Japanese Culture

[erneiz_hyde]

Speaking of treatment of women. A couple of weeks ago I was browsing uhh...thin books, for uhh...research purposes *coughdoujincough*. And I came upon a book with the word "yobai" in its title. Of course, I knew what the word meant, what actions it is referring to, literally it meant "night crawling" but in context it means that a man sneaks in a woman's room at night to have sex with her. But...I don't know, maybe because I am a modern man with modern sensibilities, that book triggered a sense of curiosity in me so I just went to wikipedia to find more info (of course that is after I thoroughly uhh...researched, that thin book *nudgewink*).

The English wikipedia page provided little information that is not known to me, so I tried to go to the Japanese wikipedia page and I found a whole lot more info there. I am just going to translate that here (I left out some parts of it that I don't feel like translating, just a heads up).

Yobai

Summary

Etymologically, it's original mean is when a man calls on a woman and propose to her.

Although in general case the man goes to the woman, there were also regions where the woman goes to the man.

On rural villages there used to be a saying "village girls and widows belong to the young men" which expressed shared possession of girls in the village. Before modernization of these rural villages, young men would form a group which acts to regulate and authorize marriages, and also establish the rules of yobai. These rules would contain things like how to treat virgin girls and married women, the details vary a lot among regions.

In a more urban areas like Edo (old Tokyo) the yobai culture started to develop in a different form and it is said that this change is what lead to the custom's eventual decline.

Ethnologic Study

According to Akamatsu Keisuke's "The Ethnic Custom of Yobai" (1994), the practice differs a lot according to the period, location, and social strata. There are various unwritten rule in each community (particularly villages) that needs to be strictly followed, for example regarding the choice of partner, the woman's right to refuse, etc but generally there is a large degree of sexual freedom. During occasions such as festivals on temple grounds, there would often be an activity called "zakone" where a large group of people openly and brazenly having unhinged sex. However, there were also punishments if one does not follow the rules of each particular community. Akamatsu also asserted that this custom was particularly wide spread because war and other things made the number of men low in comparison to the number of women.

During the Meiji period, the custom of yobai started to decline, and it is said that one of the reason for this is because the government, seeing the custom of yobai as free prostitution that does not contribute to the economy, then used the various local prostitution rings to privatize the custom and secure more taxes.

In Japanese communities, a girl starts to become a valid target for yobai when she had her first menstruation at the age of 13, or when she grew a complete set of pubic hair at the age of 15-16, (however there are also cases where an already married woman became an exemption, this particular point varies hugely among different communities). In any case, when a girl became a valid target, a sexual intercourse is performed as a ceremony. In the case of boys, at the age of 13 there will be a "fundoshi celebration" and officially became a "young man" in the age of 13-15, during which an older woman will teach him sex. After that ceremony, the young man then racks up sexual experience with yobai.

Akamatsu was born on Meiji 42 (1909) in Hyogo prefecture, and the fundoshi celebration was still in practice during this time. When there isn't a suitable partner, in some cases the boy will do the ceremony with their own father or mother. All of the above is the sexual education in Japanese communities in preparation for yobai. Of course with a custom like this, there were a lot of cases where the parents of a baby is unclear, however they were raised as a part of the whole community without much trouble.

In the uhh...research material... that I was reading, a girl that just got her first menstruation would be visited by men in the village, and this would happen every night until she got pregnant, after which the girl is free to marry into a family of her choice. None of that is in the wiki article, but judging from "rules vary a lot by region" and "a lot of cases where the parent of the baby is unclear" it might just actually existed somewhere in the past.

The hilarious part of all this for me is that one of the reasons yobai went into decline was capitalism. ho! I think it shows that if you want certain customs to spread or disappear, involve capitalism because morality is subjective, but there will always be a bottom line.
Also, reading this might have also slightly changed my perception of animes that took place in ye olde Japan. It also reminded me of Kou-hime from Rance that got raped immediately after she was abandoned in a rural village.

[Magin]

Originally Posted by Dextro

I was as surprised as you until I started reading the article. Turns out it's just yet another consequence of sexism in society which in Japan is particularly prevalent still. I actually find it interesting to see that the country is starting to have such an outcry and discussion about these sort of things. From the movements to curb the so called "black school rules" that would force students to dye their hair black (for example) to this simple change to allow women the freedom to wear what makes them feel comfortable just like their male counterparts do.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

The classic anime Juuni Kokuki opens with Youko's mother telling her she had to visit the beauty parlor and get her reddish hair dyed black. That show aired nearly twenty years ago. I was surprised to read that such a silly rule still applies in some schools today. It would be funny indeed if a high-school anime had some episodes where all its students, with the wide array of hair colors so common in anime, were told they had to dye their hair black.

I knew about the no-stockings-in-winter rule and thought that also constituted cruel and unusual punishment of those schools' female students. Rules about the color of their underwear seem especially ridiculous and intrusive. Do girls have to raise their skirts in front of (hopefully, female) sensei so that rule can be enforced? Do they have to display their brassieres as well?

