The video
conference with the Swedish students was very interesting and I enjoyed the
topic quite a bit. Though we went in not knowing the information fully, they
were interesting discussion topics that I believe we could relate to in some
way.
For the first
discussion about Japanese pop culture, we talked a little bit about things we
knew that were from japan that were popular here as well. I mentioned some
video games and the Swedish student mentioned some as well. Also, I talked
about how many younger shows shown on tv were truly Japanese animes, such as Pokémon
and Dragons Ball. The Swedish student also knew of some pop Japan artists or
bands, which usually consists of a large group of attractive people. This
reflects how japan is so structured around groups and working together, similar
to how they don’t have single super heroes, most of their pop seems to be
groups of people as opposed to individual stars. Also, we talked of how manga
is seen differently outside of Japan. The Swedish student mentioned how most
adults don’t read manga while in Japan everyone reads manga. I commented on how
it is most likely seen as childish due to how America has always portrayed
comics as something kids read. When we got onto the topic of “Cool Japan”, no
one in my small group knew particularly what it was. From the pictures on the
slide we guessed that it was some kind of promotion used to attract people to
japan, the Swedish student mentioning it could have perhaps been due to the
declining birth rate. Also, with the use of the internet, we were able to find
what is to discuss it further. We talked a little about whether this would
attract people to Japan.
In the second
discussion of Cute Japan, my group also didn’t know particularly what that
meant. The Swedish student in this discussion suggested that perhaps they are
trying to portray this image of cute in contrast to their darker background
involving war and what not. I then commented on perhaps dressing in this way
was to distinguish them in a society strongly based around conformity and
strict social rules. We then talked about how this cute image was one that
would cause people to not take the society as seriously. We them mostly talked
about differences in American culture’s view of these cute things and Sweden’s
as well.
Sorry that I can’t
be more specific on who said what, its hard to remember exactly what was said
during the discussion, but the discussion did bring up ideas and concepts that
I wouldn’t have been able to think of on my own so I believe they were very productive.
It was fun to get to talk to the Swedish students about what is popular and
what not, because it seemed like something everyone could relate to in some
small way. It was an interesting
experience and I am glad I got to participate in it.
