#moe yano | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

brian-in-finance · 9 months ago

Text

Twitter

Everything You Need To Know About Standing Ground, the British Brand Making Time-Traveling Garments

Ahead of his London Fashion Week show, the designer offered a look inside his sculptural fashion label, built on Irish mysticism, fantasy classics, and an intuitive approach to craft

Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. For Michael Stewart, the designer behind London-based label Standing Ground, they are portals through time: stoic witnesses to the eons. He recalls taking frequent trips to visit them as a child, enchanted by the centuries-old mysticism buried deep within. “Ireland is a superstitious country, which is a good thing, because the dolmens have been preserved and protected over time,” he muses. “They’re feared in a way, so people don’t dare touch them.”

It’s no secret that Stewart’s spiritual connection to these megalithic tombs informs his brand’s name and modus operandi. Speaking from his new studio at the Sarabande Foundation in East London, he explains that the dolmens possess a transcendent quality, which he projects onto his own statuesque garments: deceptively simple creations that borrow from the futurism of sci-fi and fantasy classics such as Lord of the Rings to imagine evening wear, custom garments, and body ornaments that feel rooted in neither past, present, nor future.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2017, Stewart established Standing Ground in 2022, before attracting the attention of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East incubator program, and making his London Fashion Week debut as part of the Spring/Summer 2023 shows.

Remaining loyal to his source material of neolithic artifacts and figures—images of a dolmen and a Saint Brigid’s cross adorn his spare studio walls—he doesn’t have a mood board or sketches, and freely admits to having done no new research since his master’s degree. Instead, Stewart takes an intuitive, and manual, approach to draping, sculpting, and craft, developing his own lines and patterns by hand to produce alien silhouettes that flow from and protect the body like topographic armor.

Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024, which expands on the dialogue between distant pasts and otherworldly futures. “It’s different to what I would’ve presented last February, which was very beautiful, but not as menacing,” he confesses. “I wanted to take some time to figure out what I was doing, and not pigeonhole myself.”

This collection dials back the clock to pre-human times, focusing on primordial, skeletal, and fossilized forms to create uncanny garments that explore the relationship between objects and their surrounding environment. Imagining a world where ancient objects grow and shapeshift across each collection, the designs suggest a speculative place where humankind and nature are mirrors for each other—or, as Stewart puts it: “seeing the body as a landscape and the landscape as a body.”

Makeup by Machiko Yano / Hair by Moe Mukai / Casting by AAMØ Casting / Model is Nyaueth Riam / Fashion Assistance by Florence Thompson / Makeup Assistance by Krishna Branch-Mackowiak

Cultured

Brian’s Note: Cultured magazine’s story was published last year on 15 September. It mentions “Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024.” Some of the dresses included in that collection are the dress Caitríona wore to the IFTAs and the ones below.

Instagram

Remember… Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. ☘️

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Fashion #IFTA Awards #20 April 2024 #Dublin #Cultured #15 September 2023 #Thanks thetruthwilloutsworld

32 notes · View notes

sinclair-scrambles · 2 years ago

Text

I couldn't find the original post that caused me to do this (it was make a soundtrack without using these artists, it included Will Wood, Marina and the Diamond, and The Crane Wives among others) and we did a Filipino music / OPM / P-pop version of it

I tried to make this list as easy on the eyes and screen reader friendly as possible

You want to make a Filipino music playlist? Make one without using any of the following

Eraserheads Aegis The Itchyworms Bamboo 6 Cyclemind

Soapdish Mike Hanopoi Siakol Rivermaya Jerome Abalos

Parokya ni Edgar The Youth K.Z. Tandigan Morrisette Moira Dela Torre

Jake Zyrus Grin Dept DJ Alvaro Orient Pearl Alterimage

Agaw Agimat Alamid Juan Carlos Gloc 9 Alvin (Serito) $erito

Ex Battalion This Band (Intro Voice) INTRoVOYS Men Oppose Calein

Al James Yano Angelo Garcia Bullet D Syd Haratha

Carl Beley Ace Banzuelo Michael Laygo Llyod Umali Ted Ito

Ren Verano White Lies Janine Teñoso Arthur Nery Magnus Haven

Hang N There/HNT Oranges & Lemons T.J. Monterde Lola Amour (L.D.R.) LDR

Skusta Clee Jnske Bugoy na Kokoy Yuri Dope Flow G

Nik Makino Jroa Loki Jonas Ayeeman

Bastardo Honcho, previously known as (Bos sine question mark) Bosx1ne (Saglit) Sagl1t (Chrils question mark) Chriilz J King

