Date

0-7639

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

FAR EAST COAST IS IN DA HOUSE :
EXAMINATION OF HIP HOP CULTURE IN JAPAN

presented by

Kozo Okumura

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M.A. Telecommunication

degree in

 

 

WV

Major professor

 

0/1149

MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

— ~—__.__..._...____._...

FAR EAST COAST IS IN DA HOUSE I
EXAMINATION OF HIP HOP CULTURE IN JAPAN

BY

Kozo Okumura

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Telecommunication

1998

ABSTRACT

FAR EAST IS IN DA HOUSE:
EXAMINATION OF HIP HOP CULTURE IN JAPAN

BY

Kozo Okumura

This written thesis accompanies a 32 minute documentary video project about
hip hop culture in Japan. It explains about hip hop culture and its appeal to
Japanese youth. The purpose of the video is to demonstrate hip hop street
dance culture in Japan and how its values are very different from Japanese
traditional values. The written thesis provides background information on hip
hop culture and art forms, explains the documentary format and how it is used in

the video, and provides an evaluation of the program.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It was the summer of 1989 when I happened to see a part of this culture
called hip hop. It was a TV program showing people dancing to hip hop or
black music in a club. Of course, at that time, I did not know anything about this
street dancing as being a part of culture called hip hop. And I never imagined
that this culture was going to affect my life in many ways. Since then, I have
been involved in this culture mainly as a dancer. My experience of being a
dancer has been very special and wonderful to me. It has affected my life in a
positive way so much that I even tell people that l was reborn after I met this art

form of dancing.

Being involved in this culture, I have always had a desire-to share my
experience with other people. Many people do not take this type of dancing
seriously. The Media has failed to introduce the positive aspect of hip hop
culture and tend to pick up the negative aspect such as so-called gangsta rap
which glorifies violence. Even though the gangsta rap really does not
represent hip hop culture. the media still focuses on it, which creates
misconception of this culture. Therefore, introducing my positive experience to
others is the way I can give back to this culture since it has given me so many
things. Also the media in the US has not introduced alternative Japanese youth
culture as much as the traditional culture. These are my motivations to make a

documentary TV program about street dancers in Japan. This project is a result

of both my involvement in hip hop Istreet dance culture up to this point and my

study of video production at Michigan State University.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 2
HIPHOPCULTURE ..................................................................................................... 4
I. What is hip hop culture ..................................................................................... 4
II. Historical background ....................................................................................... 5
III. HiphopinJapan ............................................................................................... 8
IV. Japanese youth’s enthusiastic involvement of hip hop ............................ 14
i. Emergence of individualism among Japanese youth ............................. 15
ii. Stressful Japanese society ........................................................................ 17
iii. Uniqueness of Hip hop culture with black expressiveness ................... 18
a. Depth of feeling ......................................................................................... 19
b. Naturalistic attitudes ................................................................................. 19
c. Stylistic renderings ................................................................................... 21
d. Poetic and prosaic vernacular ................................................................. 21
e. Expressive movements ............................................................................ 22
CHAPTER 3
METHOD
I. Definitionofdocumentary ................................................................................ 25
II.Theissueofobjectivity ..................................................................................... 26
III. The Evolution of documentaryfilm ................................................................. 27
i. Vertov’s Kino Eye ............................................................................................ 27
ii. Flaherty’s Nanook of the North ...................................................................... 28
iii. John Grierson .................................................................................................. 29
IV. Capturing the reality :Direct cinema and cinema verite ............................ 30
V. The Future of Documentary ............................................................................ 32
CHAPTER 4
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION ....................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 5
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION
I. Program content evaluation ............................................................................. 37
II. Production evaluation ....................................................................................... 41
III. Discussion ........................................................................................................... 44
IV. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 46
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 47

