Japan hand

[imomus]

"Japan hand" is a term I dislike. There's something colonial or corporate about it, something (let's drop the false distinction between those historical phases) colonial-corporate. It's used in phrases like "longtime Japan hands" or "experienced Japan hands", and it basically means "foreigners living in Japan", with the sense that they've been posted there and left to accumulate some kind of marginal seniority based on arcane knowledge of "the natives" and "the tricky situation on the ground".

"Japan hands" also contains an ambiguous positionality; these "hands" are "lending a hand", like deckhands on the deck of a ship. But who's their captain? What language do their instructions come in? Are they under the command of the Japanese, or of corporate and governmental headquarters in far-off lands? Is Japan a ship? Is it moving, going somewhere? If so, who determines its direction, Japanese or foreigners? How many foreign hands are allowed on the ship's wheel, and how much of an effect can they have?



"Japan hands" tend to eke out their time in Japan as liminal observers, spies of a kind. Some "report back" to the West with foreign-language books explaining the Japanese to non-Japanese with apparent expertise. They sometimes seem to have a common purpose in the form of a vague -- yet slightly hopeless -- wish that Japan were different, which is to say less different, more like the West. They combine this wish for difference-that-is-less-different with a wish (equally hopeless) that they themselves could cease, in the eyes of the Japanese, to be different. They want both to change Japan, and to become Japanese without changing themselves. Generally they remain loyal to a home audience, framing Japan for head office and the foreign public for whom they pass as "Japan experts" rather than the Japanese audience for whom they are -- and will always be -- foreigners, people who don't quite understand.

The french verb assister catches the shadowland ambiguity of the Japan hand's position; it means both attending something as an audience member and helping change it as a participant. It's in the nebulous semantic territory between these two senses of assister that the "Japan Hand" dwells and -- inevitably -- ages, preparing either to die in Japan, or to leave one day.



I've noticed a small exodus of creative foreigners from Japan recently -- people I thought were there longterm, people who seemed to be heading for "Japan hand" status. The recession, while it makes Japan cheaper, may be making Tokyo a less exciting or practicable place to pursue a creative career in. Photographer Zoren Gold, who seemed like a fixture in his airy house atop a hill in Nakameguro, recently exchanged Japan for California, taking his muse-model Minori with him. Actually, they met in LA, so I suppose they had roots there. The artist Pol Malo, after eleven years in Japan, is now (according to his Art-It blog) "moving from kyoto to berlin. see you once i get there". Musician Digiki (Antonin Gaultier) is also considering a move from Tokyo to Berlin. Another Art-It blogger, Hanayo, has already been here for a decade. I wonder if the Japanese call her a "Germany hand"?

A small example of "Japan hand" frustration: Marxy recently twittered on the Neojaponisme feed: "The "Kitano Affair" reveals how lame the Japanese media is. A guy's career is ended and no one can reveal exactly why?" Background, via Japan-Zone: "Popular talento Kitano Makoto (50) gave a press conference at the Westin Hotel in Osaka to apologize for the verbal gaffes that may yet end his career. Long known as a straight talker, he has a history of upsetting people with the things he says on his radio show. He bowed repeatedly to reporters and said that he had allowed his image as a "dokusetsu" (poison tongue) talento to become his "curse." Neither Kitano nor his Shochiku Geino management have clarified exactly what he said that caused the latest uproar, but they denied Internet rumors that his target had been either a certain religious organization or show business management agency (the strongly politically affiliated Soka Gakkai organization is sometimes referred to as a cult, while the Burning agency is said to be a front for the yakuza). Kitano was in tears as he talked about his family and how he had asked them to be patient with him until he got his career back on track. He has been dropped from all his regular radio and TV shows, the last one having been broadcast on Monday. His forced sabbatical is open-ended but he insisted yesterday that he doesn't want to quit show business and will aim to get back on the air someday."

