【海外の反応】「世界中が文化盗用を問題視する中…日本人だけ対応が違った…」世界の大手メディアが日本の文化盗用問題をこぞって報道！【日本のあれこれ】

A world-famous singer is promoting Japanese culture! Huh? What do you mean? We're not worried about anything, though. Hello, everyone! I'm Aoi, a personality. Do you know the problem of promoting culture? Promoting culture is the act of using a certain religious or cultural element of a certain culture by someone from another culture. The cultural element that is the target goes beyond fashion, music, and language. This time, I would like to introduce you to the news that the famous American artist Gwen Stefani's speech is promoting Japanese culture. Why was her speech, known as a psychologist, questioned? Let's take a look! Gwen Stefani is a singer from California, USA. When she was in her teens, she formed a band with her older brother, and started music activities. She made her debut in 1992 as a vocalist of the ska punk band No Doubt. Her album, Tragic Kingdom, which was released in 1995, was a big hit. Her album, The Sweet Escape, which was released in 2004, topped the Japanese Oricon chart. She is also very popular as a singer in Japan. In addition, she is not only a singer, but also a fashion icon. With her style and fashion sense as a top model, she is admired by many women, regardless of their generation. In addition, she produced the fashion brand RAM, and acted in the 2004 movie Aviator as an actress. She is also known as a great Japanese psychologist. It is said that she fell in love with Japan because of her father. When she was young, her father worked at Yamaha Motor Company. Every time her father went to Japan, he brought back cute souvenirs and wonderful memories, so she was interested in Japan. She said that she fell in love with Japan more and more by learning about Japanese tradition and culture. She was absorbed in the traditional and futuristic aspects of Japan. In 2004, she released her first solo album, Love Angel Music Baby. In addition to the song called Harajuku Girls, the album also includes a song called What You Waiting For and Rich Girl, inspired by Harajuku women. The song features Japanese words such as Hokoten, Bishoujo, Tokyo, and Osaka. It became a big topic that she was a big Japanese fan. In addition, not only did she use Japanese in the lyrics, but after her solo debut, she worked as a back dancer called Harajuku Girls for a while. I thought the girls in Harajuku were wonderful for the reason why she liked Harajuku. I love them and they are my friends. Harajuku is a place where you want to go and live. In 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, she donated $1 million, about 81 million yen, to support Japan. I love Japan from the bottom of my heart. I respect the people and culture of Japan. I sent a message that I wanted to do anything I could with the feeling that this earthquake would break my heart. In addition, in California, she held a charity event with Harajuku as the theme. She also donated $120,000, about 9.6 million yen, from the participants. The issue of cultural assimilation However, when Gwen was leading Harajuku Girls, a back dancer made up mainly of Japanese people, there was a lot of criticism that it was cultural assimilation. She later talked about the criticism at the time as follows in an interview with an American magazine. If we hadn't incorporated other cultures, I don't think we would have been able to get this much beauty. We learn from each other, share with each other, and grow together. The shackles that prevent us from incorporating other cultures divide us. In other words, she criticized the trend of incorporating other cultures as cultural assimilation. She emphasized that it was because of her pure love for the culture of Japan and Harajuku that she incorporated those cultures. In another interview with another magazine, she said, I am a Japanese. Her relationship with Japanese culture is pure, and I argued that I was a passionate fan of Japanese culture. However, this statement also caused controversy, just like Harajuku Girls. Some voices pointed out that the representation of a culture or race must be carried out by the owner of the culture or race. Cultural assimilation is, to put it simply, the use of elements of a certain culture by people from other cultures. It is especially problematic for the majority to assimilate the culture of the minority. In the media and personally, the image of Asian Americans, who have been treated politely by Americans, has become the subject of racist slurs and insults. According to Gwen's statement, I am a Japanese, the interviewer's Asian American expressed a sense of discomfort, because she is a true Asian who lives in the United States and is a minority. She has had a completely different experience from Gwen, a white woman who clearly belongs to the premium class, so I thought Gwen's statement was unpleasant. In fact, a white woman like Gwen does not face the real danger of living in the United States as an Asian American. The fact that she does not care about the influence of Asian Americans, and that she worships Asians to enhance her image, probably made the problem bigger. By the way, how did the Japanese react to Gwen's statement? In January 2023, Al Jazeera, the Middle East Satellite Agency, took up the controversy surrounding Gwen's statement. The media such as CNN, Guardian, CBS, ABC, NBC, BuzzFeed, etc. reported on the content of the interviewer and the controversy on social media, but the Japanese themselves did not deal with it. The same agency interviewed Japanese living in Japan to find out what the Japanese themselves think of the issue. What they found was that the Japanese themselves did not see it as cultural appropriation, and that they were confused by this argument. In other words, the Japanese thought that Gwen's statement was not a big