FINAL ESSAY music 2: Folk Song Club

Blake Foster

Winter Quarter Japan Exchange 2010-2011

Final Report: Folk Song Club

In order to gain the trust and mutual friendship of Japanese people, the most important factor is often time. While there are many open-minded Japanese who befriend people quickly and are able to be open with their emotions, many Japanese tend to be more reserved around new acquaintances. This cultural trait can be perplexing and frustrating to non-Japanese, even if they are familiar with Japanese culture. Becoming more close to the Folk Song Club proved to be a long process, but by the end of the exchange I had been overall accepted into the Folk Song circle. Not until the end of the exchange did I feel like an actual member rather than a tourist. Through my experiences with the Folk Song Club I learned about Japanese college culture and about Japanese music. Each quarter spent with the club brought a greater understanding as to what the club means and how it relates to Japanese society as a whole. Now that a year has passed since learning about the club and enjoying it, I can reflect on what these experiences and better comprehend what I have learned about Japan through my year-long exchange in Kobe.

Toward the beginning of joining the club, I was aware of the differences in seniority for club members, but the weight of the relationships between junior and senior members was not apparent due to the lack of rigid organization and structure to the club and the openness of its members. Members of any year level in the club would fraternize with one another, blurring the lines that are clearly visible in stricter clubs such as baseball (which has an almost military-like conduct, particularly for high school baseball clubs) and other sports clubs in Japan. When the Folk Song Club played a show in the clubroom on campus to attract students who were entering as first year students at the university, a group of members played a cover set of the UK band Arctic Monkeys. Since I was a huge fan of that band I was eager to hear the covers. A third-year club member, known for his stern and somewhat irritable temperament, was doing vocals while on guitar, and as I sang along to his muffled singing another third-year member grabbed a microphone and handed it to me so that I could actually sing, which I did, prompting the singer on guitar to apathetically give up the role. At the time I thought little of this, as Japanese, in a music setting, will commonly call out a foreigner in an entirely Japanese group of people. Toward the end of the exchange, I found out that many club members were left with a huge impression of that one event, and it shaped their impression of me in the club from thereon. Many were shocked in amusement, likely because a senior member's performance was suddenly interrupted by a new member (not to mention a foreign new member). The fact that I did not consider how seemingly small actions could be viewed through the eyes of the club members showed how ignorant I was about the importance of club cultures in Japan.

Understanding how school clubs guide Japanese youth came through several important events in the Folk Song Club. Before this quarter, events like the club's summer trip to Nagano prefecture, where the second year students are chosen to be the next club management into their third year of membership, and the school festival in early November where third year members retire the positions to the new management, the passing of membership creates important relationships that last well beyond members actually graduating from the university.

In a society that still strongly adheres to Confucian roots, freshmen students entering a club that has its own ranks and culture becomes an important right of passage. Younger members are able to make friends with members four or five years older than them, and the system of respect (such as using honorific language to speak to senior members) facilitates this bond. Though the membership to the club creates an instantaneous bond between members, the forging of relationships between first, second and third year members takes about half a year. That is why events like the summer trip are important; their purpose is to thin the lines between class levels and create stronger friendships. Although members of all year levels tend to create close relationships individually, the first and second year levels often form the closest bonds overall. Since third year members are the management at the beginning of first year students' membership, the level of respect they receive can sometimes create distance, and forth year members are often absent from club meetings overall, which limits the amount of time they spend with first year members.

In order to bring lower-year members closer to forth year members, there are two important events to the club in March. Because March is when forth year students graduate from school (which is some of them, compared to the members who are on their fifth or sixth year at the university), it is assumed that they will become too busy to play with the club anymore (even though many members withhold from seeking full employment, work part time, and still sometimes play shows with the Folk Song Club), and thus an event is held where club members congregate at “Round 1”, a popular chain amusement center with bowling, karaoke and other activities, and have bowling tournaments in teams, each team including a forth year member and one member from each year below that (making teams of four people). While many first year members have interacted with many of the forth year members, this event encourages forging a stronger bond before they graduate from school. The night of bowling is followed by two after-parties until 5am the next morning. Often times members forth year and above know little of the first year members, even so much as their names, so the event at least familiarizes members on some level.