Anees Lance Santdas Josh Santana Alexa Ilacad K.D. Estrada

Anji Salvacion December Avenue Justin Vasquez Silent Sanctuary Keshi

(Four of Spades) IV of Spades Callalily Sue Ramirez Ben & Ben Dilaw

Janine Berdin Adie Sabihin Nobita Iluna

Mayonnaise (S.B. 19) SB19 ALAMAT Toni Fowler Pablo

Sugar High Y.R.S. LITZ RBM Felip

Sunkissed Lola Jin Ho Bae (M.N.L. 48) MNL48 (PLUS) PLUUS (VISION) VXON

Zack Tabudlo Boomerang After 5 Pop Girls 1096 Gang

Yes My Love (U.G.G.) UGG (X.L.R. 8) XLR8 Make Them Break (CHARMED) CH4RMD

NEO Sugar 'N Spice Sex Bomb Girls Mocha Girls (1 colon 43) 1:43

(Point Ten) PoinTen Eurasia Rouge Band 4th Power (or 4th Impact) (B.G.Y.O) BGYO

(G. 22) G22 BINI KAIA BOIZ DIONE

(B.F.F. 5) BFF5 SOULSTICE R Rules Down To Mars LUNA

BOSS Hashtags Boyband PH (Girl Trends) GirlTrends Jambayan

1st.one YGIG DAMSEL Joyden Joanna

Press Hit Play (VERSUS) VER5US (HORIZON) HORI7ON (ALMOST) ALLMO$T CALISTA

DAYDREAM Chicser Japh Dolls Imago (X.O.X.O) XOXO

Mojofly (X GLAM) XGLAM Barbie's Cradle NITRO Color It Red

Kitchie Nadal Imago CLOVER Session Road Moonstar 88

Streetboys DIVAS (Kawaii 5) Kawaii5 Just A.S.K. (ZION) Z1ON

Autotelic Never the Strangers TONEEJAY Gabba I Belong To The Zoo

Leanne & Naara ONE CLICK STRAIGHT The Ridleys Arthur Miguel

Paolo Sandejas Cinéma Lumière Moe Cabral Ellary

#Filipino music #OPM #Philippines #long post #music

8 notes · View notes

geidaicomposition · 3 months ago

Text

Campus Concert 2023

Dates: Friday, November 15 & Tuesday, November 19, 2024 14:00 -

Venue: Sogakudo Concert Hall

Program:

Friday, November 15 − Day 1 −

1. Hironori Shimada: Flutter Echo II

Cond: Shuta Sakuyama　Fl: Shiho Inoue　Fl: Ayumi Nishitani　Cl: Kanae Kuriyama　Cl: Kyoka Terasaki　Tp: Kosuke Iga　Tp: Nikita Sunaga　Perc: Kaoru Tajima　Perc: Ryo Saito　Hrp: Moemi Kokado Vn: Momo Hasegawa　Vn: Yukiko Okubo　Vla: Tamaki Asano　Vla: Nazuna Hoashi　Vc: Koga Yano　Vc: Takuma Kajihara　Cb: Fumina Numata　Cb: Ikumi Maruchi

2. Kanoko Gotoh: Meow-awoo for string quartet

Vn1: Sayuri Nakagawa　Vn2: Mana Ishizuka Vla: Ema Yamaguchi Vc: Yui Miyazawa

3. Yamato Inoue: Humpback Whale

Cl: Rio Ishida　Bsn: Yuuna Yamagata Perc: Kaoru Tajima　Vn: Sayuri Nakagawa　Vc: Mone Tanikawa

4. Hanako Daigobo: HIBIYA for He and 5 players

Ten: Yusei Sugesawa　Fl: Maya Furukawa　Tp: Kosuke Iga　Pf: Rokka Hashimoto　Perc: Tomoki Murata　Cb: Lucas Scott

5. Kota Fukumoto: To Melt Together

Cond: Hiroki Okazaki　Vc: Mone Tanikawa　Ryuteki: Naomi Minami　Ryuteki: Nobuhiro Goto　Ryuteki: Hirotaka Kumaido　Sho: Fusayoshi Aoki　Sho: Ayako Kawakami　Sho: Kota Fukumoto　Hichiriki: Miyoko Abe

Tuesday, November 19 − Day 2 −

1. Yota Nakamura: Entropy imitation / Yakiniku pool

Performer (fem.) Erina Kitami　Performer (mal.) Kaito Fujita　Perc: Mana Matsusita　Pf: Yui Amano　Vn: Fumika Sato　Vla: Yoshitsugu Yamamoto　Vc: Mone Tanikawa　Cb: Kotaro Kuwabara

2. Rina Komatsu: Not one person, not everyone

Cond: Shinnosuke Ito　B.Cl: Rio Ishida　Vc: Mone Tanikawa　Perc: Mei Murase　Hrp: Marie Mikawa

3. Tatsuyuki Konuma: Nemo for contrabass flute, harpsichord, and six players （the group of bass instruments, piano and harp）

