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Mass Culture in Japan
Publication Date:199203
Book title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION IN JAPAN [A COLLECTION OF PAPERS]
Publisher : National Institute of Multimedia Education
It has only been since World War II that the concept of mass culture has become an important sociological issue in Japan. Though even before 1945 pioneer works on mass culture had appeared, the sociological literature to be discussed here was mostly published after 1945, especially after 1950.
The recent development of interest in mass culture does not, of course, mean that the problems of mass culture themselves surfaced only after the war. Mass culture began to take a fairly definite form in Japan around 1910, and certain forms of public art which may be regarded as prototypes of mass culture were already present in feudal society as early as the end of the seventeenth century. Although modern research on mass culture has a history of only about ten years, mass culture itself thus goes back more than three centuries.
Why, then, was the nature of mass culture unexplored until so recently, and why did it suddenly attract attention after World War II? First, mass culture underwent a huge expansion during the postwar period and its existence could no longer be ignored. With the establishment of various leisure markets and the Americanization of their styles, mass culture, so to speak, became a social issue. Second, and perhaps more important, Japanese sociology before World War II regarded mass culture as of little value and hardly worthy as a serious object of sociological inquiry. Robert Morton made a distinction between European sociology of knowledge and American studies of mass communication as follows: "The European variant being concerned with knowledge, comes to deal with the intellectual elite; the American variant, concerned with widely held opinions, deals with masses." Japanese sociology was closer to the European model, Japanese sociology was unconcerned not only with "mass culture," but anything involving the "masses."
After the war, the importation of methodology and techniques from American sociology first called the attention of Japanese sociologists to mass culture. Just as Japanese mass culture itself was influenced to a large extent by America in the postwar period, so was their way of viewing it influenced by the special and deep relationship between America and Japan.
However, in this paper, it is not possible for us to limit ourselves only to the development of mass culture in the postwar period. Since Japan has an old cultural tradition, and since the forms of present-day mass culture have been greatly influenced by the forms of ancient folk art, it is essential to consider its origin and development in order to understand present-day mass culture. Therefore, the author will begin with a historical introduction to Japanese mass culture.
When we speak of Japanese mass culture, we notice a kind of layer-cake structure consisting of three cultures different in their historical background. One of them is the folk culture which originated in old agricultural society and still survives in rural communities. For example, in present-day Japanese villages, there are still forms of public entertainment and recreation which are largely connected with religious ceremonies such as rice-planting and harvest festivals. According to studies made by ethnologists and historians, the folk arts of this kind can be traced in existing records as far back as to seventh century. In other words, Japanese farmers have continued for thirteen centuries a traditional culture which is connected with their agricultural life-style. For example, in the Kasuga Shrine in Nara, Shinto music and dancing by sacred virgins known as kagura is held on a stage constructed for this purpose in 859 A.D. We cannot ignore this folk art which has continued for eleven centuries. For farmers who constitute over half of the total population, this folk culture with a history of over ten centuries is still a very basic ingredient of Japanese culture. This phenomenon is not limited to those who actually till the soil. Urban populations which are more or less rural in nature have, in various new forms, stayed with this folk culture.
Far from these rural arts described above being washed away by the emergence of the so-called mass culture, they have, on the contrary, thrived on it and been included as part of it. For example, in the fall-festivals in villages, modern techniques such as loud speakers are brought in, and the number of participants in the dancing and recreational activities is larger than before. From the kagura in Kasuga Shrine down to various local arts there has been a revival through the establishment of sightseeing tours and this has given them the form of mass culture. The situation is similar to the case of the war dances of American Indians which continue on as a spectacle for sightseeing tours. In Japan, however, tourists have a much more intimate feeling for the folk arts. The kagura in Kasuga Shrine is always performed in response to donations by the tourists, but it is not a simple show for sightseeing tourists. Even if only nominally, the visitors join in worshipping the god to whom kagura is dedicated.
Of course, the modes of folk arts as such do not exist in a pure form. Even if the form of a dance were to persist in identical form over ten centuries, the social function of the dance can become completely different. Despite this fact, folk culture is the first layer which lies at the bottom of contemporary mass culture.
