By Cristiana and Jessica
Akihabara
Today, we ventured into the world of ultimate consumerism. Not far from where we’re staying is Akihabara, the center of Japanese pop culture and the global capital of Otaku culture (Otaku meaning geek culture). Akihabara features stores ranging from collections of electronic, anime, and manga, catering to niche pop culture. Walking through it all was overstimulating to say the least, as each store was clustered around each other. Most stores were multi floored as well, serving as what I thought to be like a mini mall.
I happen to have a bit of knowledge on computer parts and with the ongoing RAM and graphics card shortages in America, I thought it would be interesting to see if the center of technology in Japan would have anything to offer. What I saw was everything I expected to see, marked up prices with a shortage of high-end RAM and graphics cards. I was surprised however because I expected there to be more stock along with cheaper prices with Japan being so close to China. Unfortunately, that was not the case. After that I made my way to the camera floor and after looking at the prices, I decided my phone camera was more than enough for me. I also saw this screen showing the quality of the camera video and decided to have some fun with it.
After looking at computer parts, I made my way over to an anime store. This store included 8 floors of anime items (figurines, CDs, basically anything you could think of branded in anime) and manga. I was amazed by how such a small building with such small pathways, asiles, and escalators was so functional.
While looking into Akihabara, I found some interesting points about its history. During the Edo Period, it was believed to be a place where lower class samurai were to live, along with being a connection from Edo to northern Japan. After World War II during the post war Showa Period, the Akihabara area became the black-market hub for radio parts. Due to Japan having a weakened government post war, Akihabara grew in popularity as the black market continued to thrive and officially become a market city. Onward into the bubble period of economic prosperity in Japan continued to show a busy and prosperous Akihabara, even when Japan’s economic bubble pops in the 90s. By then, radios were beginning to lose their dominance in the market, with computers beginning to take charge. With this change came a new look for Akihabara, one full of personal computers which had then begun to cater to the otaku community of “computer nerds”. Akihabara is a beautiful showcase of Japanese culture and I highly suggest anyone planning to come to Japan to make the trip and check it out.
Ad Museum
The Ad Museum Tokyo opened in 2002, a place that displays Japanese advertisement and marketing from the Edo period (beginning of the 17th century to the late 19th century) until the present day. Our tour guide began with a short summary of the museum, introduced some of the earliest models of ads, and showed our group examples of those early Edo ads within the museum. Advertisements and marketing in the museum promote goods like food, sweets, cosmetics, medicine, cultural events, movies, celebrities, cigarettes, alcohol, and technology. This museum also aims to show how everything around us promotes emotions or ideas; in the words of our tour guide, “…advertising can be a mirror to society”.
In the Edo period, main forms of advertisement and marketing include: Nishiki-e (graphic art works made by woodblock printing), Kabuki (marketing included into Japanese theatre, many actors commonly created Nishiki-e), and Kusazoshi (comic books). While in some forms of consumer culture, shared values and products come from marketing from the higher class into the lower class, but in the Edo period, the townspeople hold the influence into Japanese consumer culture. One indicator of that priority with Japanese common people was the accessibility of these advertisements: Nishiki-e were sold for very cheap with information covering almost the whole page, Kabuki promoted items both in performances and during intermissions, and Kusazoshi had color-coded covers to market the different subject matters.
Example of a Nishiki-e print from the Edo period.
The curations and promotions of ideas throughout time not only are represented in the advertisements within the museum but are also reflected in the museum layout itself. The advertising history in chronological order moves along the wall on the museum, making an easy timeline for visitors to walk through.
Wall of Post-War Japanese Ads.
To convey the importance of mood in marketing, the museum includes individual audiovisual booths that each convey a particular emotion, allowing visitors to an enclosed space to examine their feelings in response to what they see in ads.
The “Four Feelings” audiovisual displays visitors can walk inside of. Each shape represents the emotions the ads promote within.
Along with interactive digital displays in the main chronological walls, there are also multiple collection tables, where people can scroll through endless contemporary ads.
Ad for Oi Ocha, a famous green tea brand in Japan, featured on one of the museum’s collection tables.
These features included in the building not only make the museum easy for visitors to follow along the history of ads but allow visitors to examine different social and emotional aspects included in the art of marketing. One mantra that reflects this notion in the Ad Museum Tokyo Guidebook: “Ads can be more than just ads.”