This website used to be a delight for me, but it--indeed, everything relating to Japan nowadays--is making me feel increasingly uneasy. At first I was enthralled at the ultra-hi-res images of Japan, Japanese life, otaku culture, etc. But then I had clues of its disturbing underbelly--the obsession with figurines, dolls, and the 2-d pillows that many Japanese men sleep with, have sex with, and even marry. Also, I was uncomfortable with the fact that any post--I mean ANY post--gets hundreds of comments. Even a post about the weather (see link above), or about what he's eating for dinner will get hundreds of comments, most of which are "wow, that's so cool" or, "that makes me so happy" or something similarly inane. Unsurprisingly, this is how Japanese pop culture works--something is introduced, people say how wonderful it is, then it is explained in mind-numbing detail. Already one blogger has complained about this in a typically cynical Ex-Gen Western style. This obsessive love-fest is fucking creepy, although I have abandoned forums full of cynical criticism with just as much enthusiasm.
I think an unholy marriage of two completely opposite phenomena is creating a culture clash in Asia. On the one hand, you have a millenia-old tradition of centralized authoritarianism that mandates culture, mannerisms, and behavior on an incredibly specific level of detail. This Hobbesian obsession with controlling people has resulted in the selfish cruelties of China, the seething anger of Korea, and the perversions and passive-aggressiveness of Japan.
The last people I'd expect to be drawn to Asia would be X-Geners, raised largely by single mothers and encouraged to learn how to fend for themselves for emotional, physical, and intellectual satisfaction. Due largely to long hours and unfair socio-economics, we stayed at home and learned how to keep ourselves entertained with various media, including two exports from Japan: video games and anime. This created, in the rabidly individualistic X-Gen generation, a curiousity and fascination with Japan that inspired many people to go to the country and see it for themselves. The more adventerous would go to the continent; the politically minded would explore the complexities and general mess of China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the rest of Asia.
Thus does the rabid individualism of the west and the extreme conformism of the east meet. This explains why culture shock in Asia is so much more commonplace than in Europe. Ironically, the Americans who can sympathize with the conformism of Asia on an abstract level are those too tied down by subruban life to experience it. This is also why European culture shock is so mild--the legal brothels of Austria and sex clubs of Germany don't shock the foreigners, because they are more individual and liberal-minded going into the Old World.
Anyway, back to Danny. He's an interesting figure--the son of Jimmy Choo who was obsessed with Kylie Minogue while growing up in London and watching anime, playing video games, and generally being an Asian nerd. He took nerdom to a new level by studying Japanese at university and eventually moving to become an IT worker and later business-owner in Japan. His blog, originally a hobby, has become one of the most popular blogs about Japan and a serious source of income.
And in many ways his blog is more Japanese than Emperor Hirohito; it is full of extremely high quality images and updated constantly. It is very well organized, neat, and clean. It is also extremely state-of-the-art and always positive and upbeat.
And this is exactly what is wrong with it.
The site literally has thousand of pictures of Tokyo, Tokyo food, Tokyo life, Tokyo people, Tokyo buildings, and, well, Tokyo. This is fine--that is its point, after all--but it transcends boring to become annoying, as every minute detail of the city, its cuisine, and its lifestyle are dissected to a level that only an archivist at a department of cultural anthropology could truly appreciate.
On top of it is the latent creepiness that stays frustratingly latent, urging the casual reader to expect a tabloid expose that will never come. Again, nothing could be more Japanese. We get hints and casual references to a wife, called "wifey", but we also get hundreds and thousands of pictures of his dolls, which are also for sale on his sister site "Toylet". There are also some introspective musings about his childhood, including an incredibly cryptic reference to being an orphan that is directly contradicted by other posts about his childhood with Jimmy Choo, the infamous Malaysian shoe-designer whose name adorns shoes that cost more than half of the planet's inhabitants earn in one month.
Did I mention that he became famous for dressing up as a Stormtrooper and dancing in Tokyo? What--don't believe me?
The fact that he is Jimmy Choo's son is confirmed in third-party stories and interviews, making the unexplained reference to being a orphan even more infuriating. Plus, the subtle fetishism of his thousands of images of two-dimensional women in various states of undress and three-dimensional dolls of anime women also in various states of undress compounds the creepiness of him being the son of a cobbler and just generally gives me a serious case of the fucking willies. Of course, there's no suggestion whatsoever of perversion anywhere, but at the same time perversion seems to be screaming from absolutely everywhere.
Again, nothing could be more Japanese.
Of course, there is also the fascinating and untold side story of how his father was strongarmed out of the shoe-making business by some absurdly rich family members that has caused a complete rift in the family. Of course, Jimmy is an incredibly rich man worth tens of millions; but his family spat cost him hundreds of millions and has resulted in a bizarre twist involving international intrigue, some scheming Chinese businessmen, and a misapplication of copyright law resulting in two tiers of Jimmy Choo shoes.
As I said, he's more Japanese than the Japanese.
I think I will probably unsubscribe to the blog soon; I tend to go in phases when it comes to blogs, and my Danny Choo phase seems to be coming to an end.
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