ALL1441 University of Minnesota

The first thing that caught my attention while reading “Blue Nippon (The Soundtrack of Modern Life” was the paragraph on facts and oral accounts. It served to reinforce my own ideas about how people should not only pay attention to the specifics labeled as ‘facts’ but also to other things. In my mind, facts are also oral accounts; someone had to have taken the time to recount what they saw and what they heard. Who’s to say that some one else’s account of the very same event couldn’t be fact?
This is also the same as how the article portrayed jazz. When I learned that jazz has not retained the same meaning, that its definitions were “based on a socio-cultural analysis of jazz rather than on its internal aesthetics” (Atkins 100), I found it quite intriguing but at the same time understandable. To me, music is a form of expression so I think that when times change and people become different, the things that we use to express ourselves should also change to better depict that change.
I felt that this change can be seen in “Blue Nippon (Talkin’ Jazz) when the article talks about the change in gender roles and sexuality. On page 135, I found the talk about the moga and mobo to be quite interesting. The most interesting thing that the article touched on for me, was the “‘feminization of masculine beauty’ and the ‘masculinization of the feminine beauty’”.
Since getting into the music scene of Japan, I have always been interested in why so many of the male look feminine. By reading this, it gives me a bit more information on the subject. Also, I thought that it is interesting how now, modern day, many people don’t see jazz as the ‘culprit’ towards feminization of male beauty.
I have a friend who is a firm believer that the reason why so many Japanese male are more feminine is due to yaoi or BL. I’ve never really paid much attention to the reason why Japanese male look the way they do, I just enjoy it. Therefore, I found that section to be really interesting.
Overall, I think that I really enjoyed reading the different ways that jazz has influence Japan, the country, and its people.

As with the presenters on Tuesday, I also thought it was interesting how much focus was put on authenticity. Musicians needed “street cred” in order to increase their value as serious jazz musicians, and they went to great lengths to obtain that authenticity. In addition, it’s interesting how music in Japan was more than just an art form. Atkins, along with the other writers we have read so far, have shown that music had additional agendas. What interested me in this chapter was how those agendas changed over time and even came to work against each other. At first, Western music was praised, and governments and other institutions sought out that music to help shape the Japanese identity. In time, however, Western music such as jazz began to be stifled. For instance, dance halls, which were big proponents in spreading jazz were strictly regulated and even banned. How could a country that used Western music to appear more civilized turn around and try to prohibit the spread of that influence? This push/pull dynamic was really interesting to me, and I think it mirrored other aspects of the nation’s current situation.

Atkins further elaborated on the push/pull dynamic in the next chapter regarding Japan’s culture war. I found this chapter really interesting because I never really knew how much of a struggle there was to shape the country’s culture. In addition, jazz music seemed to be a big component in this struggle. It seemed to me that several facets of jazz could be linked to several debates between jazz critics and advocates. For instance, the increasing popularity of jazz—a Western music—in Japan could be seen as a refinement of the country’s modernizing culture or an erosion of their traditional culture. The sounds of jazz were either labeled as noise or “music of the body” (109). Jazz and dance halls also sparked debate regarding its influence on morals, which even led to strict regulations on how they were allowed to operate.

All of this controversy and debate surrounding jazz made me wonder how it all came about. The articles we’ve read so far have given us ample background on this topic, but how did it get to the point where a musical style had a heavy hand in shaping a country? Surely when jazz was born in America, no one thought, “Someday, this style of music is going to spark debate in Japan as to whether not it can be blamed for increasing ‘libidinal liberation, adolescent rebellion, and amorality’ (107).” Atkins claims that the initial goal of early jazz and jazz musicians was to entertain and make a profit, not to be an art movement. However, as with most new and radical forms of expression, intellectual discussion and critical analyses came into play, and I think these opinions came to shape the nature of jazz. For example, at one point, someone could have made the claim that the crazy, syncopated beats of jazz were a departure from classical aesthetic sounds. And when people rebelled against traditional customs, they blamed it on jazz. Jazz may not have directly caused this rebellion, but due to that person’s musical analysis, the general population could have come to associate jazz with rebellion.

Adrian Johannessen Hawkins
ALL3920 Anderson

Week #4 “ Jazz”

In having a good conversation with a fellow classmate along with the reading I am going to centralize more so on Japanese Imperialism.
What makes music authentic? For that matter, what makes anything authentic? In class I asked
Au⋅then⋅tic –adjective
1. Not false or copied; genuine; real: an authentic antique. (Oxford Dictionary)

Through the course reading and previous knowledge, it was evident that the Japanese wanted to expand their borders and let the “rays of light” (coming from Japan) spread over East Asia. With that said, Japan also wanted other Asian territories to become united with them as well. In a sense the Japanese took on the role of “big brother” through their influence and roles of expansion. The problem with this was that the Japanese government wanted to sustain its conservative lifestyle, and not adopt too much from the western style of life (similar to how Victorians thought the younger 1920’s American generation had changed too much, and lost their morals). However, despite the Japanese’s attempts to withhold from westernization, they in effect adopted what they believed would make them seen as being civilized in the eyes of western civilization. Japan therefore replicated the schooling systems, clothing, and music in hopes to use it to their advantage. Through music the Japanese tried to increase their cultural influence on society, making them more dominant as a nation. A prime example of this would be “An Oath of Hot Sand” its intent was to unite all the Ureast Asia. Without the investment of American companies (to produce these records) one has to ask, how far would Japan have gotten without foreign aid and investment or particularly trading technologies with the German’s?
(Note. In writing this I know it may not make much sense, so please ask about it in class and I will discuss it to a further extent)

Robert Lyksett
10/01

“As fans and detractors both conceded, jazz was too loud to tune out, too provocative to ignore in a nation that as rethinking the essence and boundaries of its own culture.”

In the Blue Nippon section of readings we just went over, Atkins was honing in on a central theme of the connectivity between the Jazz-centered modernism movement in Japan and its modernization as a whole, all tied together by the complexities of a nation trying to establish itself in the Western world by adopting its culture and yet trying to maintain its own traditional customs. At least throughout the Taisho period, Atkins contends, music was a tool for Japan to demonstrate its new modern sensibility to the Western world. He quotes Ury Eppstein, saying “Western music was regarded not as an art, but as a means to an end for pragmatic purposes: the modernization of the military and then of the educational system. Music was valued as a factor conducive to the establishment of discipline and to raising morale in the army and navy, and to the spiritual and physical health and character formulation of school pupils.” It must then have been to the dismay of Japanese public officials when Jazz burst on to the scene and, representing (and perhaps even attributing to) a shift in cultural sensibilities that turned away from tradition, Japanese or otherwise, and opted toward a new age of cosmopolitanism. There were numerous contesters in Japan as there had been in America during the Jazz revolution, but it was a unique occurrence in Japan as her people, still making their best efforts to assimilate into Western society, were struggling in a culture identity crisis. To the officials and higher-ups of Japan, jazz and the social dance halls (as many sociological writings of the time will attest to) seemed to be a negative influence of the youth of the nation, supposedly threatening gender roles by allowing women to be more masculine (and conversely, men to be more feminine) and stimulating rampant and uncontrolled eroticism, grotesquery, and nonsense. Atkins also notes “there was a sense that the drive to emulate and rub shoulders with the Western powers had been conducted at the expense of Japans own national identity. Such fears had been prevalent at least since the 1880’s, but the importation of new technologies and forms o culture and entertainment in the 1920’s made a complete obliteration of the indigenous social and aesthetic values a foreseeable and eminent possibility.” This was a topic of keen interest, and as I discussed it in my presentation in class, I’ve intentionally avoided reiterating the same points in this reflection. I walked away from this article with two responses. After the first section, I noted Japan’s adoption of western musical modes and ignorance of traditional music as a sort of selling out. In addition a negative light was also cast on the western world and America for spearheading yet another cultural inquistion, homogenizing native customs into making the world all America-centric. At least to some degree it seemed there was a loss of tradition in Japan, considering ideas such as the act that eventually it was commonplace for Japanese composers, trained in western music theory to be unable to even compose hogaku any more. However, upon further consideration and reading the second half of Atkin’s Blue Nippon, I realized there really was no “selling out” of any kind. This was a necessity of sorts for Japan, and her officials realized that if Japan was to not only survive, but to be competitive in the 20th century, it would have to open its doors to the rest of the world and embrace customs and art from the Western world. The complexities here are vast; far more, I’m now realizing, than can be adequately addressed in a short response paper.