The second event that celebrates the forth-year graduating members is the Graduation Concert (卒コン, sotsukon), a concert that has bands formed of at least one forth-year member as their final official concert in the club (some members still come back to play with the club after this). The event is held in high regard by all younger members, and their effort to cheer and support the forth-year members is evident. The effort in supporting the club became even more clear in the face of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis that devastated Japan, with the concert being held the next day. Second-year members in charge of management made sure to use social networking sites like Mixi to encourage members not to forget about the importance of the concert even at a time of national crisis. While the club's activities may seem frivolous and inappropriate in a time of great mourning, the obligations and dedication to the club and its members withstood the darkened atmosphere. While there was some sense of gloom during the day of the concert, members did their best to focus on carrying the event on and enjoying it.

All the bands that performed were at their highest level, with a much more organized and focused effort than other club events. Most bands were standard four to five piece bands, but there were some acoustic sets and one video presentation by a fifth-year member paired with Katsura, who made a rare appearance and played guitar to accompany the video that the member created. The video was met with puzzlement, but the guitar-playing was well-regarded by younger members who had never seen effect-pedals utilized creatively by members of the club. Elaborate performances had other visual presentations and rotating players, commemorating all the forth-year members as a part of the set. Many members openly weeped while playing, showing the level of emotion vested into the event, and that crying at a final occasion is almost an obligation for Japanese people. The after-parties extended into the early hours of the morning as well, with members drinking with reckless abandon for their farewell.

The day of graduation ceremonies itself also includes a club drinking event, which I was unable to attend as I had already returned to the states. The entire month of March is almost dedicated to the graduating class, with three major events, two that I attended. The following month of April, which I originally wrote about at the beginning of the exchange, will be marked by next generation of club members. With the culture of the club, a sense of nostalgia and worth comes with each new generation of members, a culture that is uniquely Japanese. The way in which many members uphold the respect for senior members proves just how important the club is, as many of these relationships carry on long after members graduate.

Something unique in the first and second year members of the Folk Song Club of this last year was their willingness to cooperate and hold events with members of the Keiongaku club, a much more serious-minded club in terms of its events and activities, which was the reason for members breaking off and forming the Folk Song Club long ago at the University of Hyogo. The Keiongaku club stresses members to be skilled in their instruments and parts in order to become better musicians, and a lack of skill in some players can lead them to feel alienated and useless in the club setting. The Folk Song Club, however, attempts to value all members regardless of their skill level and provides a more inclusive atmosphere. Older club members tend to have less ties between the clubs, but the first and second year members performed in four or five joint-live concerts with the clubs and other music clubs from neighboring schools. Personally, these events were more interesting that Folk Song-exclusive events due to the variety of people and personalities. The atmosphere of certain clubs tends to reflect the personalities of its members, and the mixture of different clubs in concerts and their inevitable drunker after-parties provide a look at the diversified but strongly prevalent music club culture in Japanese universities.

In mid-February, a large joint-live event took place in Sannomiya with several different university clubs in attendance. As I mention in the essay “Original Music in the Kobe/Osaka Area”, one band played original music, the low-point of the show. Other than that, however, there were several talented bands doing a variety of covers, including an Iron Maiden cover that included a half-Japanese guitarist (whose father was Japanese and mother American, a welcome change to the stereotypical but common ex-pat/war-bride scenario) and a bassist playing a 5-string that pulled off one of the tougher bass-solos with spot-on precision, and a Japanese singer taking the English vocals with surprisingly clear pronunciation (this band came from the University of Hyogo's neighboring University of Foreign Languages, which I mentioned in the fall quarter when writing about school festivals). The Folk Song Club performed with over ten members, being comprised of a large brass section including one member from the Keiongaku club in the brass section, and three vocalists covering a Japanese hip-hop group. In the middle of the performances there was also a Japanese haiku contest with a Valentine's Day theme (the theme was receiving a gift from a girlfriend on Valentine's Day and returning the favor on the Japanese holiday White Day, a holiday in which males return the favor of Valentine's Day on March 14th), in which I entered an innuendo-laden haiku that was worded with the help of Katsura, which inevitably lost due to the audience's mixture of embarrassed laughs and silent puzzlement. The after-party, only lasting till 10pm, was especially raucous and loud, mainly from the Folk Song and Keiongaku clubs and their interaction involving the ever-popular male-on-male kissing dares that preludes binge drinking (a cultural aspect that is commonplace in Japan but nearly unthinkable in the more homophobic United States).