There are many things to admire about Japanese culture, but it's treatment of women is not one of them.

Certainly, Japan has horrible treatment of women compared to other modern cultures (one of the many problems in Japan), but I find it interesting what caused these rules to come into existence in the first place: apparently, delinquency and yankee-type behavior was on the rise in the 1980's, and with Japan trying to be a homogenous "the nail the sticks out gets hammered down" type of society, the "black rules" came into being to stomp that kind of behavior out. I can't say anything for the Big Cities, but it seems to have generally worked, despite practically being Overkill. And with Japan being an extremely slow nation to change in some regards, they may have decided to just keep at least some parts of it.

Hell, it reminds me of GTO (which is kinda old at this point), where you have your Showa-era old men talking about "whipping the youth into line"... and of course, being GTO, they're also complete hypocrites, but that's for another thread.

Actually, that reminds me of another thing: the pseudo-stereotype is that Asian women, though I guess moreso Chinese and Korean than Japanese at this point, are obsessed with beauty standards. Do you suppose that even if given the option, Japanese women would still do what makes them appear more attractive rather than the comfortable option?

[Dextro]

Funny you mention GTO since that's literally the first thing that came to mind when I heard about the move to get rid of "black rules" on NHK

[SeijiSensei]

Eating seems to be an even bigger part of Chtistmas in Japan than it is in the US.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/3KrAMSIJ1fo

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[Toukairin]

This is how you make a commercial to promote a new product. In this case, McDonald's Japan used the power of anime to promote their limited edition Japan-only "Gracoro" (Gratin Croquette) Burgers.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/uOeJ31PT7Xs

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More details on the design of the commercial in the Crunchyroll article here. Yoshihiro Kanno is the director of the commercial; he is also known as the animation director on Hunter x Hunter and Parasyte -the maxim-.

[SeijiSensei]

Motoko Rich of the NY Times writes about the lack of female students in Japan's top universities. At Tokyo University ("Todai") women are just a fifth of the student body.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/w...men-japan.html

The dearth of women at Todai is a byproduct of deep-seated gender inequality in Japan, where women are still not expected to achieve as much as men and sometimes hold themselves back from educational opportunities.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promoted an agenda of female empowerment, boasting that Japan’s labor force participation rate among women outranks even the United States. Yet few women make it to the executive suite or the highest levels of government.

The disconnect starts at school. Although women make up nearly half the nation’s undergraduate population, the oldest and most elite universities reflect — and magnify — a lackluster record in elevating women to the most powerful reaches of society.

One female professor at Todai specifically targets the anti-intellectualism in Japanese popular culture when it comes to girls. She cites a lyric from an AKB48 song, "While I’m still in school/It’s O.K. to be stupid.”

[SeijiSensei]

令 (Rei) from 令和 (Reiwa), the current era name, chosen as 2019’s Kanji of the Year at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

Images

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[AnimeFan188]

Japan Is Building a Giant Gundam Robot That Can Walk:

"At 18 meters tall and weighing 25 tons, this would be the largest humanoid robot ever
built"

"Gundam Factory Yokohama, which is a Gundam Factory in Yokohama, is constructing an
18-meter-tall, 25-ton Gundam robot. The plan is for the robot to be fully actuated using
a combination of electric and hydraulic actuators, achieving “Gundam-like movement”
with its 24 degrees of freedom. This will include the ability to walk, which has already
been simulated by the University of Tokyo JSK Lab:"

See:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/...t-gundam-robot

[SeijiSensei]

Tezuka Osamu to be resurrected by AI

A friend passed along this article in the Financial Times:

https://www.ft.com/content/8115e8c4-...d-25e377c0ee1f

This month, another beloved pillar of Japanese culture faces an AI invasion. The Japanese tech giant Kioxia (until very recently Toshiba Memory) has announced that it is to create an entirely new manga (comic) by teaming up with Osamu Tezuka — the “Walt Disney of Japan”.

The Father of Japanese animation, a hero to millions and, inconveniently, dead since 1989, Tezuka, who created Astro Boy, Black Jack and many of Japan’s most cherished cartoon characters, was not only one of its most distinctive artists, but a storyteller of supreme emotional sensitivity.

AI, runs the new mantra, has ways of making the dead draw. And we have only a few days to wait for the result of this tech-based tomb raid. The February 27th edition of the popular comic Morning will carry a story called “Paidon” — drawn, plotted and scripted by software and a robotic drawing hand that have been armed with the entirety of the Tezuka back catalogue.

"And inconveniently dead since 1989"

[SeijiSensei]

Japan without advertising?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...o-advertising/

The COVID-19 epidemic is prompting companies in Tokyo to take down advertisements from stations and train cars, where ads were plentiful prior to the outbreak.

Advertisers are suspending promotional activities as citizens stay home to avoid infection, leading to lower effectiveness for adverts.

“It is a huge blow to the whole advertising industry,” said a source in the industry.

The photo in the article of a nearly-empty Shibuya is especially striking.

