User:Shoujess/sandbox

•"Article Evaluation" for Isao Takahata

This article is very disorganized. It jumps around from topic to topic with little to no segue. There are no headings (birth, early life, career) when there should be some as there is definitely enough content to warrant some; it would also help with the organization.

The first citation takes you to a dead page and for many, many claims after that there are no citations.

The Talk page has been more active within the past few months but before that it was close to a decade before anyone really got on it. It seems like people have gotten caught up in other projects.

•Potential Articles

The two articles I feel need a complete Overhaul are the ones on Choi Seung-hee (Choi Seung-hee) and Isao Takahata (Isao Takahata). These are both people who have made huge contributions to their respective fields and history and their Wikipedia pages (while informative) are lackluster and should reflect said contributions. In the formers, there is a lot of information missing and in the latters, little to no sources so there is no way to know if the information is accurate.

•Finalized Topic and Offered Changes

I think the Kawaii section could use some work, maybe with the addition of shōjo and a section for kawaii ambassadors. Lolita needs to at least be mentioned in the fashion section. Music, television, and internet need a basic section with a potential link to internet cafe and the culture surrounding them. The list of film directors could be expanded on but where would people like Miyazaki, Takahata, Kon, and Shinkai fit in? Anime or Film? I would also like to consider a drama or game show section under television.

•Potential Sources

Fluid Orality in the Discourse of Japanese Popular Culture by Maynard, Senko K.

Japan pop! : inside the world of Japanese popular culture by Craig, Timothy J.,

Introducing Japanese Popular Culture by Alisa Freedman and Toby Slade

The Moe Manifesto by Patrick W. Galbraith

Mechademia 2: Networks of Desire by Frenchy Lunning ****, Mechademia 6 sweep of publications about Japanese culture

Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature by Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt and Roman Rosenbaum

The worlds of Japanese popular culture : gender, shifting boundaries and global cultures by Martinez, D. P.

Fandom Unbound : Otaku Culture in a Connected World by Itō, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke and Tsuji, Izumi

Kansai Cool : A Journey into the Cultural Heartland of Japan by Christal Whelan

Millenial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination by Anne Allison

Working with: dianaleaney and darianres

•Ideas: I would like to fix up the Kawaii section. I don't think the term "beautiful" is really associated with kawaii, the second sentence needs heavy rewording and some sort of more direct information and source about kawaii culture wouldn't hurt. The rest of the section needs to go altogether. There is much more relevant and pertinent information to be said about kawaii culture and history even. I think a few sections about shōjo here would help round out the section.

images, anime and manga sections need dressing up.

•Draft

Original Text: Kawaii is a Japanese term which means "cute" and "beautiful". Cuteness seems to be a highly valued aesthetic quality in Japanese society and particularly Japanese pop culture, and overpowering cuteness seems to carry less of the stigma of infantilization as it does in many other cultures. Kawaii is pronounced Ka-wa-ee (not to be confused with kowai, Ko-wai, the Japanese term for "scary"). Kawaii can be used to describe animals and people, including fully grown adults; while attractive women are usually described as kawaii, young men are more likely to be described as kakkoii, Kak-ko-ee, which is "good looking" or "cool". Kawaii is also used to describe some men who are considered to have "cute" personalities.

Revisional Draft: The Japanese adjective kawaii can be translated as "cute" or "adorable" and is the drive behind one of Japan's most popular aesthetic cultures. Kawaii culture has it's ties to another culture called shōjo, a girl power type movement that has been commodified to sell the image of young girls alongside pop culture and the goods they might be interested in. Shōjo can be seen as Japan's version of "the girl next door" with the cute and innocent aspects of kawaii. It has been associated with fancy goods (frilly and feminine type goods marketed toward young females), character goods (Sanrio, Gudetama, Studio Ghibli, anime/manga merchandise, etc. marketed to both males and females), entire fashion movements, and idols. As long as a product or person has "cute" elements, it can be seen as kawaii. In 2008, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs moved away from just using traditional cultural aspects to promote their country and started using things like anime and Kawaii Ambassadors as well. The purpose of the Kawaii Ambassadors is to spread Japanese pop culture through their cute personas, using mostly fashion and music. This can also happen at the local level as seen by the mayor of Shibuya designating Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as the "Kawaii Ambassador of Harajuku", famously known as a hub of Japanese fashion, clothing stores, and youth culture.

Potential Change to Internet subsection: internet cafe and keitai novel

Internet

main section: Internet in Japan didn't take off until 1993 when the nation's government approved and installed its first commercial Internet service provider. Japan was the 14th country in the world to start using the internet; many reasons have been cited as the reason behind its slow movement such as bad timing, the government deeming internet access was more for academic use, fear of change and taking risks, an initial lack of competition in the telecommunications field, the difficulty of using a keyboard with a 2,000+ kanji based language, and high rates causing hefty bills after just a few hours of internet usage. Until the mid 1990s, it was hard for Japanese society to access the internet and there wasn't much for them to do once they did get on. Once it did kick off, mobile phones were preferred over PCs or laptop computers, which has shaped how Japan's internet culture is interfaced, having to adapt to smaller screens and having a more leisurely attitude towards it.

Keitai Novel: Keitai Shousetsu (lit. cell phone novel) was a phenomenon originally unique to Japan but spread quickly to other countries like China, India, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, South Africa, the US, and Brazil. Because of Japan's preference for mobile phones over computers, cell phone novels were an inexpensive way for amateur authors to get their works out into the world either by text message or email, eventually evolving into subscriptions via websites. Deep Love was the first of its kind, written in 2002 by Yoshi; it was adapted into manga series, a television show, and a film. The works were put out in short installments due to the character limit capability of a cell phone which is ideal for commuters to read in between train stops. Often times, these works are put into print; in 2007, Japan saw ten of that year's bestselling novels derived from a cell phone novel. Considering they are mostly written by teenagers and young adults, they center on themes like relationships, drug use, pregnancy, rape, and prostitution. It is a trend that older adults are finding hard to indulge in because of the seemingly violent themes, use of emojis to convey emotion and save space, along with the absence of diverse and lengthy vocabulary.

Internet cafe link to internet cafe: Internet café s in Japan are on the rise in popularity, not just as a place to hang out but as a place to live. These cafes offer internet access in small, private rooms the size of a cubicle with some offering services such as unlimited drinks, doubling as a manga cafe, showers, blankets, and use of the address to those that choose to live there. Internet cafes are now a refuge for people of all ages who would otherwise find themselves homeless; many people can afford to rent out a room at one considering they are not expected to pay other bills that come with an apartment such as deposits, fees, and utilities. These people are called Net cafe refugee s; in 2018 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government conducted a survey using 502 internet and manga cafes in the Tokyo area and found through the information provided that an estimated 15,000 people stay at these cafes during the week with roughly 4,000 of this number being those that are homeless and the rest using the cafe instead of a hotel. A third of the guests claim to have unstable jobs. By age, the bulk of the guests are in their 30s with a smaller but still significant portion of people in their 50s. In 2008, the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry requested the budget for a program that would help internet cafe refugees gain permanent employment by offering a loan program for living expenses as long as they take classes on vocational job skills and training.