The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams...
The language and culture of Japan have enriched English with many words over the years: apart from the mixed blessings of karaoke, we eat tofu, tempura, and sushi, sleep on futons, and keep fit with judo and aikido; and, of course, more recently we've been exercising our brains with sudoku. Thanks to the power of TV and marketing, gaijins (foreigners) have also become smitten with Japanese cartoon characters, and many are the pencil cases, key rings, screensavers, and other items festooned with Hello Kitty, Pikachu, and other strange Pokémon creatures.
All these creatures are part of the Japanese passion for all things kawaii - literally 'cute' or 'pretty'. It's massive in Japan, easily equal to the phenomenon of Disney characters in the US and Europe. Many of the cute and cuddly characters have English names, including Hello Kitty and Afro Ken (a dog with an afro wig); others are known by wholly Japanese names such as Kyo Usa (city bunny), or mixtures of Japlish (Japanese and English) as in Buru Buru [trembling] Dog.
Kawaii can also refer to people, typically girls who use make-up and costumes to resemble the characters in anime (Japanese cartoon) magazines. This is related to another hugely popular trend in Japan that's spreading around the world: cosplay. Apparently coined in the 1980s by Nobuyuki Takahashi, a writer and publisher of anime magazines, cosplay is an example of the common Japanese practice of blending English words (in this case, costume and play) to create new terms.
Just as role-playing fantasy games are popular in the West among LARPers (people who indulge in live-action role playing), so cosplayers (also known as layers) dress up as their favourite manga and anime characters. Unlike LARPers, however, cosplayers tend not to act out roles - dressing up and posing in costume is all. Purists insist that players should only draw on Japanese culture, but, notwithstanding the sticklers who posted the following instruction on the Ushicon.com website, there are those who deck themselves out as Harry Potter and Star Wars characters, and even French maids:
All costumes must in some way be from Japanese culture. Whether that be anime, manga, JPop, movies, or whatever. Things that do not apply are American comics redone in the Japanese art style or anything obviously American. So no Captain America, X-Men, Spider-man, Power Puff, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo type people.
Author: Catherine Soanes
All these creatures are part of the Japanese passion for all things kawaii - literally 'cute' or 'pretty'. It's massive in Japan, easily equal to the phenomenon of Disney characters in the US and Europe. Many of the cute and cuddly characters have English names, including Hello Kitty and Afro Ken (a dog with an afro wig); others are known by wholly Japanese names such as Kyo Usa (city bunny), or mixtures of Japlish (Japanese and English) as in Buru Buru [trembling] Dog.
Kawaii can also refer to people, typically girls who use make-up and costumes to resemble the characters in anime (Japanese cartoon) magazines. This is related to another hugely popular trend in Japan that's spreading around the world: cosplay. Apparently coined in the 1980s by Nobuyuki Takahashi, a writer and publisher of anime magazines, cosplay is an example of the common Japanese practice of blending English words (in this case, costume and play) to create new terms.
Just as role-playing fantasy games are popular in the West among LARPers (people who indulge in live-action role playing), so cosplayers (also known as layers) dress up as their favourite manga and anime characters. Unlike LARPers, however, cosplayers tend not to act out roles - dressing up and posing in costume is all. Purists insist that players should only draw on Japanese culture, but, notwithstanding the sticklers who posted the following instruction on the Ushicon.com website, there are those who deck themselves out as Harry Potter and Star Wars characters, and even French maids:
All costumes must in some way be from Japanese culture. Whether that be anime, manga, JPop, movies, or whatever. Things that do not apply are American comics redone in the Japanese art style or anything obviously American. So no Captain America, X-Men, Spider-man, Power Puff, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo type people.
Author: Catherine Soanes
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06.05.2008 в 00:13-
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06.05.2008 в 09:43-
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06.05.2008 в 16:28ФФФ ТОПКУ!!!!
tagg
Ну я конечно оооочень люблю Аниме,но Это плагиат,только добавлен уклон на Сейлор МУн!
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06.05.2008 в 17:03