Now, I'm not sure what Marxy's definition of "the Japanese media" is, but in far-away Berlin the Japanese community somehow knows all about this story. They tell me that Kitano said something about the boss of Burning Agency being gay, and that as a result Kitano has had to apologise tearfully. He'll never work in Tokyo -- at least not in anything related to the entertainment industry -- again, I'm told. Japanese in Berlin know this from a combination of sources, all freely available on the web. Their view is not that Kitano (and other "poison tongues") should be allowed to speak up, point fingers, accuse, open Pandora's Box, "advance towards a more transparent media landscape", etc, but that his enforced retirement sends a good sign, spelling out loud and clear the message that people shouldn't slander each other in public. As on most issues raised, the Japan hands and the Japanese have completely different takes on this story.

There are zones of cultural convergence between the West and Japan which succeed better. Art-It's move from a paper to a web magazine has been excellently implemented -- the registration process is rather mendokusai, but the results (a big range of interesting content) well worthwhile. The image I've borrowed here is from Roger McDonald's Art-It blog. Tagged "pataphysic past fashions", it shows an "intentionally faked photograph" produced in 1974 by radical Japanese fashion label The Afro Ninja Destiny.

McDonald takes up the tale: "The label probably produced one collection in its existence, presented in a thin photocopied booklet titled ‘The Closet of Richard Aoki’ (Richard Aoki, 1938-2009, was one of the first members of The Black Panther Party, eventually promoted to the position of Field Marshall). The label is thought to have operated from a large lean-to shelter constructed by fashion students in Northern Nagano prefecture. This photograph shows a woman (perhaps a model) in a winter costume which was included in ‘The Closet of Richard Aoki’. Created in layers almost solely from silk and home-spun wool, the woman holds a classic andon lamp. On the wall behind her are two posters: The official 1973 release version poster for the film ‘Enter the Dragon’, starring Bruce Lee, and a single page from the Black Panther newspaper with an image by Emory Douglas. Note the unusually heavy looking left arm of the woman’s kimono which probably contained kindling and wood for fire-making."

No hands are visible in the image.

Comments

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying some of these Japan hands aren't damned good eggs. William Franklin begins his Careers in International/Asia Pacific Business: Perspectives of an Experienced Japan Hand (http://app.cul.columbia.edu:8080/ac/bitstream/10022/AC:P:62/1/fulltext.pdf) with this thought:

"If we shrink the world's 5.7 billion population to a village of 100 people with all existing human ratios remaining the same, here is the resulting profile. Of these 100 people, 57 are Asian, 21 European, 14 from North and South America and eight from Africa. It would consist of 51 females, 49 males. Of these, 80 live in sub-standard housing, 70 cannot read, and half suffer from malnutrition. 75 have never made a phone call and less than one is on the Internet. Half the entire village's wealth would be in the hands of six people. Only one of the 100 has a college education."

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.asp

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, I don't think it was that Kitano said he was gay, but that he talked about Burning's procurement of publishing rights from the band Southern All Stars as a form of bribe for being allowed "in the music industry." This is Burning's bread-and-butter, and you can't talk about this in public. Since it is true, it is not slander. You just aren't allowed to expose the inner workings of a secret monopoly in public. Kitano is in an industry where you can talk openly about what you see around you. I am sure you would love to have the same constraints upon your own work and blog.

I am skeptical that the Berlin Japanese expat community has reached consensus that the Kitano affair "proves how well the Japanese media works" especially since the story spread on 2ch as outrage against Burning and the media for not following up on the story. And lots of eccentric people — porn directors and even "otaku idol" Shokotan — have come out in support of Kitano against Burning's overbearing response. So you can hate Japan hands, but you always ignore the main point: some of us literally just regurgitate points made by Japanese people. You are shooting the messenger as a way to ignore the fact the message upsets a view of a Japan that has one mind and one heart.

Marxy

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

phallic japan

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll agree that Japanese people's opinions on the affair are probably more diverse than I'm suggesting here if you'll agree that those opinions actually are reflected in a more widely and diversely-defined Japanese media.