Al Anderson
Position Paper 4

While reading the article “Talkin' Jazz,” I was surprised by how much the music of jazz impacted the Japanese people. To be fair, it wasn't only the Japanese that felt the repercussions of jazz but America and European countries as well. It seems that people all over the world were going crazy about jazz. Nevertheless, I had never attributed much to music except for the quiet enjoyment of it in the background and thought even less of jazz. Sure, there were a few pieces of jazz music I enjoyed, but I never got quite caught up in the genre. Even playing as a trumpet in the high school jazz band, we never evoked these reactions from the audience (perhaps we just weren't good enough). Yet the article described a revolution occurring because of jazz and the reaction to it by the Japanese.
All throughout my life, I had taken music on faith to be nothing more than another commodity to enjoy at leisure. Turn on the CD player or radio and I could hear music anytime I wanted to, at my convenience. Then there are times when music can be an inconvenience, like when a neighbor booms his base as loud as you can, and then you wish music hadn't been invented. Of course, there are genres of music that I favor and songs that I like that can move me with emotion, but none have stimulated me like the way jazz seemed to stimulate the Japanese. Even though I had played the piano and trumpet, I'd be inspired by the music but I never see the audience jumping around or any such thing. Perhaps the setting was completely different, so these reactions had to be suppressed or maybe it was a deficiency on my part. Although when I played for the pep band, the band that plays at sport games, I did see these reactions but it could have been due to the tensions of the game.
Also the reaction of Japanese to the integration of jazz into Japan was unexpected. Perhaps “unexpected” isn't the word, since I can understand why certain people would want to resist change in order to preserve the way of life that they are used to, but it seems strange because I've never personally experienced a demonstration of this magnitude against a topic. The restrictions on dance halls by the government that directly impacted the distribution and enjoyment of jazz seem a little extreme but since I have only the knowledge I obtained from the reading, I probably don't know enough to pass judgment on the Japanese government.
All in all, this reading was interesting and presented another perspective of music that I haven't thought about much.

Week 4

The article of “Japan’s Jazz Revolution” mainly talks about the history of how Jazz was brought to Japan and became popular. It is such a long article and contains so much information, which makes it difficult to read.

The most interesting point I found is that the Japanese government hoped that by importing Western culture and technology, they could achieve an equal status to the western countries and gain abilities to renegotiate unequal treaties (102). This makes me think of one particular period of time in Chinese history, called Westernization Movement. It stands out in the history because it was the first time that the Chinese government spent large amount of money and labor to establish new-style industries, military, education and communication systems by learning the western model of these systems. This movement had a very famous slogan, “learn from foreigners to compete with foreigners”, which I think served the same purpose with the Japanese program. However, this movement finally failed in the Second Opium War. Chinese concluded that the reason for failure is that although we learned the exact external structure of these systems, our internal thoughts never broke away from the feudalism and conservatism. It proven that any detailed constructions can only work if there are suitable regime and cultural base. However, same as an Asian country, Japan did much better in this aspect. From my perspective, Japan has a strongly adaptive spirit. They can not only learn the most essential parts of culture from western countries, but also adjust them to well fit in their own culture and even make the western world amazed. I want to give two examples to demonstrate this idea. The first example is “Gairaigo” in Japanese language, which means loan words. There are enormous loan words in Japanese language from Chinese, English, French, and so on. And what really surprised me is that Japanese are able to translate all the pronunciation into their own language and thus became distinct from the language they borrowed. The second year Japanese students all know that we can only pronounce “Makudonarudo” for “McDonald”, but not the original English pronunciation. The second example is that Japanese use a lot of well-known Chinese traditional stories, such as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as background to adjust with new elements to make mangas and animations. These adapted mangas and animations are surprisingly welcomed by Chinese students!

Japanese people are really good at learning and adapting, I think that’s one reason that although Japan only owns the land of approximate 378 thousand square kilometers, it can ride as a world power. And that’s the point which is worth learning.

I found the most interesting theme in Atkins’ “Talkin’ Jazz” to be the racial component of the complicated development of jazz in Japan. From its inception jazz has been at the forefront of the musical racism that has defined twentieth century music. Japan, a country itself often a victim of racism from the West, finds itself in a difficult situation trying to define this new cultural form and find its place in Japanese society. Jazz was seen as both the fearful juggernaut of modernism attacking Japanese culture and the cacophonous rhythmic noise of primitive cultures not suitable for the highly cultured Japanese society. The background of jazz’s international controversy placed within Japan’s early twentieth century modernization and search for international acceptance makes the discourse on jazz in Japan extremely interesting.

On one side of the debate there is a vocal criticism of Japan’s rush towards modernism and unfettered acceptance of Western culture. As Atkins points out, “There was...a sense that the drive to emulate and rub shoulders with the Western powers had been conducted at the expense of Japan’s own national identity” (Atkins 131). The new pandemic of mobo and moga flagrantly disregarding traditional Japanese values in dance halls appears to have led to a great deal of trepidation among those in Japan who would seek to retain traditional gender roles and values. These perceived jazz influences were occurring concurrent to an influx of American imports such as cars, professional sports, and movies (Atkins 134-5). The fears of American hegemony through culture as well as commerce were not entirely unfounded, especially considering that pop culture (music, movies, etc.) are now one of the United States’ leading exports.

On the other side of the issue is the racism more frequently associated with jazz music in the West and also playing a role in Japanese acceptance and style. Paul Whiteman’s undeniable influence on the proliferation of jazz music to Japan demonstrates this racism. Even when Atkins slightly defends Whiteman’s role in jazz the racism that continues to this day is apparent. Atkins credits Whiteman as “pivotal to the public acceptance of jazz” (Atkins 133). To what public does Atkins refer? On the very next page he states that “African American performers were marketed almost exclusively to black people through black-owned media” (Atkins 133). At least to me it would appear that there existed a strain of jazz unmolested by Whiteman that was manufactured for public consumption, the only difference being that this subsection of the public was not white. Perhaps Whiteman’s influence in Japanese jazz coupled with the American critiques positioning him as opposition to the more “primitive” jazz stylings of black musicians helped Japan overcome the same racial stereotypes attributed to jazz in other countries.

Atkins explained the strange workings of the two apparently opposite forces at work in jazz in Japan well when he writes, “Jazz represented either the integration of Japan in an emerging ‘global’ culture or the gradual and unwelcome erosion of authentic traditional culture, or both” (Atkins 147).

