To share something other than a flurry of anecdotal evidence, bad grammar and sleepy arguments, I’m skimming through Mark D. West’s “Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States”. His definition of “scandal”:
“In this book scandal is an event in which the public revelation of an alleged private breach of a law or a norm results in significant social disapproval or debate and, usually, reputational damage. This description—and it’s little more than that—has three advantages over previous approaches. First, it requires a public revelation, but no particular actor and no intentional allegation. Second, it requires only that the breach be alleged, not that it actually occur. Third, it requires that the allegation be one of a private (or concealed) breach of law, a feature necessary to exclude events like public genocide from the concept”.
The book itself is interested on the legal aspects of it, if that explains a little the choices taken in that definition. The book deals with lots of aspects of it, from the agents involved to the actors going through accounts of apology (and it’s not really that into idols: Morning Musume only appear on the index for the scandal of a guy who directed some of their videos, but there are mentions to Abe Natsumi and SMAP). But I suppose this is fitting in this context:
“A Japanese talent scout explained to me: I’m mostly looking for the right look. I want a girl that’s really cute, mindblowing cute, and maybe a little sicky- sweet (burikko), but not over- the- top. As long as she’s not tone deaf, stupid, or in a wheelchair, we can teach her everything else. . . . The only other thing that matters is that she comes from a good family. I want to know early if she’s going to have an attitude, smoke in public, get drunk and cause problems, or have lots of boyfriends that land her in the tabloids [when we don’t want her in there]. I can learn that stuff from her family in one sitting”.
About apology:
"Several Japanese business how- to books off er instruction in the art. The bestseller is Techniques of Apology, by a Mejiro University human and social sciences professor and psychologist. Among its lessons: “Next, let’s think about the things that we have to be careful of regarding what you should wear when you apologize, and the place where you should do so. First, as for clothes, it’s safe to say that there really isn’t much you can wear, whether you’re male or female, besides a suit. In other words, formal, offi cial clothes are the basic clothes for any apology, regardless of situation. Limit the color of your clothing to those of business suits, such as black or navy; sedate, calming colors.” Also, still on the intro to that chapter:
“Many studies of apology in Japan base the perceived difference on cultural patterns. The argument has various permutations, but it usually has something to do with apology as a tool for maintaining harmony, or wa. Because Japanese culture sharply distinguishes between a person’s stated opinion (tatemae) and his real feelings (honne), apology can be expressed easily without compromising one’s internal position. Some studies additionally note that Japan is more apologetic than America because of differing notions of shame and guilt”.
Long book and informative, if you are into illegal things try searching for it on Libgen.
There also a recent book released on idols, “Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture”. There is a chapter-case dedicated to scandals. The author says that he is going to partly follow Jean Baudrillard, so basically I don’t need to follow him. But there is a link to another article by him on the same topic:
no subject
“In this book scandal is an event in which the public revelation of an alleged private breach of a law or a norm results in significant social disapproval or debate and, usually, reputational damage. This description—and it’s little more than that—has three advantages over previous approaches. First, it requires a public revelation, but no particular actor and no intentional allegation. Second, it requires only that the breach be alleged, not that it actually occur. Third, it requires that the allegation be one of a private (or concealed) breach of law, a feature necessary to exclude events like public genocide from the concept”.
The book itself is interested on the legal aspects of it, if that explains a little the choices taken in that definition. The book deals with lots of aspects of it, from the agents involved to the actors going through accounts of apology (and it’s not really that into idols: Morning Musume only appear on the index for the scandal of a guy who directed some of their videos, but there are mentions to Abe Natsumi and SMAP). But I suppose this is fitting in this context:
“A Japanese talent scout explained to me:
I’m mostly looking for the right look. I want a girl that’s really cute, mindblowing cute, and maybe a little sicky- sweet (burikko), but not over- the- top. As long as she’s not tone deaf, stupid, or in a wheelchair, we can teach her everything else. . . . The only other thing that matters is that she comes from a good family. I want to know early if she’s going to have an attitude, smoke in public, get drunk and cause problems, or have lots of boyfriends that land her in the tabloids [when we don’t want her in there]. I can learn that stuff from her family in one sitting”.
About apology:
"Several Japanese business how- to books off er instruction in the art. The bestseller is Techniques of Apology, by a Mejiro University human and social sciences professor and psychologist. Among its lessons: “Next, let’s think about the things that we have to be careful of regarding what you should wear when you apologize, and the place where you should do so. First, as for clothes, it’s safe to say that there really isn’t much you can wear, whether you’re male or female, besides a suit. In other words, formal, offi cial clothes are the basic clothes for any apology, regardless of situation. Limit the color of your clothing to those of business suits, such as black or navy; sedate, calming colors.”
Also, still on the intro to that chapter:
“Many studies of apology in Japan base the perceived difference on cultural patterns. The argument has various permutations, but it usually has something to do with apology as a tool for maintaining harmony, or wa. Because Japanese culture sharply distinguishes between a person’s stated opinion (tatemae) and his real feelings (honne), apology can be expressed easily without compromising one’s internal position. Some studies additionally note that Japan is more apologetic than America because of differing notions of shame and guilt”.
Long book and informative, if you are into illegal things try searching for it on Libgen.
There also a recent book released on idols, “Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture”. There is a chapter-case dedicated to scandals. The author says that he is going to partly follow Jean Baudrillard, so basically I don’t need to follow him. But there is a link to another article by him on the same topic:
http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/2010/Prusa.html