Odours of Mobility: Mobile Phones and Japanese Cute Culture in the Asia-Pacific.

This paper is based on ongoing research into the use of Japanese cute (kawaii) character customisation of mobile phones in the Asia-Pacific region. Far from illustrating a form of homogeneous Japanisation in the region, consumers are using kawaii customisation in diverse ways to articulate practices...

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Publicado en:Journal of Intercultural Studies Vol. 26; no. 1/2; pp. 39 - 56
Autor principal: Hjorth, Larissa
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Feb-May2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Feb-May2005
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        10.1080/075256860500074003
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        atl: Odours of Mobility: Mobile Phones and Japanese Cute Culture in the Asia-Pacific.
      aug:
        au: Hjorth, Larissa
        affil: Lecturer, Digital Art, Games and Digital Art Program, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
      su:
        Mobile communication systems
        Japanese character sets (Data processing)
        Data processing of signs & symbols
        Cordless telephones
        Cultural codes
        Habitus (Sociology)
        Wireless communications
        Asia
      sug:
        subj:
          Asia
          Mobile communication systems
          Japanese character sets (Data processing)
          Data processing of signs & symbols
          Cordless telephones
          Cultural codes
          Habitus (Sociology)
          Wireless communications
      keyword:
        3G (Third Generation) Technologies
        Character Culture and Cuteness (kawairashisa)
        Customisation
        Cute (kawaii)
        Cute (kawaii) Character Culture and Cuteness (kawairashisa)
        Gender
        Japanese Global Popular Culture
        Mobile Telephony
        Neo-humanism
      ab: This paper is based on ongoing research into the use of Japanese cute (kawaii) character customisation of mobile phones in the Asia-Pacific region. Far from illustrating a form of homogeneous Japanisation in the region, consumers are using kawaii customisation in diverse ways to articulate practices of interiority and exteriority, cultural capital and habitus. The dominance of cute character culture (‘cuteness’ or kawairashisa) as the mode for customising/personalising technologies such as mobile phones is very particular to this region. So what does this form of ‘humanising’ the dehumanised technological spaces say about local nuances and tendencies? How is kawairashisa being transformed through its appropriation outside mobile phones (in the form of hanging doll-like forms) and inside the telephonic and net spaces via ‘email pets’, as the region moves into 3G (third generation) mobile net telephony? And why has there been so little work into analysing cultural adaptations of kawairashisa outside Japan despite its apparent ubiquity? In his seminal work on Japanese global cultural production, Koichi Iwabuchi evokes the notion of Japaneseness as being ‘odourless’ (2002). This paper revises the notion of ‘odourlessness’ Japanese global products in relation to the use of kawairashisa adornments inside and outside mobile net telephonic spaces. By sketching some of the ways in which the kawaii has been theorised and the current research into mobile telephony, this paper seeks to outline a framework for understanding the ubiquitous phenomenon of mobile customisation that is still relatively under-theorised and under-researched.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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