It is interesting and a bit amusing to look back at how people reacted to jazz, especially since we are now so far removed from it. Jazz destroy the fabric of society? Pshaw! It seems that there is always some strange new form of entertainment that gets chosen to be demonized and attacked by the mass media and the public. In America there was jazz, comic books, rock and roll music, pinball, video games: there is always something. It’s just a phase. And we often look back at the steps that were taken to counteract these forms of entertainment and we wonder how people could have made such a big deal out of it. But I suppose for Japan it was a bit different. Japan was trying to modernize itself and keep pace with the West; they wanted to be accepted and respected. In doing so, many aspects of Japanese society underwent a tremendous change. Cities became industrialized, there was a new middle class and a greater disparity between urban and rural areas, and traditions and morals were being greatly challenged. And with that there was jazz. Jazz seemed to epitomize the West and its intrusion on Japanese culture. I suppose it was the most blatant and obvious indication of westernization. For Japan, jazz was a foreign product that seemed to change how people thought and acted. Since jazz was so different from anything Japanese, there was great concern over whether this music might cause the country to lose its identity. In a time when so much was changing and ideas such as tradition and culture seemed to get left by the wayside, I guess I can understand the concern. It’s just a bit shocking to read about the drastic measures the authorities took to try to curb this phenomenon.
I also have to wonder about Paul Whiteman and what he did for Jazz in Japan. If he hadn’t taken jazz and called it his own and restyled it, would the Japanese have picked it up so voraciously? “Hot” jazz did not seem to be at all palatable to the general white population in America and it certainly wasn’t for the few Japanese who had heard it. Jazz music as the Japanese knew it was already very different from the classical music they appreciated, so I have to think that the noisier, more discordant “hot” jazz probably would not have caught on as much, if at all.

When I read the article “The Soundtrack of Modern Life,” from E. Taylor Atkins’ book Blue Nippon, the theme that was most noticeable to me was the Japanese jazz fans’ stressing of the importance of the authenticity of the music and of the musicians. Many of the jazz musicians in Japan had a claim to fame that was based on some sort of claim of authenticity. The jazz musicians in Japan in the early twentieth century learned how to play jazz music from performers who came to Japan from the Philippines. These performers were also popular entertainers in Japan. The performers from the Philippines were seen as more authentic jazz performers because the Philippines were a country that was more closely tied to the United States. The Philippines were colonized by the United States in the late nineteenth century, and many performers there had already been exposed to American jazz music long before Japanese performers. Japanese jazz performers who had performed in Osaka also used that as a claim to authenticity. Since jazz had initially became very popular in Osaka before spreading to other big cities, performers who had played in the first jazz halls in Osaka claimed a level of authenticity that new performers would not be able to rival. When going to jazz halls to dance and listen to live jazz became too expensive for many Japanese jazz fans, many of them turned to specialty coffee shops that had a large assortment of jazz records. Just as in the old environment, authenticity was very important for the jazz coffee shops as well. Japanese jazz coffee shops kept a large collection of American jazz records because America was the birthplace of jazz and was seen as the place where true, authentic jazz had to come from. However, it was not enough to just have American jazz records; many of these records were available in Japan at the time and were being pressed in Japanese factories, but to get true authentic American jazz the coffee shops went to great lengths to get original American records imported from America. Another example of Japan’s desire for authentic American jazz was the phenomenon of Japanese-American jazz musicians’ coming to Japan and becoming stars. What made them successful was the fact that they seemed relatively Japanese, but they still had a connection to the United States, which was where the most authentic jazz was supposed to come from. Many of these performers were actually unable to perform in the United States due to their Japanese heritage.

The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that in the Meiji period Japan already had a music education system in place. Furthermore, it was based on Western models, which possibly aided musicians in learning jazz (Atkins 101). I’m not certain but I am fairly sure that there was no formal music education system in place in the U.S. when it was first being industrialized. And if there was it was almost exclusively for the wealthy, common people couldn’t afford formal music lessons. Whereas jazz seems to be more of “the common man’s music” so the article implied to me that music education was accessible earlier in the country’s industrial history to more Japanese than Americans, through schools and the military (Atkins 103). The foreign dance craze also surprised me because in another class I’d read a Japanese person’s account of their experience at the White House and they called the Western dancing of the times vulgar and said, “How can this be a called civilized nation,” or something to that effect. But I found it fun to imagine women in zorii and kimono dancing to jazz. I was probably most intrigued by the discussion of the moga and mobo and their later effects on society on page 135. Specifically, the moga being a “masculinization of feminine beauty” and the mobo being the opposite a” feminization of masculine beauty.” The song “Share Otoko” really solidified the image of the mobo to me, he seems like for lack of a better word a sissy. But the moga on the other hand seems almost like a tough Japanese biker chick , sans bike of course. Pictures of her kind of crush this image for me though because she just looks like a girl with short hair with a sissy boyfriend. If they were described to me out of their historical context I would probably think I was being told about Japanese goths.
Since learning about the Japanese music industry some artists have confused me, this article helped to clear some of that up. Japanese boy bands seem to have their roots in the mobo at least partially. Visual kei artists even more so, the first time my friend showed me a picture of the performer “Miyavi”, I was sure it was a female I was looking at, it turned out I was wrong. The moga didn’t seem to have the same lasting impression on society but then I thought about characters on Japanese television and you could argue that the moga has influenced strong female characters, which was very interesting. Overall, I liked reading about jazz and how it helped shape modern Japan.

First of all, I thought this article was a bit repetitive--every paragraph reiterated that jazz to those with a more traditional mind was something that was vulgar. It almost seemed to me that the author was one who agreed that Japanese jazz in the 1920s and 30s was vulgar. But anyway, the main thought going through my mind while reading the paper is “I wonder if people realize the parallels to today’s world [regarding music]?” Then, older Japanese people scorned jazz as being a modern blight on their pristine and beautiful traditional world. Now, the older generation does the same--they who listened to jazz when it was “noise” scorn today’s hip-hop and rap as such. Okay, I admit, I can’t really say that is true as I haven’t seen/observed the older generation of Japanese scorning hip-hop and rap, but definitely hold to my statement if they still idolize, if you will, American values (as most of the world still seems to do).

One statement I found really interesting was “if Americans could not agree on the aesthetic and social ramifications of jazz, Europeans and Asians could hardly be expected to do so.” My question then is this: Can we then say that because America was conflicted so too was Asia? Therefore if America liked, or hated, jazz completely, would Asia (and Europe) then too like, or hate, jazz completely? It’s an interesting question to ponder because we certainly can’t turn back time, change the conditions and see what happens. I don’t even know how I would answer that question because while I think Japan would definitely try to modernize and follow the American example [in complete approval of jazz], I have this idea that quite a lot of the population would still publicly resist and try to reinforce their traditional culture. A follow-up question to this one is, if the Kanto earthquake destroyed old Edo (metaphorically destroying a traditional culture?), and the people were starving for culture, why did the Japanese decide to adopt the Western culture instead of trying to revive their own?

To conclude my thoughts, I would just like to say that I think it was unfortunate that the Japanese people’s first encounter with jazz--and therefore the one they emulated--was that of the “white” variety. Because when I think jazz, I hear Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, the rich sound of a saxophone accompanied by a cheery piano, not something to do the Charleston to.

First of all, I thought this article was a bit repetitive--every paragraph reiterated that jazz to those with a more traditional mind was something that was vulgar. It almost seemed to me that the author was one who agreed that Japanese jazz in the 1920s and 30s was vulgar. But anyway, the main thought going through my mind while reading the paper is “I wonder if people realize the parallels to today’s world [regarding music]?” Then, older Japanese people scorned jazz as being a modern blight on their pristine and beautiful traditional world. Now, the older generation does the same--they who listened to jazz when it was “noise” scorn today’s hip-hop and rap as such. Okay, I admit, I can’t really say that is true as I haven’t seen/observed the older generation of Japanese scorning hip-hop and rap, but definitely hold to my statement if they still idolize, if you will, American values (as most of the world still seems to do).

