Synergy

Over the past year I've thought about the generic fashion sense of
Japanese people, and it's made a lot of sense in a lot of different ways.

One way.. is something an American woman here mentioned, that 
Japan seems a lot like the American 30s-40s where men were men,
women were women, everyone liked to be dressed up to go out,
crime was not something to really worry about (though gangs are
often heard about), and so on. 

Tonight I saw this picture of Audrey Hepburn and I thought she 
looked a lot like the way that Japanese women today try to
appear.

Not only the fashion, not only the body type, not only the makeup
and somewhat chic/cute appeal, not only the meticulous hair, but
also the fashionable small pet dog.

About an hour after thinking that, I saw a quiz show on TV, where
they had to list 5 films Audrey Hepburn starred in. I was thinking
in Western mode, in American mode, and thought "I can only name
2 of them, how are the Japanese people on this show supposed to
name 5???" and in no time at all, they reversed my position. This
also relates to the philosopher Zizek (known from now on in this
blog as simply Zizek) talked about his visit here to talk about a
western philosopher. Not only did his audience know about this
philosopher, but they also knew his main influence in thought,
which was well apparent, as most of their questions were about his
influence rather than his thoughts alone.

Not only are Japanese more aware of her than most Americans,
a number of her films are some of the top ranking and most
watched films in Japan.　Her "Roman Holiday" which I've yet to
see, has been routinely told to me as the #1 best well-known
American movie among all ages in Japan. I'm inclined to believe
this is part of Japan's love for Italy (and numerous trips there)
as well.

The other image that comes to mind when I think of women's 
fashion in Japan is Julia Roberts as the prostitute/wife in
Pretty Woman. But that's for another entry.