June 8th, 2017
A MAID AND A COP—AKIHABARA EXPERIENCE PT 1
Anime Relations: Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
https://somebodymonologue.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/a-maid-and-a-cop-akihabara-experience-pt-1/
Maid cafe has been an integral part of Japanese culture. For those who are not really familiar with it, a maid cafe is basically a subcategory of cosplay restaurants predominately seen in Japan. Customers go there and pay money to be treated as ‘masters’ by the waitresses who dress up and act as ‘maids’. I believed that—after having watched numerous animes, mangas and youtube videos of real-life maid cafe experience—I understood how strongly engraved this maid cafe is in Japanese culture.
Well, I recently toured Akihabara for a few days with my buddies, and the first night taught me that I had underestimated the influence of maid cafes in Japan.
I was just strolling through the street around 9-10pm. In comparison to the number of maids on the street during the morning and afternoon time, the number during nighttime was quite higher. Every 3-4 minutes, you would spot a maid putting on a smile and handing out flyers. Occasionally, you might see one with a gruntled expression (still not sure whether the maid was being genuine or acting as a ‘tsundere maid’). Well, my eyes gradually became accustomed to seeing maids and men of different ages approaching them.
But I was caught off guard a bit when I saw a maid and a cop talking to each other.
I was slightly concerned for the maid girl and wondered just what she had done. After a moment of scrutiny, I realized that my concern was for naught: the policeman was a customer.
Watching a fully grown police officer trying to hit on a middle/ high school maid girl during night time unsettled me. The girl simply smiled back and responded politely, but I doubted that her behavior likely reflected her actual thoughts and emotions. What unnerved me even more was that people nearby treated the situation, as if it was completely normal and routine. Well, I didn’t really expect somebody to interrupt the conversation between these two, but the way that people easily dismissed this scene was a bit…unexpected. That’s when I realized that the culture of maid cafe is much more deeply rooted in Japanese society than I had expected.
And I was not sure of how to feel about this whole matter.
If one enjoys visiting a maid cafe, the stigma of having gone to the place will remain with the person. This is because the whole scene just appears ‘sad’. The person is basically paying money to derive happiness from the temporary illusion of relationships. The connections these customers feel to have gained are not genuine.
Nevertheless, as I glanced at a middle-aged policeman talking to a young maid, I couldn’t help but feel some empathy towards the guy. To feel wanted, to experience a sense of belonging and thus happiness; is this desire not universal? The only difference between some of us and the man is that the latter was resorting to a maid cafe. Certainly, the bonds he makes there might not be genuine, and we could argue that his happiness is fake.
But who are we to judge?
Let me first clarify that I am not a fan of a maid cafe. However, I felt that the police officer’s desire to take a break from reality through a maid cafe is somewhat similar to our desire to do the same through animes and mangas. Also, I felt that he was more respect-worthy than me and some otakus in a way. While we claim to love the mediums known as animes and mangas, we are reluctant to pay for them. Instead, we enjoy them for free through stream and online versions. On the other hand, the police officer and other customers of maid cafe most likely pay in return for the means of their happiness.
Also, from an utilitarian’s point of view, the police officer and others are minding their own businesses. Basically, they are not inflicting any harm or unhappiness on others. Well, this is under the assumption that they have self-control. Just like how otakus enjoy their animes and mangas without bothering others, these people are not bothering anyone. They are not imposing their values on others and are just minding their own businesses. Also, the girls volunteered to be maids themselves in order to get paid. Nobody was being forced to do anything.
Yet, I still felt somewhat bothered by the scene of a cop talking to a young maid around my age at night time.
And this emotional response made me feel slight self-contempt, as I realized my hypocrisy. Despite telling others to not look down on animes and mangas due to social prejudice, I—on the other hand—was subconsciously doing the exact same thing I have been telling others to not to do.
Well, in the end, I just walked away like the rest of the crowd. The ‘maid’ girl seemed fine, as if this was not the first time. Who knows? Maybe the police officer was her routine customer or something. And this kind of circumstance probably pops up more than I have thought.
After all is said, I will likely not visit any maid cafe. I prefer genuine and substantial relationships to cheap, fake bonds that can be established with money. If you want to try visiting it for the sake of experience, I see no problem with it. However, if you grow to be dependent on the alluring services and sweet words of maid cafes in the long-run…well, I don’t think I can respect that, regardless of the social prejudice and other elements.
