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7 Mass Culture

Arts, Entertainment & Leisure Lecture Notes

?/span>2001 by Mineharu Nakayama

Keywords: Education, TV, NHK, Communication media, Newspaper circulation, weekly and monthly magazines, manga, travel, fashion, 3C's, museums, department stores, sports, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, bonsai, music

All Japanese share similar mass culture

rich and refined traditions in architecture, sculpture, painting, literature, drama, and the applied arts

Education -chief tool in shaping national uniformity.

TV - terebi - NHK - like BBC - highly educational, private companies - like American

Communication media

JPN-193 letters per person; 42.2 telephones per 100 people

USA-656 letters per person; 50.2 telephones per 100 people

Number of mailed articles delivered per recipient (1997)

JPN 202.4 vs. US 705.1

Newspaper circulation -largest per capita (WRONG) - morning and evening editions - fuller and more accurate coverage, reliable and carefully processed news - similar articles - not much distinctiveness - due to press conferences

1996 JPN daily newspapers; circulation 580 per 1000 persons

US daily newspapers; circulation 212 per 1000 persons

weekly and monthly magazines

Number of books published in 1997 JPN 62,336 titles

cf. US 68,175, China 110,283, UK 107,263 in 1996

Manga or comic and Anime

travel in 1992 - 11.8 million to abroad (N. America - 3,875,000; US to JPN 574,000)

name brands - fashion

ownership - Color TV - 98.9% in 1999 (household)

VCR - 77.8% Video camera 36.3%

CD player - 60.1% Computer -29.5%

Clothes dryer 20.8% Cars 82.5%

museums - exhibition at department stores

sports - high school baseball championships, sumo

tea ceremony, flower arrangement, bonsai

music - Suzuki method

ETIQUETTE

Key words: Visiting homes, Genkan, Omiyage (gifts), Ochugen, Oseibo, Tokonoma, Seating arrangements (Japanese and western style rooms, taxi, friend's or company's car, train), meals, tea, bowing,

ENTERTAINMENT

Key words: Noh, Kabuki, Jooruri, Kado (Ikebana), Bonsai, Sado, Shodo, Sports (Sumo, Judo, Kendo, Kyudo, Aikido, Karate), TV, animation, comics, movies, travel, music (Koto, Shamisen, Taiko), Karaoke