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3 Cultural Thought, Expressing the Self, and Image-Building Now it happens in this country (Japan) the empire of signifiers is so immense, so in excess of speech, that the exchange of signs remains of a fascinating riches, mobility, and subtlety, despite the opacity of the language, sometimes even as a consequence of that opacity. The reason for this is that in Japan the body exists, acts, shows itself, gives itself, without hysteria, without narcissism, but according to a pure — though subtly discontinuous — erotic project. It is not the voice … but the whole body (eyes, smile, hair, gestures, clothing) which sustains with you a sort of babble that the perfect domination of codes strips of all regressive, infantile character… Barthes (1982: 9–10) At the turn of the 1970s, Japan, the country which Barthes subsequently summed up as an “Empire of Signs,” was seen as devoid of a center, from fragmentary bits of food, mechanical pachinko games, nameless streets, and spiritually empty train stations, to the packaging of a gift, the cursiveness of a calligraphy painting, the theatrics of bunraku, and the brevity of haiku-writing. Barthes was critical of imageladen Japan. In reality, he had encountered a different environmental system of aesthetics and semiotics while living in a far-eastern land. We have often heard this statement being made about Japan, “the Japanese are good at imitating.” Derogatorily, it implies a centerless self which simply exists to absorb and metamorphose others’inventions. However, one can also argue that even though that self is centerless, its subjective presence is more than enough to denote its sense of survival and existential source. Treading along Barthes’s same mode of thought on Japan, I recall a mainland Chinese student once remarked to me that “the quantity and the taste of Japanese food do not make up for the initial aesthetic appeal.” By this she meant that the fragmentary aesthetic presentations of nicely arranged dishes and their accompanying tableware were merely exterior, but in realistic and quantitative terms, it did not fulfill her gastronomic wants satisfactorily. Frames of Anime 46 Historically, it was common to place bits of food in compartmentalized lacquerware and rustic ceramic ware. This Japanese etiquette is in fact influenced by a Zen or Chan aristocratic approach to food consumption and presentation which stresses austerity, blandness, and a certain sense of quiet contemplation and self-containment when having a daily meal. In the Japanese context, somehow the nobility’s sense of decorum and dining etiquette are filtered into the rest of society whereby the aesthetic and spiritual aspects of dining are emphasized in addition to the basic needs to satisfy hunger. Then, on another occasion, in comparing food culture of both countries, a Japanese friend said that she preferred the straightforward presentation of a Chinese meal; by that she meant the substantial portions of food served and the open collective way of dining at a round table. In other words, she was critical of the Japanese fragmentary and cel-like way of dining in contrast to the practical fullness of a Chinese meal experience. In my opinion, the differences in food presentation and ways of dining between the two cultures lie in the dimension of cultural practices. Japan’s deft selection of cultural imports from China affects its distinctive native approach to everyday living, and the country’s subsequent eventful encounters with the West is just as important. This chapter further studies anime in the midst of the so-called “hybrid culture” and its “pure culture” matrix environment. It investigates and hypothesizes the productivespiritofanimeasawholeinrelationtotheunderlyingnativephilosophical inclinations and cultural thought. My discussion aims to put forward the viewpoint that the present ubiquitousness of the medium-genre is primarily founded on deepseated dialectical discourses between a being “self” and a counterpart “other.” Shintoism and the Supernatural It can be said that anime is one of the most contemporary crystallized ornaments of an ever-visual-growing Japan. Upon close examination, its motley of images and narratives, detailed expressions and momentary pauses, transformations of time and space, childlike sounds and voices, and added energy and movements, speak of another world of fantasy and a rather untold living world. While Walt Disney, the late founder of the commercial animation empire in America, relied on “a European inheritance” for literary inspiration and graphic representations (Allan, 1999), in the Japanese context the impetus originates from Shintoism, an indigenous folk system of beliefs, customs, and reactionary responses to an implemented social mode of thought and practices. With reference to...

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