Hi I have to do a reaserch paper on a subject concerning japanese pop culture
I am sure a lot of people in the class will talk about manga and anime and all
so I want to talk about geishas
but the instructor said the subject is not specific enough so I don't know what aspect of geisha I sould talk about?
any suggestions?
2007-09-22 05:58:43 · 8 answers · asked by 1960story 2 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Japan
Geisha aren't part of pop culture, traditional Japanese dance and music are high culture. How about a paper on Takeshi Kitano? He's a one man cultural machine.
2007-09-22 06:41:10 · answer #1 · answered by michinoku2001 7 · 4⤊ 2⤋
I presume geisha in Atami, or any other onsen city for that matter, would be very different from geisha in Kyoto or Kagurazaka. That's only my guess cause I've never seen any real geisha except on TV or movies. It seems to me that you'd be better off doing a research on how geisha have been historically depicted in japanese novels and movies than on what their life is really like. Geisha novels I can think of now are Kawabata's 'Snow country', other Kawabata's, etc. The fact of the matter is that ordinary Japanese people hardly know more about what geisha's life is like than you would.
onsen: hot spring
2007-09-23 02:50:35 · answer #2 · answered by Tanaka 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As everyone else listed Geisha is not of pop culture.
My topic ideas are current fashion, music, maybe the way modern city Japanese live. Someone mentioned Sumo, now thats a good topic to look into a wrote a research paper on Sumo it was extremely fascinating.
You could write about all these new subcultures rising around in Japan (otaku, ganguros, maido, any group that has an obsession of some kind.... ooh sociological papers).
Good luck though. If the paper was about anything in Japan Giesha would be okay, although I think someone else may do that subject as well.
2007-09-22 20:57:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Well you could talk about geisha rituals and traditions.
For example abot their dresses (kimonos) and make ups and how everything is very complicated and specific.
For exaple I know that it takes a few hours to do their hair - and it's very painful and after that they have to wear this hairdos for days and sleep on weird pillows not to mess up the hair etc.
I read the book 'Memoir of a Geisha' where they explain alot of things like that in detail. But I'm sure a lot of stuff can be found on Internet as well.
And another idea for a topic - I think it also might be interesing to talk about SUMO - since u r a guy , and it's more 'pop culture' as well ;)
2007-09-22 06:12:23 · answer #4 · answered by CrazySexyCool 2 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I'm going to disagree with several of the other posters. While geisha are certainly performers of traditional Japanese arts rather than pop culture, you can certainly write a papers regarding them.
One idea would be to compare the traditional image of the geisha to how they are portrayed in popular art and music. You will be able to touch upon the portrayal of geisha in modern advertisements, music videos, manga and anime. This will be able to give you a chance to both explore the traditional portrayal of the geisha (where I think you're real interest lies) vs the popular image of them as well as exploring several different aspects of pop culture.
Good luck!
2007-09-23 08:34:53 · answer #5 · answered by Ravanne_1 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I presume geisha in Atami, or different onsen city for that keep in mind, may be very distinctive from geisha in Kyoto or Kagurazaka. it relatively is incredibly my wager reason i've got have been given not at all seen any actual geisha diverse than on television or movies. it variety of feels to me which you would be greater advantageous effective off doing a study on how geisha have been traditionally depicted in eastern novels and movies than on what their existence is relatively like. Geisha novels i will think of of of now are Kawabata's 'Snow us of a', diverse Kawabata's, etc. the reality of the project is that guy or woman-friendly eastern people not often understand greater advantageous approximately what geisha's existence is like than you may. onsen: heat spring
2016-10-09 15:54:04 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The other posters are correct that geisha are not a part of pop culture in Japan, they're a part of traditional culture. They're more like opera singers than pop stars.
With this in mind, a possible topic for your paper is the decline of the geisha in Japan, and how there have been recent attempts to repopularize the profession by having geisha make themselves more accessible to tourists. The city of Kyoto also uses the geisha image to attract tourists. There are a number of photography studios in Kyoto where visitors can pay to be costumed as geisha and have their portraits taken. You can even pay extra to go out and walk around in costume and pretend you're a real geisha!
A GREAT resource for anyone interested in the facts about modern geisha is Mineko Iwasaki's autobiography "Geisha: A Life" (also published as "Geisha of Gion"). Iwasaki was the #1 geisha in Japan in the '70s, but retired at the height of her fame at age 29 out of frustration with the strict traditions of the geisha world.
Iwaksaki was probably Japan's last star geisha. She was part of the inspiration for the novel "Memoirs of a Geisha", and wrote her memoir partially to counter the inaccuracies of the novel.
"Memoirs of a Geisha" (both the book and the movie) are significant to your topic because they helped bring more attention to geisha, but don't rely on them for facts. There are a number of very basic factual errors about geisha in the book.
2007-09-22 15:06:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes, find another subject. Geishas have NOTHING to do with Japanese "pop culture". In fact, they are pretty much a thing of the past...How about Japanese rock bands instead ? You can do a web search on them...
2007-09-22 06:10:23 · answer #8 · answered by Vinegar Taster 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