[(Anonymous)]

You can't actually read Japanese, can you? So what exactly is your experience of the Japanese media? Hisae pointing something out to you and giving you a down-and-dirty second-language summary?

Besides, you seem to want it both ways. On the one hand, it's good that slanderers are muzzled, it's bad that there is any "advance towards a more transparent media landscape." On the other hand, in the "more widely and diversely-defined Japanese media", Slanderers are not muzzled, and the media landscape becomes more transparent.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

what exactly is your experience of the Japanese media?

What I say here is that Berlin Japanese (and not just Hisae) knew all about this story thanks to some version of "the Japanese media", so saying "the Japanese media are rubbish, because they can't report on this affair" is clearly true only if you define "the Japanese media" with pedantic narrowness.

As for "wanting it both ways", all I said in my text was that the view here is that people shouldn't slander. And that there are already Japanese channels for gossip and facts, should one want them. I think these things -- the availability of gossip, should one want it, together with a sense of its undesirability -- are not unknown to the West, and not terribly incompatible. We all know how to gawk, and how to popbitch, and we all feel a bit dirty after indulging.

[(Anonymous)]

Problem #1

The description above of the episode is totally inaccurate and clearly brought together from a second-hand and confused retelling. No better way to debunk Japan hands, apparently, than straight out present a view that has no relation to reality.

Here is the tape of what Kitano said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLiVle96fIg

In no part does he talk about Burning's CEO being gay. (I think you are confusing the porn director's defense of Kitano where he makes this accusation.) The issue here is that he talks about industry secrets, framed in a vague reference to yakuza morality.

And for that alone, he was blacklisted from the industry. And no mass media outlets thought to find out what was so wrong about what he said.

Problem #2

So this "frustration" you have with me is that my view did not conform to the uninformed and accurate view. Again, slander has nothing to do with it, and if it did, it would make more sense that, a) someone would have sued Kitano and b) we would find out exactly what Kitano said that made him lose his job. Instead he was blacklisted from an industry without any public explanation.

This is literally what you sound like:

"I am so frustrated with Americans who deny that the Iraq War was a just one. Iraq clearly helped with the 9/11 attack, and all the Americans I know here all think the war was justified."

You know that you don't always have to go out of your way to defend the most egregious Japanese bad guys — people who even in Japan are universally vilified. No one likes Burning. It's just that speaking out against them can clearly make you lose your job. Seriously, you are MOMUS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus) and telling Japanese Momusistic people that they deserve to get crushed and destroyed for speaking critically.

Point #3

I mean "media" in the mass media, who in Japan, I would argue, have power to be the final arbiter of social truth and understanding. If you muddle through 2-ch and rumor blogs and "weeklies," you will find reference to this story. But why can no major news outlet do any measure of reporting to find out why someone had to lose their job? The answer is because they aren't allowed to due to the collusive nature of their business relations. 2ch can report on it as much as they want but the average person will have no idea and there is no way to "verify" the information.

Marxy

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Here is the tape of what Kitano said

He said this stuff in "the Japanese media", right? And the YouTube tape of him saying this stuff is also "the Japanese media", right (a Japanese YouTube account)? So your complaint, narrowed and more clearly defined, is that the mass media left it to their readers to find the gory details from other sources. And your argument is that this narrow official media "have power to be the final arbiter of social truth and understanding" in Japan -- an argument I completely disagree with, by the way.

As in old arguments between us years ago, you insist that most Japanese people are mindless consumers of official doctrine, completely dictated to by unscrupulous barons who control everything "from above" in sinister, conspiratorial enclaves.

You also say "I am sure you would love to have the same constraints upon your own work and blog." Of course I have constraints on what I say in my blog. Every single day I censor myself, or let things be understood between the lines, or protect professionals whose jobs would be on the line if you gave away their identities or views.

Kitano is in an industry where you can talk openly about what you see around you.