One statement I found really interesting was “if Americans could not agree on the aesthetic and social ramifications of jazz, Europeans and Asians could hardly be expected to do so.” My question then is this: Can we then say that because America was conflicted so too was Asia? Therefore if America liked, or hated, jazz completely, would Asia (and Europe) then too like, or hate, jazz completely? It’s an interesting question to ponder because we certainly can’t turn back time, change the conditions and see what happens. I don’t even know how I would answer that question because while I think Japan would definitely try to modernize and follow the American example [in complete approval of jazz], I have this idea that quite a lot of the population would still publicly resist and try to reinforce their traditional culture. A follow-up question to this one is, if the Kanto earthquake destroyed old Edo (metaphorically destroying a traditional culture?), and the people were starving for culture, why did the Japanese decide to adopt the Western culture instead of trying to revive their own?

To conclude my thoughts, I would just like to say that I think it was unfortunate that the Japanese people’s first encounter with jazz--and therefore the one they emulated--was that of the “white” variety. Because when I think jazz, I hear Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, the rich sound of a saxophone accompanied by a cheery piano, not something to do the Charleston to.

I thought the article “A Soundtrack to a Modern Life” was pretty interesting. I never knew that Jazz was THIS popular in Japan in the early 20th century. My professor from Spring semester in Japanese literature, Michael Molasky mentioned that he wrote about jazz music in Japan, and I thought that was kind of strange. But now I can see why he would write about it. It was extremely popular and had a huge effect on the culture of Japan. The article constantly explains that Japan wanted to listen to jazz and popularize it so that it could compete and be up to par with the western nations. We have seen this continually throughout this Japanese music course, that Japan takes western music and makes its own westernized songs so it can become like the western nations and be respected as a modernized, civilized nation. I find it very interesting that Japan would use music to raise itself up as a nation to be respected. It seems like it would be very effective because if Japan kept to its traditional music, it think it would be very likely that the west would look down on them as less civilized. The article mentioned that Japan was just one of many countries whose musical standards were deliberately and officially changed in the age of imperialism. Another thing that I found interesting was the part about the sailors darkening their faces to enact black jazz musicians and entertain the Japanese on board. This reminds me of all of those super old cartoons and its portrayal of black people. I have also seen a movie called the “Unsinkable Molly Brown” and I’m pretty sure, if I can remember right, there were a bunch of white guys who painted their faces black and did a dance number mocking black people. In this article it says that some scholars argue that the portrayal of black people in the performance had a lasting impression on the Japanese. Not only did the music of the west make an impression on Japan, but possibly its portrayal of black people.
Music was so important that department store music schools gave out free training for youths so they could perform around the stores to attract customers. This was one way that western music was advertised and popularized to many Japanese commoners.
I also thought it was interesting that the most famous jazz vocalists were the Japanese Americans who recorded and preformed in Japan. They were frustrated that they couldn’t make it big in America, so they went to Japan and became very popular. This reminds me of today’s Utada Hikaru. She is a Japanese American who started to record in America, but never made it big. So then went to Japan to record, and became one of the most famous singers in Japan today.

In 1933 when Tokyo police arrested Tamera Kazou for sex scandal due to the rhythmic music of Jazz reminds me of the era of rock and roll during Presley’s time. Unlike Kazou, Presley did not get arrested but when he performed for TV the camera only shot his upper body part since the lower (from waist down) was too “sexual’ to be shown on TV. When Atkins wrote, ‘Germany’s popularity of jazz…compelled the fledgling Nazi Party to target jazz as an “alien culture”’(232). It surprised me to think jazz as an ‘alien culture’. During the time jazz was introduced, everything was alien even some pop culture today in the US. For some, pop cultures are things we are yet to understand and accept. Not only Germany, but I also believe other countries feel the same way when jazz was introduced, one of those, Japan. Once Japanese understand the way of jazz, they considered as living a ‘double life’. One living a traditional culture customs and the other living a pop culture life. During the time, most are not willing to accept the new music where it was introduce as ‘black American art form’ as they borrowed this style from African-Americans. Those who did listen to jazz, live a life as utopia; what they don’t have, they want and from jazz, they get. Those who do not like jazz said jazz music is a ‘low-class, noisy, and non-music’ , also they are afraid the traditional customs will be taken away. First, Japanese borrowed from the Europeans, but then they like American jazz better since Americans got a better rhythmic and thus switched to American jazz. Today, a lot of Japanese music are influenced my American music. Japan lives a great county with great cultures, traditional and pop that everyone in the country can adapt to. Jazz, the type of music can play with your emotions and how you feel about the word of music around you.

I didn't really like the article about The soundtrack of modern life. It just seems ridiculous that a musician needs to have an authentication or credentials to make them more likable. For instance, Bob Dylan had zero musical experience and he didn't go through a specific trip or tour to prove himself. I know classical musicians usually go through formal training but in Japanese society, if there was a musical prodigy that thought himself would he not become popular just because of his resume? So, intern I will focus more on the second article which has more social issues.

The reason I found the second article much more interesting is because you can draw so many parallels between Japanese jazz culture and American flapper/jazz culture. For instance the case of the Ginza Hall incident which showed a sex scandal. The scandal probaly would have happened either way just because of the people but it was exploited by the conservative right in Japanese society. In American progressive culture at the time, jazz was considered one of the main causes of the decline of society but never do you see any sort of figures or statistic that prove jazz is the single or main cause of the melting of values and morals. There always seems to be another social force in play. For instance, racism and bigotry only allowed for Paul Whiteman's influence to enter Japan's culture, which had caused a one sided view of American culture. Also I like that jazz is categorized as a young persons music. It would be funny to see an older person at the time dancing and swinging with the younger people like an older person at a night club but music should not be an exclusive art that is discriminatory towards age.

The collage featured in this article was quite interesting. It featured a man looking like he was conducting some sort of band yet the things that surrounded him were just random. I found it most interesting how the collage was compared to how Jazz was treated and how the Japanese industry was booming. Jazz had become part of the “post-earthquake Tokyo.” Its “mechanical sounds” not only represented the new form of music that the new urban folks listened to, it also represented the growth of the Japanese industry. I found it interesting that the word jazz was synonymous with noise and how the word noise was used to describe jazz. I think it’s comparable to the melancholic music that came into view after the Second World War. Japan had been defeated and their emperor had to take back what he said about being a superior being.
“In America jazz substituted for alcohol as a stimulant during Prohibition: People felt like they were drunk without liquor.” Murashima’s argument that jazz caused listener’s to reveal their sexual desires and the argument that jazz was destroying the “puritanical” Japan seemed to contradict Japan’s earlier “Geisha houses.” Although Geisha were mainly entertainers, there were some who engaged in prostitution and it was legal under law. The term geisha was actually directed toward entertainers only but as prostitution increased, the term geisha was became widely used to describe prostitutes. I think Murashima was just trying to protect Japan’s image by wanting to get rid of any foreign influence. He did not want Japan to look like America, where the “flappers” and the popularity of jazz came from.
When the article started talking about dance halls and how they were monitored by police, it reminded me of censorship.
The part where the article begins talking about the reintroduction of jazz after world war two gave me a different view of it. It felt a lot more optimistic yet melancholic at the same time than the early 1900’s view. The author says “jazz represented either the integration of Japan into an emerging global culture or the gradual and unwelcome erosion of authentic traditional culture, or both.” I agree with the first statement about the integration of Japanese culture with the global one. There is evidence now that the Japanese culture is still intact along with influences from outside. The “sailor uniforms” that some schools have adopted have a western theme to it. Technology has improved vastly thanks to Japanese research which may not have happened if they stayed isolated. Japan has been influenced by the foreign world and has benefited.