Cond: Hiroyuki Nishimura　Cb.Fl: Kaisei Oshima　Cemb: Charissa Witmer　Cb.Cl: Chimari Uchiyama　Bsn(C.Bsn): Yui Kaji　Trb: Reo Furuichi　Cb: Kotaro Kuwabara　Pf: Hinako Saeki　Hrp: Moe Nakata

4. Takahiro Shimamura: Hommage à l'imprimerie pour violon, clarinette et piano

Vn: Reika Shimizu　Cl: Rio Ishida　Pf: Takahiro Shimamura

5. Rokka Hashimoto: "Butterflies"

Cond: Shinnosuke Ito　Mezzo sop: Hitoha Shimoda　Counter Ten: Hirotaka Hasegawa　Cl(B.Cl): Rio Ishida　Perc: Tomoki Murata

#upcomingenglish #2024english #concertenglish #educationalenglish

0 notes

vicholas · 4 years ago

Note

Im glad yano is still moe

YOU get me. This is what's truly important, this is what matters the most.

#odd taxi spoilers

22 notes · View notes

neobushi-gun · 6 years ago

Text

NJPW Wrestlers as Neural Network Generated Cat Names A little while ago I reblogged a post of Neural Network generated Cat Names, and some folks and I started applying them to NJPW wrestlers. I’m posting the results, starting with CHAOS: Kazu: Fish Especially

x Kazu and Fish, easy peasy Ospreay: Scat Cat Butthole/ Some Elbows

x x Cause he’s a cat, and has elbows, and he uses elbows and... stuff yeah Yoshi-Hashi: Chewy Bean

x He’s just a chewy little bean A Soft Taco Rocky: Funky Moe

x Funky Moe and his Friends Yoh and Sho

Nicholls: You Name It

x I barely know anything about Nicholls so yeah YOU name him I dunno YEAH that’s his pic from wikipedia but does he even go here

Yoh: He Glad

x He is tho what a smiley sweet lad Sho: Sweet Cakes

x Absolute sweetheart NO OTHER MEANING Ishii: Deadbolt

x I mean Goto: Higher Rune

x Mystical mysterious man Yano: Cheesemonger

x Of all NJPW besides Kota perhaps, most likely to become a cheesemonger. He is already a Curry- and DVD-monger! A real renaissance man

#neural network njpw #chaos

10 notes · View notes

animereviewsandotherstuff · 6 years ago

Text

Top 5 anime of 2018

Pop Team Epic

Anime as a medium is something that allows for great experimentation and artistic expression that not every delves into, and that is ultimately okay. Not every show has to be something new and exciting. But then there comes a show like Pop Team Epic. A 4-koma manga that takes the slice of life genre and plays with it by adding absurdist ideas and a healthy dose of meta humor. A manga like that is not something I would ever expect to see adapted into anime. The jokes are super quick and sometimes work on anti-humor, the art is simplistic on purpose, and there is no story just gags. But I am very happy someone had more foresight then I did and just adapted it whole hog. This anime takes what it means to be an anime and turns it on its head. The first episode started on a completely different generic anime about a guy and idols and a possible harem and immediately swerves into the show proper. Every show ended with a preview for that fictional show. The ending theme was sung by different people every episode. The who was only half the run time and then it would run again with a different set of voice actors, swapping from an all woman pair to an all guy pair. Sometimes this would change whole jokes as the voice actors would make different choices. They would swap between different art styles and redo whole segments between episodes swapping between Pop Team Epic proper and Bob Epic Team. They had a segment all in french, animated in a third completely different style from the previous 2 which cost a ton of money to make and was written by a french intern who never read the series or something. The last episode had a live action pop singer bring the one of the main characters come back to life. This show was beautiful. It was a true work of art with layers of meaning and references, an experimentation of what an anime could be. Not every show should be this, but more shows should be able to just go wild with what an anime could be. Or maybe I was just thinking of Hellshake Yano.

Yuru Camp

There is a genre of anime I like a lot even though I usually know the return on investment for watching them is not super great. The best way to describe this genre is “the author has a very specific hyper-fixation and wants to write about it but doesn’t know how, so makes moe girls talk about it instead.” This is a very hit or miss genre but sometimes a show will come out of it that will stick with me forever. And Yuru Camp is one of those shows. Yuru Camp is a show all about girls camping. The authors love of camping really comes through, as the characters talk about the rules of camping and how to do it safely, and about how expensive the gear for camping is. The conversations the characters had felt surprisingly natural. Some of the back and forth the characters had felt like a conversation I could have with my friends. The best part about this show was how relaxing it was. This show was a calming breath. It was a show that knows how to set back and let a scene breath, like you are one with nature, fitting for a camping show. There is another genre of anime I like that can be hit or miss, known as healing anime. Healing anime are soft, kind, relaxing shows that are like chicken soup for the soul. Yuru camp is like that. It is relaxing and kind and made my day every time I watched it. But the most impressive thing this show did was make me, someone who hates nature and being in nature, actually consider camping for a few seconds.