If the folk culture which has existed over ten centuries is the primary layer of mass culture, then the second layer is the popular culture and public arts founded in the eighteenth century. While the first layer arose in the agricultural community, popular culture had its significant beginning among the newly risen class of merchants in the later feudal period. Ukiyoe in the field of painting, kabuki in drama, haiku in literature--those forms of art were all fully developed from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. Economic activities based on the exchange of commodities developed within the feudal system, and merchants who dealt with production and circulation of commodities rose in socio-economic status. This development formed the background of the growth of popular culture. In fact, among the merchants, there were even money brokers who lent money to warriors or, at times, to feudal lords. Also wholesale dealers who collected and sold special products in various parts of the country accumulated an amazing amount of wealth.
Using European capitalism as an example, W. Sombart noted an intimate relationship between luxury and capitalism. The same interpretation applies to Japanese capitalism in which merchants took a similar role. The popular culture under the feudal system emphasized extravagance and epicureanism in contrast to the Confucian and stoic tendency of the warrior's culture found among the leaders. Often, the popular culture of this time functioned as a kind of resistance, an antithesis, to various feudal systems.
As an example, let us consider the theatrical form of kabuki which is known throughout the world. It was at the end of the seventeenth century when the prototype of modern kabuki, was established and a permanent theater. The word kabuki derived from the root form of a verb "kabuki" which stands for "do something extraordinary." In sociological terms, kabuki is predicated on expressing non-conformity, or deviant behavior.
The stage and costume of kabuki make a sharp contrast to plainness and stoicism which were the moral standards of Japanese feudal society. The costumes were of brilliant, dazzling colors, and of startling designs and the persons who conspicuously deviated from feudal norms in these costumes were kabuki actors.
This tendency was not limited solely to kabuki. To put it briefly, the standard of popular culture in the middle Tokugawa period may be called the "spirit of anti-authority." Let us consider the short novels in Japan at the end of the eighteenth century. The illustrated short stories, of about ten pages each in length, were called "share-bon" or yellowback novels, and most of these themes were based on the immorality of the prodigal life, and are comparable to some Western literature in the Renaissance period, such as the Decameron. In treating such themes, writers in this period sought to emancipate humanity from feudal norms. However, such a trend in literature was completely against culture and had been proscribed by the Tokugawa regime. The following article in the ordinance on publication in 1790 invites our attention as symbolizing the attitude of Tokugawa Government toward folk arts: "Gaily printed ukiyoe, sensual books, wordly gossip, and political satire should not be published. Old books will more than suffice; new books hereafter should not be published; if anyone insists on publishing books, he should follow the direction of a town magistrate."
This kind of control which attempted to continue the system of feudal culture in an unchanged state and the spirit of folk art which appealed to the spirit of emancipation were often in conflict. For example, in 1791, the year after the control ordinance was made public, Kyoden Santo, one of the most famous popular writers at that time, was subjected to an examination by a town magistrate for his publication of erotic literature, and as a result, he was condemned to be handcuffed for fifty days. Half of the property of Juzaburo Tsutaya, his publisher, was confiscated, and the further printing of already existing share-bons was prohibited.
The fact that the public arts tended to deviate from official prescriptions can be most clearly seen in the popular poetry written by the ordinary citizens. In its content, this poetry, known as senryu or kyoka, included a number of poems which were severe satires of the cracks in the feudal order. For example, it made fun of the corruption of public officials: "Stern officials became softer by being soaked in sake." It even teased another privileged class, the priests: "They puff up with pride when they wear their robe, but within their hearts, they are filled with envy of the secular life." Using a more or less comic approach, they constituted a challenge to existing authority.In short, popular art in feudal society was critical of the social order. It may be regarded as an "avant-grade" literature of the time, spontaneously created by the people for the people. The popular art which derived from such historical sources constitutes a second layer of present-day Japanese mass culture, superimposed upon folk art.
For example, let us take a look back to the production of Japanese films when the film industry was just beginning. As will be described later, it was relatively early when the technique of cinematography was imported to Japan, and the first movie made by Japanese producers was simply the filming of a kabuki performance. Even in contemporary Japanese films, movies which are essentially a modification of kabuki plays constitute a distinct, even if not, a major genre.