Position paper for week 4
Japanese media and music
By Eric Michelson

The idea that jazz allowed the Japanese people to experience an authentic modernity, that helped them become a consumer culture is a very interesting one. Jazz was an American product, henceforth by adapting it and turning it to something that they could listen to it gave them a connection around the entire world. When something is popular everyone wants it thus everyone spends money on it and it gets big. This is a very interesting thing considering that jazz was an “alien” product. The fact that it placed them in the sphere of the western elites is very interesting because America had such a thing going on with Europe that we did not get out of for a long time. Such a desire of the people to be what they view as high class and modern seems to affect all people of the world. Even the Roman Empire thought itself inferior to the great Greek traditions that had been laid down years before them. This desire to be with the times seems to affect all people in all nations.

The question of authenticity is a very interesting one because the people that do jazz and are liked need to be authentic or else it doesn’t matter how they sound they have to be “real” to be really poplar. This desire to be real is shown it the Japanese having the Filipino people play jazz for them, because they have been under American influence longer then they should know more about it. Jazz changed the Japanese culture in such a way that it made them question their own culture. Everyone was listening to thing that come from America, even better if they were played by people considered authentic, yet Japanese nationalism was still in full swing. How did the like of western music effect the Japanese nationalist movement? Certainly they could not be so totally nationalist of they would have not liked jazz so much, if being a product of a non-Japanese people. The west had this magical thing called jazz that everyone liked that was spreading around the world fast then the lines of power ever have. Certainly this caused great worries for the people in charge of the nation. Other people continued to develop other kinds of music like the Buddhist make new chants, centennially it would have been better for the nationalists had this been the popular music instead of jazz.

Music as tool for social reform or, more cynically, social control, is an odd thought as it first enters one’s mind. However, the multiple ways in which music works, suggests that music has the potential to unite disenfranchised groups, homogenize cultural communication standards, or work as an tool for various idealistic “evangelists” Music sense being recorded has been associated with space, situation and social class. Different songs and types of songs are classified into chamber music, Dance hall music, working mans music, sophisticated music. The list of different genres or classifications of songs is almost infinitely customizable to different cultures, sub cultures, geographies, and even individual people. This modern system of genres and specific classification help identify and create unity between members of an imagined group, like jazz singers, punk rockers, or even hunters just to name a few. So here it is readily observable that music serves to unite people with similar tastes. And many may think that it is just preference but the subject matter and content of the things one choose to consume reflect what they enjoy thinking or not thinking about. The lyrics, beats, and melodies become a common language though the specific connections from one fan to another may be vastly different a connection remains that any two fans of a song pull value from it.
As the words fill up the page I continue to see music as a dividing factor not a factor of unification. The means pulled and values assessed are personal, and individually unique. But at the same time music when produced by one person and enjoyed by another is inherently an act of community, or at the very least communication, which is an act of mutual understanding and interpretation. So when Minichello writes,
“Music was valued as a factor conducive to the establishment of discipline and to raising morale in the army and navy, and to the spiritual and physical health and character formation of school pupils. Furthermore Music, was an essential element of the ceremonial style of governance that the Meji leaders cultivated as they sought to emulate and surpass the pomp and pageantry of European and North American courts and Governments.”(p.102 Course Packet page. Actual page number not visible)
Now knowing that the distribution and availability of music was through instruction and education it is more understandable that music could be used to bind in thought and appearance, rather then separate. However even in the past the poor and rural majority of the Japanese population had to maintain there own regional dialects, music, and local folk tales for a quite a while. So knowing that the central powers in Tokyo wanted united more modern country, they had to use the binding properties of music education to tear their citizens from their old ways. So even when Music is being used to bind it tears certain people apart from other things.
Lastly modern pop music and culture and its consumption is used to distract the masses and help put them into rank and file so they can be more easily sold to, and so they do not pay attention to political events.

The article “Talkin’ Jazz: Music, Modernism, and Interwar Japan’s Culture War” suggests that jazz was a cause of Japan’s cultural identity crisis and values to break apart. One point was that jazz impacted Japan’s physical environment and customs to modernism where they adapted to more Western influences between the mid-twenties. As stated, “modernism represented more than the importation of American lifestyles and fashions: it also signaled the erosion of traditional aesthetic and moral values, political conduct, and social interaction” (CP, 135). I found this article to be quite interesting because who would have thought that the influence of jazz in Japan can alter culture values to interchange into modernity. Jazz itself embodied the modern, contributed qualitatively to modern life, and through its transformative nature affected people’s behavior and the environment of urban lifestyles (CP, 137). I guess I can understand why people would rebel against these changes in order to preserve the traditional life. Another point that I found interesting was as the rise of Japan becoming a modern nation, the gender roles and sexuality had also changed too. Inspired by American cinemas, moga and mobo followed the Western lifestyles of urban youths cascading the images of fashion, drinking, smoking, and taunting with their sexuality. Thus to say, I do believe that many youths these days are maturing faster even so. As popular culture and new music artists pop out, the younger generations adopt to that style and build off from it their own social culture. The new emergence of jazz transgressed both gender roles to become opened to one another and allowed society to be freely of themselves. In terms of sexuality, jazz was blamed because it caused a high rate in making people sex maniacs with desiring of pleasures. I thought this was strange but I think because of the music, people are just going crazy about jazz. The article was a long read, yet it also presented another side of jazz that you may not have known. So it was interesting to read about how jazz impacted a nation and its people in different ways.

This article gives an overview of 1920's Japan and its relationship to western ideals through its consumption of jazz. The article states many times that jazz was a catalyst for discussion of modernism and the resultant decline of morals in both the U.S and in foreign countries importing jazz. The foreign countries however center their debate on the message of jazz music being an example of U.S sensibilities and morals of the time. To put it another way, was jazz the voice of a minority speaking out against a capitalist and racist U.S majority or was it commercial music used by the foreign power to make money and spread insidious modern hedonism. I found the debate most interesting when it talked about whose jazz music actually makes it to Japan. The article states that the music of Paul Whiteman and other white jazz musician were the easiest records for the Japanese to find, listen to and buy. This I find is indicative of the racist majority in powerful record companies and in business in general. This meant that the Japanese were rarely exposed to the true roots of jazz culture and at best had a passing relationship to the themes and problems that originally brought about the creation of jazz music. I find this interesting because it implies then that the Japanese were listening to jazz in a more scientific or academic way and less with an ear for the stories it contains. However a large number of the Japanese jazz songs that we have listened to seem to focus on the same themes of disenfranchisement that we see in traditional 'black jazz'. As well the use of the traditional Japanese scale to reference the past is analogous to the use of the train rhythm used in U.S jazz. I wonder how much of this similarity was directly created by the first importers and adapters of jazz in Japan and how much was simply a coincidence of the times. It seems to me that the problems affecting the Japanese were starting to embark on the same journey towards urbanism and new socio-cultural roles that the U.S was just now coming to the end of and because of this adopted jazz because of the period it had just gone through and its relationship to the period the Japanese were about to go through.