Cells at Work

I am not someone who enjoys the intricacy of the human body. It is a gross thing we are all forced to live in. so when this show was first announced I had a bit of trepidation about this show. I don’t like watching the workings of the human body, it makes me uncomfortable. But this show was really was able to get past my initial discomfort and make the human body something interesting and more fun. The story of the human body as told from the perspective of the cells who help run the body was perfectly told. It makes you sympathetic for your blood, fighting against the germs and diseases we come into contact with, rooting for the red blood cells who deliver your oxygen and the white blood cells who protect you, and makes you intimately familiar with your lymph nodes, and sweat glands. I really appreciated the small arc involving cancer of all things. Cancer as told from the perspective of the cells is really interesting, watching there fellow cells not become infected but born so, and the necessary need to kill them coupled with the inherent want to protect the body is an interesting perspective to take. It is not saying cancer is good or anything ridiculous like that, but it is just a perspective I was not expecting and one that led to an interesting story. The anthropomorphizing of the body and its cellular interactions was clever and engaging and made this a show I was glad to watch.

Planet With

I am not the first person to say this but this was the best show to come out of 2007. Everything about this show felt like a throwback to a very specific era of anime. A story about giant physic armors controlled by young teens and young adults fighting against aliens, the reversal of who were truly the good guys and truly the bad guys. The larger themes of why one should fight and shouldn't fight, of growing up and reality being greater then any passive but beautiful fantasy, all fit into a show from a decade ago. Even the maid girl and the giant cat alien and the high school club for people who like supernatural stuff, the transfer student with amnesia being the main character, all of it fits a show that could have been a 52 episode series with slow reveals and mysteries and filler beach episodes. But instead this show was a tight 12 episodes. Each episode packed so much information and plot and action, it feels like watching more then your actually getting. It is concise but the emotional impact of every reveal and every hit is perfectly done. The best show of 2007 was also one of the best shows of 2018.

SSSS Gridman

Tokusatsu and anime are two great tastes that seem to rarely come together. It might be that there is something lost when live action goes to animation, at least when tokusatsu does so. Something intrinsic about tokusatsu, something that is fundamental to it, doesn't always survive the jump. This cannot be said about SSSS Gridman. This show captures the spirit and heart of tokusatsu shows and takes it to another level. It is a love letter to tokusatsu as a medium and to the original Gridman. The fact that the title of the show is a reference to the American adaptation, Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, alone shows a knowledge and love of the material. But at the same time I never felt the show was bogged down by references and external knowledge. Yes there were millions of references to other tokusatsu series, mainly Ultraman but not Ultraman alone, but you didn’t need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese live action shows to enjoy the show. They enhanced but never detracted in my opinion. Same with the fact that the show itself is a sequal to the original Gridman series while still standing entirely on its own. If you never watched the original you are fine, but it is enhanced so much with that knowledge. And the ending had me in tears. I don’t want to spoil anything for these shows but like many tokusatsu series finales this one too made me tear up slightly. Truly a show I will carry with me into the future.

And those were my thoughts on the year of anime. This of course isn’t counting tokusatsu I watched but I love Kamen Rider and Super Sentai enough that they would be a permanent place on this list, so its only fair I keep them off. There was a ton of good shows other then these five, but I am looking forward to the new year ahead. So until next time, keep on watching.