With all of these interactions between older Folk Song members and the joint-live shows with the Keion Club, I was able to become well-known with many of the club members. Through music and alcohol, I, a foreign exchange student was able to be accepted into the club cultures. While not the only foreign member of the Folk Song Club (I introduced a Chinese student into the club, and she performed at the Folk Song's Winter Concert event), I certainly stood out in the sense of being American and inevitably connected to the Western culture of music that many Japanese are fans of. When my American friend, a guitarist who performs original music with me, came to visit in late January, he too struck a chord with the Folk Song Club through his guitar skills and general knowledge of music. Present at the Winter Concert (even coming on stage to perform one of our original songs at the end of the set that I took part in, my final performance for The Folk Song Club), he impressed club members with his knowledge of music (he pointed out by ear that one girl who was tuning her guitar into a drop-D tuning was still tuned incorrectly) and sound, and joined the club for the after-party with a warm welcome by many of the older Folk Song members, who deemed him a member of the club even in his brief presence (his name was even called once when taking attendance at a club meeting afterward). He interacted well with other guitarists, many of whom in turn came to our performance at the Jam Jam Cafe when we did our original work (as mentioned in the essay about original music). These interactions showed how well members of the club can interact inter-culturally through music.

In terms of my membership, the feeling of being an actual member of the club was solidified by a surprise farewell celebration in early March. The members created a DVD video with goodbye messages from many of the members, thanking me for being a member and bidding farewell. The farewell party itself was very Japanese in nature, in that there was a final speech time given to me following all the attending members singing a traditional sentimental Japanese song (sang at farewell occasions such as high school graduations) in a chorus, with the club leader egging on everyone to “make Blake cry!”

Even with the amount of time it took to gain a real sense of place in the Folk Song Club, and the cultural miscommunications and disagreements that occurred along the way, even members who initially reacted coldly or in offense to my presence (one girl told me directly that she did not like me at all at first, but that now she did) began to warm up to me (the cynical side of me says it was because I was about to leave). Because the culture of the club is both open and loose but at the same time sensitive and quite serious about the club, I misread the nature of the club at first, and my understanding took time and patience. In the end, however, the experience was both rewarding on a personal and educational level. I was able to fulfill my objective of learning about music culture for younger Japanese, particularly college students, and how club activities build an important part of their lives. Just as I was lucky enough to experience Japanese high school, experiencing a club like Folk Song provided a similar insight into a culture that really requires direct experience to appreciate and understand. More than simply playing music, the Folk Song Club creates a social group atmosphere that facilitates long-lasting bonds through music.

FINAL ESSAY (culture credits): Women In Japan

Blake Foster

Winter Quarter Japan Exchange 2010-2011

Women In Japan

To quantify Japan as a male-dominated culture would be accurate, but at the same time missing a bigger picture of the culture itself. The way in which Japanese people interact with the opposite sex remains traditional even after feminist movements in Japanese have propelled women into higher societal positions than the role described in the old Japanese catchphrase “Good wife, wise mother”. Femininity and vulnerability remain desirable traits in women, and the effects of feminist movements have not influenced Japanese women to try and emulate their male counterparts. Homemaking is still highly-regarded and virtuous on some level, even as women entering the workforce makes it difficult to settle into a traditional marriage lifestyle, which is still sought after by Japanese men. The view of sexuality and gender roles in Japan makes some behavior and interactions that would be deemed sexist and reprehensible in American culture appear normal and acceptable in many settings. This makes lawsuits for sexual harassment in the workplace a contentious debate, as some forms of behavior that are thought of as normal (many women who work office jobs have to tolerate or give in to their male superiors' advances or flirtations, on some level, in order to progress in the corporation) by men are progressively being viewed as unacceptable by young women (I admit, I cannot cite these claims directly other than what I have come to understand through personal experiences; I cannot claim this as a cultural norm and have no intention to). An example of how women are treated in group settings is from the Folk Song Club- one older female member is particularly well-endowed, and many male members jokingly make excuses to get a first-hand feel. Her response to it is embarrassment but not indignity. While nobody but the person can vow for how they feel about the situation, the amount of respect she receives in the club does not change in spite of the sexualization she receives from male members. In short, she does not seem to care. Female members who do care are not treated the same way and their personal space is respected. This behavior may not be all that uniquely Japanese, but the view on such behavior in the United States is somewhat of a contrast (I probably would be lynched for the type of spin I have already written in this paper by feminists at Evergreen). Another case came from meeting some students at a neighboring school next to the University of Hyogo, which was a group of male and female students. One of the male members of the group made sick and twisted jokes about one of the girl's bodies in front of everyone (funny because based on her actual appearance the jokes were baseless), which drew laughter from her and all the other group members, male and female alike. The two were probably dating and therefore made the jokes “appropriate”. If this occurred in the United States, however, I cannot imagine how offensive it would be to most people. The sexist nature of the situation seems like a big deal to an American witnessing it, but on appearance, the situation is normal to the Japanese. The normality of such gender relations brings into question its nature: are Japanese women in these situations being oppressed in a chauvinistic way, or is it simply how genders interact? How are women exploited in Japan? Dogmatic views on gender relations found both I conservative and progressive elements of American culture would dictate the answer, but in Japan's case, gender roles are not the same as they are in the United States and other Western civilizations. While I do not want to get into a full-on study about gender or feminism in Japan, there have been several aspects of Japanese culture and society that have provoked some thoughts about the subject.

