Godzilla...was he compensating for something too?

Scouring the internet and library resources for articles relating to hip hop, I found this little gem by Nina Cornyetz (http://www.jstor.org/stable/466835?seq=20). She has an interesting theory as to why hip hop is booming in Japan. It has less to do with the music and more about what's...down under.

Japanese hip hop (the music) is like many hip hop cultures of the world, with DJs, beats, and rhyming, but the fans in cities like Osaka and Tokyo take it to a different level. At the concerts, patrons not only dress as if they were straight out of Brooklyn, but colour their skin as well. Using various make up techniques, many Japanese males attempt to look African American. It is not a mockery of a different race, but rather an idolization, or as Cornyetz would argue...a fetish.

Cornyetz reports that post-war Japan has been emasculated by occupying white soldiers. This enfeebling has perpetuated the stereotype that Japanese men have smaller penises than American males. Through books and political comics, the Japanese men were seen to be inferior to Americans, especially in the bedroom. But where does hip hop come into the post war Japan?

As Japan began to reassert itself among the world powers, especially the US, it grew and grew out of the US's shadow. The new generations are born with a decreasing inferiority complex to the US, but the social stigma of lacking "manhood" remained. Therefore many Japanese began emulating a culture "reknowned" for have a larger penis than whites...African-Americans. As Cornyetz says on page 120, "Japanese youths have responded to the media images of African Americans by attempting to incorporate the signs that recreate themselves in the black image." Their new image is the hip hop style, since most of their images come from movies and songs. The new image means not only dressing like them, but colouring their skin with make up.

Males as well as females buy and wear clothes that the stereotypical black Brooklynite would wear. With the females, it's not so much an idolization, but more of attracting a black mate. Cornyetz reports that there is an increasing trend for affluent Japanese females to court a black partner. Many of these women treat their partners as pets and wear them on their arm as a status symbol.

Cornyetz's theory is a fascinating one. In all of my initial research, I have not found an origin theory as unique as this one. Many other hip hop cultures rebel against pop music, politics, etc. but never a stereotype of how much...heat they are packing. I have known white males to dress up as if they were "straight from da hood" but as far as I know, it's not because they felt they had some shortcomings. It's difficult for me to disagree with her research having never been to Japan myself. I wonder how big the trend of Japanese females going for a black lover really is. She says a friend came to Japan and noticed the same thing, but without much empirical data, I guess I'll have to stay skeptical. In the article, she mentioned that many of these relationships were for phsyical and social reasons only and did not expect to be long term. Thus we could not look at the marriage rates of a mixed couple. Perhaps a look at the overal marriage rates between single race couples, but an increase or decrease would not necessarily correlate to Japanese-African marriages.

Since this is a blog and therefore contains my own thoughts, I would like to leave with a joke...

Q.Why did Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?

--------------------------------------------------
A. Fo drizzle.