Research: Japanese Pop Culture

Characters
Any first time visitor to Japan may experience a bit of cuteness overload as it is quite common for Japanese companies, the government and even the military to use a cute character or mascot in their promotional material. Many western people can find it a bit odd and amusing that even the most serious business will put out a publication with a happy character all across it. Today, the cuteness or “Kawaii” culture has become part of Japan’s identity. Characters that westerners would normally associate with small children’s books have become part of Japan’s hip pop culture scene.

Fashion
When talking about fashion in Japan it is just impossible not to acknowledge the fact that Japanese people have an incredible sense of style. Fashion plays a huge role in Japanese peoples everyday life because they have a special attitude towards clothing. In Japan fashion is considered to be a simple way to express yourself, to manifest who you are, and to show others that you are aware of the newest trends. This phenomenon can be easily observed in Japanese biggest cities, especially in such metropolis as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. 


Japanese fashion can be seen as a mixture of all European, exotic, futuristic and traditional styles. The Japanese designers like Issey Miyaki, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo belong to the most famous and innovative fashion creators today. 

Anime
Anime is a style of animation that originates from Japan. This term is used to describe a Japanese cartoon that is originally derived  from manga comics. Animated films from Japan are acclaimed worldwide as the highest form of animation and include all movie genres, such as science fiction, adventure or romance. They are supported by all media in the country including television, video and cinema.

Otaku

Otaku are fans who eat, drink, shop, collect and obsess over every facet of Japanese comics, animated TV shows, movies, toys and video games.

A slang word derived from the Japanese word for "home," otaku generally refers to people who are passionately interested in any sort of hobby, but in Japan, it is popularly used as a term referring to obsessive fans of manga (comics), anime (animated movies, videos and TV shows), gemu (video and PC games) and pop idols.