In Japan, there is a small editorial column, comparable to the humor column of European and American newspapers, which contains a few brief lines of political satire. These short articles are based on the contributions from readers, and the origins of this practice may be traced back to senryu and kyoka mentioned above.
After the Meiji restoration in 1868, Japan very rapidly imported all kinds of Western cultural products. Railway engineering, the stock market, the technique of oil painting, the habit of eating meat, and changes in all areas of life followed from the waves of westernization. Public entertainment was not an exception, and this westernized entertainment, in turn, forms the third layer of Japanese mass culture.
Let us illustrate this development by various diverse examples found in the Origin of Meiji Cultures by Kendo Ishii. In 1872, circus troupes and acrobats from France and Italy gave performances in Japan. As it was only four years after the new age had started, the performances were not very successful. After two years, i.e., in 1874, a couple of jugglers from England disseminated a new mode of western artistry into Japan. Night performances of Japanese theatrical arts were forbidden in the feudal age because it was not in keeping with public morality. However, it was allowed after 1897, when Saburo Komyoji, newly returned from Europe, gave a detailed report on French plays, and his stress on the advantages of night performances became a powerful stimulus.
In 1898, Western manners for spectators were taught to the audience by actors who had adopted a modern style. These actors made the following speech to the audience prior to the raising of a curtain: "If you wish to express your approval, please clap your hands at the time the curtain comes down, and if your applause is extended, we will raise the curtain several times, and all the actors on stage will greet you to express their gratitude." To quote another example from the theatrical arts, a foreign play in Japanese version was first performed in 1889. It is recorded that the translator of the play was Dr. Suematsu who studied in England, and the play performed was the work of Belceron Kley.
Billiard games were added to the Japanese repertoire of recreational activities around 1877, and about the same year, chess was imported. An especially interesting game among the imported ones is baseball. In 1872, a man by the name of Hironaka, an engineer of the Railway Bureau went to America to study train construction. When he returned after two years, he carried with him a bat and three hard balls. While he gave English lessons to students in his free time, these students learned not only English, but also baseball from him. Baseball which was first played by this group became tremendously popular within ten years, and in the 1880's, every high school and university in Tokyo had a baseball team. Japanese people today are said to be second in the world as a baseball-loving nation, next to America: the source of this tradition goes back eighty years.
The list of new items of entertainment imported from or inspired by Western countries is virtually limitless: dance, opera, tennis, football, golf, and so forth. Almost all Western sports and theatrical arts were transplanted rapidly during 1868 and 1890, and without exception they took root in Japan.
Parallel to these stimuli from outside Japan which deserve attention, there were changes occurring in the social structures inside. The Meiji Restoration is regarded as the important turning point when the feudal order was abolished and Japan, at least institutionally, changed into a modern country. The major social status distinctions, in the feudal society--as to whether one is a warrior, merchant or farmer--disappeared. Observing the cultural counterpart of this change, one can say that the sub-culture which was a specific for a particular social status--for example, the popular culture among merchants--began to lose ground. In the audience attending the various new types of entertainment mentioned above were government officials, farmers, merchants and students. In other words, we may say that a culture with a new structure and function which can be called "mass arts" in contrast to "public arts" was established. The collapse of the feudal order of status led to the destruction of cultural and artistic forms which were specific to a given social status.
The author considers two institutional innovations vital for stimulating the change of public arts into mass arts. The first is the compulsory educational system institutionalized in 1872, which implied an egalitarianism by providing an equal opportunity for all to receive elementary education. At the same time, textbooks were compiled by the state, which facilitated the equalization of opportunity for all Japanese to gain basic knowledge. Later, the rapid extension of newspapers as nation-wide mass media was also a part of the institutional innovation. In short, a basic cultural orientation common to all Japanese was prepared through the compulsory educational system1.
