Kusanagi Tsuyoshi x Chonangang: Transcending Japanese/Korean Ethnic Boundaries in Japanese Popular Culture

Abstract

In the last ten years or so, interest among the Japanese in their Korean neighbour has increased significantly. Yet, before the Korean Wave hit Japan in the early 2000s, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, member of popular Japanese boy-band SMAP, had already débuted and gained popularity as Chonangang, his Korean alter-self. From releasing a Korean pop-music single to interviewing South Korean Presidents on Japanese national television, it is undeniable that Kusanagi (and Chonangang) has brought Korea closer to the hearts of the Japanese. In this paper, I argue that Kusanagi's performances of and as Chonangang create a polyglotic, hybrid identity that functions as a “third space” through which notions of an underlying, essential Japanese (and Korean) identity can be destabilised. Beyond mere entertainment, Kusanagi's adoption of an identity position that is neither Japanese nor Korean, yet also both Japanese and Korean, enables the articulation of difference and hybridity which, I contend, has direct relevance to Japan–Korea and Japanese–resident Korean relations.

Keywords:

• Japanese popular culture
• Koreans in Japan
• Japan–Korea relations
• cultural/ethnic hybridity
• multiculturalism
• camp

Notes

1. I would like to thank Dr Lim Beng Choo, Dr Paul Alexander Rae, Dr Romit Dasgupta and anonymous readers for their insightful comments and detailed feedback on earlier versions of this paper.

2. LIVE qamS (2001) DVD (Tokyo: Victor Entertainment Inc).

3. Chonangang, or Chonankan, is the Korean reading of the Chinese characters for “Kusanagi Tsuyoshi” (). In this paper, I use “Chonangang”, as is commonly used in the English-language media, rather than the Japanese romanisation “Chonankan”. While it has been rumoured that Kusanagi Tsuyoshi might be of Korean descent, there is no concrete evidence as yet to prove such claims.

4. See http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/52737/full/#rk, accessed 1 September 2010.

5. One of the top figures orchestrating the creation and promotion of male idols in the Japanese entertainment industry is Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny's Jimusho (Johnny and Associates) or Johnny's Entertainment in 1963. For four decades since its establishment, members of Johnny's Entertainment have dominated the boy-band market in Japan, from earlier groups like Four Leaves and Hikaru Genji, to today's leading boy-bands such as SMAP, Arashi, NEWS and KAT-TUN. Commonly known as jyāniizu-kei, or Johnny's idols, these “princes” of the Japanese entertainment industry, with their larger-than-life, pretty boy-next-door image, permeate all aspects of the entertainment industry, appearing everywhere, from best-selling albums to television and radio shows, commercials, magazine covers, dramas and films. These activities not only keep them in the spotlight between music singles and concert tours, but also keep them at the top of the popularity rankings (Schilling, 1997, p. 232; www.johnnys-net.jp, accessed 21 November 2010).

6. See Shinohara (2003; 2008), Darling-Wolf (2004), (Schilling, 1997, pp. 230–37), Stevens (2008, pp. 53–58) for more on SMAP.

7. The first season ran from 13 April 2001 to 20 March 2004 on Fuji TV, every Saturday at 1.35am, and the second season ran from 17 April 2004 to 21 March 2010. http://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/chonan/; http://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/chonan2/, accessed 18 June 2010.

8. He has also published a Japanese-language guide for Koreans.

9. Takahata Hideta (2004) Hoteru Biinasu DVD (Tokyo: Victor Entertainment). “Chonan”, the name of the character played by Kusanagi, is written in katakana (a Japanese syllabary commonly used for foreign words) in the original Japanese subtitles, and as “CHONAN” in the official English-subtitled version of the film. Reference to the character in this paper will follow that in the English subtitles.

10. See http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/shownews.pl?obj=ShowNews&CfgPath=ffs/filinfo&Cfg=news.cfg&news=general&text_id=26345, accessed 18 June 2010.

11. For the transcript of the interview with President Roh on Hōdōtokushū supesharu: hyakunin hyakunetsu. Kankoku No Mu Hyon daitōryō honne de chokusetsu taiwa (Special Report: Dialogue with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun), see http://www.tbs.co.jp/skorea_president/topic.html, accessed 18 June 2010. The interview with President Lee was broadcast on TBS NEWS 23 supesharu: Netsuron fūhatsu. Kankoku I Myon Baku daitōryō ga anata to chokusetsu taiwa (NEWS 23 Special: Heated Debate. South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in Direct Dialogue with You). http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3602525/, accessed 30 May 2010.

12. For statistics on resident Koreans in Japan as of 2008, see http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?lid=000001057947; http://www.mindan.org/toukei.php/, accessed 30 May 2010. In this paper, I use the term “resident Koreans” interchangeably with zainichi (lit. residing in Japan) to refer to non-naturalised ethnic Koreans who reside permanently in Japan.

13. The Korean Wave refers to the influx and popularity of South Korean popular culture in Japan (as well as other Asian countries), ignited by the success of the Korean drama Winter Sonata in 2003/04. Since then, South Korean pop stars, television dramas, films and popular music have been widely circulated and have garnered a substantial fan base in the Japanese market.

