Chanpon

In his book Recentering Globalization, Iwabuchi coins the term “cultural odor” to refer to the detectable imprint of a particular culture that is left behind on a product or export . Cultural odor is rooted in the creator culture, and can potentially be a problem for exportation; if a product smells too much like the culture that created it, it will not be easily accessible to foreign cultures. In an article about the popularity of Pokemon in the United States, Iwabuchi describes the idea of “cultural fragrance”, which as opposed to a “cultural odor” is “ a socially and culturally acceptable smell, [that] does not derive primarily from the inherent quality of a product; it has more to do with the image of the country of origin.” Among the Japanese cultural images that have this acceptable fragrance, Iwabuchi lists samurai, who are seen as exotic, but positively so.

To be sure samurai, along with many things Japanese, seem to be enjoying a certain popularity in the United States these days. According to a number of journalists and scholars, among them Anthony Fiola with his Washington Post article titled “Japan’s Empire of Cool” , claim that Japan-associated products such as anime, J-pop, fashion and food are more popular now than they have ever been, and even stand poised to overtake the popularity of American cultural goods worldwide. The popularity of these seemingly less traditional cultural forms has rejuvenated interest in more traditional cultural representations such as the samurai, and there has been a rash of films and TV shows that depict various incarnations of samurai, both in the US (The Last Samurai, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Samurai Jack) and in Japan (Vagabond, Shinsengumi, Samurai Champloo).
The popular image of samurai is actually a rather complex one that draws from a number of influences and represents a variety of ideals. It is at the same time an image that has its own inherent cultural qualities (cultural odor) and those projected onto it from the outside (cultural fragrance). Much the image derives from the samurai movies that reached foreign shores during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. In films such as The 47Ronin, foreigners were introduced to the image of noble, loyal, self sacrificing samurai, while films, such as The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Samurai: The Legend of Musashi introduced the image of the cool, collected, courageous, formidable samurai. Both these ideals are evident in contemporary samurai, though it is perhaps the latter that is more internationally accessible and popular.

The idea of the samurai is inescapably orientalized. This is because samurai cannot be divided from their Japanese origins; the word itself is a constant reminder of where samurai hail from. In a somewhat self-perpetuating feedback loop, anything samurai do or represent onscreen is understood as being Japanese, because samurai come from Japan, or so the logic seems to go. Samurai are portrayed as almost mystical, more in touch with their bodies and in control of their minds than regular people. For example, the samurai in The Last Samurai are often shown meditating or practicing martial arts. As Tom Cruise’s Algren wanders through the village he watches them and makes a note in his diary that everything appears inaccessibly spiritual to him. The main character of Samurai Jack, an samurai from a mythical past exiled in the future by an evil wizard, has an unbeatable fighting style, and in the middle of one battle even sits down to mediate and control his rage. The Japanese tend to mystify the samurai as well, as we can see in the many reincarnations of the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, who seems to become even more supernaturally strong with each new depiction. The two main samurai in Watanabe Shinichiro’s historically anachronistic anime Samurai Champloo defy gravity and human reason with their impossible strength and personalities. Samurai are characterized as having culturally distinctive forms of honor, bravery, emotional self-control and depth, and spirituality, as well as marital arts prowess and a snazzy sword.
The question is, if the samurai image is still grounded in orientalized stereotypes of Japanese, how is it that the image has become something other cultures can adopt? As Iwabuchi suggests, the concept of “cultural fragrance” is related to how a country is seen from the outside rather than the inherent image it projects. In other words, samurai are popular because of the relatively positive evaluation Japan is enjoying as far as popular culture goes these days.