Well, he is now, because he's in the wilderness! But I'd say that nobody in an industry can talk openly about what they see around them. Not if they want to remain

a) considerate

b) employed

Seriously, you are MOMUS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus) and telling Japanese Momusistic people that they deserve to get crushed and destroyed for speaking critically.

Somewhat hysterical! There is critical speech out there, but we each have to make a call on how useful it is to start criticising other people's business deals, sexual orientations, and so on. I could go on about my own experience of having to give away song publishing rights (illegally) in Japan in exchange for getting my songs exposed in TV commercials, but it's all part of the kind of complex quid pro quo dealing you do when you're in a commercial context, and vita is too brevis anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

Here in America we pretty much have the kind of transparency you desire and look what a shitty culture this is. Our news consists of nothing but lying politicians and sports stars being outed for frauds. Has it really cleaned up our society for good? Or is this something we should just get used to? Become cynical about? And because our society has such a weak moral foundation to begin with, is it possible that all these negative images will instill inside us the notion that in order to be successful you must be an unprincipled person.

[(Anonymous)]

Pedantic narrowness is necessary because different mediums carry different social weight. No one thinks that a story carried on an anonymous forum somehow has the social import of one on the front page of every major newspaper. And even if you can say, well, there is the internet, there has been major retrenchment against "diversity of opinion," as Wikipedia recently destroyed the entire Burning entry on the grounds that "it is a small company with no major industry power." This, of course, is a view inspired by the mass media coverage of Burning, in that they never mention the company and can never talk about how they control the industry.

Most importantly,

"view here is that people shouldn't slander."

No one slandered. The Kitano case is not an example of punishment for slander. The Kitano case is the example of someone being blacklisted for speaking the truth. I am not sure how that can be defended. Why the mass media should cover this story is to give credence to Kitano's claims, which are easily verifiable, instead of making them have the nuance of unverified slander.

Marxy

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Having the job title of dokusetsu talento is already a bit of a double-edged sword, in that -- as someone marked as "poisonous" -- you're allowed to say stuff other people can't (within limits, which Kitano reached and breached), but only on condition of being seen as somewhat snake-like, below the belt, and under-the-table. It's a bit of a poison chalice, really, isn't it?

[(Anonymous)]

As is often the case, Twit Opera nails it:

I despise these "Japan hands" who play oneupmanship games on their blogs with other "Japan hands".

[imomus.livejournal.com]

And as is often the case, Twit Opera is subject to Humperson's 3rd Law of Meta: it repeats -- in briefer, more banal form -- exactly the tropes it criticizes.

Oneupmanship? Ooh goody, can I play too?

[(Anonymous)]

He said what he said in the Japanese "mass media," and due to the anger of a single individual, he was then blacklisted from said mass media. The mass media then could not report on WHY he was blacklisted.

you insist that most Japanese people are mindless consumers of official doctrine

This is not "mindless" nor even Japanese. This is nearly universal. Is there anywhere where the majority of people do not trust major newspapers more than gossip magazines or anonymous web forums?

completely dictated to by unscrupulous barons who control everything "from above" in sinister, conspiratorial enclaves.

If the Kitano case is anything, it is a perfect illustration of a "baron" who controls everything from above. Literally, one individual decided that a man's career in media was over, and now it's over. Conspiracy in action. Kitano committed no crime and told no lies. He did not slander. He just said something that one person did not want anybody to hear.

There is critical speech out there, but we each have to make a call on how useful it is to start criticising other people's business deals, sexual orientations, and so on

Kitano did not CRITICIZE Burning's business deals (and did not mention his sexual orientation at all, so please leave that out.) He merely DISCUSSED the nature of Burning's business deal with Southern All-Stars. Why on earth should someone be blackballed permanently for this?

I do not understand what the purpose of your criticism of Kitano is. You first denied him for slandering. But he did not slander. Now you say his sin was "being critical," but he was not critical. Are you really willing to say that "people should not be allowed to discuss the nature of their music industry?" Should you be blacklisted from Japan forever for mentioning how publishing works there?

