Berryz Kobo Live in Bangkok

 

Well, I'm sure many of us are aware now that Berryz are playing a concert in Thailand. Bangkok, to be more precise. This, I'm sure, is great news for many of us. Great news for Berryz too. It makes the second time they have performed overseas. First Korea and now Thailand, they are well on their way to becoming the next internationaly-recognised H!P group, it seems. Or at least within Asia, anyhow. That fact evidenced by the fact that they are slated to perform at a 10,000-seating sports stadium.

As such, it would be wonderful to attend this historic concert. To support Berryz in their expansion into east Asia. And of course, to finally see Berryz live for the first time.

But this puts me in a bit of a predicament. A month before the concert I'm set to arrive in London for the 2010 Eurowota meet. However, that will prove so expensive that there's no way I'd be able to go to both. In fact, I'm not sure if I can really afford to go to London for the meet as I had set my goals on reaching Japan for a month around October. And I'm not sure if I can afford Japan after Eurowota, I definately can't afford it if I go to Thailand.

Thus, my predicament. On the Eurowota hand I get to see and meet some familiar faces from this year's meet again, as well as new faces. To this day I still think of the Eurowota 2009 meet in Stockholm as the best weekend of my life. So perhaps you understand why I want to go again. But by going to Thailand I'd get to see Berryz live, support them during their expansion and, as Cotton Cloth pointed out to me, get to see Maasa live! And then there's Japan... Well, that kind of speaks for itself. To live in Japan for a month, see concerts, experience the Japanese way of living, and hopefully learn to be a bit more independant in the process.

Then of course there is the travel itself. I love London, I've only been there a couple times in my life and it's a wonderful city. But it's still a very British way of life. By going to Thailand or Japan, I'd have the chance to see sights I've never seen before and experience a whole new culture first-hand.

Looks like I've got a bit of thinking to do, and alot of trying to balance how much money I have.

I'm trully torn.

Read more »

A Fan's Worthiness: Proving Our Worth

So I ended the last entry by talking about the different factors which come into play when we pick our favourite idols and how a member's popularity might influence that decision in order to make you blend into, or stand out from the crowd.

I don't think most people go to extreme lengths to stand out and be different. If you stand too far from the crowd you are alone and scream "Hey, look at me! I'm different!". An old Japanese proverb about society goes something like the nail that sticks out gets hammered in. And yet we go to great lengths in order to stand out, ironically enough, I believe, in order to fit in.

Consider that an idol fan has two goals in mind. The primary goal is, naturally, to support the idol by buying their products. Without this simple instinct to give to their idol, the fan is useless. This can clearly be observed in human history in the form of religion and the inherit need of it's followers to give gifts to the being, object or entity that they have come to worship as a god. Many cultures felt that the need to appease their gods by means of animal or human sacrifice, or gifts of wine, food or money. Social norms have changed and animal and human sacrifice is now frowned upon by many of today's cultures and faiths (although still present in certain beliefs) and the need of the people to sacrifice to their gods adapted with the times. Now many Churches, such as in Catholicism, accept gifts to their god in the form of money donations. And now this spiritual desire to give has been passed on into fandom at large - although in the case of this blog we'll continue to focus on idol fandom in particular.

The very word "idol" refers to an image. A picture, or a statue, in ancient times. An indeed, many peoples constructed these idols in the image of their gods in order to have a physical representation of that which they worship. It's no coincidence that the name later applied to the girls we, ourselves, worship. In earlier days of the industry the idols were presented with perfect images. Girls who could do no wrong. They were also presented with more middle-class characters. Beautiful, intelligent, entertaining. These were the perfect women. In recent years that tone has lowered, however, in an attempt to bring them closer to their fans. Noteable is the fact that ignorance and unintelligence is now found to be cute and endearing in idols, something which we can laugh at. However, during the 60s an idol with such an image wouldn't have been allowed, similiar to the way the BBC used to only employ proper-spoken, seemingly intelligent people in order to have a respectable image.

And so we worship these girls, and just as religious followers we feel compelled to give those monetary donations to our gods.

Why? I believe it has something to do with the idea that, in order to feel worthy of blessing and praise from our god, we give unto our god such sacrifices. And as such we have our secondary goal as fans, to prove that we are worthy. Although it's very possible that the primary and secondary goals are interchangable, as they are both tied to one another. We support our idols to prove our worth, and we prove our worth by supporting the idols.

Of course, proving our worth to the idols isn't the only thing we have in mind, but also proving ourselves and, ultimately, showing off to our peers. That is why all those "Post your H!P Collection" threads on various forums prove to be so popular. I, myself, post in Musume-Central's variation of the "Show off your latest purchase" thread whenever I can. I'm sure most of us do something of the sort. This isn't so much about ego, as it is about the desire for peer-approval. The idea is to be accepted. We think that, by showing off how loyal and "pious" we are, we can become accepted as worthy fans by many people. ie, become popular, to put it on blunt terms.

But why is that feeling of acceptance so important to us? Well, to answer that question we must move on from the religious metaphor and context and into Darwinist theory.