The second is the increased opportunity for physical mobility and the decrease in social distance between people as a result of the expansion of transportation and communication facilities. Postal services, tele-communication networks and trunk railroad lines were almost completed by 1890, permitting a diminution of geographical differences and cleavages. With the development of transportation and communication, the urban-rural dichotomy of culture gradually began to lose its sharpness.
In this way, a Japanese "mass" began to sprout in the Meiji Period. Various new cultural items imported from Western countries were assimilated with a surprising speed, and the preparation for mass culture in the modern sense had begun in Japanese society.
In looking over the examples of public and folk arts mentioned above, it is noteworthy that there was only a small audience to whom these arts were transmitted. If kabuki performances were run for twenty days in a theater with a capacity of 500 persons, the audience would at most be 10,000. Ukiyoe and share-bon, as long as they were made with wood-block prints could not have a circulation of over several hundred in size. In other words, there was a numerical limit to the audience who enjoyed popular arts.
In the previous chapter, we considered the transition from popular arts to mass arts in connection with the change of social structure. This is not enough, however, in order to bring mass culture into existence; it is indispensable to have a technological development to cope with an overwhelming growth of the audience of mass culture, namely, the extension of mass media. Let us briefly take a look at the history of the media with special reference to mass culture.
First of all, let us take up printed materials, the oldest form of mass media. The first printing in Japan took place in 1872 with the first publication of Yokohama Mainichi Newspapers. After the Meiji Restoration, printing and publication of Japanese newspapers expanded rapidly. In the year 1880, at least three kinds of newspapers were published in each prefecture. However, many of the newspapers at that time were organs for publication of political comments and were sponsored by specific political parties. There was very little of a "mass culture" quality to these publications.
In the 1890's, newspapers independent of political sponsorship were first established in Japan. A new series of papers starting with Jiji Shinpo edited by Yukichi Fukuzawa, made an effort to inform the reader of objective news at home and abroad as quickly as possible while at the same time publishing a series of novels to attract the attention of the readers. Many of them were popular romances. It is important to note that the spread of such newspapers inculcated the habit of reading novels among the people. In an extreme case, the characteristics of such a novel became the basis of the reputation of a newspaper. For example, the reputation of the Mancho-ho newspaper was intimately related to the reputation of the translations of European novels by Ruiko Kuroiwa.
Such a fact is related to the problem of the position of writers or novelists in society. Newspaper novels which had a mass circulation, and the literary interests of people stimulated by them provided favorable opportunities for the emergence of able writers. Once they wrote novels for mass appeal, they were assured of a high reputation and an enormous income. In other words, the appearance of commercial novelists was made possible through the newspapers. The group called "Ken-yu-sha"2 headed by Koyo Ozaki, comprised this kind of newly-rising professional novelists. Almost intentionally avoiding literature which was a serious reflection on life, they aimed at the production of romances which would excite their readers. The members of this group used to gather in a restaurant "Koyokan" built with the income of Koyo, and hold discussions about literature.
The Ken-yu-sha represented popular literature from the 1890's to the beginning of the twentieth century, and the viewpoint of this literature was influenced more or less by the modern literature of the West. Preceding this, there was another current. This was the popular literature which was an extension of the popular art in the Edo Period.
Around 1890, Encho Sanyutei, comic story-teller, monopolized the audience of mass entertainment in Tokyo through his popular talks on ninjo-hanashi (stories of human fooling). Being endowed with an almost perfect charm as a story-teller, and telling stories implying moral instructions for life in the form of spook series, Encho was loved not only by the commoners in downtown, but also had many fans among university students. Stenography was developed in Japan when Encho's reputation was at its height. The combination of the traditional art of story-telling and stenography made it possible to transform oral communication to printed form, and to circulate a huge number of printed copies. In this way, the art of story-telling by Encho opened a new genre for popular literature.
This fact has a profound significance not only in the change of the form of communication, but also in the whole history of modern Japanese literature. Around 1890, a writer, Shimei Futabatei, was somewhat dissatisfied with the style of novels, i.e., the literary style based on the old tradition in which the literary syntax was different from the daily spoken language. The common written style was by no means a satisfactory form of expression for those writers like Futabatei who were influenced by the naturalistic literature of the West. Shoyo Tsubouchi, probably the first writer to discuss this issue with Futabatei, one day suggested that he adopt the style of Encho. The first novel which Futabatei wrote by combining written and spoken languages was Ukigumo (Floating Cloud). One might say that the practice of writing novels by transforming a spoken language into written language was stimulated by Encho.
