UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies
Japanese Youth and Popular Culture
January 23, 2001
The Straits Times (Singapore) || Japanese Youth Culture || News File Index
Identity crisis or just having fun?
By Kwan Weng Kin
Nation has lost its sense of purpose, says expert
TOKYO -Just like the youths who challenge authority by becoming bosozoku, many young Japanese are apparently thumbing their noses at tradition by dyeing their hair in shocking colours.
Or are they?
Many, in fact, are just your average kid who see colouring their hair as no more than having a bit of fun.
At Azabu High School, one of Tokyo's most prestigious institutions, many students can be seen sporting coloured hair as well.
Hair dyeing has become very common these days in Japan, finding acceptance at nearly all levels of society.
Some news readers on even the conservative quasi-national NHK network appear on the air in hair dyed in decidedly light brown hues.
But some experts believe the fondness of the Japanese for colouring their hair stems from an identity crisis of sorts.
"The Japanese are adrift, members of a nation that has lost its sense of purpose," says Mr Tamotsu Sengoku, 72, head of the non-profit Japan Youth Research Institute.
The year 1964, when Tokyo became the first Asian nation to host the Summer Olympics, was a watershed for the Japanese.
Having reached their objective of catching up with the West, the Japanese did not know what goal to pursue next.
At the same time, the newly-affluent Japanese also became a very free society, said Mr Sengoku.
"But even though it doesn't make people of my age feel good to see coloured hair, very few Japanese think it is a bad thing. Above all, the Japanese value their freedom to do what they like," he stressed.
"In this respect, we are very different from other East Asian societies."
Most Japanese will still remember "ganguro", those young women who stalked the streets of Tokyo's Shibuya shopping district decked out in micro-mini skirts and platform boots, their hair tinged in shocking colours, their faces painted a dark brown and their eyes and lips outlined in ivory white.
Though many of them were undoubtedly school dropouts, many were also just ordinary young women who did not, as many people believed, dress that way in order to attract the attention of strangers.
In recent months, they have become something of a rarity in Shibuya and, like other fads, "ganguro" fashions are undoubtedly already on the verge of extinction. -Kwan Weng Kin
Copyright 2001 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