I find it interesting that what seems to have started the biggest uproar over jazz clubs was the “Ginza Hall Incident”, which implied that jazz was a threat not only to the morality of commoners, but also to social elites. In the same vein, it’s interesting that while being torn between nativist pride and cosmopolitan plurality after World War 1, jazz was both a cause for the country’s cosmopolitan attitude and a result of itself creating that impact. Add to this the fact that Japanese critics were taking an American understanding of jazz into account, largely from Paul Whiteman, and jazz in Japan becomes pretty complicated, it seems.
In discussions of American culture, cultural movements are usually set against widespread moral beliefs (usually blamed on “puritanical” Christians, it seems), but we usually talk about cultural awareness as something that just happens, so it was surprising to read that Atkins attributes Japanese awareness of culture’s importance to the Kanto earthquake. Concerning the gender roles of “mobo“ and “moga” upsetting critics, it seems America has considered similar moral questions (flappers, to name one example of many), but in America it seems changing gender roles were looked at primarily as upsetting moral codes first and threatening national identity second, whereas Japan put a reverse emphasis on considering cultural change in the 20’s. I find it weird that societies ever view cultural movements as “barbaric” or somehow wrong, seeing as they are made up of individuals who are all different and aren’t actual things, but I’m sure cultural studies has a better theory for that than I can articulate.
Also unlike American cultural movements, which often claim to pursue art for art’s sake (not that it’s really the case, but people do seem to humor artists at the very least), I found it interesting that most critics (who Atkins quotes), seem to think that jazz in Japan can’t be viewed as a purely artistic movement. What’s more, according to Atkins the artists themselves viewed themselves more as entertainers who were getting paid. I hope we talk about what he bases this on in class.

Position paper – week 4
Kevin Tieng (3698825)
Throughout Atkin’s article, “Talkin’ Jazz,” one quote that stuck out to me was “in contrast to the “white-haired old men” whom most people envisioned playing Beethovan, jazz “demands youth. It demands youth overflowing with joy and power.” It stuck out to me because it shows jazz as something that is new and young compared to now, in which jazz is old and barely heard of (except in certain areas).
On page 140 of the course packet, Atkins writes “Government officials, militarists, agrarian fundamentalists, and advocates of native arts differed in their visions for the nation, but they could usually reach a consensus that the jazz culture was disruptive to those visions.” The Hyogo prefectural government even went as far as setting a standard that was emulated nationwide. They required that people who wanted to dance to jazz and dance instructors had to apply for permits and even went as far as having to register their information, such as name, phone number, and occupations with the police. It is interesting to see how a music type so rejected could become so popular.
Atkins also wrote, “Intellectuals depicted jazz as an international wave sweeping the civilized world.” Although many people who were for classical music bashed jazz as “low class,” “vulgar,” “noisy,” or “non-music,” it became the (most?) popular music of that time. Nowadays, the people who listened to jazz or classical music now call the music of this generation “vulgar.” Will we also become like them and bash the next generation’s music?

In Atkin’s “Talkin’ Jazz” article, jazz is depicted as an agent of cultural transformation working to aid a rising “Americanized global culture” (Course Packet 132). In other words and in following with the old argument, jazz becomes an instrument of cultural imperialism. However, a counter argument is conceived by Matsuyama Sueyoshi who said, “’Jazz is international’” and Horiuchi who said, “’Jazz music is the modern popular music of cultured countries.’” (CP 137). So the question that is raised in my mind becomes, was jazz popular on its own or were its political trappings and status as a paragon of modernism the real driving force behind it? To generalize the question further, was Japan subjugated to American cultural imperialism through jazz, or was Japan’s acculturation of jazz a matter of popular choice?

In Atkin’s article, jazz is categorized with technological innovations, such as the steam engine, the telegraph, and electricity; it is labeled a global trend (CP 137). On the one hand, it is clear why the improvements of engineering are readily accepted, not only for the reputation of being civilized and modern, but also for the inherent advantages and additional comfort it brings to people’s lives. On the other hand, where jazz falls into the category becomes a matter of question. When speaking of culture, music, art, film, et cetera are standard subjects of scrutiny, but how does one tie culture and technology together? At what point does music, in this case jazz, assume the adjectives of progressive or modern with the same connotations as when applied to advancements in technology? One subtle connection is found in the ways that technology is capable of altering or transforming cultures. For instance, in communities where time is more elastic, the introduction of time-conserving technologies may spark a transformation to time-consciousness and heighten the value of time as a tangible object. An alternative view—of the connection between technology and jazz—is that by virtue of originating from the country or culture of innovation, all things take on the properties of progressive and modern. Yet, jazz still retains one thing that separates it from technology, its adaptability to diverse cultures; unlike the steam engine, or the telegraph, jazz is not adopted intact, in its entirety. Instead, jazz is incorporated, and thus altered from its original. English is ousted in favor of translated, Japanese lyrics, yet even the lyrics are altered for native cultural relevance—as in the case with the Gay Caballero which became an almost entirely different song retaining only the barebones of the composition. Clearly there is Western influence, but is The Sharp-dressed Man any less quintessentially Japanese for being inspired by Western musical genres? Similarly, in jazz, it was the techniques and methods of performance that were adopted, not the spirit of the music or the people who listened.

Regardless of whether jazz reached Japan simply because Kikuchi Shigeya was intrigued by and found appeal in a radical new sound produced by “queer” bands (CP 99) or was mediated through whites in the “context of blatantly unequal relationships of power” (CP 101), I don’t think it’s exclusively accurate to label it cultural imperialism on the part of the West.

In the second article of this week, 'Talkin' Jazz', it was explained how jazz music from America first affected Japan. I never knew that one of the first forms of Western music in Japan had caused such a stir. I know that we had some of the same problems with music in America at times, but I had never thought Japan had had such a struggle with it. I thought it was smart to point out that jazz had come into popularity during a large and influential shift in society because it seems that a lot of the reason for the criticism wasn't necessarily just because jazz was ruining their traditional society. I think a lot of if also stemmed just from the overwhelming shift from traditional to a more modern Japan, which was not just a result of jazz flooding the land, but of the overall westernization.
I think jazz was just different enough in the right areas to cause the 'dance hall scandals', and that kind of reaction to what people thought of as music or dance that was too 'provacative' isn't limited to Japan alone. Take Elvis Presley for example; when he first became popular and performed on television, networks would often not allow the lower half of his body to be on screen just because people though his dancing was too much. And in a society like Japan, I imagine the shock of such a new and different style of music and dance had even more of an affect on people.
But I also think their struggle between the traditional aspects of their culture and the modernity of the West is an interesting topic. The professor of another class I took on Japan mentioned that while most cultures who have in the past struggled with the exact same problem, tradition and modernity, Japan is rare in that it has managed to keep both. Usually the culture will merge a little of both and get a sort of happy medium, or choose one over the other, but Japan has managed to have modernity and tradition side by side in their country. Take for example Kyoto, which is a city of tradition, with temples and gardens, the palace and ancient traditions such as the geiko and maiko; it's as if it is set completely apart form the modern cities that surround it, and even some of the more modern areas within the city itself. On one hand, you are more than capable of finding an area of town that completely immerses you in the traditional culture of Japan, and on the other, areas of metropolitan modernity are also in great abundance.

It was really interesting to see how much influence jazz had on Japan. I think it really speaks to how music can really make a difference and become such a symbol of a generation or certain kind of lifestyle, which goes back to what Firth was saying about how music is a part of group identity politics. However, I do think that it’s too much of an over sweeping statement to say the jazz music was the source of Japan’s crisis of values and cultural identity. I think that the uncomfortable and negative reactions to jazz were actually more about the changing society as it became more and more cosmopolitan, centralized around the urban, and unfamiliar. Jazz music was just a component of that, and it had an aesthetic that the youth found attractive so they wanted to adjust their lifestyles to fit with the music. And so those who aired on the more conservative side of course didn’t like this upheaval of traditional values and behaviors. And this type of thing, as the article points out, wasn’t just limited to Japan because this ‘emancipation of the youth’ through jazz also happened in parts of Europe too. I also think that this type of thing isn’t just a thing of the past either. A lot of hip hop and rap get this same reaction out of people, in that there’s a certain lifestyle being promoted through that of music that many young people emulate. And people often times get uncomfortable with that hip hop/rap culture because it so in your face and such a contrast from the popular music of older generations. It’s not so much the music itself that causes the issue, it’s more about what is being promoted through the music as it is a representation and reflection of what is happening in a society at a given time.
And like other people have commented about, I also find it really interesting how Japan has managed to be a society of really polar extremes. On the one hand Japan has such a rich traditional culture that is quite reserved and conservative and a bit rigid, and on the other hand Japan is also known for its crazy fashion and technology and fast paced, over crowded city life. And I actually don’t think this balancing to the traditional and the modern is just limited to Japan, because I think it’s also safe to assume that countries like Korea and China are dealing with it too.