It was Seiji Noma, founder of Kodan-sha Publishing Co. in the 1910's, who, by making a synthesis of these two currents of popular literature, introduced a golden age of popular novels. Since his boyhood, Noma had been interested in speeches, especially political speeches, and was proud of his powers of persuasion and spell-binding a listener. While he was a clerk at Tokyo University, Noma got an idea of rapid recording and later printing the lectures of professors and politicians, and subsequently started a publication business. With the growth of the enterprise, he concentrated his effort on the publication of popular magazines and in 1919, he began to publish a magazine called the "King" with a circulation of 500,000. This magazine appealed to and trained those popular writers who could write with great speed. It is owing to the efforts of Kodan-sha that the Japanese popular literature was given the new name of mass literature. Today, Kodan-sha has 1,000 employees, publishes 20 kinds of periodicals ranging from infants' magazines to adults' amusement magazines, and is regarded as the largest publishing company in Japan. It controls a large section of the Japanese popular literature market.
Such a mass publication naturally presupposes a huge reading public. As described previously, the literacy of the Japanese had a leveling effect on differences in symbolic ability. In addition, the number who received secondary education grew by leaps and bounds after compulsory education was introduced in the 1910's. Furthermore, the paper indispensable for producing printed matter was mass-produced so that the cost decreased. Various conditions essential for literally bringing about "pulp consumption" were gradually realized.
However, such a development of mass culture was not viewed favorably by the intellectuals, the advocates of high-brow culture. For over fifty years the writers and critics who advocated "pure literature" criticized mass literature as being inartistic and commercial. One can scarcely find academic works, however, which seriously investigated the social effects of mass literature up to the present. The main sociological approaches toward popular literature were not developed until after 1945.
In the sociology of popular literature after 1945, one may first point out the article "The Secret of Eiji Yoshikawa" by a historian Shinichi Takahashi3. It consists of an analysis of the ideology of Yoshikawa, the most famous writer in contemporary popular literature, giving empirical and historical considerations to show how his series of novels in the newspapers reflected the contemporary political situation. Among those articles which analyzed the novels by Yoshikawa by taking different approaches, there is an article by Takeo Kuwabara, et al, Miyamoto Musashi Kenkyu (Studies on Musashi Miyamoto). This is an analytical story of Musashi Miyamoto, a representative work of Yoshikawa, in which Kuwabara not only criticizes the author, but also gives a criticism of Japanese culture and the readers, too.
Communication devices in the twentieth century, i.e., the techniques of stimulating and entertaining visually and aurally, were imported to Japan almost as rapidly as they were introduced in Europe and America.
In 1894 Edison invented the Kinetoscope in the United States. Three years later, in January 1897, Kazukichi Araki imported it promptly into Japan and in February he tried the first screening. In 1896, the first domestic Kinetoscope was constructed, and in the following year, a film play about 70 feet long was made. On the basis of these facts, one can see that the popularization of films in Japan developed at a surprising speed.
Radio Broadcasting was also imported extremely rapidly, and in 1925 the first broadcast was aired in Japan. Since the first broadcasting in America was in 1920, there was only a gap of five years in Japan. This delay was chiefly due to political and legal issues as to whom the license of broadcasting should be given, and technically, in 1922, the Tokyo Asahi Newspaper did perform experimental broadcasting.
Concerning television, because of World War II, and specific circumstances following the surrender, T.V. broadcasting started relatively recently. Experimental broadcasting was begun in 1950, and regular broadcasting started in 1953.
