Tokyo has a history of 500 years. During this short time, the city that has been destroyed and rebuilt in almost every century of its existence. The city has been ravaged by atomic bombs and fire. Tokyo is now a symbol of technological advance and order. The sterile yet bustling creative city seems like an anachronism in its paradoxy.
Japanese art is distinguished from other nations art. There is a theme of violence and monster- as seen in mangas, anime, and paintings. Murakami Takashi, a Japanese sociologist explains this phenomena. Art is often a reflection of society, and the art is a result of mass historical trauma. Some major themes are “escape into exotic, dangerous situations which have last-minute happy endings”. The repressed feelings of generational trauma resulting in uncertainty is reflected through art. I enjoy manga and anime myself. One of the appeals for me, is that morality is a malleable construct in the “doom-laden pop culture”. Murakami suggests that this phenomena lies in the fact that Japan has been both the victimizer and the victimized.
KIM Daeun
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