From: Tosh <tosh3@earthlink.net> Subject: Haino and culture
On one level it's fascinating to see culture quickly moving from one aspect to another - but then it's heartbreaking to see on one trip a few Starbucks in Tokyo - and then a year later I go to the main cross walk in Shibuya and see a huge Starbucks in front of my face. Plus Starbucks every few blocks from the other one. All within a year.
What I am worried about is the disappearence of the small unique (ultra-cool) Japanese coffee shops - being replaced by Starbucks. Yuck!
Over here in Seoul, I cheered when Starbucks opened in 1998. It would be the first occasion for me to get a decent (and large) cup of espresso in three years. Though I normally avoid Starbucks when visiting the states, I've been a frequent customer here. But now that Koreans have become more of a coffee society and no longer see coffee as only an evening snack after dinner, I'm actually seeing people buy coffee in the morning as takeout. Truly astounding if you had seen the place in 1995. Of course, being a peddler of the imperial language and enjoying the benefits of the new imperialism, I see the emergence of Starbucks as a welcome example of the global neo-imperialism of American-brand economics. There are many other examples that are far more problematic.
I also had the chance to actually read the interview with Haino yesterday - and by no means was he making a racist statement. I am not that familar with his music, but for sure he has the coolest hairstyle than anyone right now!
He's an interesting character, and though I'm still waiting for my copy of the Wire to arrive, I sincerely doubt that his comments were "racist." There's a bit of xenophobia in north Asia to be sure--not just in Japan. Some of this xenophobia has historical roots that cannot be casually dismissed. Nevertheless, Haino is barking up against a sea of change. There's nothing he or anyone else can do about the flow of culture--good and bad. To think of going back to a prior state of things is simply nostalgia, nothing more.
-- From: "Remco Takken" <r.takken@planet.nl>
All of these countries that complain about being dominated by "American culture" (which is actually a mass fusion and trasnmutation of many cultures) are at the same time, obsessed and almost fetishize our culture (at least the youth do in these countries). This is especially true of the Japanese.
This is certainly true and certainly true in Korea as well. But let's not be naive about what produces the fetishization. You don't fetishize things you don't receive. American culture is exported and marketed. American movies are popular because Hollywood can mass produce the spectacle again and again. Very few other countries have the capital to spend several hundred million dollars to produce blockbusters. The blockbusters are seductive since they are both exotic and spectacular. They are also carnivorous. The US has been pressuring Korea for years to end its screen quota system which is a protectionist scheme to prevent the local movie industry from being squashed by Hollywood. More recently, Koreans have been making blockbusters of their own, replicating all too many Hollywood tropes. It's called survival, and it's not simply a case of fetishizing the exotic. But yes there is a dialectic in place here between production and consumption, and people are ready and wiling to consume even the worst crap all because it is foreign. Like Spinoza said, people embrace their enslavement as if it were their freedom.
Do not kid yourself. The imperialism of culture is a direct result over imperialism in terms of (political) power. People join the ones they think they can't beat. It happened in Europe after 1945, 'we' were americanized through vast Marshall help, and then Rock n Roll and popular Anglosaxon culture in general. Perhaps the East is following now, however I can't see any motive as strong as the one the europeans had after WW II.
In that light, the growth of the islam can be looked upon as countercultural, opposed to 'westernized' Europe and the recent americanizng of the far east.
That's part of it. Certainly, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction to aspects of globalization and the loss of power. In the case of Europe, the Marshall plan was perhaps an aspect of Fordism. The US needed a public well-off enough in Europe to buy its products. That and a lot of things like a shared history and culture motivated the "gift." These days, the US uses agents like the IMF to operate as a battering ram to open up other cultures, as it did quite well in Korea in 1998. In Japan, post-war Americanization wasn't innocent either. Now would actually be a good time for another Marshall plan--for Africa. The adjoining cultural imperialism that would and has already taken place would be a welcome price for getting the continent out of poverty and disease. It won't happen though. Africans simply aren't "white" enough.
understand itself. Personally, I refuse to abide by or subscribe to ANY culture and only take what I like from them all and that's usually found in each culture's arts- music, painting, etc. The rest- custom, taboo, religion- FUCK IT!
Moremovies is right. But it's a sign of his privilege. Some people simply aren't privileged enough to say no. And it's part of your own customs and religion that allows you to even say the words "fuck it" to what you don't like. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com