However, when compared with other countries at the present time, these three kinds of mass media have in Japan reached a very high level First, with regard to movies, the average annual production in the last few years is approximately 400 films, and the total number of viewers per year reaches over 660,000,000. The spread of radio is also remarkable. The results of various market surveys have shown that 94% of the total Japanese households have at least one radio set. Since the most popular program in Japan recorded so far caught 43% of the total audiences, we have evidence that 40% of the total population listened to the same radio program simultaneously. The experimental broadcasting of television was first performed in 1950, as stated before, and the number of television sets reached 16,000,000 in 1963; in terms of percentage, one can say that 76% of the total Japanese households have television sets.
In the preceding section, we discussed the foundation of mass culture through printed materials. One characteristic noted above, i.e., the trend of transforming traditional contents into the new forms of media is also observed in the output of audio-visual media.
Japan's rich tradition of folk and popular art is now disseminated through audio-visual media. Kabuki, the story-teller's art and folk songs are examples of this. Needless to say, new forms of mass media do not always develop at the expense of traditional artistic forms. To replace old contents into new forms is an extremely easy affair.
For example, let us analyze the themes of dramatic films produced in contemporary Japan. Although we briefly mentioned it in the introductory comments, 50% of this total number of productions are included in the category which may by called "historical films". These are the dramas with themes taken from feudal society; the conflict between feudal lords over who shall inherit a home, stories of romance forbidden by the system of family headship. In short, various feudal norms described in the Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict are reflected in Japanese historical films.
Several young directors have attempted to present these old-fashioned norms in a satirical way. Furthermore, the audience does not always have a high degree of identification with the hero in these historical films. In other words, producers and audiences to some extent seem to consider the ideology of the historical drama as something to be criticized. Yet it is still true that historical films attract consistently larger audiences than modern films. Indicative of this trend is the fact that Toei Film Co. which boasts the highest income in the Japanese film industry, has a policy of focusing on the production of historical films.
The same situation is reflected in the popular songs which have gained a constant high popularity in radio programs5. According to the recent report by Keiichi Matsushita, in regard to both their ideological content and social function, today's Japanese popular songs have a continuity with naniwabushi which has maintained a long tradition as a popular art. Matsushita insists that, although the melody and vocal production of naniwabushi are regarded as out of date by contemporary youths, the ideological and psychological gratifications which naniwabushi gave to old generations, and those which popular songs have given to younger generations are by no means different6.
However, we cannot consider the mass culture which developed through audio-visual communication as merely the transformation of traditional cultural contents to suit the new media. For, it is also true that previously, about half of the Japanese films took the theme of human relationships in feudalistic ages. However, as for techniques used in producing these films, it is not possible to adopt directly such conventional forms as kabuki, since the film media demands more than conventionalism. For example, when a certain human relationship is dramatized, more realistic actions are introduced into films, and this circumstance imparts to the audience a different meaning.
In addition, it is important to note that in the new media, especially in films and television, not only were foreign techniques of communication introduced but foreign information was transmitted by them. Audio-visual symbols can be communicated between different cultures even if cultural factors introduces some change of meaning. For example, it is difficult for the Japanese to read a detective story by Mickey Spillane. For these stories one needs a special training to understand the linguistic system of English. However, when they see on the screen gun-shooting between cavalrymen and Indians in Western films by John Ford, or listen to the mambo music by Perez Prado's Orchestra, such a training is not required.
In such circumstances, the audio-visual media of mass communication have brought forth a kind of internationalism in mass culture. We already observed that the production of films in Japan was undertaken relatively early. Parallel with the production, importation of foreign films, especially American films has historically been very important. In the day of silent films, an expert film interpreter stood by the movie screen and explained the plots. Since "talking picture days" foreign films have always been understood by the Japanese through the device of dubbing. According to the statistics concerning the performance of films in Japan in 1955, approximately 200 foreign films--70% of which are American films-- were released during that year, and of the total income from films, 35% was received by foreign films.
This proportion, although accompanied by some fluctuations, is regarded as almost constant. With regard to television broadcasting, the situation is about the same. In large metropolitan cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, there are five or six television channels, and each of these stations broadcasts two American television programs a day. In short, the audio-visual media have made mass culture more and more popular through mixing old and new values from home and abroad. The mass culture described in the preceding sections was diffused by the printed media and, unlike the "popular novels," it did not, in fact, reach the same levels of popularity as the other forms of mass media.
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