#ssss gridman #yuru camp #pop team epic #year in review #anime review

16 notes · View notes

solplparty · 2 years ago

Video

youtube

&TEAM ‘Under the skin’ Official MV (Choreography ver.) https://youtu.be/Ao_CgrYNP44 &TEAM ‘Under the skin’ Official MV (Choreography ver.) Credits : Production : DIGIPEDI Director : Seong Wonmo Executive Producer : Lee Moonyoung Producer : Kim Joohun, Yu Yena Assistant Director : Jeong Yeona Production Assistant : Jung Yuseok, Park Chanhyuk, Kim Taejoong, Youn Dongwhan, Park Chanyoung, Kim Yongbae Translator : Suzuki Rie, Seo Sangsoo Director of Photography : Lee Jinhyuk Focus Puller : Hong Kang, Min Sungju 2nd A.C : Ryu Seunggyu DIT : Jeong Gunwoo, Ryu Jaejun 3rd A.C : Hong Gyungui, Kim Minho Underwater : Seaflex, Fourplaza Jimmy Jib Operator : Kim Kitae Techno Crane : SERVICE VISION KOREA Phantom Operator : Choi Sangrin FPV Drone : Kim Taewan Key Grip : Yun Youngjae, Yu Kanghyun Lighting Director : Jeong Joonghyuk Lighting Crew : Kim Hyunsuk, Paik Minhyuk, Nam Sangmin, Jeong Hwayong, Kim Sunghyuk, Shin Dongyun, Lee Kyungman, Son Eajin, Jo Joohan Art Director : Eum Minyoung (BOYYD) Art Department Crew : Kim Hyerin, Park Layoung, Park Sohyun Set Team : STUDIO MOT, SET VILLAGE FX : Min Changi Extra Talent Agency : Clover Agency Parkour Team : UnderKover Post Production : DIGIPEDI Edit : Seong Wonmo DI : Moon Seokho 2D : DIGIPEDI 3D VFX : Kim Jiwoon (Breeze Tree) Creative : Shin Yejin Visual Creative : Enokidani Mai, Shikano Hirokazu Performance Directing : Lee Sebastien Choreography : Sakura Inoue (HYBE LABELS JAPAN), NOSUKE / hayuru (Team"S"), Lookfam, Connecting The Dots, Yano Junko, Sorah Yang, MONA, Sugiura Asuka, Sho-Co Sound : Soma Genda A&R : Lim Hyungju, Ogido Yuyu Brand Experience Design : Kato Hiroki Production Support : Ueda Saeko Artist Protocol : Ahn Jonghun, Satoh Manabu, Ando Hayato, Shirota Koki, Nagae Yui, Koizumi Yohei, Matsumoto Chihiro, Fujita Moe, Mochizuki Kenta, Satoh Kazuya DARK MOON: THE GREY CITY with &TEAM HYBE LABELS JAPAN. Rights are reserved selectively in the video. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by HYBE LABELS JAPAN, Tokyo, Japan. #andTEAM #FirstHowling_ME #Under_the_skin Link with &TEAM Official Website https://www.andteam-official.jp/ Official Weverse https://weverse.io/andteam/feed Official Twitter https://twitter.com/andTEAMofficial Member Twitter https://twitter.com/andTEAM_members Official YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/andTEAM_official Official Instagram https://www.instagram.com/andteam_official/ Official TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@andteam_official HYBE LABELS

#하이브 레이블 #HYBE LABELS #빅히트 #Big Hit #빅히트 레이블 #Big Hit Labels #빅히트 엔터테인먼트 #Big Hit Entertainment #소속사

0 notes

edsbev · 7 years ago

Note

tarjei sandvik moe from skam if he dyed his hair a lot darker is like my no. one fancast of eddie as a teen bc he just screams young Dennis Christopher to me,, dang i just wish he were older yano?

what if he didnt dye his hair and we let blonde eddie RISE

#im a blonde eddie warrior first and foremost #fghfdjs #ask #Anonymous

11 notes · View notes

kirigirisurecordings · 4 years ago

Link

This is the eighteenth in our digital mixtape exchange series where someone makes a mix for someone else, who makes a mix for someone else and it goes on till we run out of people. Today it's a mix by Chihaya, leading member of They and ex-member of Fukuro, both of whom have released music on Nisennenmondai's Bijin records.

Here are releases by them (amongst others) on the Bijin bandcamp: https://bijinrecord.bandcamp.com/music

Togawa Jun Unit - Aru Hareta Hi 00:00

Guv’ner - Help Me 1:52

Joan Of Arc - Trial At New Orleans 7:10

Moe Tucker - Fired Up 11:18

Yo La Tengo - Rocket #9 15:07

Maki Asakawa - Konna Fu Ni Sugite Yukunonara 17:45

The Coachmen - Thurston’s Song 21:40

Simon Joyner - Christine 23:49

Eagles - Is It True? 28:11

John Davis - Jeep Cherokee 31:28

PJ Harvey - Water 33:28

Clinic - Porno 38:00

Akiko Yano - Kanashikute Yarikirenai 41:50

Guv’ner - Me In Sun 45:54

The Anomoanon - Summer Never Ends 50:06

Will Oldham - The Risen Lord 55:27

0 notes

bk-lostintranslation · 5 years ago

Text

Shoddy Shodō / Commentaries on Globalization

One needn't be a Zen philosopher to appreciate the elegant simplicity of Japanese calligraphy. An intriguing juxtaposition of stark yet subdued, there is an undeniable dynamism to the text that attests to the visual nature of Japanese aesthetics themselves. More engaging still is the preparation and ritual imbued within the art: the water poured into the dark slab of the inkstone, the hand-carved sumi ground against the edge of the basin, the translucent washi paper held down by paperweights, the elegant little compartments for paintbrushes and the rows of glossy ink bottles. During the lesson, when taking everything out and arranging it around the table, there was a pleasing sense of harmony – but also of playfulness, not unlike having a tea-party for dolls. The effect, in my case, was unfortunately spoiled when I first dipped my paintbrush into the ink – then immediately made an ugly blot on the paper.