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Hip hop culture is an art form of expression created by youth of African and
Hispanic American living in South Bronx, New York in the 1970s. It includes
rap music, Deejaying, street dancing which is also known as breakdancing, and
graffiti arts. Rapping as we know it today, saying rhymes to the beat of music,
was originally called emceeing. It draws its roots from the African art form
known as toasting. Deejaying is the manipulation of a record over a particular
groove so it produces strange sounds. It is said that this was invented by either
Grand Master Flash or Grand Wizard Therefore, two popular disc jockeys from
the Bronx. Dancing in hip-hop, which is generally called breakdancing, is a
colorful and acrobatic style of dance which includes moves ‘such as headspins
and backspins. Aerosol art also known as graffiti art developed out of the
scrawled nicknames, called “tags,” that rebellious youth have been scribbling
illegally with felt-tip pens and spray cans on walls, poles, road signs, even tree
trunks, at least since the late 1960s. Unlike graffiti you see on walls of
bathrooms, aerosol art is a sophisticated art form with “a complex web of
electrifying color, innovative calligraphy, and a kind of rhythmic chaos" and most

of time it has a message to the society (Farrell ).

When hiphop was born, people who appreciate this culture tended to be

limited to African and Hispanic people living in a inner city because it was

strongly related to their social and ethnic backgrounds. Skeptics predicted a
quick demise for this culture. They were wrong. About twenty years later, this
culture, born in a small area of New York city, is pOpular across the states. It is
even appreciated by people in other countries such as Europe and Asia.
Japanese people are not the exception even though some of their traditional
values are against this culture. Since hip hop dancing was introduced as a part
of hip hop culture in 1983, there have always been extreme enthusiasts for this
culture, especially dancing. Hip hop dancing is one of the most popular
activities among Japanese teenagers now. Why do Japanese youth get
involved in hip hop which was originally for African and Hispanic youth? There
are three main reasons. First, with the influence of internationalization, young
people in Japan who are inspired by the individualism which came from
Western culture, tend to have a desire to express themselves, which has not
been traditionally respected in collective society. They found hip hop culture as
a stylistic medium to express themselves. Second, many young people in
Japan feel that their life is very stressful. They found that hip hop culture
provides relief from the stress of their life. The third reason is a sort of subsidiary
reasons for the previous two reasons. They found that a way of expression in
hip hop is something new. This is because of “black expressiveness” which is
said that African American culture shares. Since hip hop culture has been
mainly practiced by African Americans, hip hop culture has black

expressiveness. This attracts the Japanese youth.

The documentary TV program titled “Far East Coast is in da House! -street
dancers In Japan' is a project to show street dance culture which is a part of hip
hop culture in Japan. Chapter 2 gives the backgroUnd of the subjects in the
program which includes history of hip hop in the US, history of hip hop in Japan,
social background of Japanese people, and the reasons for Japanese youth’s
deep involvement in this culture. Chapter 3 explains about the method to
convey the researcher’s message which is the documentary format. It gives the
definition of documentary and its brief history. Chapter 4 introduces the
program content to show the specific direction of the program. Chapter 5

covers the evaluation of the program and the conclusion.

CHAPTER 2

HIP HOP CULTURE

I. What Is hip hop culture
Hip hop is an art form that includes deejaying, emceeing/rapping, dancing,
and aerosol art. These art forms originated in the South Bronx section of New
York City around the mid 19703. Afrika Bambaataa, who has made a great
contribution to the hip hop community by founding the Universal Zulu Nation, a
worldwide hip hop organization talked about hip hop culture as follows:
Hip hop means the whole culture of the movement. When you talk
about Rap.. Rap is part of the hip hop culture. The emceeing.. The
deejaying is part of the hip hop culture. The dressing, the languages are
all part of the hip hop culture. The break dancing, how you act, walk,

look, talk are all part of hip hop culture (qtd. in Cook).

The reason why these four subcultures of rapping, deejaying, dancing, and
aerosol art are put into hip hop culture is that they were popular activities in the
South Bronx in the same period and share the same background and concept
as art forms though each has different ways of expression. Because of this, it
was common that one person got involved in more than one activity of hip hop.
For example, some graffiti writers such as Fab Five Fredy produced rap music.
Some dancers were also DJs. Crazy Legs, a member of the Rock Steady Crew

—a breakdancing crew, describes the communal atmosphere between writers,

rappers, dancers in the formative years of hip hop: “Summing it up, basically
going to a jam back then was (about) watching people drink, dance, compare
graffiti art in their black books. These jams were thrown by the DJ....it was about
piecing while a jam was going on” (qtd. in Rose, 35). The driving force behind
all these activities was the same which is people's desire to be seen and heard
(Cock). In order to know and understand their roots, it is important to
understand the background of the South Bronx around the period when hip hop

culture was born.