This opinion paper is on the article “The Soundtrack of Modern Life: Japan’s Jazz Revolution”. This article was very interesting because it went very in depth into how jazz was first brought over to Japan and how it spread not only through Japan but to other Asian countries, specifically China. It was interesting to learn that a major part of the jazz entertainment scene was developed and centered in Osaka for a long period of time in the early 20th century. I think that is interesting because in the early 20th century, Tokyo was the capital and closest to America where jazz originated and most of the boats coming from America stopped. For Americans it is kind of strange but I understand well why it happened when Osaka enacted all those rules for the jazz clubs in Osaka not long after the Taisho emperor died because even though the clubs followed the rules for the mourning period, they were very quick to reopen after the mourning period. After that, the jazz scene moved back to Tokyo where it continued to gain popularity by some. Like the text said, it is interesting that jazz in Japan was considered a higher class kind of music but in America it was considered a lower class kind of music. Even though Japan adapted jazz from America, it didn’t keep everything that was associated with it like status. Apparently, travel between Japan and America was very common in the 20’s which surprised me because it seems like it would be difficult to do the long journey for a lot of people and maybe a little expensive but it seemed to be common for musicians who wanted to learn jazz to travel to America to learn. I also found it interesting that when the second generation of Japanese –Americans left America and went to Japan to pursue a career in music like jazz, they were very popular. I would have thought that the popular singers would have been the native Japanese ones. It is surprising the Japan and especially Japanese were opening up to the world and outside influences because they have always been a pretty closed society for the rest of the world and didn’t like having a lot of contact with foreign countries. But then Japan started to lose its reputation as the place to be in Asia for jazz. Shanghai started to grow in popularity as the place to be to perform jazz. This is surprising because it is farther away form America than Japan so I would think that it would have as much American influenced jazz which was important to people because they said that jazz was the music of America and that’s what made it good.

Natasha Spernick
Position Paper 4
ALL3920

It is easy to see how music effects people on a personal level, but I was surprised to find out how much jazz effected Japan as a whole. The scandal with Tamura Kazuo seemed to kick off the suspicions about jazz music in Japan. His use of body movement and facial expressions in his dance instruction effected everyone from café waitresses and geishas to social elites. From what I have experienced with social standing in Japan, the people of the upper class seem to be very strait forward and down to business types of people, with no time or interest in anything different or provocative. It surprised me to read that the instruction of this one man had an almost memorizing impact on not only the general public, but on the upper class population as well.
The movement of Jazz in Japan only added to the already apprehensive view of the destruction of Japanese civilization. The new gender-bending fashion, and the pulsating beat of Jazz music was a new aspect of modernization. Writers and advertisers used the different aspects of Jazz to mold the public perception of the music and its social effects. There were people who blamed Jazz as the cause of Japan’s crisis of values and cultural identity, and people who whole-heartedly accepted and loved Jazz music. I feel that any way you look at it, Jazz effected everyone in Japan. Those who felt a strong dislike for the movement, were as much if not more invested in it than the people who welcomed the change by constantly expressing the negative effects Jazz was having on their culture and country. There was a mixture of feeling of hate and at the same time fascination, and outrage and amusement for the movement of jazz music to Japan. I feel that jazz did have an impact on Japan, but I don't think it should be blamed as the cause of the change of cultural identity or the “destruction of Japanese civilization.” Overall I really enjoyed this reading and it seemed to stick with me more than some of the other articles.

One of the most important issues that got my attention was Atkin's account of Race war brought on by Jazz. We have all heard of both the United States and Japan fearng modernism. Both sides had a much more small town ideal, in which everyone followed established social morals and an established status quo. People feared that new trends brought on by Jazz would ruin the social strutcure. I think it's clear that, for the United States, a major part of the cultural war was its origins in the African American community. New art forms such as these challenged established stereotypes and a young cult following would challenge the established idea of "White supremacy". It was, in a way, a liberating force for the african american community, a means to express themselves and observe artistic alternatives. What came as a surprise to me, was the similaraties in attitudes in Japan. Modernaty and jazz were looked down upon, causing the young to forget their morals and be slaves to western corruption, an art form hated because of its origins. Expanding on this idea of race, I find it strange that the black community is left out in this kind of debate, as tensions grow into a rivalry between eastern and western empires. One the western side, we have the "White" powers of Europe and America, placing themselves as the dominant race, colonizing the world. In the east, there is the "Yellow" empire, consisting of Japan and their Asian CO-Prosperity Sphere, a collection of Asian nations that are being "Protected" and "Civilized" by Japan. On the different scales of Eugenics, either side is placing themselves on top with their rivalries below them, followed by every other race. In the case of Japan, however, I belive this is just a retaliation to western racism. As an example, one Japanese view of the dawn of Jazz, according to Atkins, was the film, Jazz Warlord, explaining that jazz came in the form of three emancipated slaves that... inexplicably set sailed for MeiJi Japan. Thus, the inspiring musical traditon was born. As improbable as that sounds, they don't seem to share the racial animosity or supiriority complex that their western counterparts had at the time, it develpoed as a result of contact with the west. These similarities between cultural views is just one of many examples of the dichotomy of Japan's view of the west: prove themselves as equals and learn from the west.

Blue Nippon the Soundtrack of Modern life
After I read this article, I found out that Jazz was a “noisy” and “low class” type of music. I’m not so sure if they trying to say that it’s the people (black American) who sing in Jazz are low class, or they mean that Jazz music itself is consider low class music. In the article, it mention that Jazz was translate by this white guy call Whiteman who own black American as slave; I really like what it have in the article, Whiteman translates the song into a nice and understandable music even though he’s not the one who actually creates it, but still give Whiteman the credit for it! At less he’s the one who published it.
Jazz happened in the period of time when Japan took over Taiwan and Korea; it changed the life style in Japan, for example, “moga” is mean “modern girl” who dress up like guys, and mobo is modern boy, who did the opposite with the girls, but in fact people in Japan dislike it. But I think people in Japan dislike Jazz just because they want to do things like America, and what American people think at the time was because Jazz was sing by Black American, and however most of the American have issues about that which just racialism problem. Japan did the same thing as America and even thinks that the gender problem that they have at the time is also cost by Jazz, but personally I think that they just wanted to blame the problem to something else. But on the other hand, people who love Jazz still love it! The “original” Black version of Jazz music is very hard to found because it’s publish and control by White American and they only allowed the “White” version of the music sell over sea in Japan.
Jazz is very difficult to understand because it is sing by Black American, and to the people in Japan it’s very hard to know what the lyrics means, and also at that time when it entered Japan, Japan was having some changes that makes it into a very complicated situation that who ever likes it likes it a lot and the people who don’t just hates it and really puts a lot of energy into the disagreement against Jazz.

