Fashion, Glamour and Spirituality
by Minami Orihara
One of my favourite things to do in my free time is reading random women’s magazines from Japan. Lately however, these magazines actually got me thinking, instead of helping me to unwind from my work. Along with news on latest fashion trends, movie reviews, cooking recipes, and tips on relationships, many of the magazines seem to be filled with tons of information on spiritual counselling, healing items, and interviews with popular therapists and so on.
In one recent magazine I read, I learned that one of the “must-have items for working women†inside their bags is an amulet, apart of course from a Louis Vuitton wallet and a cosmetic bag from Prada.
Another article featured shrines, temples and other so-called “power spots†around Japan that would help “purify our mind and body from a busy urban life.†Over the pages, fashion models give tours to these places and successful working women of different professions share their personal stories at their favourite locations. Are these women becoming religious or is it just a part of cultural trends similar to the Zen boom of the mid-twentieth century and yoga of the twenty-first century?
It looks like I am not the only person who has stumbled upon these questions. Kayama Rika, a social psychologist, published a book in 2006 entitled Supirituaru ni hamaru hito, hamaranai hito (Those who are “in†for the spiritual things and those who aren’t). According to her, supernatural phenomena such as the resurrection of the dead were popular themes in movies, comic books, and novels in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. But since the members of a cult group, Aum, deliberately released poisonous gas in the subway stations of Tokyo killing twelve and injuring thousands of others in 1995, the topics relating with such matters became a social taboo.
A decade later, the “spiritual culture†made a comeback with massive media attention and received large support from women in particular. Unlike the traditional mediums who have always been avoided by the general public with a sense of fear and scepticism, this recent phenomenon has gained wide popular support. For instance, a television-show hosted by a “spiritual counsellor†– who can read people’s “aura†and describe their pre-existent life – consistently get high viewership ratings and his books are also best-selling publications.
Kayama argues that such widespread public interest in the spiritual world is due to the success of these “counsellors†in creating a “stylish†and “cool†image as opposed to “dark†and “gloomy.†Some sociologists and political analysts also analyze that its popularity is reflective of a growing anxiety among the younger generation, due to a fierce economic competition resulting from the New Liberalist policy adopted by the Japanese government in recent years. Some even attribute its attractiveness partly to the strong support given to our former and current prime ministers, who are often criticized for acting on personal beliefs and motivations.
Such interests in spirituality also have historical precedent. The rise of Romanticism and escapist religious movements could be traced to the introduction of Western capitalist system during the Meiji period. These movements were commonly Buddhist-inspired, as represented by Kiyozawa Manshi’s Seishin-shugi undÅ (Spiritualist Movement) and ItÅ ShÅshin’s Muga-ai undÅ (Selfless Love Movement), which assured people of spiritual comfort by teaching them how to leave behind their material concerns. Published literature on Buddhist themes in the Taisho period also helped spread the popularity of Buddhist culture. One of them, Watsuji TetsurÅ’s Koji Junrei (1919), inspired many middle and upper class citizens to visit old temples for a different life experience.
Yet, these social and cultural phenomena quickly lost their momentum when the major economic crisis arose from the KantÅ Great Earthquake of 1923, the Showa Depression of 1929, and the Great Famine of 1934 in northern parts of Japan. As a result, Buddhism became susceptible to the criticisms of the two main streams of political ideologies in early Showa: fascism and Marxism. In reaction to the criticisms that Buddhism is passive, idealistic, and opportunistic, Buddhist priests became increasingly political. The majority of them cooperated with the state, while the others either abandoned their faith to support Communist activities in Japan or reinterpreted the Buddhist teachings to apply to the social and political problems.
So, will spirituality follow the same route in present-day and future Japan? Well, I will have to continue reading more fashion magazines to find out. For research, of course!
The author is a M.A. candidate at the Department of History, NUS.