The two articles that I have chosen are Daniel Black's “Wearing Out Racial Discourse: Tokyo Street Fashion and Race as Style,” and Laura Miller's “Cute Masquerade and the Pimping of Japan.”
Both these articles display very similar characteristics that result in a connection with their arguments. Both authors through the articles display that there is an obsession with both of the fashion styles by the Japanese. The Kogyaru style according to Black: “becomes something that can be put on and taken off” (Black 247). From this it can be determined that the fashion style is a type of racial appearance that can be put on or removed whenever a person wanted; like a costume. This becomes an obsession for the Japanese, as it is something that helped …show more content…
A connection that I see from both articles is the desire to emulate the west, and drift away from their own cultural values. In Black's article, he states: “It was the physical appearance of the body that served to fix the Japanese within a particular racial category” (Black 246). The Japanese were looking to mimic the perceptions of the west because they must have believed that it would make them feel superior being “westernized.” In Miller's article, an old man reported that he saw girls dressed in Sweet Lolita style, and according to him, they were trying desperately to look like European dolls (Miller 25). Both articles connect each other in the sense that the two styles that the authors are discussing involve mimicking western styles; trying to perceive themselves as modernized through these physical transformations. At the same time, both authors also mention that the styles also show a sense of identity. It is as if the Japanese wanted to copy western styles and alter them in order to develop their own way of identifying themselves. Black states: “Western constructions of blackness are yet another brand like whiteness or westernness, for purchase in the Japanese perennial quest for identity” (Black 249). The Japanese were attempting to gain influence from the west in order to find their own identity. Again, perhaps they did this because they believed it would also bring upon modernization for their society. As Miller says, “Cool Japan tells the story of fantasies and identities” (Miller 27). So it is possible that the Japanese had fantasies about distinctively identifying themselves, and they were capable of accomplishing that from the influences of the
Both these articles display very similar characteristics that result in a connection with their arguments. Both authors through the articles display that there is an obsession with both of the fashion styles by the Japanese. The Kogyaru style according to Black: “becomes something that can be put on and taken off” (Black 247). From this it can be determined that the fashion style is a type of racial appearance that can be put on or removed whenever a person wanted; like a costume. This becomes an obsession for the Japanese, as it is something that helped …show more content…
A connection that I see from both articles is the desire to emulate the west, and drift away from their own cultural values. In Black's article, he states: “It was the physical appearance of the body that served to fix the Japanese within a particular racial category” (Black 246). The Japanese were looking to mimic the perceptions of the west because they must have believed that it would make them feel superior being “westernized.” In Miller's article, an old man reported that he saw girls dressed in Sweet Lolita style, and according to him, they were trying desperately to look like European dolls (Miller 25). Both articles connect each other in the sense that the two styles that the authors are discussing involve mimicking western styles; trying to perceive themselves as modernized through these physical transformations. At the same time, both authors also mention that the styles also show a sense of identity. It is as if the Japanese wanted to copy western styles and alter them in order to develop their own way of identifying themselves. Black states: “Western constructions of blackness are yet another brand like whiteness or westernness, for purchase in the Japanese perennial quest for identity” (Black 249). The Japanese were attempting to gain influence from the west in order to find their own identity. Again, perhaps they did this because they believed it would also bring upon modernization for their society. As Miller says, “Cool Japan tells the story of fantasies and identities” (Miller 27). So it is possible that the Japanese had fantasies about distinctively identifying themselves, and they were capable of accomplishing that from the influences of the