Considered one of the most highly regarded forms of Japanese art, calligraphy – or shodō – is perhaps as recognizably tied to Japanese culture as cherry blossoms, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, geisha, kabuki, Hokusai's The Wave or iconic shots of Mt. Fiji (Aato, et al, 2013). Yet this fascination and growing preeminence of the Japanese visual form abroad is by no means a corollary of the recent Japanization-wave that has seen the nation's culture surfacing as a global phenomenon. If anything, as far back as the nineteenth century, Japanese aesthetics have wielded a tremendous influence on their Western counterparts, beginning with the Meiji Restoration, when Japanese imports first began to trickle into European markets.

Artistic motifs and geometric designs unique to Japanese art were emulated; Japonisme, as defined by Philippe Burty, became a veritable craze in the West. Everything from furniture, crockery, textiles, architecture and performance arts borrowed from stylistic elements unique to Japan. Cloisonne techniques were applied to vases and jewelry; furniture was ebonized to emulate the gloss of Japanese laquerwork (Ji & Ukai, 2013; Ono, 2005). Household names such as Degas, Cassatt, Bonnard, Manet and Van Gogh were inspired by Nipponese woodblock prints, whose refined simplicity and distinct use of figures, shadows, colors and compositions allowed for greater flexibility from traditional artistic conventions. Indeed, Van Gogh would go so far as to claim "...all my work is in a way founded on Japanese art" (Nute, 2000, p. 13)

Today, vibrant skeins of Japanese art and culture continue to weave themselves through the fabric of daily life. Whether it is dining on gas-station sushi, flipping through the pages of a popular manga at the nearest Barnes and Noble, browsing online for Harajuku-inspired fashions (Milk, Bape, COMME des GARÇONS), sprintzing on the latest perfumes by Issey Miyake or Kenzo, gawping at Takashi Murakami's sakura-infused collaboration with Louis Vuitton – or practicing the ancient art of shodō all the way out in a Texas University – there is no denying that Japanese cultural and artistic trends have proliferated the unlikeliest places. Pink globalization, the proliferation of the kawaii, the superflat, the moe; earnest debates about the art of minimalism as embodied by wabi-sabi, academic works on the iconography and semiotics of anime – the sheer scope of Japanese aesthetic concepts abroad is testament to their transnational allure.

For many, this enjoyment of all things Japan stems from the nation's protean and hybrid culture itself – one that absorbs multiple outside influences and reinvents them into something undeniably its own. Others argue that this very fixation – almost a fetishization – of all things distinctly Japan-flavored may not be a modern translation of adulatory Japonisme at all, but of the more unkind Japonaiserie, which refers to the superficial transference of Japanese style into Western art, but can also be applied to the broader typecasting of Japan as an exoticized wonderland within which commodity fetishism and orientalist idealization converge.

The question, then, becomes: is the image of modern Japan that is absorbed abroad today merely loaded with all the concomitant denotations of cultural otherness, similar to the Japan-fever saturating Europe decades before – or is this obsession with the 'authentic' ethos of Japan the true crux of the issue? Jean Paul Sartre, of course, has argued that, "If you seek authenticity for authenticity’s sake, you are no longer authentic" (Daigneault, 2000, p. 25). Taken in that sense, true Japaneseness means little on its own. The very notion that in order for something – whether a concept or an object– to be considered Japanese, it must be rigidly and uniformly Zen or Shinto, or unspoiled by the diluting forces of globalization, is patently ridiculous. The different facets of Japanese aesthetics have long been imbued with both ancient philosophies and Western influences alike, in a bricolage that some have dubbed schizophrenic, others multivalent – but which remind us that Japan's relationship with modernization has not been a seamless overnight transition from rustic, Edo-period mura to the glittering neon-soaked streets of Ginza, but an ongoing, discordant and often self-contradictory process that at once borrows from, and lends itself to, external influences.

Yet, no matter how multifaceted the origins of Japanese aesthetics, or how versatile their range – from a gorgeous Kabuki play of Aoi no Ue to a secondhand store selling lacy Gothic Lolita dresses to my own pitiful attempts at shodō without even a rudimentary inkling of its Zen tenets – the fact remains that these principles are translated as undeniably Japanese abroad (Berger, 2010; Dorman, 2016; McKevitt, 2017). More to the point, in crossing geographic and cultural borders, they become almost emblems of Japaneseness. They are consumed, copied, critiqued for that very quality – a fact that once again harkens back to Sartre's remarks on authenticity: If the self-conscious Japaneseness of these aesthetics is the root of their appeal, are they truly Japanese at all? Or have they merely become hollow self-referential symbols – a Japan not celebrated as Japonisme, but its blander, shallower cousin of Japonaiserie, which posits pretty fluff and frippery as valuable based simply on their 'cool Japan' provenance?