First off is the adult entertainment and sex industry in Japan, or in broader terms, an industry of women being employed to entertain men in a variety of ways. This industry is an undeniable and integral part of Japanese society, particularly prevalent in Kobe, namely the Sannomiya area. Surely, the amount of pachinko parlors in Japan draws a connection between the gambling industry and sex industries (just as there is little wonder as to why prostitution is legal in Las Vegas). A common progression for Japanese men is to win big at pachinko and spend the money on adult services. While sex is the basis of these industries in Japan, it should not be confused as a simple matter of prostitution, as in a majority of situations, prostitution has nothing to do with the service being provided (I would like to explicitly state that I do not know about prostitution or these industries in Japan from experiencing it myself, but as the culture in Japan is so common it is hard not to learn about it through others, whether it be people met around Kobe or from people within school clubs like Folk Song). Just as the traditional geisha culture is often misrepresented as prostitution in Japanese history, the culture of women entertaining men still exists in Japan in many forms. Geisha were entertainers foremost, and not always there to provide sexual services to patrons. In this tradition, there are various types of bars and clubs that provide similar experiences.

The most common and flashy of these are Cabaret and Clubs (キャバクラ Kyabakura short for “Cabaret Club” in Japanese rendering). They are easy to recognize in their gaudy and exteriors and the amount of hosts and hostesses outside of them calling people to come in and spend money. These establishments advertise their rates outside, often charging a cover fee of 6,000 yen (around $60) for 60-90 minutes. In these clubs men pay the cover fee and are given private rooms where beautiful young women talk to them and flirt while coaxing the customers into buying expensive drink and food items for them off of menus. Most of these places have strict policies and do not allow anything beyond what the rules state. Many of the women who work at these places are only allowed to interact with customers within the work setting, and are not allowed to give out their actual contact information. In addition to being attractive to the eye, these women have to be entertaining and skilled in conversation in order to get a steady flow of customers. Although these clubs usually do not offer sexual services to customers, Japanese men, particularly salarymen, will drop loads of cash on these places when they are out on the town. I knew one girl who worked at a Cabaret at school, and she seemed embarrassed by the fact that she worked there, as the culture is generally frowned upon by Japanese society even with its massive presence in many large cities.

A step down in the pricing range and elaborateness of Cabaret are Girls Bars and Lounges. Both of these types of bars have beautiful women working at them to attract male customers, and have hourly charges in the form of “all-you-can-drink” specials that usually cost about 5,000 yen for an hour. Although all the girls usually work in one place, customers still can request their favorites to serve them while they are in the bar. Customers also request working girls to sing karaoke with them and sing themselves. These types are more popular for female college students, as they are generally safer and have less of a seedy reputation than the aforementioned Cabaret clubs. When I asked a girl from the Folk Song Club who worked at a Lounge in how it was different from Girls Bars, Cabaret and other adult services, she explained that it consists of sitting in the customers' laps and feeding them food by hand, among other things, but nothing overtly sexual. When I asked if she felt it was wrong that young girls are exploited in such jobs, she completely disagreed. She said that the money is good, and that uglier women can find jobs using their intellect and talents, and that pretty women can make their own money simply through their looks. The confidence in which she spoke about the type of work she did provided a counterpoint to how progressive-minded Westerners would typically view such work. Another girl from the Folk Song Club, however, who worked in a Girls Bar, hated a majority of her work, as the nature of it can be extremely stressful and tiring especially to a college student. She later quit working at the bar because of the stress.