ll. Historical Background
In the 1950s, the Bronx was known as “the borough of apartment buildings”
and it had a good reputation as a place to live. However, when the city began
building an expressway through the heart of the Bronx in 1959, the Bronx
suddenly started to suffer a precipitous decline that would not be slowed until
more than 1,500 buildings were left abandoned. Marshall Berman wrote the
effects of the construction of expressway in his book All Th
Air.
My friends and I would stand on the parapet of the Grand Concourse,
where 174th Street had been, and survey the work’s progress -the
immense steam shovels and bulldozers and timber and steel beams, the
hundreds of workers in their variously colored hard hats, the giant cranes
reaching far above the Bronx’s tallest roofs, the dynamite blasts and

tremors, the wild, jagged crags of rock newly tom, the vistas of devastation

stretching for miles to the east and west as far as they could see-and

marvel to see our ordinary nice neighborhood transformed into sublime,

spectacular ruins (qtd. in Hager, 2).
The middle class Italian, German, Irish, and Jewish neighborhoods
disappeared overnight. Businesses and factories relocated. Only the poverty
was left. Poverty caused many problems: crimes, drug addiction,
unemployment. It was apparent that the city cared little for the small
communities in the Bronx. This city’s attitude toward the community also
brought a sense of injustice. Under these circumstances, youth gangs became
popular. According to Steven Hager, by the 19703, estimates of gang
membership ran as high as 11,000. For over several years the Bronx had lived
in constant terror of street gangs. The youth in the Bronx were sick of this
situation. Something had to come along to replace the gangs -the hip hop
movement caught the youth mind. Afrika Bambaataa, the founder of the
Universal Zulu Nation, an organization born out of the South Bronx gangs but
dedicated to peace, unity, and self-knowledge, recalled the situation saying,
“When I came out of the Black Spades (a gang in which he was involved), and
went straight into the hip hop thing, a lot of gang members followed me. In the
mid-70$, gangs were dying out. The police were cracking down, community
leaders were speaking out, women were fed up with the violence” (qtd. in
Owen). Emceeing/rapping, deejaying, aerosol art/graffiti art, and dancing were
all developed in the atmosphere that people should do something better than

gang activity though they were still in poverty. They found it “preferable for them

to channel their anger and aggressions into these art forms” which eventually
gave them free opportunity to express themselves (Cook). The fact that Hip
hop activities do not require people to spend any money or much money to get
involved made it more attractive to the youth in Bronx. It was in block parties or
clubs where these art forms were developed. DJs such as DJ Kool Herc, Afrika
Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash were the ones who organized these parties

and played a very important role in the history of hip hop.

Gang activity was replaced with hip hop activity. Dancing which was called
b—boying at that time had a great responsibility for this replacement because
gang fighting was directly transformed into dance fighting which was called a
battle. “You wanna fight or you wanna rock.” was the famous line that explains
this transformation. Or instead of saying “I’ll meet you at the corner and knock
you down", dancers are saying “I’ll meet you at the Roxy and dance you down”
(Rosenwald, 78). Many youth with aggression or frustration was channeled to
dance battle, not real fighting. They formed dancing crews instead of a gang
family. Dancing crew also fulfilled the need of camaraderie which also played a

big part in gang family.

In the early 19803, hip hop culture was introduced by media. Movies such as

Flashdance, Wild SMe, Breakin’, Breakin’ 2 and Beat Street had a big impact

on young people in the US and even all over the world. Among four elements,

rap music is the one which has grown up so that it became a great business

and had an influence on society. In the 19903, rap music even became more
diversified and many types of rap music exist. One of the styles which became
popular in the 19903 is “gangsta rap,” which came from the West coast, whose
subject is mainly about the life of street gangs and often glorifies violence and
disrespect for women. Nowadays, because of the strong negative image of
“gangsta rap” which totally misrepresents hip hop culture (some even do not
consider gangsta rap as hip hop) -the original meaning of hip hop culture has
been misunderstood by many people. On the other hand, the real hip hop
culture still exists and functions as an art form of expression not only in the

United States but also all over the world.