To be sure, these concerns have been raised before. Issues with nation branding and soft power have been brought up consistently when examining the worldwide dissemination of Japanese culture and aesthetics. Prominent theorists from Koichi Iwabuchi to Joseph S Nye have remarked on how the carefully crafted face of Japan abroad is meant to foster certain ideas and images; to render Japan a personality that is implicitly institutionalized, and to socialize the rest of the world to a particular viewpoint. Similarly, in her book Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, Christine Reiko Yano notes how works on nation-branding utilize the "language of marketing," and how the act itself is dependent on "the image others hold" (2013, p. 259). In essence, by packaging itself abroad, the nation 'others' itself. It transforms its cultural legacy into a collectible object d'art. It can even be said that the very act of nation-branding is an indulgence in the nation's own objectification.

While this strategy may seem workable from a marketing standpoint, with Japanese art and pop culture serving as a vital export and a tool of diplomacy (MacWilliams, 2015), there is also a disquieting whiff of the transactional that enters the equation – and in particular devalues the relationship between the aesthetic creation and its appreciator. Aficionados of Japanese art and tradition would like to believe that their relationship with the works they love and the nation they spring from is more nuanced than simply consumer and product. The very conception that it might be otherwise erases the link between not only the maker and the product but the seller and the consumer, devolving the cultural output into hollow merchandise unto itself. In his work, The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts, Craig Hayden notes that,

While it is evident that culture appears to predominate in Japanese soft power, the application of culture, both in public arguments and embodied programs and initiatives, suggests a marked tendency toward objectification of culture through products ... [Yet] the value of culture for soft does not stem from its intrinsic capacity to convey deep-seated values or to establish credibility by demonstrating Japanese policy motives – culture "works" by providing a means of access to further engagement with Japan, as part of a fan community, as a student of language, etc. Culture in this sense reflects the networks of connection (2012).

With that in mind, it is difficult to envision that level of connectivity emerging from a purely commercial model of culture. It is equally difficult to imagine this particular strategy of soft power benefiting Japan in the long run. Playful lessons in calligraphy, zany volumes of manga, picturesque Zen garden kits and the frilly extravaganza of Lolita fashion subcultures are all intriguing facets of Japan in and of themselves. But they are not the entirety of Japan – and the very notion that they might be runs afoul of constructing the "Japanese social body as an imagined wholeness (McRoy, 2008, p. 93)."

More to the point, this over-reliance on tired bromides and artistic stereotypes calls to attention the dangerous Orientalism tacit in both Western consumption of Japanese cultural and aesthetic input, and Japan's own marketing and masquerading of itself as a playground of the fantastical or eccentric – an act that precludes complex global discourse based on mutual learning as well as enjoyment. As Chitty, Ji, Rawnsley and Hayden note, the issue with Japan's formula of "glib branding schemes is the impossibility of capturing the full sweep of Japan's diversity..." and that "public diplomacy ought to be more profound than a beauty contest (p. 410-412)."

This does not imply, of course, that Japan's efforts to promote itself on the global stage are without merit. As mentioned, Japanese art forms – from Kabuki to calligraphy, from video games to anime – are hailed as vital facets in a broader strategy for fostering both foreign policy and economic growth. Yet, the key to their commercial success, sheathed within pontifications of "cultural odorlessness", is a self-conscious localizatization, or perhaps even "glocalization", which impels Japan to tailor its culture as a product that best fits its contextual reception (Hayden, 2012; Iwabuchi, 2007). To be fair, where marketization is concerned, culture becomes as easy to convert into a commodity as anything else. But the involvement of money flattens this mode of self-promotion by rendering it public – and by proxy, entrenched in the civic and legal hallmarks of consumption, as all merchandise is. The moment anything – an idea, an item, a sentiment – is placed on sale, its inherent value is measured solely in terms of its economic merit, and therefore its quantifiability.

It was intriguing to note the internalization of this mindset during the calligraphy lesson. As fellow students grappled with their brushes and dribbled ink across the rice-paper (which, I confess, appealed to my horrid sense of schadenfreude), our chief complaints comprised of "Why isn't this easier?" – "I thought it would be more fun" – "Why aren't I instantly perfect at this?" Yet, as the teacher was quick to remind us earlier in the lesson, calligraphy – as the purest form of ideography – requires kinetic grace as well as inner focus, neither of which are possible with a rigid composition, especially not on the first try. Easiness, fun and perfection are not the point of the endeavor – the process is. Yet the process is difficult to appreciate when one is accustomed to seeing their enjoyment of Japanese 'products' as transactional – no different from flipping through manga, or browsing the selection of anime on Netflix, or placing a Japanese BB-cream in an online shopping basket at Sephora.

How does one immerse themselves in the conceptual complexities of an aesthetic when he or she is so used to viewing the culture from within an economic model, where even something as benign as a shodō class absolutely must, somehow, telegraph the entertainment value associated with Japan, as a place of "fantasy and difference? (Anheier, 2011, p. 277) It is a reminder, that hand-in-hand with quantification goes decontextualization. That, in turn, brings us back to the dilemma of Japonisme versus Japonaiserie – within which commodity fetishism masquerades as exoticism, playing up to Western constructions of an enchanted but ultimately reductionist view of Japan. Learning about another culture should, in theory, be more broad-ranging and multi-faceted than that. There should be a sense of both parties engaging each other over the landscape of the art, the language, the history.