14. It was highlighted in the 2003 TBS interview with President Roh that only one quarter of Japanese people surveyed expressed interest in South Korean popular culture, and more than 70 per cent of South Koreans did not have any interest in Japanese popular culture. See http://www.tbs.co.jp/skorea_president/topic1_1.html, accessed 30 May 2010. While the source of the survey is unclear and the figures may not be particularly accurate, the interest in Japanese popular culture among South Koreans, and Korean popular culture among Japanese, did significantly increase with the Korean Wave in Japan and later the growing popularity of Japanese popular culture in South Korea (Faiola, 2006; Why the Japanese Wave Just Keeps on Coming, Chosun Ilbo, 29 November 2007. Available at http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/11/29/2007112961009.html, accessed 7 June 2010).

15. Smap! Tour! 2002! (2003) VCD (Singapore: Music Street Pte Ltd).

16. Visual-kei, or visual-style rock bands are characterised by the elaborate and often “feminine” or androgynous hairdos, make-up and costumes that the (predominantly male) members sport. Examples of well-known visual-kei bands include X-Japan, L'Arc En Ciel, GLAY, Gazette and LUNA SEA.

17. The Buraku Liberation League (BLL) is the largest buraku (social outcasts who are discriminated against based on class) organisation in Japan, (in)famous for its militant anti-discrimination campaigns which include “publicly confronting and denouncing individuals and groups that promote discrimination either openly or covertly” (Sugimoto, p. 192). Some other minority groups have followed in the footsteps of the BLL, and for fear of being a target of criticism the Japanese mass media has avoided using terms and expressions that may be regarded as discriminatory by the minority groups.

18. The term Nikkei Brazilians refers to Japanese who migrated to Brazil in the early twentieth century, and their descendants. In the light of the labour shortage and the unprecedented influx of unskilled foreign workers from neighbouring developing countries during the economic bubble years of the 1980s, the Japanese Ministry of Justice granted these overseas ethnic Japanese visas to “return” to Japan to work as unskilled, manual labourers (Sugimoto, 2003, pp. 204–07).

19. Aso says Japan is a nation of “one race”. The Japan Times, 18 October 2005. Available at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20051018a7.html, accessed 3 November 2009.

20. In the film, Sugihara's Japanese girlfriend, having been brought up to believe that “Koreans and Chinese have dirty blood”, breaks up with him immediately after learning about his Korean background. Yukisada Isao (2001) Go DVD (Tokyo: Toei).

21. For more on camp, see Sontag ([1964] 1999).

22. I take “queer” here to refer to actions that take on a deconstructive function that transgresses the boundaries and “enables us to acknowledge the constructedness of meaning and identity and thus to begin to imagine alternative ways of thinking and of living” (Sullivan, 2003, pp. 50–51).

23. http://info.movies.yahoo.co.jp/detail/tydt/id319225/, accessed 2 June 2010.

24. http://www.hotelvenus.net/main.html, accessed 30 May 2010.

25. SMAP x SMAP is a variety program that SMAP has hosted on Fuji TV since April 1996 (Shinohara, 2003, p. 267). Each episode usually comprises a cooking contest between the members, a skit or game show, and a musical performance with invited guests. The 2002 SMAP x SMAP Special, directed by Takahata Hideta (director of Hotel Venus), was a one-off drama special starring Kusanagi/Chonangang, different from the regular SMAP x SMAP variety progam. Specials by the other members of SMAP have also been made.

26. For example, there are naturalised resident Koreans who use their legal Japanese names at work and only reveal their Korean names and background to close friends. For ethnographic research on people of Korean descent in Japan, see Lim (2009), Lie (2000) and Tai (2004).

27. http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/press_000300-2_000300-2-1.html, accessed 30 May 2010.

28. Live MIJ (2003) VCD (Singapore: Music Street Pte Ltd).

29. SMAP to icchatta! SMAP SAMPLE TOUR 2005 (2006) DVD (Tokyo: Victor Entertainment Inc).

30. Shin Heson & Kusanagi Tsuyoshi no dyuetto songu “Hanuru”, dorama no OST ni. Chosun Online, 28 July 2005. Available at http://www.chosunonline.com/article/20050728000025, accessed 30 July 2007.

31. SMAP (2006) Pop Up! SMAP! Tobimasu! Tobidasu! Tobisuma? TOUR, Niigata Stadium Big Swan, Niigata, Japan, 5 August. The Korean rap was written by Eric, another member of SHINHWA.

32. See http://web-japan.org/trends98/honbun/ntj981207.html, accessed 7 June 2010.

33. See ‘South Korea to ease ban on Japan cultural goods’. The Japan Times, 17 September 2003. Available at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20030917a6.html, accessed 7 June 2010.

34. http://singo.jiyu.co.jp/, accessed 30 May 2010.

35. Women swarm Narita for arrival of “Yon-sama”. The Japan Times, 26 November 2004. Available at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20041126a5.html, accessed 3 June 2010.

36. http://www.tbs.co.jp/skorea_president/topic.html, accessed 30 May 2010.

37. http://www.tbs.co.jp/skorea_president/topic.html; http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3602525/, accessed 30 May 2010.

38. In an online survey conducted by Asahi TV in March 2004, 50 per cent of the participants indicated that Chonangang is the first thing that came to mind when they thought of Korea. http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ss/110/result/top.html, accessed 2 June 2010.