries are available through the works of many journalists; the potential of media has enabled regular people to expose the most recent flavors of music, art, and lifestyles to people halfway around the earth, and ever-growing edge of technology allows people to communicate with one another instantly and simultaneously. One is able to log onto any computer, anywhere in the world, at any given time, and find the whole history of karaoke within minutes.

With this potential put to use, not only are Japan and America able to “melt” together, but the whole world along with it. This creates a fusion of cultures on a global scale, very similar to the different ethnic groups from Europe who immigrated to the U.S. during the America’s pre-industrial revolutionary era, allowing them to live, interact, and share with one another, ultimately creating the foundation of the American dream.

The world is different today, religious conquests are not as extreme, imperialism no longer consumes everything, and sub cultures are now welcome for everyone to adopt. America and Japan have different views, yet they continue to come together. Japan and America have shared countless amounts of modern popular sub cultures that involve music, arts, and lifestyles. Music such as hip hop, jazz, and rock, arts such as anime and manga, lifestyles such as karaoke, sports, and media, have placed themselves between borderless lines of America and Japan. However, there are other many sub cultures that thrive among the two countries’ masses, but I will keep the focus of this discussion to the currently most popular, namely music and entertainment.

     Music is a universal language that attracts a variety of people with certain tastes and lifestyle. Music may be one’s life force, or it may be one’s tool for relaxation. In any case, certain genres of music have taken over Japan and America. One genre is hip hop. Originating from the East Coast of the U.S. during the early 1980’s, hip hop has evolved into a dominating force that has captured America’s underground scene and mainstream pop culture. This popular sub culture has been introduced to Japan in the 1990’s, and it continues to grow through music, dance, and art. Break dancing, the form of dance that represents hip hop, has grown tremendously in Japan. Young people come together and exhibit their dance skills at very widespread gatherings, and Japan often hosts international competitions. Hip hop continues to grow in Japan as they are documented in popular magazines and photo essays. For example, many independent photo journalists capture young locals practicing dance routines in train stations to music borrowed from halfway around the world. Not only is this sub culture expressed in music and dance alone, but also in a art form known as graffiti. Graffiti can be found worldwide with European and American influence. Graffiti “pieces” in Japan are also very popular, infusing its own sense of style, sometimes portraying a distinct “anime” influenced style.

     Karaoke is probably one of the best known contributions in entertainment to the world coming from Japan. Karaoke may seem to be all fun and music and just another from of entertainment. However, there is a profound difference in how this entertainment is used in Japan and the U.S. Beneath the veil of entertainment, the Japanese use this extremely popular sub culture to establish communication, whether to build better partnership between businesses, or to establish camaraderie among colleagues. However, in the U.S. people tend to see karaoke as a talent contest. (Kunihiro. “Karaoke Perspective on International Relationships” in Timothy J. Craig. Japan Pop! London: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. p.101).

     In conclusion, there is a widespread influence and adoption of cultures throughout the world, particularly between America and Japan. We continue to share the same type of music, lifestyle, and hobbies. Yet the indigenous cultures that we have grown up with seem to provide us with a different approach, sometimes creating a whole new culture underneath with different viewpoints. As technology grows, our cultures continue to fuse together at an increasing rate, where once local sub cultures found in only one location can now be shared with people of different ethnicity and culture around the world.

Japan grows its own hip hop.
Graffiti in Japan
Asian Pop on Otaku
Toshio Okada on the Otaku