And yeah, that is how my first night in Akihabara ended.
So what do you think about maid cafe culture in general?
And would you have done something different from me?
Maid cafe has been an integral part of Japanese culture. For those who are not really familiar with it, a maid cafe is basically a subcategory of cosplay restaurants predominately seen in Japan. Customers go there and pay money to be treated as ‘masters’ by the waitresses who dress up and act as ‘maids’. I believed that—after having watched numerous animes, mangas and youtube videos of real-life maid cafe experience—I understood how strongly engraved this maid cafe is in Japanese culture.
Well, I recently toured Akihabara for a few days with my buddies, and the first night taught me that I had underestimated the influence of maid cafes in Japan.
I was just strolling through the street around 9-10pm. In comparison to the number of maids on the street during the morning and afternoon time, the number during nighttime was quite higher. Every 3-4 minutes, you would spot a maid putting on a smile and handing out flyers. Occasionally, you might see one with a gruntled expression (still not sure whether the maid was being genuine or acting as a ‘tsundere maid’). Well, my eyes gradually became accustomed to seeing maids and men of different ages approaching them.
But I was caught off guard a bit when I saw a maid and a cop talking to each other.
I was slightly concerned for the maid girl and wondered just what she had done. After a moment of scrutiny, I realized that my concern was for naught: the policeman was a customer.
Watching a fully grown police officer trying to hit on a middle/ high school maid girl during night time unsettled me. The girl simply smiled back and responded politely, but I doubted that her behavior likely reflected her actual thoughts and emotions. What unnerved me even more was that people nearby treated the situation, as if it was completely normal and routine. Well, I didn’t really expect somebody to interrupt the conversation between these two, but the way that people easily dismissed this scene was a bit…unexpected. That’s when I realized that the culture of maid cafe is much more deeply rooted in Japanese society than I had expected.
And I was not sure of how to feel about this whole matter.
If one enjoys visiting a maid cafe, the stigma of having gone to the place will remain with the person. This is because the whole scene just appears ‘sad’. The person is basically paying money to derive happiness from the temporary illusion of relationships. The connections these customers feel to have gained are not genuine.
Nevertheless, as I glanced at a middle-aged policeman talking to a young maid, I couldn’t help but feel some empathy towards the guy. To feel wanted, to experience a sense of belonging and thus happiness; is this desire not universal? The only difference between some of us and the man is that the latter was resorting to a maid cafe. Certainly, the bonds he makes there might not be genuine, and we could argue that his happiness is fake.
But who are we to judge?
Let me first clarify that I am not a fan of a maid cafe. However, I felt that the police officer’s desire to take a break from reality through a maid cafe is somewhat similar to our desire to do the same through animes and mangas. Also, I felt that he was more respect-worthy than me and some otakus in a way. While we claim to love the mediums known as animes and mangas, we are reluctant to pay for them. Instead, we enjoy them for free through stream and online versions. On the other hand, the police officer and other customers of maid cafe most likely pay in return for the means of their happiness.
Also, from an utilitarian’s point of view, the police officer and others are minding their own businesses. Basically, they are not inflicting any harm or unhappiness on others. Well, this is under the assumption that they have self-control. Just like how otakus enjoy their animes and mangas without bothering others, these people are not bothering anyone. They are not imposing their values on others and are just minding their own businesses. Also, the girls volunteered to be maids themselves in order to get paid. Nobody was being forced to do anything.
Yet, I still felt somewhat bothered by the scene of a cop talking to a young maid around my age at night time.
And this emotional response made me feel slight self-contempt, as I realized my hypocrisy. Despite telling others to not look down on animes and mangas due to social prejudice, I—on the other hand—was subconsciously doing the exact same thing I have been telling others to not to do.
Well, in the end, I just walked away like the rest of the crowd. The ‘maid’ girl seemed fine, as if this was not the first time. Who knows? Maybe the police officer was her routine customer or something. And this kind of circumstance probably pops up more than I have thought.
After all is said, I will likely not visit any maid cafe. I prefer genuine and substantial relationships to cheap, fake bonds that can be established with money. If you want to try visiting it for the sake of experience, I see no problem with it. However, if you grow to be dependent on the alluring services and sweet words of maid cafes in the long-run…well, I don’t think I can respect that, regardless of the social prejudice and other elements.
