Paper long abstract:

How does pop performance and its media reflect the deep unresolve of Asia-centered 20the century wars and 21st century war-like attitudes and behavior? What does war have to do with these Japanese youth cultures like J-pop, anime, and video games? Do pop cultures with their saturated mix of dazzle and darkness offer insights into a fervor of collective and individual dedication and devotion to militarization?

Today most people consider pop youth culture such as J-pop and K-pop, anime, and video games to be frothy and inconsequential stuff and dismiss the power of these pop youth cultures within our dynamic global Asia new media world. Youth cultures of the 21st century are global forces with their presence in multiple digital forms from mobile phones to computers and TV. In this presentation I wish to foreground how pop youth cultures deal with our contemporary contexts of everyday war, or what Thomas Lamarre refers to as war/time. I focus on how J-Pop performances and music videos express war/time and transmit a sense of militarized fervor and devotion. I argue that the choreography and dramaturgy of their music videos demonstrate how these artists go beyond metaphor and perform war-like actions. I show how their practices of disciplined movement, rhythm, lyrics, music, visuals, and video editing provide a direct methodology for us, as public witnesses, to recognize the potent power of their everyday war/time performance. I will draw on examples of groups such as Keyakizaka 46, Baby Metal, Tokyo GeGeGay, and Atarashi Gakko.