Marxy

[(Anonymous)]

Then again, if it's oneupmanship to point out oneupmanship, there's no way out, is there? You forget John Cage's 3rd Law of Non-Meta: "If I can’t say 'non-goal' and mean non-goal instead of goal, then the language is of no use.”

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend you listen to Malcolm McLaren talking about the criminal rackets behind the Juke Box networks of the 1950s (http://www.mininova.org/tor/2123550) (via an illegal torrent, appropriately enough). Gangsterism and the music industry go hand-in-hand, and not just in Japan. Sure, you can campaign against it, but people ultimately don't care. There are better things to fight for / against.

"Doc, uh, my brother's crazy, he thinks he's a chicken."

"Well, why don't you turn him in?"

"I would, but I need the eggs."

It's the same with music hoods. We'd turn them in, but they deliver the goods. We need the eggs.

Marxy

[(Anonymous)]

You know when you talk about Marxy?

It's fucking boring.

Your blog's great, but that makes it not as good.

Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

Absolutely there was a connection between the mafia and the music industry in the U.S. But you get the key difference: the government moved against the mob with arrests and hearings and you can now write books about it.

Kitano did not even accuse Burning of being mafia, but subtly hinted at it. And now he's blacklisted out of an industry and the mass media cannot write a simple story on what exactly he said to be blacklisted. He did have fans, and you'd think that they would want to know what exactly was so bad about what he said to have his career ended.

I can imagine a Western dystopia where Momus releases Little Red Songbook, is suddenly kicked out of the music world, and at his final press conference, they ask, "Was it about Wendy Carlos?" And Momus answers, "No." And even though everyone in the room knows it was because of Wendy Carlos, no one can put this fact into print, fearing the wrath of Carlos. There is internet speculation and the song shows up on YouTube. But since no major industry person will go on the record to confirm or deny, Momus disappears and the story is never resolved.

And then Bizarro Momus writes an essay online condemming Momus and telling him that he deserved to get kicked out of the music industry for slandering Wendy Carlos' "religious beliefs."

Marxy

Re: Marxy

[(Anonymous)]

Here here.

Marxy

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Nice point, but doing the thing you're accusing someone of and defining something as its opposite are rather different things.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I actually, to this day, can't talk about Wendy Carlos, because of a legal agreement we signed when we settled out of court.

Hisae tells me your explanation (via the YouTube clip) is only a very minor part of Kitano's current disgrace. It also connects to religion, to a female singer (Linda Yamamoto) whose nude pictures he criticised a while back, to a series of tours he was giving which promised to blow the lid off the entertainment industry (one of which was secretly taped), to a rivalry between jimushos, and so on. He was finally singled out "as an example", pour encourager les autres, rather as I was in the... in the case I can't talk about.

[(Anonymous)]

It's like 2004 all over again! Momus dukes it out with Marxy, Momus is caught red-handed knowing bugger all about a subject matter he himself chose, Momus retreats from calling out the victim as a slanderer to shrugging his shoulders and saying who cares about corruption... priceless. Ah, it's a short journey from moraliser to nihilist, eh Momus?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Not being a "Japan hand" (the main topic of today's entry, along with the coolness of the relaunched Art-It magazine, and the exodus from Tokyo of foreign talent), I don't stake everything on my knowledge of what's going on. What interested me here was the difference in interpretation, which turns out to extend to the facts too: Marxy's account, according to my Japanese friends, is also not the correct one.

Re: Marxy

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Considering it's so "boring", this strand in today's entry is hogging the comments in a fairly remarkable way. I'd rather hoped people might want to talk about the whole idea of the "Japan hand", or the creative exodus from Tokyo, or the relaunch of Art-It. Or even, you know, that Japanese-American guy in the Black Panthers. Lots of interesting stuff in there, and not a peep about it in the comments!