And yeah, that is how my first night in Akihabara ended.
So what do you think about maid cafe culture in general?
And would you have done something different from me?
Posted by Glasses-Kun78 | Jun 8, 2017 8:45 PM | 0 comments
June 7th, 2017
DO JAPANESE ANIME AND MANGA PROMOTE PEDOPHILIA?
Anime Relations: Bakemonogatari, Mujaki no Rakuen
“My desire is to put all pedophiles and ones who produce pedophilic media in jail.”
-Stacey Dooley in her documentary “Young Sex for Sale in Japan”
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On March 6th, 2017, a British journalist Stacey Dooley from BBC claimed that anime and manga promote pedophilia. This statement was made in her documentary titled “Young Sex for Sale in Japan.” For those who are unaware, one of the social issues that Japanese community faces today is Enjo Kosai, which also means compensated dating. It refers to the older men providing money and/or gifts to teen girls in return for their sexual favors. Dooley insinuated that anime and manga likely have been exacerbating this issue, as they promote pedophilia and portray them as normal…
In response to Dooley’s accusation, several youtubers, such as appabend and Anime man, uploaded their response videos, which basically dismiss Dooley. And while I do completely agree with them and certainly feel vexed towards Dooley’s misunderstanding, I cannot really blame her for it.
Regardless of how amazing both anime and manga are as mediums of storytelling, it is indisputable that young girls are often illustrated in sexual manners in both anime and manga. Off the top of my head, I can think of some.
Anime: Kodomo no jikan (everyone), Bakemonogatari (Koyomi’s relationship with Hachikuji), No game no life (fyi,Shiro is 11yrs old ), black bullet( almost everyone ), Seirei tsukai no blade dance (Est=debatable), etc.
Manga: Mujaki no
rakuen (everyone), etc…
*I will stop here…
While some might take this matter of sexualization very seriously, others might not. Some might feel disgusted by it; some might have grown accustomed to such aspect of anime and maybe enjoy it. Referring to Bakemonogatari series from the anime list above, the relationship between a protagonist Koyomi Araragi and a little girl named Hachikuji is a perfect paradigm. People new to anime and manga will likely be freaked out; when I showed the clip to my friends who weren’t familiar with anime, the value of my reputation stock declined steeply in an instant. On the other hand, when I showed it to my anime buddies, we just had a good laugh…. With the knowledge of the context and understanding of what kind of story this series as a whole has, a viewer can see this clip differently and form an unique interpretation of how this reinforces the two characters’ genuine and personal relationship.
Read more at: https://somebodymonologue.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/do-japanese-anime-and-manga-promote-pedophilia/
-Stacey Dooley in her documentary “Young Sex for Sale in Japan”
30d1afb23b6987a33297c4f8cc8d436c
On March 6th, 2017, a British journalist Stacey Dooley from BBC claimed that anime and manga promote pedophilia. This statement was made in her documentary titled “Young Sex for Sale in Japan.” For those who are unaware, one of the social issues that Japanese community faces today is Enjo Kosai, which also means compensated dating. It refers to the older men providing money and/or gifts to teen girls in return for their sexual favors. Dooley insinuated that anime and manga likely have been exacerbating this issue, as they promote pedophilia and portray them as normal…
In response to Dooley’s accusation, several youtubers, such as appabend and Anime man, uploaded their response videos, which basically dismiss Dooley. And while I do completely agree with them and certainly feel vexed towards Dooley’s misunderstanding, I cannot really blame her for it.
Regardless of how amazing both anime and manga are as mediums of storytelling, it is indisputable that young girls are often illustrated in sexual manners in both anime and manga. Off the top of my head, I can think of some.
Anime: Kodomo no jikan (everyone), Bakemonogatari (Koyomi’s relationship with Hachikuji), No game no life (fyi,Shiro is 11yrs old ), black bullet( almost everyone ), Seirei tsukai no blade dance (Est=debatable), etc.