III. Hip hop In Japan

In Japanese hip-hop, dancing has been the center of the main culture, rather
than rapping, graffiti, and Deejaying. This is because dancing has a visual
impact so everyone can understand; when it comes to dance there is not a
language barrier. Another reason for this situation may be that there were more
information about dancing available than rapping through the media in Japan.
(Paul, 22). Hip hop dance culture in Japan started after the movie Mm
appeared in the summer of 1983. At that time, it was called “breakdancing”.
Although the movie was not about breakdancing, a few seconds of young
people doing some moves of breakdancing on the street caught many
Japanese people's attention. Mitsuhiro Harada, a long time hip hop dancer in

Japan, said “I started to dance inspired by the movie Flashgange. There are

many people who started to get involved in hip hop culture after watching the
movie." After Flashdance, many other movies followed such as made, Bat
M. m, and Breakin' 2. Rock Steady Crew, the most famous dance
group at that time, came to Japan in 1983 and Boogal Shrimp, who played a
role in the movie Bream came to Japan and planted the seeds of hip-hop
dancing in Japan. Many breakdancing crews existed just like in the United
States. Some crews such as Be-Bop Crew (Fukuoka area), Imperial JBs
(Hakata), Angel Dust Breakers(Osaka), Osaka Gangstar(Osaka), and Be-Bop
Crew Tokyo (Tokyo) represented many areas and got respect among dancers.
After 1985 or 86, the breakdancing trend was gone in Japan as well as in the
United States. Many people stopped dancing. However, there were still many
die-hard dancers who truly loved dancing. The second boom of hip hop
dancing came with the new style of hip hop dancing called “New School” hip
hop around 1990. The music videos of artists such as Bobby Brown, Bell Biv
Devoe, Heavy D, and MC. Hammer proved that a new way of dance was
coming alive and all of the young dancers were ready to explore this new form.
In contrast to the boom of breakdancing, the second boom of hip hop dancing
involved more women because this style does not require much physical
strength. A local dance TV show in Tokyo called ”DADA LMD" started in 1989.
Like the American Soul Train, there was line dance at the end of the show.
There was also the dance lesson introducing the latest trendy steps instructed
by regular dancers in the middle of the show. Later, these regular dancers

made their debuts as singers and achieved commercial success. Also, there

was another local dance TV show called "Dance Dance Dance" . This show
featured a dance contest among four groups every week, and a special dance
performance by the program's regular dancers called "Megamix". Since these
two programs were local programs and also aired after midnight, the impact
was not enough to create an explosive boom of new dancing. The national TV
show "Dance Koshien" started in 1989. This show aired at 8 o'clock on
Sunday. It is a hip hop dance contest for high school students, and had a great
impact on many young people who began to dance. Some people who made
their appearance on Dance Koshien found fame. The existence of these three

dance programs indicate the new popularity of dancing.

As the first boom of breakdancing did, new school hip hop dancing also lost its
explosive popularity after a few years. However, many dancers stayed in this
culture. Combined with the people from the old-school era (breakdancing era),
these people brought hip hop dancing in Japan into the next level. Hip hop
dancing is no longer just a fad but a real culture rooted among young people in

Japan.

Japanese dancers have been greatly influenced by African American
dancers who appeared on music videos. African American dancers are even
idols among many young dancers in Japan. This is because dancers in the
United States shown in music videos, played a very important role as a sort of

teacher especially in early days of hip hop in Japan when hip hop culture was

10

still not well understood and developed. Young dancers learn a new move or
get inspiration from those videos. Keisuke Nakao, a hip hop dancer in Japan,
recalls “There was a period of time when trends of dance moves changed so
quickly and everybody wanted to follow those trends. At that time, watching
videos was the only way to catch up. Everybody depended on the videos from
the United States for getting a new move and improving their skills. It was a
kind of competition to get the latest clips from the United States. Many people
didn’t want to show videos they had to others because they wanted to show
moves that people didn’t know. It was funny because to be a good dancer, it
was more about how fast you got the latest video rather than how good you can
dance." One of the videos which had the greatest impact on dancers was Lalah
HathawaY's "Baby Don't Cry“ featuring Mop Top crew, a top hip hop dancing
crew in New York City. The documentary program about hip hop dancers in NY
"ALIVE TV:wreckin' shop live from Brooklyn", produced by PBS, also had a
great influence on dancers in Japan. Some people who were not satisfied with
just watching videos even started to travel to New York to see dancers in New
York and actually take private dance lessons from them. Currently it is not
unusual for Japanese dancers to spend lots of money to go to New York to see
dancers there. ADHIP, A hip hop entertainment production company in Japan,
also started to bring dancers from New York to Japan and organize their show
in Japan. Japanese dancers’ feeling that they want to be like African American
dancers in New York is so strong that their appearance is also strongly

