Idols%20and%20Celebrity%20in%20Japanese%20Media%20Culture

Introduction: The Mirror of Idols and Celebrity 27
2. This is very much in line with what Henry Jenkins (2006, 61–62) calls
“affective economics,” but at a scale virtually unparalleled in the world.
3. These objects are internalized subjectively as images that are far from accurate
representations of the actual, external others. Jacques Lacan related this
idealized image of the external other to the concept of the “mirror stage.”
For the infant, the specular image of the self that is reflected in the mirror
is perceived as an idealized figure of bodily integration and wholeness apart
from the mother upon whom the infant still depends. The mirror image
of the unified self is the first of a long process of imaginary identifications
throughout our lives that are illusory and fictive.
4. See, most recently, Ōta (2011) and Okajima and Okada (2011).
5. In his critique of recent work in Japan Studies, Kōichi Iwabuchi (2010, 93)
points out that the nation has emerged as the most marketable and significant
local unit, not only for political, economic, and cultural exchange, but
also for academic analysis. He is right to resist those forces that conspire to
make us “methodological (inter)nationalists.”
6. This includes people like Ishihara Yūjirō and Yoshinaga Sayuri, who were not
called idols at the time, but are now remembered as having garnered “idollike
popularity” (aidoru-teki ninki). Stars are clearly different from idols in the
former’s possession of talents and skills that set them apart from the audience,
whereas the latter are in close proximity with the audience, achieved
through regular and simultaneous appearances in multiple media outlets.
7. Throughout the volume we use Japanese name order, family name followed
by given name, unless the person publishes using reverse or “Western” name
order or prefers it.
8. Candies got their start as the three female assistants on the Kayō Gurando
Shō in 1972 (active until 1978). Pink Lady debuted on Sutā Tanjō! in 1976,
and remained on top of the charts until 1979 (they disbanded in 1981, and
reformed and broke up several times after).
9. Among them are superstars such as Matsuda Seiko and Kōndo Masahiko.
10. We note as well a sort of “return to Japan” in the sounds of popular groups
like Shibugaki-tai, which broke with the vaguely foreign sounding and styled
male idols that had come before. They were contemporaneous with Hikaru
Genji and Shōnen-tai.
11. One notable exception was the Fuji TV program Ainori (1999–2009), which
featured the love lives of ordinary people traveling around the world.
Though the show closely resembles the genre of reality TV, its own network
categorized the show as “variety.”
12. Generally speaking, the genre of reality TV is flexible and encompasses a
broad range of formats. Some scholars define reality TV as blurring the
boundaries between fact and fiction, while others locate it within the framework
of documentary. Most viewers in the US and UK tend to equate reality
TV with shows like Big Brother or Survivor that feature “real” people.
13. Gabriella Lukács (2010, 45) explains: “In the 1950s, television networks had
to subcontract stars from the film industry, but the supply was cut off when
cinema box office sales started dropping as a result of television’s growing
popularity. Television networks turned to theater—both kabuki and modern
theater—for performers. Theater sources, however, could not satisfy the
growing demand, and agencies were established to recruit new stars. Yet the