This project explores my relationship with elements of Japanese culture. Central to the project will be the Japanese practice of cosplay (dressing in costume), otaku (geek) subculture and their influences in the worlds of Japanese manga comic books and animated films. It will focus on the importance of kawaii (cute) in Japanese culture. The artworks will explore notions of identity and the ‘space between’. I shall do this through the gathering of Japanese objects which will be fused with my own image. I shall use photography, print and digital manipulation finishing in a sculptural installation referencing pop culture and commercial display. This project will constitute 80% practical work to be presented in a final exhibition piece accompanied by 20% written exegesis.

This project explores my relationship with elements of Japanese culture. Central to the project will be the Japanese practice of cosplay (dressing in costume), otaku (geek) subculture and their influences in the worlds of Japanese manga comic books and animated films. It will focus on the importance of kawaii (cute) in Japanese culture. The artworks will explore notions of identity and the ‘space between’. I shall do this through the gathering of Japanese objects which will be fused with my own image. I shall use photography, print and digital manipulation finishing in a sculptural installation referencing pop culture and commercial display. This project will constitute 80% practical work to be presented in a final exhibition piece accompanied by 20% written exegesis.

O objetivo do presente trabalho é fazer um estudo sobre as formas de representação da língua falada japonesa nos textos de blogs do gênero idol e as estratégias utilizadas por suas escreventes na sua redação. Para isso, foi utilizado como corpus de análise os dados linguísticos presentes nas postagens desses blogs. Destaque-se que, para a produção de textos em língua japonesa, os escreventes encontram disponíveis quatro sistemas de escrita (o hiragana, o katakana, o kanjie o rmaji), além dos elementos suprassegmentais(sinais de pontuação, diacríticos etc.)que, juntos, oferecem uma variedade de recursos estilísticos e expressivos, os quais são amplamente aproveitados dentro dos textos. Utilizando-se dos blogs idol como cerne, serão feitas discussões acerca da representação da forma oral em seus textos para, em seguida, por meio da análise dos excertos das postagens, descrever os procedimentos linguísticos que resultam em uma língua falada por escrito na língua japonesa. / This work proposes to make a study about the forms of representation found in the Japanese spoken language on idol blog texts and the strategies used in theircomposition. For that purpose, blogs posts will be used as analytical corpus linguistic data. It is noteworthy that the writers have four writing systems at disposal to produce texts in Japanese language (hiragana, katakana, kanji and roomaji), in addition to supra-segmental elements (punctuation marks, diacritics etc.) which together offer a variety of stylistic and expressive resources that are widely used in texts. Using the idol blogs as basis, discussions will be made about the representation of the oral form in it\'s writings by analyzing the excerpts from posts to then describe the linguistic procedures that result in a \"spoken language in writing\" in Japanese.