A more traditional type of bar in Japanese culture are Snack Bars. While the aforementioned types of clubs and bars mainly exist in urban areas with much younger customer bases, Snack are located in more rural and residential areas and usually are visited by middle-aged to elderly men. These bars are run by women who work both the bar and sit and pour drinks for customers, offering conversation. These type of bars are generally considered the least ill-reputed in terms of the adult industry, as they often simply entail drinking with women. Customers also more commonly interact with the women outside of the bar setting as well. The women who work at Snack tend to vary in age from lower-middle age to college-age. The more conservative nature of Snack contrasts to the flashier and eroticized Cabaret.

These adult establishments offer men (there are also locations that cater to women and, undoubtedly, gay customers in that there are all-male Cabaret and Boys Bars) a chance to interact with women in a controlled environment, so that they know what to expect and can relax rather than trying to interact with the opposite sex through self-willed approach, as is often the case in the bar and club scenes in the United States and other Western countries. On the surface they appear exploitative of women, but to look at it in that way alone would ignore the intricacies of gender relations in Japan.

Another emerging trend that exists beyond the adult industry is the entertainment industry in Japan itself in its production of all-female musical groups such as AKB48. Originally formed in the electronics district of Akihabara in Tokyo, AKB48 has become a major cultural phenomenon in Japan. While similar groups came before, such as Morning Musume, the way that AKB is marketed captures not only a male fan base but a prominent female fan base who even look up to the members as role models. Beyond simply being pop idols, they are the voice of pop culture in Japan. Because of the popularity of AKB48, similar groups from Korea such as Girls Generation and Kara have gained massive followings in Japan. The music that these groups produce almost becomes secondary to the merchandising that includes DVDs and scantily-clad photo books that are sold. AKB also has a prominent following in Korea and other Asian countries, leading to a possible trend of trading girls as pop culture commodities as an industry. The reason for it being a trade comes from the fact that girls who become too old for the group are released from their contracts and younger girls are recruited, sometimes as young as ten years old, to be the next generation of the pop group. Their adolescence and young adult lives are consumed by touring and receiving the spotlight, and many ex-members who are less popular move into adult entertainment (many pornographic magazines advertise the debuts of former AKB members). More so than Cabaret and Girls Bars, this kind of industry does more to exploit women in that they are treated as products, tempting young girls into a life of stardom that usually only lasts temporarily, often depriving them of a normal childhood.

As a foreigner and a man I cannot attempt to understand what the women who work in these industries feel, and the amount of abuse and exploitation that undoubtedly goes on in the shadows. To demonize the culture as simply being chauvinistic and sexist, however, would be to miss the larger picture of gender relations in Japan. The conventions of gender roles may not work for all Japanese, just as they do not work for all peoples of any society, but the functions of these relations in society are still valued as an important part of Japanese culture by both women and men alike. Whereas feminism in the West might dismiss gender roles such as homemaking as a way of keeping women in a subservient position to men, the role in Japan is still well-respected. Television commercials in Japan would likely be deemed too sexist in their portrayal of gender roles, such as laundry detergent commercials portraying energetic women balancing their morning duties like making breakfast for the family, getting the children ready for school and taking care of the laundry. Even though the gender roles portrayed in Japanese society are still a basic part of the culture and society, the real problem comes not so much from gender issues as it does from the outdated nature of Japanese work institutions that are less compatible with a more Westernized younger generation of Japanese. Japanese women often want careers and family, but the way that employment works in Japan makes it extremely difficult for women to do both. While gender relations will inevitably evolve and have evolved in post-World War II Japanese society, it will likely be a change in Japanese work institutions that include both sexes rather than being simply being an issue of gender.

In spite of the nature of what I have discussed in this paper in terms of women in Japan, there are several aspects of moder Japanese culture that are empowering to women. The way that girls play a role in school clubs like the Folk Song Club has been impressive in that female members can express themselves and stand out playing music with all-female groups, and are equally valued along with male members. Some behavior which would be considered sexist and inappropriate in the United States that is normal for many Japanese in terms of gender relations may make it hard to judge how women are valued in Japan, but it is important to remember the vast differences that make up foreign cultures before applying judgement. On this exchange I have learned more about gender relations in Japanese culture and how it contrasts to the United States. Though I do not agree with all of it, I respect the fact that as a foreigner I cannot ever fully understand how other cultures interact, but that the attempt to do so provides valuable insight that can help bridge the cultural gaps in understanding gender roles.