Atkins’ Talkin’ Jazz is basically a long history of the introduction of jazz to the Japanese public, and the ramifications afterwards. From what I can see that reactions to jazz in Japan was about the same in America and Europe, but for a few different reasons.
In America, jazz was considered the devil’s music, because of it’s black origins and sexy rhythm. White conservative Americans, many of whom were in their late 20’s to early 30’s were the ones leading the charge against jazz. While young Americans and some less conservative types (like my grandparents) embraced jazz with open arms. In Japan the reactions were almost the same, but for much different reasons. The younger generation loved jazz and embraced it, seeing it as the music of the modern era. The older generation, who still believed in the old ways and traditions greeted jazz with trepidation. When the older generation believed that Japan was loosing it’s way as a nation and becoming too westernized, they rallied together and got jazz banned until after WWII.
My older relatives say that living in that period was quite difficult. There were many more social rules and constraints which had to be observed. My grandparents love jazz, so I was raised around it my whole life. I think everyone who started throwing a fit about the music were a bunch of narrow-minded infidels. They spoke about something when it was clear they didn’t have a clue as to what they were talking about. They saw the youngsters dancing in, by their view, crude ways. I can see why they were afraid, and don’t entirely fault them, note entirely. The fear of loosing yourself can be very strong. I frown on the fact that they were so scared of it, they forced their own views on the whole nation. But I’m an American born over 80 years later, what the heck do I know? *shrugs*
And now my day has come to a close at long last *flops into bed*

I’ve never been a huge fan of jazz, but that may simply be because I have no idea what it’s about really. Not to mention the face that I’m consumed by popular culture and simply listen to what is provided by the media, particularly the radio. Music can say so much. Jazz was a genre of music that was able to make a statement, a difference, and became a marker for a generation of their lifestyle. Take note then that Frith did mention that music is part of a statement that can be used to identify certain politics. There is mention that jazz was caused a cultural war at that time. I kind of find it hard to identify with this statement. Rather, I feel that blaming jazz for their cultural differences was an overstatement made in the article. There are many values that changed at that time and jazz simply made its historical claim in music history. Japan was changing as westernization swept the globe. Thus it is only natural to say that Japan’s social values and identities did as well since it become more international. The negative reaction of jazz was probably more centralized around this change than anything else. Jazz introduced many things to the Japanese and I assume that those that became interested in it were more excited about the aesthetic behind it rather than that it was simply pleasing to the ear. Their lifestyles changed; their social values changed. Those who opposed this, naturally, were disapproving of the changing behaviors amongst the youth and, most importantly, the change in their values; the change in a Japanese person’s traditional value. Note that Japan alone was not the only country being affected, of course. This spectacle of change and trends is definitely not of something kept in the past. There are many different genres of music, and other media outputs, that generate the public to react a certain way. Take hard rock and rap for example. Now a days, they (if not promoting) feed the public with these music videos and lyrics that shape the artists world. They become consumed by it and eventually it becomes a commodity of modernity. To be in touch, to have it, is to be popular and modern. So then, what does this say about our social culture? Do we blame the music? I don’t think that it’s so much the music itself that may cause issues and changes but rather the public’s interpretation of it. Like they say, people like to be told what they want to be told. We only have ourselves to blame (if that’s even the right word to use).

Our earliest readings certainly showed the impact of Jazz on the Japanese culture. They brought our music to thier culture by readapting the lyrics. This could be done many times, such as with Dinah.

Atkin's article was interesting however because it talked about more than just the target audience and record sales. I think it is fasciniating how much the effect of Jazz on the younger generation of Japanese mirrored the effects it had on young Americans.

As others have pointed out Jazz was not the first artistic media to have caused a stir in society and certainly was not the last. As a COMM student I've taken classes on the effects of media (advertising nd the like) on society. These clases also cover theories discussing why messages are effective or not.

One reaccuring theme that shows up in article after article is the increase of violence due to video games, rap, Marylin Manson, etc. Less covered, but still highly prelevent, are the effects Emo and Alt rock are having on the increased depression rates. Society will find a scapegoat for ANY behavior they find unsuitable. This hardly means any one of those things is "destroying the moral fabric of society." Any time a new fad arrives on the scene oponents will find something "bad" that correlates with the popularity of said fad.

As my Psychology teacher drilled into our heads: "Correlation does not imply causation."

Now that I have gotten entirely off topic, I will close by saying I cannot find fault with Frith's article because as far as I could tell he did not take a stand on the subject--he only presented the situation.

Honestly I know nothing about Jazz. I find it interesting how Jazz has become in important part of the Japanese. It's interesting to find out it came about. While I was reading the article, I got the impression that Jazz must have really done Japanese good and really shaped their culture. But then to read towards the end, here you have complaints (which would have NEVER occurred in my mind) that Jazz caused gender and sexual issues so some of the people blamed Jazz for that part. I believe there will always be a good and bad side to something and not everyone will agree to like or dislike a certain thing. But I just thought that to be interesting how those issues can be brought up.

I find it interesting how much restriction there was put for dance halls and how much supervision was actually required, basically for the younger generation to attend. Jazz has somehow died out for a moment and then brought back again in the future somehow.

Japanese, as always, are creative and have a way to tweak things to make them better. They have Jazz, yet when composing, they add a sense of Japanese to it, yet one can still tell that it is Jazz.

I think not only Jazz but just music in general can shape a person's life, beliefs and morals.

Jazz is certainly an art form that relies heavily on emotions to pervade certain ideas. In trying to grasp why Jazz has been (and is) so widely popular in Japan, one possible answer I arrive at is how Japan has a history of lamentation. Not to say that Japanese people are inherently depressed, but rather that I view introspection as a major theme in Japanese history. Whenever something goes wrong, a person was inclined to blame it on themselves, rather than others. This kind of mentality can easily lend itself to expressing a more somber emotion and deliberate tempo as is usually felt in jazz. I was honestly shocked when I recently heard that Japan was among the top nations in the world for producing and purchasing jazz music, but somehow it seems fitting. Amidst a life where people continually claim to "settle" for lots in life, a kind of melancholy seems appropriate.

I also really liked the above comment by Katie:

"Any time a new fad arrives on the scene opponents will find something "bad" that correlates with the popularity of said fad."

That totally rings true for me. Society does change easily. When radical actions occurs, the system will never declare itself faulty, so a scapegoat becomes essential to preserving mainstream order to some degree. Rock music, jazz music, and even long hair have all been stigmatized to represent the falling out of virtues and morals. I do not think any of that is true. They all simply represent a shift, and that same shift was experienced by Japan during the 20th century.

The idea that Jazz represents a “general decline of moral standards” from Atkins article I find amusing looking at it from a modern perspective. Seeing the complaints about gender-bending and over sexualization of the music from this time period makes me see exactly how far one can push sexual material in the modern world. The whole “Tamura scandal” just reminds me of the vast amount of modern pop stars being controversial in their appearances and performances. Atkins quotes Dick Hebdige in his article which I feel is a great quote to explain the hysteria over subculture and modernization. The quote reads “The emergence of spectacular culture is invariably accompanied by a wave of hysteria in the press” this quote will has remained true since the Jazz era and will continue far into the future. The most intriguing thing about these controversies is the difference in their basis. For example Atkins explains that in the US “Christian morality and racial hatred informed the American controversy, in Japan no less than a nation’s cultural identity and sense of self was at stake”. I find this fear of change and of loss of a nation’s identity absurd with the given context. It is a fear of change and modernization. I view this mixture and growth a good thing. As Atkins explains that because of Japanese people living both an “imported and domestic” life; where the fear of losing one’s cultural identity is not because of the music or the performances it is more a fear of losing to another culture. I see this cultural mixing or melting pot to be a positive one. I feel that even today people still hold the view that foreign influence should be controlled. This is also something that I find amusing because controversy causes popularity. When something is talked about a lot and under controversy it gains popularity because more people hear about it and become interested in it and therefore as long as a person is making news it will sell. Whether its good attention or not it is still attention.

I think all pitch, be it for a blogger or a site visitor, needs to be relevant for them to ensure action to take set. Seems like it is taking awhile for your old-school to learn how to talk to the new-school!

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