problem. So, are the Japanese completely unrelated to this issue? To judge that, we must first understand what cultural appropriation is. Cultural appropriation is a complex and complex theme, and it changes depending on the context. However, many media try to simplify this issue and explain it, and the danger of it becomes vague and is lost. Megan Rose, a professor at the University of New South Wales, who studies the interaction between social justice, politics, art, and the media, said that Gwen's statement symbolizes the issue of cultural appropriation. For example, Gwen said in an interview, If people try to criticize me for loving beautiful things and sharing them, I don't think that's right. That was a beautiful era of creativity. It was a time of pinpon competition between Harajuku culture and American culture. It is said that it is good to be inspired by other cultures. However, the professor pointed out that the relationship between cultures was not a pinpon match. The premise of this argument is that there is a fair field between Gwen and the Harajuku girls, but it was not actually a fair match. In past concerts, Gwen wore Harajuku girls' school uniforms and made them bow their heads and raise their skirts to worship her. This is not a fair relationship between the two, and the stereotype of Orientalism, which has been cultivated in the United States for many years, is the stereotype of Harajuku girls. Also, the performance that she believes is the love for Japanese culture is a very negative stereotype that Harajuku girls are vulgar, childish, and insolent. On the other hand, Mr. Haruka Kurebayashi, who is an artist and a fashion model, and is in charge of overseas research on cute culture, said that Japanese people are indifferent to the fact that their own culture is being misused. Many Japanese people do not know Gwen, and they are used to foreigners misunderstanding Japanese culture. Models, artists, and weird kanji tattoos that wear kimono are all misunderstandings of foreigners. But I am glad that they all do it because they like Japan, and I hope they are not vulgar. Many Japanese people who live in Japan have never been discriminated against, and they are not afraid of being misused of their culture and rights. That's why Japanese people are not interested in the misuse of discrimination and culture. So, isn't there a misuse of American culture by Japanese people? About this, Mr. Reishi Taionji, a writer who pursues cute culture, said that the misuse of American culture by Japanese people is reminiscent of the locality boom from the 1950s to the 1960s. Japan, which was rebuilt from a poor era after the war, must have had a great admiration for the glittering American culture at that time. Also, even today, people who are addicted to American culture such as hip-hop and rap pronounce Japanese like English to get closer to Americans, and they call the clothes of Dabo-dabo as brother-type. Whether these people are addicted to the misuse of American culture is the judgment criteria of the birth of love. Thinking about the possibility that their activities may hurt people from outside the United States community, whether they talk to them directly about it, or whether they have an environment where they can work together, is different from the misuse of American culture. It is not a problem to pretend to know only superficial and common knowledge, or to make fun of it. That's what he explained. About the misuse of American culture by Japanese people, it has become a hot topic on the overseas web page, and there are various comments from foreign net users, so I will introduce some of them. Overseas reaction Most of the people who are talking about this are a specific group in the United States. They have never faced a real adversity in their life, so they just want something to happen, and they are just giving speeches of minorities. Among Asian Americans, there are people who show intense anger at the misuse of culture. This is probably because Asian Americans, who were bullied as children, suddenly became cool, and they feel bitter about being raised by people who made fun of them. My sister was bullied because she looked Asian, and she has become sensitive to such things. I remember that Katy Perry won a music award and had a performance of a performer named Maiko. But the Japanese people who were interviewed about it answered that they were happy that Japanese culture was evaluated abroad. The misuse of culture is one of the annoying concepts in modern society. If someone accepts the culture of another country while advocating for equality and diversity, there will be misunderstandings as if it is a misuse of culture. I think Gwen's case is not a misuse of culture, but love. I didn't have to express myself as a Japanese person because I was influenced by Japanese culture. I like Gwen, but I think it's better to speak carefully. It doesn't matter what other people think because it's all about how Japanese people feel. The media may want to beat Japanese people, but Japanese people don't get angry about that. Most Asians don't care about the misuse of culture. Yes, this is a very American problem. Summary It is absolutely unforgivable to be told that I am Japanese to avoid doing bad things like some country. I think it's a big problem to become a Japanese person and do bad things. However, I don't think it's a big problem If I were a Japanese person, most Japanese people would be very welcome. Everyone thinks, Thank you for respecting me for being respectful to Japanese culture. I hope Gwen Stephanie will continue to love Japanese culture without being concerned about this problem. How was it? I would be happy if you could tell me your impressions in the comments. Please like and subscribe. Thank you for watching until the end. See you in the next video.