influenced by dancers in New York. They want to wear the same brands of

11

clothes. They go to tanning salons, and they have their hair done in dredlocks
(Spence-D, 9) because they want to have a look similar to dancers in New York

as well as to emulate their dancing.

Some American hip hop artists question if Japanese people really
understand hip hop culture or not. These questions arise from the phenomenon
of some Japanese going to tanning salons and having their hair done in
dredlocks. Also many Japanese dancers tend to copy the moves from
American dancers. These can be interpreted as being against the philosophy
of hip hop called “keep it real”. “Keep it real” means to stay true or honest to
yourself. Hip hop is an art form of expression. When people express
themselves, they have to represent themselves, not something stolen from
others. For example, in hip hop dancing, stealing anothers' move is called
“bite" or “biting” and is highly disrespected (Holman, 172) . Key-Kool, an
American rapper who visited Japan in 1994 said “Peering across the room full
of many fake dredheads, young women with tanning salon complexions, and
more fly gear than a hip hopper could ever dream of having, brings up the
questions, ‘How many of these peOpIe really embody hip-hop?” (12) . The
Japanese people's lack of understanding of hip hop culture comes from
language barriers. Since most Japanese do not understand English and have
little chance to know a specific message or philosophy of hip hop culture
through sources such as lyrics in rap music and hip hop magazines in the

United States, most people tend to depend on only visual or external impacts to

12

perceive the culture. DJ Krush, a Japanese DJ who received a lot of credit
outside Japan, criticized this situation as follows:
They care about the externals of hip hop, not the internals. They think if
you have the external [the look], that’s enough. Unless these kids
perceive that, they just can’t go around imitating and carbon copying
these people [black people], the Japanese hip hop scene is not going to
grow (qtd. in Spence-D, 22).
However, the situation is changing. About one decade after hip hop culture was
introduced to Japan, they started to try to create their own Japanese hip hop
culture. There are more dancers, rappers, Deejays and aerosol artists who try
to create their own style. DJ Krush mentioned this change, “I think all young
people just imitate the externals when they first become infatuated with hip hop
andthey just get obsessed with the externals. When I was ybunger I just
imitated that too. It’s just a matter of when you perceive that the externals have
nothing to do with your own reality, it’s just a matter of when you perceive this
and grow out of it“ (qtd. in Spence-D, 12). Ejoe Wilson, a famous hip hop
dancer from New York who often goes to Japan to teach also mentioned:
Two or three years ago, lot of Japanese kids I taught, they tries to get the
same style as a person completely. But now it is changing. Those
dancing from three years back are better now. They are making their own
moves and combinations. I knew that was gonna happen. So any
dancers who try to move just like some dancers in New York now, later on

they will start to move differently. I can see the change in lots of dancers.

l3

Key-Kool also mentioned:
It [hip hop culture] is growing at an incredible pace and this means many
“bandwagoning” type individuals that lack understanding of the culture as
a whole do exist. But isn't this true in the US as well, with a bunch of kids
exposed to rap solely on commercial radio, or the cable television, who
claim to love rap but are ignorant of the under goings of the hip hop
world? Potentially, some of these individuals will grow and learn to love
this culture and those other superficial ones will leave as quick as they
wme (12).

In Japan, hip hop culture itself is young because of the language gap even
though it has been around over ten years. Many people are still superficial to
the culture. It may take time for individuals to learn a culture as a whole.
However as those individuals who leaer about culture accUmulate, hip hop
culture in Japan will grow faster than before since people can learn from these

individuals as well as from sources which came from outside Japan.