Este estudo traz para a discussão, no primeiro capítulo, o mangá como expressão artística, cujo modelo de criação se distingue dos demais quadrinhos pela pluralidade e diversidade de gêneros. São apresentados estudos sobre a linguagem visual das histórias em quadrinhos a partir de teorias ocidentais e japoneses que se correlacionam, como a forma de desenho de quadros, balões, hiatos, linhas cinéticas, metáforas visuais e suas características de linguagem universal. As linhas, planos de fundo e composições das páginas estabelecem relações com a arte tradicional japonesa dos emakimono (rolos de pintura), das xilogravuras ukiyo-e e das padronagens dos quimonos, sendo por isso analisados tais elementos. Ainda, abordam-se as onomatopeias, característica peculiar da língua japonesa que se revelam como subsídios necessários para valorizar sensações e emoções na narrativa, mesmo quando o silêncio é proposto; acentua-se também o grafismo visual que as integram à cena. Por fim, são levantadas as características na construção dos personagens, como a forma dada a corpos e olhos e as expressões faciais, que têm forte semelhança com as figuras das xilogravuras ukiyo-e, das revistas ilustradas Jojô-ga e das desenhadas por Osamu Tezuka. O segundo capítulo põe em debate o boom do mangá, animê e da cultura otaku do pós-guerra, que se apresentam para os artistas japoneses, da década de 1990, como elementos importantes para a produção de suas obras: assim se inserem os trabalhos de Takashi Murakami e Yoshitomo Nara, em suas relações com o mangá e com as artes tradicionais. Mesmo com ideais distintos, esses artistas participaram do movimento Neo Pop japonês e da exposição Super Flat (2000), e repensaram suas produções a partir da catástrofe natural de 2011. Pela dificuldade em encontrar bibliografia, muitas das informações obtidas nesta pesquisa se basearam em textos de jornais, curadores e críticos de arte ocidentais e japoneses, bem como na visitação a exposições dos artistas no Japão. Soma-se a esse capítulo a estética kawaii cujo ideal revela um universo infantilizado, que influencia as artes, se fortalece pelo fomento da indústria pop nipônica, atravessa as fronteiras para o ocidente e por isso se configura como produto de identidade nacional. As obras dos artistas supracitados dialogam com essa estética e também com a estética basara, que ostenta aquilo que é exuberante e luxuoso. / In its first chapter, this study arises the discussion of the manga as an artistic expression. Its creation model is distinguished from other comics by the plurality and diversity of genres. It presents studies on the visual language of comics from Western and Japanese theories which correlates, such as how to design panel, balloons, gutter, motion lines, living lines and they characteristics of universal language. The lines, backgrounds and pages compositions establish relations with the Japanese traditional art of emakimono (paint rollers), ukiyo-e woodblock prints and kimonos patterns, and have, therefore, such elements analyzed. Furthermore, approach the onomatopoeia, a peculiar characteristic of the Japanese language that reveal as necessary support to value sensations and emotions in the narrative, even when silence is proposed; it also accentuates the visual graphics that are part of the scene. Finally, the features are lifted in the construction of the characters, as the form given to bodies and eyes and facial expressions, which have strong resemblance to the woodblock ukiyo-eimages, the illustrated magazines Jojo-ga and drawn by Osamu Tezuka. The second chapter puts on the manga boom debate, anime and otaku culture of the postwar period, which are presented to the Japanese artists of the 1990s, as important elements for the production of their artworks: thus are inserted the work of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, in its relations with the manga and traditional arts. Even with ideal distinct, these artists participated in the movement Neo Japanese Pop and exposure Super Flat (2000), and rethought their production from natural disaster 2011. The difficulty in finding bibliography, much of the information obtained in this study were based on newspaper texts, curators and critics of Western and Japanese art, as well as visits to exhibitions of artists in Japan. Added to this chapter kawaii aesthetic ideal which reveals infantile universe, which influences the arts, strengthened by foment Nipponese pop industry, crosses borders to the West and so is configured as national identity product. The artworks of the above artists dialogue with this aesthetic and also with basara aesthetics, which boasts what is exuberant and luxurious.

O objetivo do presente trabalho é fazer um estudo sobre as formas de representação da língua falada japonesa nos textos de blogs do gênero idol e as estratégias utilizadas por suas escreventes na sua redação. Para isso, foi utilizado como corpus de análise os dados linguísticos presentes nas postagens desses blogs. Destaque-se que, para a produção de textos em língua japonesa, os escreventes encontram disponíveis quatro sistemas de escrita (o hiragana, o katakana, o kanjie o rmaji), além dos elementos suprassegmentais(sinais de pontuação, diacríticos etc.)que, juntos, oferecem uma variedade de recursos estilísticos e expressivos, os quais são amplamente aproveitados dentro dos textos. Utilizando-se dos blogs idol como cerne, serão feitas discussões acerca da representação da forma oral em seus textos para, em seguida, por meio da análise dos excertos das postagens, descrever os procedimentos linguísticos que resultam em uma língua falada por escrito na língua japonesa. / This work proposes to make a study about the forms of representation found in the Japanese spoken language on idol blog texts and the strategies used in theircomposition. For that purpose, blogs posts will be used as analytical corpus linguistic data. It is noteworthy that the writers have four writing systems at disposal to produce texts in Japanese language (hiragana, katakana, kanji and roomaji), in addition to supra-segmental elements (punctuation marks, diacritics etc.) which together offer a variety of stylistic and expressive resources that are widely used in texts. Using the idol blogs as basis, discussions will be made about the representation of the oral form in it\'s writings by analyzing the excerpts from posts to then describe the linguistic procedures that result in a \"spoken language in writing\" in Japanese.

