Speech On Chewing Gum And Chocolate

Globalisation. As I write this speech my mac is constantly underlining the word with a red squiggle insisting that the s is a z. These small grammatical differences see people like myself wondering which the correct spelling is. This in itself is a direct example of the effects of globalisation. Where through the union of the continents, the process of becoming a single global body, has allowed a multitude of languages to meet one. Although, this connection has allowed whole continents to inadvertently conquer other countries cultures and beliefs without directly passing the border. How? Social media, economic growth, technological advancements. When looking through a microscope, we see this in Japan, whereby the effects of the second world

But for many men of Tomatsu’s generation the occupation was never really over; it continued inside their heads.’ Wrote Ian Buruma in the Reviews November 6 issue, as a review of Tomatsu’s compilation of photographs ‘Chewing Gum and Chocolate.’ The American government believed that creating a democratic Japan would see it peaceful and loving, following the political institutions of free elections and free speech. Of course with this decision will lead a domino effect of changes, as seen in its economy. ‘We must Americanize’, said Toyota Chief Executive Fujio Chio in comment to the companies growing success in America, but failure in Japan in the 2002 article The Americanization of a Japanese Icon. Shomei Tomatsu’s artwork Koza, Okinawa, captures the debasement of Japanese culture within the top third of the image and reflection in the car window, where an advertisement for a cultural festival is seen selling traditional practices such as ‘tea ceremon(ies)’, ‘flower arranging’ and turning Kimono dress into a fashion show. Japan’s movement from independence forced it to commercialize and Americanize in order to reach the standard of growth with the rest of the world and successfully transform into a global entity. ‘In 1945, its cities devastated, Japan was inundated with American soldiers. We were starving, and they threw us chocolate and chewing gum. That was America. For better or

Look at your local Chinese food takeaway, half of it is Americanized, sweetened and thickened to suit our tastes. Anything that is labelled ‘sweet and sour’ for instance, Sweet and sour pork, that’s a lie. Countries like Japan have become a war ground for the constant battle between tradition and Americanization. Here we can see this battle through the woman dressed in a traditional Kimono, sitting almost helpless, contrasting the English typography in the background and reflecting on the window of the car. This casts the woman as not belonging, being the foreigner in her own country. The glass of the window seeming to become a shield, or container to maintain the last of Japanese culture from the attacks of Americanization. But this wave of Americanization was not always feared. If you lived in a country where your leaders had led you, young teenagers, off to fight a war you don’t believe in, on a side you think is wrong, you came to distrust them. So when the Americans flew in, they were welcomed with open arms, the American democracy became a model for Japan, and soon the government was controlling newspapers and magazines to explain and popularize the new democratic legal system. ‘Japanese conformity and homogeneity’, Tetsuo Kogawa states in his essay ‘Japan as a Manipulated Society, ‘can be seen as the production of conscious and unconscious control of