[TinyRedLeaf]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/3A5XlyF7UY8

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Cue to the inevitable jokes about "my grandma can play better than you!"

Meet 90-year-old Hamako Mori, the world's oldest video-game YouTuber

Tokyo (May 19, 2020): A Japanese woman who built a cult following online with her video-game skills has been recognised as the world's oldest YouTube gamer — at the age of 90.

Hamako Mori, known as "Gamer Grandma" to her 250,000 YouTube subscribers, started gaming 39 years ago. Her YouTube channel launched in 2015, and she posts up to four videos a month.

In her clips, she does everything from unboxing new consoles to broadcasting her gaming prowess.

And now Mori, who counts the "Grand Theft Auto" series among her favourites, is officially the world's oldest gaming YouTuber, according to Guinness World Records.

CNN BUSINESS

[Psyco Diver]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

YouTube

https://youtu.be/3A5XlyF7UY8

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Cue to the inevitable jokes about "my grandma can play better than you!"

Meet 90-year-old Hamako Mori, the world's oldest video-game YouTuber

Great not only do I have to deal with 12 year olds kicking my butt online but now a 90 year old also lol

[SeijiSensei]

This kid is really amazing. From the Twitter feed of the AP's Japan correspondent:

https://twitter.com/yurikageyama/sta...20370097688576

He really shines in the second number.

[SeijiSensei]

No Koshien, but players will still get their bits of dirt from the field

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles...0m/0sp/081000c

On a recent afternoon, it was the members of the professional club, the Hanshin Tigers, who were digging with their hands to collect dirt from Koshien, their home stadium.

The dirt will be put in transparent balls hanging from key chains and sent to some 50,000 high school baseball players.

[AnimeFan188]

Japan university awards first-ever ninja studies degree:

"Japan has produced its first ninja studies graduate after Genichi Mitsuhashi spent two
years honing his martial arts skills and absorbing the finer traditions of the feudal
martial arts agents.

The 45-year-old completed the master's course at Mie University in central Japan, the
region considered the home of the ninja.

In addition to researching historical documents, Mitsuhashi told AFP he took the
practical aspect of being a ninja to heart.

"I read that ninjas worked as farmers in the morning and trained in martial arts in the
afternoon," he said.

So Mitsuhashi grew vegetables and worked on his martial arts techniques, in addition
to copious ninja study in the classroom.

"With this combination, I thought I could learn about the real ninja," he said.

Better known as black-clad assassins famous for secrecy and stealth, ninjas also had
"comprehensive survival skills," he added.

Mitsuhashi, who has also learned kung fu and a Japanese martial art known as
Shorinji Kempo, teaches ninja skills at his own dojo and runs a local inn while
pursuing his PhD.

The Mie University set up the world's first research centre devoted to the ninja in
2017 and opened a graduate course a year later."

See:

https://www.france24.com/en/20200626...studies-degree

[Blueknight78]

i'm start to feel really worried about "japanese culture", because more and more "western in special USA, is keep pressing more and more with censure over japan and they culture specially about game, anime and manga, more and more we see strong censorship or attacks with "cancel culture" specially from twitter, over manga, animes game and artists, just because don't fit they narrative (racist, sexisit whatever ist exist in the world).

YouTube

https://youtu.be/oELl6gD1nEQ

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[Blueknight78]

here another exemple of american censorship affecting japana anime/manga market

YouTube

https://youtu.be/WH4u7yJlpf8

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[SeijiSensei]

Summer festivals in Japan mean fireworks, and the NHK tweeted a link today to its 15-minute documentary on senko hanabee, the sparklers that seem so ubiquitous in anime. Making these sparklers is a traditional industry that dates back to the Edo period, but competition from China has reduced the ranks of Japanese producers to just two craftsmen.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/o...video/3019088/

[Blueknight78]

tencent is really pushing hard into japan anime/manga/games by instead of buying the "whole studios, just paying for "partnership" to get seats and be able to use "characters and have "to say over the material to be made

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ONlrLggv5OY

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tencent is really tring to take over the world, they already have on they hands(not full control but partnership) companies like epic activions and even ubisoft

[SeijiSensei]

Online match-making surges during lockdown

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...917_story.html

Japan's matchmakers faced a dilemma: how to make those matches during the social distancing of the pandemic?

Gone were group gatherings, one of the common icebreakers held by Japan's popular agencies for people seeking a mate. Also called off were the one-on-one introductions arranged by dozens of Japan's matchmaking companies, which can charge monthly fees as high as $200 for the many in Japan who don't want to go solo into the online dating world.

So the now-familiar tool of pandemic-era business — the video chat and those little windows — became an unexpected opportunity for Japan's Cupids for hire.

Online matchmaking in Japan has become a rare upbeat counterpoint to the economic slowdowns, shutdowns and restrictions during the covid-19 crisis.

Japanese women apparently don't find Japanese men all that trustworthy.

Japanese women, in particular, are often reluctant to share contact details with prospective matches, and sometimes spend days chatting online before even exchanging photos, exhausting themselves with worry whether the [other] person is trustworthy