IV. Japanese youth’s enthusiastic Involvement of hip hop culture

As it was explained in the earlier, the birth of hip hop culture has lots to do
with ethnic and social background of African Americans and Hispanic
Americans and for the present, it still has a deep relation in their life. The
question is why young people in Japan enthusiastically get involved in this
culture. There are three reasons. First, with the influence of internationalization

in Japan, young people are inspired by the individualism which came from

14

Western culture and they tend to have a desire to express themselves, which
has been traditionally disrespected in collective society. They found that hip
hop culture a stylistic medium to satisfy the desire fOr self-expression. Second,
many young people in Japan feel that their life is very stressful. Hip hop culture
provides relief from the stress of their life. The third reason is a sort of
subsidiary reasons for the previous two reasons. They found that a way of
expression in hip hop is something new. This is because of “black
expressiveness" which is said that African American culture shares. Since hip
hop culture has been mainly practiced by African Americans, hip hop culture

has black expressiveness. This attracts the Japanese youth.

I. Emergence of Individualism among Japanese youth
Collectivism that respects a group highly more than an individual, has been

traditional value in Japan. After Japan’s surrender in World War II, Japan
experienced prominent recovery with high economic growth (1955-1974). It is
said that Japan’s economic success was built upon the foundation of corporate
loyalty, imposed through particular forms of collective group orientations
(Miyanaga, 124). This strong loyalty to group came from feudalism in
Japanese history. Kuniko Miyanaga explained this collectivism as follows:

Confucianism was adopted from China among the samurai, the ruling

class in Japan; the fundamental ethic of filial piety was more actively

applied to the relationship between a lord and his subjects than the real

biological relationship between parents and children. A lord and his

15

subjects entered a quasi-parent-child relationship, which was socially

given a higher priority over the biological one (20-21).
She also mentioned, “Individualism in Japan was traditionally viewed as a
social option for deviant people who did not fit into the mainstream of society.
Many people, in order to live their own lives, felt compelled to leave the
mainstream culture that so rigidly bound its members.” (125) The recent
westernization movement in Japan has influenced Japanese especially young
people who are sensitive and interested in western culture. Among this new
generation of Japanese, the emergence of individualism was a natural
phenomenon (Miyanaga 4). Their value no longer fits the traditional
collectivism value and they have a desire for self-expression. Hip hop is an
attractive medium for those Japanese young individualists just like it was for
young people with anger and aggression in the South Bronxin the 703. Kikuko
Tachibana, who has been dancing for four years says “I am addicted to
moments when I perform on a stage or dance in a club while feeling lots of other
people's attention. It makes me feel so good. In usual life, there is hardly
opportunity to express myself to others like this." Tomomi Arai, who used to be
a jazz dancer but is now a hiphop dancer, says, “When I met hip hop, I thought
hip hop is more attractive than jazz because when l dance in a club, I can
express something in my own way. I mean, in jazz dancing, I have to always

follow the choreographed routine which doesn’t come from me completely."

16

ll. Stressful Japanese society

The second reason for some Japanese enthusiastic acceptance of hip hop
culture is that hip hop plays a role of reducing stress in their life. The system of
Japanese society is called “gakureki shakai” -a system where firms employ
people simply on the basis of what university or school they went to (Clark).
Firms only care about the name of the school students went to rather than other
qualities such as what they actually did in school and outside school or their
personality. Because of this, young people in Japan are always under
pressure because of competition for success in the future -entering a good
school. To enter a good college or university, a good performance on the
entrance examination is required. High school students waste three years of
their lives cramming for the absurdly paper tests set for entrance to the so—called
prestige universities (Clark). This situation creates so called “juken jigoku” -
entrance examination hell or “juken sensou” -entrance examination war. Some
people are put in this “juken jigoku" before high school. Some parents believe
that their children should enter a good junior high school to enter a good high
school which also requires an entrance examination. Japanese youth have to
deal with this competition usually from junior high school and even from
elementary school if parents are very enthusiastic about their “academic”
education. This situation creates incredible stress so much that some students
even commit suicide. Many people discovered hip hop as the “releasing
medium“ (Key-kool, 12). It is the same situation as youth in the South Bronx

who released their frustration from their life by getting involved in hip hop

l7

culture. Alfred B. Pasterur and Ivory L. Toldson, explained a part of function of