Yes, we have crossed the point where conceptions of Japanese culture and aesthetics can be understood as statically mystical, existing in a space completely separated from politics or pedagogy. Yet we do ourselves a disservice by imbibing only prettily-packaged, surface-level tokens of would-be Japaneseness – and Japan's soft-power strategy a greater disservice for pandering to it.

Perhaps it is a dark casualty of globalization, to forge not connections but new methods for labeling the objects of our interest into purely superficial categories based on their consumptive appeal, because to examine them from a broader lens runs the risk of them examining us in turn. Far tidier and safer to classify each other, with meta-tags and marketing, into archetypes and icons to consume without any tangible outcomes of a bilateral exchange. Here is a Geisha in a colorful kimono, coyly twirling a parasol – an exoticized symbol of feminine Otherness as much as a performative embodiment of iki. Here is a cup of sake, sipped with no substantive appreciation for its quality, but for the mere fact that it is an extension of the would-be unusual smorgasbord of Japanese cuisine. Here is the shodō lesson designed to suit the American temperament – Zen-free and upholding no aesthetic stance beyond being a straightforward source of amusement. It is easier to absorb the classifications posited by fetishized images of Japan, and Japan's internalization of that fetishization for marketing and nation-branding, so we can imagine we know the culture without actually knowing it, and to ourselves avoid being known. Why not, when classification conveniently precludes in-depth judgement?

There is an inherent cowardice in this strategy of soft power – for both parties engaged in the dance. There is a shortsightedness to this act of self-definition which is dependent on flawed teleology and a trap of circular logic wherein culture is served up as a commodity to be devoured, yet the power and resonance in that strategy remains dubious at best, limited at worst. Or perhaps that is the point, because it allows for the luxury of atomizing another culture on our own terms, while conveniently avoiding the dialogic parity that can only emerge with each party possessing an equally strong and honest voice (Tabachnick & Koivukoski, 2004).

We prefer the foppish superficiality of the Japonaiserie to the more prismatic understanding necessary for Japonisme – because the latter rests on the premise of cultivating an understanding of others, and therefore of ourselves, while the former provides an easy means to evade an external gaze that tells us something about ourselves we aren't comfortable with confronting. It is easier to project a one-dimensional persona into a realm of the same. It is easier buy into the delusion that we have hermetically sealed ourselves and others into an airtight wrapper of self-affirmation – and to cling to it with a blind, nearly onanistic tenacity.

References

Anheier, H. K., & Isar, Y. R. (2011). Cultures and globalization: heritage, memory & identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Berger, A. A. (2010). Tourism in Japan: an ethno-semiotic analysis. Bristol: Channel View Publications.

Chitty, N., Ji, L., Rwansley, G. D., & Hayden, C. (2017). The Routledge handbook of soft power. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group.

Daigneault, P. (2000). Sartres early moral theory. Routledge. Abingdon, UK.

Dorman, A. (2016). Paradoxical Japaneseness: cultural representation in 21st century Japanese cinema. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hayden, C. (2012). The rhetoric of soft power: public diplomacy in global contexts. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Iwabuchi, K. (2007). Recentering globalization: popular culture and Japanese transnationalism. Durham: Duke University Press.

Ji, M., & Ukai, A. (2013). Translation, history and arts new horizons in Asian interdisciplinary humanities research. Newcastle: Cambridge scholars.

Macwilliams, M. W. (2015). Japanese visual culture explorations in the world of manga and anime. Abingdon: Routledge.

McKevitt, A. C. (2017). Consuming Japan: popular culture and the globalizing of 1980s America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

McRoy, Jay (2008), “The Horror Is Alive. Immersion, Spectatorship, and the Cinematics of Fear in the Survival Horror Genre,” Reconstruction, Vol. 6, No. 1

Nute, K. (2000). Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan: the role of traditional Japanese art and architecture in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. London : New York: Routledge.

Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: the means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs.

Ono, A. (2005). Japonisme in Britain: Whistler, Menpes, Henry, Hornel, and nineteenth-century Japan. London: RoutledgeCurzon.

Satō, S., Roshi, G. A., Fujiwara, S., & Sato, A. O. (2013). Shodo: the quiet art of Japanese Zen calligraphy: learn the wisdom of Zen through traditional brush painting. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.

Tabachnick, D., & Koivukoski, T. (2004). Globalization, technology, and philosophy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Yano, C. R. (2013). Pink globalization: Hello Kittys trek across the Pacific. Durham: Duke University Press.

#essay #academic writing #japan #shodo #calligraphy #soft power #globalization

1 note · View note