In nature evolution is fueled by the idea that the strongest will survive, and the weak will die. This applies not only to the idea that a weaker species will be killed off by a stronger, but also on a more individual level. When the males and females mate, usually males will compete for their partner in whatever way they have evolved to, wether that be a show of beauty or of strength. Either way, the best will procreate and their genetic makeup will continue, and the weaker won't. Darwinism could therefore be taken to argue that the meaning of live is just that. Procreation, passing of genes, and continuation of the species. And, just as the animal kingdom does, humans must "compete" for that right to procreate. Although human competition is far more complex and more depends on the taste and "type" of each individual as to what they regard the ideal partner to be. However, some of the more agreed upon themes are that of wealth and power as a way for members of the same sex to compete for the best of the opposite.

And so, accumulation of wealth and property proving to be a powerful tool for gaining another's approval. It could be argued that the accumulation of an impressive collection of, in this case, H!P merchandise and the subsequent show off of it is a flag and a way to prove that you are a worthy mate. Or a friend. Someone to be respected. Of course, taking it from a Darwin point of view is over simplifying the matter, there are many reasons why one builds a collection and I'm sure that the hopes of meeting and seducing members of the opposite sex (or same sex if that's more you) isn't one of the reasons at all. I'm just putting it forward as a possible explanation as to why we have evolved to feel the need to show our collection off.

One thing is certain however, by showing off the items we own to people who would be interested, we are ultimately trying to impress them to get their approval. That fits with the above Darwin theory.

This has been my two-part analysis on the behaviour of fans and how we try to prove ourselves as fans. Thank you for taking time out to read this. Any thoughts or opinions? Please drop me a comment. I'd be glad to hear your own theories and ideas on the topic.

Read more »

A Fan's Worthiness: Which Idol?

An interesting topic, to be sure. And something that all fans aspire to be - regardless of the hobby. Just as sports fans will try to prove their worth and show off their knowledge about their chosen team, we wota love a chance to prove just how well versed we are in the charms of our idols and their groups. So well documented, in fact, are the lives of these girls that it's hard not to pick up little bits of information of their lives and their personalities. Of their favourite foods and bands. Of their little quirks and recurring jokes. Gaining a new idol is like buying a brand new product, complete with all it's features and faults - not just for the fans, but for the agencies who sell these products too.

And so, continuing our product analogy in the form of, say, electronics, just how do we pick out a model that suits us from the huge product range? Hello!Project alone have an impressive arsenal of what must be over 50 idols, both retired and current. Then you take the other major organisations, such as that of AKB48 and Johnny's Entertainment, each with incredible aresenals of their own. But this is only a small portion of the market. There are plenty of smaller agencies, idols and such. Since the industry began forming in the 60s, there have been thousands of bright, young idols for fans to choose from. And, unlike regular celebrities who are often locked into a specific industry such as cinema or music, idols are much more versatile in their uses. They can do movies and dramas, animation, music, gravure modelling, television and, in some cases, adult video - each industry bringing in millions each year. For this reason I put it to you that the Japanese Idol industry is, itself, a multi-billion dollar industry in and of itself - and is in fact one of the largest in the world.

It is, however, extremely dependent on the other entertainment industries in Japan. An Idol can still exist with no ties to the music industry, but this industry itself only provides the Idols. Without the others, such as music and film, an idol industry could not exist. Luckily for us, it's existence is an incredibly stable one, and seems to be holding up in the global recession better than most - meaning our idols are safe... at least until no longer profitable.

And so, back to the topic at hand, in such a broad market how do we choose the product we want?

Well this depends entirely on who the 'customer' is, and perhaps just how new to the market they are. For example, a person who doesn't understand photography or the product market for SLR cameras might base their choice on something like resolution - in terms of megapixels. While a decent megapixel count is certainly important for a camera, it's the whole package which is important. Something you can't really put a number on. In much the same way, a newcommer to the Idol industry who, for the sake of arguement, discovered Morning Musume through their music. They are much more likely to base their initial choice of favourite member based on who can sing and whose voice they prefer. Or maybe even just based on looks.

And so, by applying the rules of the music industry alone to the group, you find that deciding on a favourite member is rather easy. You pick the one you think looks and sounds prettiest.

However. If you, like me, have been a fan for a while and have an understanding of the industry, you'll note that it isn't quite as easy as that. In this industry you can't base your choice solely on vocal talent or looks, but also on character, likeability, acting ability, whatever. Most importantly, if you can't understand and relate to your idol then you can't develop that unique wota-idol empathatic bond that is so vital to survival in the world of Idoling, for both the Idol and the fan.

Some people even take an idol's popularity into account. Choosing popular members in order to insure that they have lots of other fans to discuss even the most trivial bits of information about their idol with.  Or some might choose idols who, in their mind, are less popular in an attempt to stand out from the crowd and support an idol that they feel deserves more. It's alot easier to stand out and prove yourself as a fan when there are less people around you to drown out your voice, right?

And that brings me on to the next entry: Proving Ourselves.

Read more »