Kabuki Shojo

Every culture has its strange public customs. Many people are aware of the Encierro, the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. There was even a custom during the long reign of The Most Serene Republic of Venice in which the people of the city divided into two equal teams and spent the day beating the crap out of each other for sport. Asian cultures are no exception. Both at home and abroad, communities of Chinese people practice their famous Dragon Dance and wish good luck to local businesses with firecracker displays. Human behavior is, when taken from the outside perspective, quite strange.

I don't know enough about Japanese culture to delve into the history of certain public events without some research, especially considering that Japan is a future-leaning society. They do new things all the time and are more than willing to embrace new holidays.

Read more >

I have a theory about Japanese culture in the 20th century and beyond. After World War II, Japan was forced to disarm and essentially cease pursuing military endeavors for the foreseeable future. Every society, regardless of size, religion or other specifics, has an innate desire to exorcise internal pressures. Some, like the United States, Russia, Great Britain and various Middle Eastern nations do so by practicing warfare and other violent pastimes. When armed combat is imprudent, people cheer on American football, Canadian hockey and English rugby. Sometimes they cut out any pretense of sport and just watch boxers beat the snot out of one another.

Other countries vent through other excesses. The French have proven time and again that war just isn't their thing. Instead, they join the Italians, the Swiss and to a lesser extent the Czechs in rampant drinking, sex and overblown political demonstrations.

But what of the Japanese? Robbed of their long-preferred violence only to find sub-par alcohol and a complete lack of fattening cheeses (damn lactose intolerance), the people of lonely Nippon had to turn to other, stranger vices, most of their own invention.

Read more >

I'm hopelessly Western. I don't speak a word of Japanese, I have accepted that learning how to use chop sticks is a waste of time for me and I really don't give a damn about crazy Asian religions when it's hard enough for me have patience for crazy European religions. So maybe the following project is just a result of my willful ignorance. That doesn't mean it can't still be funny.

Today, I am debuting a new feature on Kabuki Shojo called What The Hell Is Going On? In this column, I will have a series of artifacts from Japanese culture, past and present, hand picked for me by people who have some understanding of them. I will then, without being given context, attempt to determine just what the hell is going on in the drawing, photograph, video clip, or other media. Afterward, I will ask the selecting party to explain to me what is actually happening and I will report on my own accuracy using an objective scale.

Read more >

A colleague of mine recently wrote about President Barack Obama's popularity in Japan. When I read the headline, I thought someone had beat me to this. As a professional observer of all things insane and absurd, I'm both relieved and terrified that I was the first person on this site to find this particular bit of news. That, or I'm just the only writer here whose conscience has eroded to the point where it seems like a good idea to be reporting on these types of things.

That's right, folks. Japan, the country that just can't help being a parody of itself, has embraced (literally and figuratively) our President via its love of complicated, unwieldy sex toys.

To be fair, SInclair Products International is an American-based company. That doesn't stop Japanese consumers from being some of their biggest customers.

Read more >