African American culture as release of stress as follows in their book Rfls of

_S_o_u__
Western society, particularly in America, is gripped by tension, strain,
frustration, and other stresses that significantly lower the quality of life. It is
the rhythmic force that gives momentum to black expressiveness, we
argue, that provides relief from the stress of Western life. Blacks have

given America and the West a cherishable facet of their African heritage -

soul- a medium for the attainment of increased happiness (6).

ill. Uniqueness of hip hop culture with black expressiveness
Hip hop culture is a unique art form of expression. This is because hip h0p
culture is a part of black culture that has unique creative “blaCk expressiveness”.
Pasterur and Toldson explained this “black expressiveness" as follows:
We define "black expressiveness” as the readiness or predisposition to
express oneself in a manner characterized by vital emotionalism,
spontaneity, and rhythm. Often these traits act in combination with one or
more other essential characteristics; naturalistic attitudes, style, creativity
with the spoken word, and relaxed physical movement. These interact to
produce human behavior that when expressed or perceived registers
images, sounds, aromas, and feelings of beauty to the senses. It is the
intensity, duration, frequency, and utilitarian features of the behavior,

resembling those of traditional African people, which make it unique (4-5).

18

According to Pasterur and Toldson, black expressiveness is identified with five
aspects: depth of feeling, naturalistic attitudes, stylistic renderings, poetic and
prosaic vernacular, and expressive movement (5). These aspects overlay each
other and act in combination to produce wonderful expressions of the soul. And

these aspects are involved in hip hop culture.

a. Depth of feeling

The first aspect, depth of feeling, discusses the utility of feelings or emotions
in black expressiveness, most particularly in musical form. Spirituals and
gospels, blues, and jazz all abundantly utilize feelings in their derivation and
expression. In black culture, feelings are often expressed deeply and openly
without reserve when the opportunity is available (Pasteur and Toldson, 10).
Hip hop music is no exception to this. Not only in music, but also hip hop
dancing has so much to do with feelings since it is a representation of the

dancer's emotions and reaction to the music he/she dance to.

b. Naturalistic attitudes

Naturalistic attitudes, the second aspect, flow from a free acceptance of
nature and self. It is acceptance of common human drives that reflect such
simple manners as relaxed posture, uninhibited walk, and nonpretentious voice
tone in conversation. These naturalistic attitudes are represented in the word
“Funk“. White people defined the word “funk” as a negative meaning which is

earthy sights, sounds, and smells, but especially to a body odor produced

19

during sexual excitement or intercourse (Shaw, 257). On the contrary, black
people’s naturalistic attitudes made funk “sweet" (Pasteur and Toldson, 142).
As a music term, funky became prominent in the 19503, when pianist/composer
Horace Silver, drummer Art Blakey, and other jazzmen sought to develop a
style counter to the coldness, complexity, and intellectualism introduced into the
music at that time. Playing “funky" meant to return to the evocative feeling and
expressiveness of traditional Blues, to play hard and on the beat, with the use of
Blues shadings and sonorities (Shaw, 257). George Clinton, who plays a major
role in music called “p-funk" music assures that “All you got to do is
acknowledge funk and it frees you instantly, right there and then“ (qtd. in Berry
40). Clinton insists that people can not abandon their instincts and some
people place too much emphasis on intellect which disables them in important
life endeavors like releasing themselves. The concept of funk, which represents
a naturalistic attitude, instead of looking down on it as something primitive,
appreciates the human’s instinct in the raw which is oppressed in a civilized
society with high morals and good manners. “FunkY’ came from “funk” and
dictionaries define it “eccentric in style or manner". It is said to be eccentric
because its style is different from white people’s mainstream pattern. It is
obvious that this concept of “funk" lives in hiphop culture. In hip hop culture, the
word “funky” is often used as a compliment like “his dancing is funky” or “Your
style of rapping is funky'. In addition to this, when hiphop artists such as
dancers show incredible moves, that is when their move totally came from their

basic drive and not from the intellect.

