Video Conference 2

Stephanie Buff

Video Conference #2

The second videoconference contained very effective small group discussions. My small group members from our class were Kellyann, Melanie and Tim. During the first discussion, Johan from Sweden joined us. During the second discussion, Erik joined us. With Johan, we discussed Cool Japan and the general nature of pop culture in Japan. Subsequently, with Erik, Cute Japan was the topic for conversation.

When discussing Cool Japan, the conversation began with all of us admitting that we had not heard of Cool Japan. Johan began the discussion by providing insight into what he thought Cool Japan might be, just referring to a kind of marketable concept of popular culture. During our discussion, Kellyann sent us all an article describing what Cool Japan is, which we determined was similar to Jonah’s insight. I referred to the Cool Japan slide, which mentioned that a “Cool Japan Conference”, would be held at the given date. In my opinion, I said that this indicated that “Cool Japan” is not just a regular popular culture, but also rather an actual concrete marketing ploy, that seems internationally aimed. Melanie contributed a few ideas, about Cool Japan as well. This provided a seg-way for me to ask if anyone knew any Japanese music. Kellyann, Tim and Johan all agreed that the music generally has a techno-type base, and Johan continued to comment that a lot of “boy band” type of music exists. We paralleled the music industry with America, which markets attractive boy bands like “One Direction”, not necessarily just based on talent, but also because of aesthetic appeal. The idea of aesthetics became the topic for our next conversation about Cute Japan.

The slide on Cute Japan caused Melanie to talk a great deal about anime and Japanese video games. She made some great points about the cute appeal of the animated Japanese characters. Hello Kitty seemed to be a very relatable object of cute Japan, because it is well marketed in America. I continued to bring up, and reflect on the idea that marketing is all about mass appeal. I thought about objects of American marketing, which immediately made me think of “Barbie”.  Consequently, discussion about cultural aesthetic appeal ensued. I presented the concept of American appeal taking a more “sexy” approach, where as Japan may find  a “cute” approach more appealing. Upon reflecting on this idea, it is obvious that what is considered attractive may differ between cultures. Indicating that beauty is a cultural determination.

The small group discussion during our videoconferences catalyzed relevant and substantial conversations about cultural differentials. The topic of “popular culture” was an excellent category to spark meaningful conversations.