It's All About Economics

In my economics class, many of our readings and discussions center around the fact that Japan is an aging society whose economy is inevitably bound for "negative growth" as the working-age population retires and reaches the average life span (Matsutani Akihiko, Shrinking-Population Economics: Lessons from Japan, 15). Of course this is an urgent issue for any society and the citizens within it, but it is still nice to see an industrialized nation looking away from its own problems and reaching out to "worlds less fortunate", even if it is just a request to add pocket change to a small bowl in Kyoto.

In reality, however, tourists to Japan are more likely to contribute their hard-earned money to Walt Disney himself as they wait in line to ride a modest ferris wheel in the Shinsaibashi area of Osaka. Select Disney characters with questionably different facial structures are plentiful in the parts of Japan I have visited thus far. A big part of the consumer culture revolves around toys and paraphernalia based off animated characters. This is interesting; how will this change as Japan's population ages and is replaced by fewer and fewer children to consume such goods?

Youth Embracing Tradition

Note: Please click on individual images for larger, more detailed versions.

Osaka experienced much action and tourism this weekend, as hot and drizzly as it was. At least two festivals took place within a reasonable distance from Hirakata City: the Danjiri Festival in Kishiwada as well as the Eisa Festival in Taisho.


This first photo is from the Danjiri Festival, a Shinto tradition where handcrafted floats are pulled at full speed by hundreds of people through the narrow streets, Shinto shrines as the destination. Though the shutter speed on my digital camera is rather inadequate, I like the photo above because of its blurry human figures against a clear background. It seems to capture the chaos and excitement of the lines of Japanese youth heaving these floats through town. They're an integral part of what makes this tradition happen every year but most spectators keep their focus on the floats instead.
(More information on Danjiri)


A grown man demonstrating how to carry and move with the flags during this particular Okinawan group's performance. The colors of the costumes attracted my camera initially, but I also enjoyed witnessing the wide range of age groups represented in the festival as a whole. Many children played key roles in the dance and drum performances, showing dedication to familial and regional traditions. Or maybe they just wanted to wear zebra print pants.

Japanese Women on Display

I have only been an unregistered alien in Japan for a couple of weeks, thus my visual anthropological collection is not yet extensive enough to where I can assign a theme to my photos. For my first entry, I have chosen to feature two photos of Japanese women, a broad enough "theme" to allow me to go in any direction, but also specific enough to make this post somewhat interesting.


This woman works in a candy shop in Kyoto. I found her and this shop, colorfully decorated, on a hill bustling with the flow of temple tourists and their cash. Women workers in such uniforms are plentiful in Japan, I have noticed, and thought it should be captured by film. The uniform suggests conformity and equality among coworkers, and yet the vivid colors of most of the uniforms draw attention to the women. The relationship between buyer and seller is obviously an important one in a capitalist society such as Japan, but why are female sellers the only ones usually dressed in such a way?



Today I went to Himeji Castle, a beautiful historical monument in Himeji City, and met these two lovely ladies enjoying their afternoon. Believe it or not, they are not real. Believe it or not, neither is the cat. I was attracted to the actual visual representation of the people who once lived in the castle, as most of it is dark and bare. Apparently one of these women is Princess Sen who lived "the happiest 10 years of her life" there with her husband. The emphasis given on her harmonious marriage and joyful stay at the castle rings some bells for me--one who's always skeptical of how history is presented--and I wonder how accurate this scene (pictured above) is.