An American dad in Tokyo obsesses, in Business Week, of all places, about the effect of kawaii culture on his two young daughters. What upsets the writer is that Japanese porn appropriates images from children’s popular culture.
I started to project 15 years ahead and see Elena and Marie in their twenties, hanging around Shibuya (a youth fashion conclave in central Tokyo) in school uniforms, with Hello, Kitty pendants dangling from their mobile phones, sending out cute vibes to get the attention of creepy guys.
His Japanese wife sets him straight:
She accused me of cultural arrogance for obsessing on Japan’s quirky side but ignoring that kids in the U.S. are overwhelmed with far more graphic representations of sexual desire than kids here are.
after which he concludes that with a strong role model like her around the house, maybe he doesn’t have to worry so much.
I don’t think that kid culture/porn culture crossover happens as much in the U.S. (it does happen, but it’s not as visible or as ubiquitous). It’s disturbing that at first glance, kid manga and adult manga look a lot alike. I think that makes American adults a little suspicious of the whole genre; one of the reasons I started the manga4kids website was to help them make the distinctions.