Samurai are cool because they are different, and they have slowly become an idealization that other cultures long to be, like American cowboys or European knights. Such archetypes have been rolled around in the popular consciousness for so long, that it is now possible for people who are not American to consider themselves cowboys without losing the sense that they are Russian or Japanese . It is still necessary for the coutry of origin, whether it be England (knights), America (cowboys) or Japan (samurai) to be regarded relatively highly by the people appropriating the image. America and England have long enjoyed status as cultural hegemons, but Japan is relatively new to the scene, and it is interesting that they should be so highly regarded so soon after the Pacific War and more recently the trade wars with the US in the 90’s. It is perhaps thanks to the economic hardship Japan has experienced that their cultural products have become more available to the outside world; with Japan no longer a menacing threat, consumption of their popular culture no longer constitutes a betrayal or a threat to local identities. This makes it possible for artists and filmmakers to appropriate the “cool” aspects of samurai and imbue their local non-Japanese characters with them without losing their sense of local identity

There are many examples of characters who are identified with samurai, but who are nonetheless not Japanese. Tom Cruise’s Nathan Algren is one of the more outstanding contemporary examples. By the end of the movie he clearly has taken on many of the samurai traits, such as the zen-like mastery of the sword, and an budding understanding of spirituality. The film never comes out and says that he is a samurai, but the implications of the scene where the widow of the man he killed dresses him in the dead man’s armor is unmistakable. In Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Bride, played by blond leggy Uma Thurman, defeats a female Yakuza mob boss played by Lucy Liu. The Yakuza insults the Bride, saying “silly white girl likes to play with samurai swords” as if the Bride has no claim on Japanese tradition. But, after she has been defeated, the mob boss recants, apologizing for what she said earlier; the Bride’s superior swordsmanship mark her as more of a samurai than the ethnically Japanese woman. The main characters of the French film Yamakasi: Les samourais de temps modern are all described as “modern day samurai.” They are a street gang that perform acrobatics with their urban surroundings. Presumably it is their physical prowess and loyalty to each other that makes then samurai. Even Japanese pop culture has examples of non-Japanese samurai. At the end of one episode of Cowboy Bebop, Andy, an ethnically Caucasian character who speaks English even in the original Japanese dub, relinquishes the title of “space cowboy” to Spike, and instead adopts the role of “space samurai”. Andy is something of an idiot, and the joke is partly that he’s got it wrong again (he was a bumbling space cowboy), but the ending does equate “samurai” with “cowboy” as an image that can be taken off and put on by almost anyone.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph of this essay, samurai are still strongly identified and associated with being Japanese. But as the examples from popular culture suggest, it is an image that is becoming more flexible and available to people of all cultures. This is an indication of the acceptance that Japan has begun to receive internationally. It is interesting to note however, that most, if not all, of the foreigners who appropriate the samurai image are from the West. One would be hard pressed to find examples of Taiwanese, Chinese or Korean characters or individuals who identify themselves with samurai. This is partly because these Asian cultures have their own warrior figures who already embody many of the samurai traits, such as China’s “flying knights”. But it also has to do with “cultural fragrance”. Japan’s image in these countries is complicated by lingering wartime issues that don’t exist between Japan and Western nations. It will be interesting to see as technology improves and becomes more accessible, and as Douglas McGray mentions in his article “Japan’s Gross National Cool” Japan gains more soft power with the increasing number of cultural exports , how the image of the samurai developes further, and the degree to which it may or may not become an internationally available ideal.

Bibliography

Dillon, Mike. “The Future of Japanese Cinema: Situating the Global Cyberpunk Aesthetic” unpublished (2004)

Fiola, Anthony. “Japan’s Empire of Cool” Washington Post Foreign Service. (27 December 03) p. A01

Iwabuchi, Koibuchi. “How ‘Japanese’ is Pokemon.” Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. ed. Joseph Tobin. Durham: Duke University Press (2004) p53-79.

Iwabuchi, Koichi. Recentering Globalization: Japanese Culture and Transnationalism Durham: Duke University Press (2002).

McGray, Douglas. “Japan’s Gross National Cool.” Foreign Policy Magazine (May/June 2002) online.

Said, Edward. “Introduction.” Orientalism. New York: Random House (1978) p 1-27.

Solomon, Charles. “Inspired by the films they inspired; Anime influenced the ‘Matrix’ films. Now the live-action series spawns ‘animatrix.’ They share not only a style but also a disturbing vision of the future.” The Los Angeles Times Home Edition (1 June 03) p E.24.