The Electric Geisha: Exploring Japan*s Popular Culture

In this stunning collection of essays the roots of Japanese mores and popular culture are explored with disarming candor and verve, covering everything from economics and politics to fashion, entertainment, and sex.
What we normally see of the attention-shy Japanese is simply nothing more than the superficial manifestation of something much deeper. In fact, centuries deeper. The authors take us behind closed doors and illuminate the layers of tradition behind many of today's inexplicable practices. The ubiquitous "package tour" that sees armies of Japanese pleasure-seekers flocking to the far corners of the globe in tight-knit groups has its roots in the temple pilgrimage of old - arranged under the watchful eye of the village associations. The almost fanatical grab for prime property in New York, London, Berlin, and other major cities around the world echoes a cycle of fortune-seeking that began in Japan centuries ago. And the "electric geisha" of the title is a metaphor for the karaoke sing-along machines that have replaced the old forms of entertainment, but serve much the same purpose.
With telling insight and frankness, Mr. Ueda and his colleagues unlock a little more of the Japanese mystery, tracing each thread from the time of shoguns and geisha to the close of the technology-dominated twentieth century. What emerges is a colorful tapestry of old Japan - with its samurai and nobles, palanquins and pleasure quarters - and a fascinating, tightly woven composite of modern Japan, its people, and the collective psyche.

In this collection of essays, Japanese academics explain many of their country's customs that frequently puzzle foreigners. Each of the two dozen pieces sketches in both a current practice and its historical roots, supplying insights. The predilection for group travel, for example, an ``object of ridicule'' abroad, ``giving the impression that the Japanese can only function in a group, like sheep,'' can be traced back to pre-modern times when ordinary people made pilgrimages to the Grand Shrines of Ise. The kimono, once an undergarment worn by the nobility, gradually became an outer garment worn by the masses; the Japanese habit of washing before taking a bath may seem peculiar to foreigners, but not as odd as the Western custom of placing a toilet in the same room with the bathtub is to the Japanese. Money, sex, recreation, family life, business, food, tableware, transportation and education are examined.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.