Este estudo traz para a discussão, no primeiro capítulo, o mangá como expressão artística, cujo modelo de criação se distingue dos demais quadrinhos pela pluralidade e diversidade de gêneros. São apresentados estudos sobre a linguagem visual das histórias em quadrinhos a partir de teorias ocidentais e japoneses que se correlacionam, como a forma de desenho de quadros, balões, hiatos, linhas cinéticas, metáforas visuais e suas características de linguagem universal. As linhas, planos de fundo e composições das páginas estabelecem relações com a arte tradicional japonesa dos emakimono (rolos de pintura), das xilogravuras ukiyo-e e das padronagens dos quimonos, sendo por isso analisados tais elementos. Ainda, abordam-se as onomatopeias, característica peculiar da língua japonesa que se revelam como subsídios necessários para valorizar sensações e emoções na narrativa, mesmo quando o silêncio é proposto; acentua-se também o grafismo visual que as integram à cena. Por fim, são levantadas as características na construção dos personagens, como a forma dada a corpos e olhos e as expressões faciais, que têm forte semelhança com as figuras das xilogravuras ukiyo-e, das revistas ilustradas Jojô-ga e das desenhadas por Osamu Tezuka. O segundo capítulo põe em debate o boom do mangá, animê e da cultura otaku do pós-guerra, que se apresentam para os artistas japoneses, da década de 1990, como elementos importantes para a produção de suas obras: assim se inserem os trabalhos de Takashi Murakami e Yoshitomo Nara, em suas relações com o mangá e com as artes tradicionais. Mesmo com ideais distintos, esses artistas participaram do movimento Neo Pop japonês e da exposição Super Flat (2000), e repensaram suas produções a partir da catástrofe natural de 2011. Pela dificuldade em encontrar bibliografia, muitas das informações obtidas nesta pesquisa se basearam em textos de jornais, curadores e críticos de arte ocidentais e japoneses, bem como na visitação a exposições dos artistas no Japão. Soma-se a esse capítulo a estética kawaii cujo ideal revela um universo infantilizado, que influencia as artes, se fortalece pelo fomento da indústria pop nipônica, atravessa as fronteiras para o ocidente e por isso se configura como produto de identidade nacional. As obras dos artistas supracitados dialogam com essa estética e também com a estética basara, que ostenta aquilo que é exuberante e luxuoso. / In its first chapter, this study arises the discussion of the manga as an artistic expression. Its creation model is distinguished from other comics by the plurality and diversity of genres. It presents studies on the visual language of comics from Western and Japanese theories which correlates, such as how to design panel, balloons, gutter, motion lines, living lines and they characteristics of universal language. The lines, backgrounds and pages compositions establish relations with the Japanese traditional art of emakimono (paint rollers), ukiyo-e woodblock prints and kimonos patterns, and have, therefore, such elements analyzed. Furthermore, approach the onomatopoeia, a peculiar characteristic of the Japanese language that reveal as necessary support to value sensations and emotions in the narrative, even when silence is proposed; it also accentuates the visual graphics that are part of the scene. Finally, the features are lifted in the construction of the characters, as the form given to bodies and eyes and facial expressions, which have strong resemblance to the woodblock ukiyo-eimages, the illustrated magazines Jojo-ga and drawn by Osamu Tezuka. The second chapter puts on the manga boom debate, anime and otaku culture of the postwar period, which are presented to the Japanese artists of the 1990s, as important elements for the production of their artworks: thus are inserted the work of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, in its relations with the manga and traditional arts. Even with ideal distinct, these artists participated in the movement Neo Japanese Pop and exposure Super Flat (2000), and rethought their production from natural disaster 2011. The difficulty in finding bibliography, much of the information obtained in this study were based on newspaper texts, curators and critics of Western and Japanese art, as well as visits to exhibitions of artists in Japan. Added to this chapter kawaii aesthetic ideal which reveals infantile universe, which influences the arts, strengthened by foment Nipponese pop industry, crosses borders to the West and so is configured as national identity product. The artworks of the above artists dialogue with this aesthetic and also with basara aesthetics, which boasts what is exuberant and luxurious.

The main purpose of this thesis is the analysis of fictional characters, their role in Japanese visual culture and society in general. For a better understanding of the argumentation that follows in chapters 2 to 4, I first introduce the reader to the world of postwar Japanese visual culture, its most iconic works and characters. In the following chapter I observe fictional characters from a psychological and sociological standpoint, and highlight their significance for contemporary society. Chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to some of the most significant subcultures in postwar Japan - the shojo and otaku. In each of these chapters I first offer a synopsis of their respective histories and proceed to analyze some of the main trends associated with these subcultures; trends that have subsequently led to a major shift in consumer culture and a significant popularization of characters, the character business and its products. I argue that the most significant phenomenon associated with shojo culture is kawaii, the aesthetic of cuteness. Kawaii is arguably one of the defining aesthetic categories of contemporary Japan and is closely linked to postwar visual culture and the character goods industry. In the case of otaku, passionate consumers and fans of visual culture and modern media, I have focused on...