Manga: Mujaki no
rakuen (everyone), etc…
*I will stop here…
While some might take this matter of sexualization very seriously, others might not. Some might feel disgusted by it; some might have grown accustomed to such aspect of anime and maybe enjoy it. Referring to Bakemonogatari series from the anime list above, the relationship between a protagonist Koyomi Araragi and a little girl named Hachikuji is a perfect paradigm. People new to anime and manga will likely be freaked out; when I showed the clip to my friends who weren’t familiar with anime, the value of my reputation stock declined steeply in an instant. On the other hand, when I showed it to my anime buddies, we just had a good laugh…. With the knowledge of the context and understanding of what kind of story this series as a whole has, a viewer can see this clip differently and form an unique interpretation of how this reinforces the two characters’ genuine and personal relationship.
Read more at: https://somebodymonologue.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/do-japanese-anime-and-manga-promote-pedophilia/
Posted by Glasses-Kun78 | Jun 7, 2017 3:42 AM | 0 comments
Can anime teach us something about discrimination?
Anime Relations: Demi-chan wa Kataritai
Discrimination—prejudicial treatment of different categories of people— is not limited to race, age or sex. There can also be a form discrimination against others based on their hobbies (gaming and watching anime), disability, social classes or other aspects. If we spot somebody being discriminated against, it would probably leave a negative impression on us. In fact, the term ‘Discrimination’ has a negative connotation. That is why a show named ‘Demi-chan wa kataritai’—Interviews with Monster Girls—made an indelible impression on me, when it made me consider a new way of viewing discrimination.
Firstly, the story plot goes somewhat like this:
“This story begins in the age where ‘demi-humans’ which is humans with some sort of special power have been accepted into modern civilization. Tetsuo Takahashi who is a biology teacher wants to study demi-humans and his luck smiles at him and ends up in the same school as 4 of these demi-humans. The story follows as he tries to ‘interview’ these demi-humans and learn more about them but with a lot of failure on his end and comedy at its finest on the other end.”
As the summary stated, there are 4 demi-humans: Takanashi Hikari (a cheerful blonde vampire), Machi Kyouko (a kind dullahan), Kusakabe Yuki (a cute yuki-onna) and Satou Sakie (a succubus teacher…yes). Although this show might initially come across as just a cute show with cute girls doing cute things, it actually brings more to the table than that.
Every demi-character has her own struggle, which stems from her demi-human characteristics. All of their individual arcs are engrossing. Especially the yuki-onna Kusakabe’s. We see her get bullied by her peers due to an unfortunate misunderstanding and watch her gradually develop self-contempt. The way her problem was resolved made me tear up a bit; I usually don’t feel so emotionally emphatic towards a fictional character, but the resolution scene felt so sincere, heartwarming and realistic that I could not help it. No spoiler, you guys can check it out. Overall, the demi-girls’ predicaments reinforced the negative connotation associated with discrimination and I thought it was done splendidly well.
See more at: https://somebodymonologue.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/what-if-discrimination-is-inevitable/
Firstly, the story plot goes somewhat like this:
“This story begins in the age where ‘demi-humans’ which is humans with some sort of special power have been accepted into modern civilization. Tetsuo Takahashi who is a biology teacher wants to study demi-humans and his luck smiles at him and ends up in the same school as 4 of these demi-humans. The story follows as he tries to ‘interview’ these demi-humans and learn more about them but with a lot of failure on his end and comedy at its finest on the other end.”
As the summary stated, there are 4 demi-humans: Takanashi Hikari (a cheerful blonde vampire), Machi Kyouko (a kind dullahan), Kusakabe Yuki (a cute yuki-onna) and Satou Sakie (a succubus teacher…yes). Although this show might initially come across as just a cute show with cute girls doing cute things, it actually brings more to the table than that.
Every demi-character has her own struggle, which stems from her demi-human characteristics. All of their individual arcs are engrossing. Especially the yuki-onna Kusakabe’s. We see her get bullied by her peers due to an unfortunate misunderstanding and watch her gradually develop self-contempt. The way her problem was resolved made me tear up a bit; I usually don’t feel so emotionally emphatic towards a fictional character, but the resolution scene felt so sincere, heartwarming and realistic that I could not help it. No spoiler, you guys can check it out. Overall, the demi-girls’ predicaments reinforced the negative connotation associated with discrimination and I thought it was done splendidly well.
See more at: https://somebodymonologue.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/what-if-discrimination-is-inevitable/
Posted by Glasses-Kun78 | Jun 7, 2017 3:41 AM | 0 comments