The Financial Times serves up Kamikaze kittens (love that hed), a thoughtful essay on the Japanese penchant for juxtaposing cuteness with sex and violence. Writer Andrew Lee links the dark side of kawaii/manga/anime culture to recent events, including the recession of the 1990s, the Kobe earthquake, the gassing of the Tokyo subways, and the recent trend of internet suicide pacts. He does his homework, talking to several artists working on the thin line between art and pop culture.
In view of the recent discussion of the role of girls/women in manga, I thought this comment by manga novelist Junko Mizuno was particularly revealing:
”Japanese people like the image of a ‘strong/weak’ character,” she tells me when I ask about the trend of schoolgirls with swords. “For example in Sumo, if a very small sumo wrestler is able to beat a bigger sumo wrestler he is very popular. So the idea of women who look weak but are actually very strong is very popular in Japan.” So is this evidence that women are getting more powerful while the men remain childlike? “I think that women have actually gotten stronger,” she says. “But looking at the manga drawn by men lately, I think they seem to be in a state of struggle or are confused.”