Cuteness as an affect contains a group of visual and behavioral features which are capable of producing physical or emotional reactions in the body of a subject.  Speaking of cuteness as an aesthetic category this kind of response is manipulated for commercial purposes, in the context of artistic creation or as means of self-expression.  In my thesis I will be concetrating on the concept of cuteness and its use in the field of contemporary art. First I will focus on the origin of the notion of cuteness from psychobiological, sociological and culturological point of view. I will describe briefly the origin of the english term ''cute'' and japanese term ''kawaii'' and its evolvement. Than I will concentrate on the aspects of cuteness in today's society, where it has become a tool for advancement of commercial and even political interests, which will be desrcibed on the  specific examples.   Subsequently I will concentrate on the aesthetic aspects of cuteness in the context of contemporary artistic statements including sociological and lorenzian (biological) viewpoints. I will also describe these aesthetics and its usage in the field of hi-tech technologies. Cuteness can be differentiated into many subcategories (e.g. ''creepy-cute'', ''torturer-cute'', ''sexy-cute'', etc.) when speaking of its aesthetics. These will be briefly described and showed in both the theoretical and exemplary sections of the thesis. As a whole the thesis will also lead to the discussion of the artistic positions of particular artists working with cuteness aesthetics in their art production.

In this essay, I study Toriyama Sekien’s yōkai (supernatural beings) catalogues and undertake a diachronic examination surrounding Sekien's imprint on his contemporaries and modern times, striving to highlight the aesthetic dimension that adds to the popularity of yōkai today. Through an image analysis based on a modified version of Roman Jakobson's communication model and a diachronic examination of Sekien’s influence on the imagination of the Japanese people, I have investigated how and why Sekien chose to depict yōkai in his catalogues as kawaii (cute). The questions that have driven my study are as follows:    1. Why does Toriyama Sekien kawaii use aesthetic codes in his four catalogues?    2. In what ways have Toriyama Sekien's catalogues influenced the Japanese people's imagination and world view?    The study is anchored in cute studies theories, and with the theory Displacement of Meaning, I have identified possible answers to how Sekien has influenced the Japanese people's imagination: (1) kawaii aesthetic codes are found in Toriyama Sekien's work, because Sekien tried to make his creations as attractive as possible. To accomplish this, he used aesthetic elements which cute studies theories have found control what we perceive as kawaii and thus attractive. (2) Toriyama Sekien demystified the supernatural, took it out of context and allowed Japanese people to take the supernatural out of its traditional setting. This paved the way for yōkai as consumer items and (3) allowed modern creators to fill the yōkai (consumer items) with nostalgia and reintroduce them as symbols of a lost and idealized past.

ABSTRACT BEAUTY LOOKS CREATED BY WOMEN: TRADITIONAL BEAUTY AND NEW AESTHETICS FOR WOMEN MAY 2021 YURINA YOSHIKAWA B.A., NANZAN UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Amanda C. Seaman In this thesis I focus on comparing the styles of beauty or “looks” that women have created for themselves, as well as concepts of traditional beauty. By doing so, this thesis will clarify how women try to change traditional beauty concepts and express themselves. As anyone who has watched TV in Japan has noticed, Japan has stereotyped aesthetic values of women that mass media such as magazines or TV dramas have created and disseminated. Pictures of beautiful women (bijinga 美人画) and beauty pageants are just two examples. In Japan, women having black hair, white skin, almond-shaped eyes, and well-defined noses are considered beautiful, and this aesthetic has not changed much since the Heian period (794-1185). After the work of Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934), whose pictures created the foundation of kawaii culture in the Taishō period (1912-1926), women have adopted this new aesthetic category in order to get around the fixed aesthetics of the bijin look. In other words, the start of kawaii culture is one of the turning points for women to evade a monolithic image of what is considered beautiful. However, as kawaii culture spread across the world due to the popularity of manga and anime, the notion of kawaii also began to be fixed by the mass media, becoming as rigid as the notion of bijin. For example, Japanese idols from the Shōwa period (1926-1989) through the Heisei and Reiwa all look alike by design. Many idols have bangs, natural black or dark brown hair, and flat-shaped eyebrows which are attractive to men. To overturn this tendency, some women have created new kinds of makeup styles to express their own version kawaii aesthetics. Ganguro, yamamba, or “gal” makeup were all created by women and popular among young women. In general society—particularly men—did not accept these makeup styles as aesthetically beautiful; the public regarded these looks as not kawaii but rather ugly (busaikuブサイク). However, even though society found looks ugly, this kind of makeup nevertheless became extremely popular among girls and women in their 10s and 20s who regarded such looks as kawaii and trendy. This aesthetic can be seen as what happens when women get around fixed notions of beauty by adopting and transforming the idea and look of kawaii. In this thesis I discuss the development of the kawaii aesthetic and how it becomes a way for women to break out of the tyranny of bijin. I look at a trend of new bijinga and talk about how women are trying to break away from the traditional notion of bijin. Using a collection of contemporary bijinga, I examine how actresses are fighting to do their own makeup for their films, TV programs, or dramas; in particular, actresses Ishihara Satomi and Nanao try to express their own beauty by creating the characters’ looks themselves. In this respect, the characters are original styles of beauty created by these women.