20

c. Stylistic renderings

The third aspect involves stylistic renderings. “Style" is the way in which one
puts one’s personality on display and it is a widespread concept among black
people. There is an infinite way of expressing individuality. Dress and costume
is one of the most simple ways to show your individuality. Pasteur and Toldson
mentioned, “The way or ways one chooses to express his differentness is his
style. It is possible to make the same step that everyone else might make, on
the same foot, to the same beat, and yet do it differently. The desire to do it
differently is widespread in black-folk community" (Pasteur and Toldson, 12). In
hip hop culture, since dancing, rapping, deejaying and aerosol writing are all art
forms of expression, the concept of stylistic rendering is very strong. People
who have their own style receive respect from others. Stealing or copying other
people's technique or style is called “bite” and maple who “bite" are
disrespected. It is very important to put your own personality or individuality in
dancing, rapping, aerosol writing, and deejaying. Competition or “battle" is an
important essence of hip hop culture. This battle is sometimes called “style

wars” because the style is the most important value in the battle.

d. Poetic and prosaic vernacular

The fourth aspect is poetic and prosaic vernacular. Pasteur and Toldson
explained about this vernacular as the aspect of black expressiveness as
follows:

Black vernacular is both poetic and prosaic. It therefore looms as an

21

artistically expressive medium in the formalized traditions of prose and
poetry. Whether written or oral, black vernacular has long been of interest
to those captivated by beauty that arises from the artistic sequencing of
words. Be it in the form of sermon, rap, dozens, signifying, folk tale, song
(shouts, spirituals, gospels, field hollers, rhythm & blues, reggae, jazz), it
emotionally stirs and seizes upon transmission (28).

As Pasteur mentioned, rapping in hip hop culture has direct influence of this

poetic and prosaic vernacular. Rhyming is one of the most important essence of

rapping. Many lyrics of rap music are also very poetic and abstract.

e. Expressive movements
The fifth aspect that Pasteur pointed out is expressive movement. Black
people employ the entire body as a medium of expression. Lee Warren wrote
in The Dana of Afrig as follows:
The importance of physical exertion in traditional African society, simply
for survival, makes physical expression a natural outgrowth of experience.
As an instrument of expression, the body is a distinctive medium. Its
movements can convey joy, fear, hate, anguish, every nuance of emotion
(23-24).
Dancing played such a big part of life among the Africans that its tradition never
died after they were brought to the New World as slaves. African dances has
had a great influence in the development of many forms of dance existing in

North and South America such as Tap, Salsa, Milenge, Samba, Calibian

22

dances, and popular dances like Twist, Rock’n roll, Swing, and Lindy Hop. This
is proof that Africans never lost the appreciation of dance even though their
style of dancing might be changed by mixing with another culture or adjustment
toward an environment where they live. Expressive movement which came
from strong appreciation of dancing is an important aspect of black
expressiveness. The characteristics of African dance movement are, Pasteur
and Toldson wrote “with freedom of body; respect for nature, particularly other
animals; freedom in individual expression and improvisation; natural
concentration of movement in the pelvic region; and propulsive rhythm, which
give a swinging qualitY' (249). And most of these characteristics are seen in
African Americans style of dance movements. Also, relaxed posture is the
another characteristic of movements. It is interesting to compare the way black
tap dancers dance and white tap dancers dance. Usually, yOu see the black tap
dancer dance with a relaxed posture while white people dance with a rigid
posture. Also ballet dancing which came from European culture placed value
on tight posturing severely while African dancing does not put value on
posturing itself. It is assumed that black people’s relaxed posture comes from
naturalistic attitudes because as Pasteur wrote, “The fear of human instincts
shows in attempts to suppress or control them excessively, which leads to stiff,
tight, rigid posturing” (241). Hip hop dancing is no exception. Unlike academic
dance such as ballet, hip hop dancing has no formula or rule in movements
dancers must follow, which provides freedom in individual expression. Since

clubs are the place where people dance hiphop, people usually just improvise

movements according to the music. Many dance moves have natural
concentration of movement in the pelvic region and most movements are done

in a relaxed posture.

These five aspects may not be always in hip hop culture. Also, all Japanese
youth who get involved in hip hop culture are not always aware of these
characteristics. However, it is certain that many feel some unique attractiveness
in hip hop culture even though they may not be able to analyze what exactly it is
and they may not be able to put it into words. It can be believed that this unique

attractiveness is strongly related to this black expressiveness.

CHAPTER 3

METHOD

I. What Is documentary

The documentary format is chosen as the most appropriate to achieve the
goal of this project which gives information about Japanese youths' involvement
in hip hop culture with the film maker’s point of view. Documentary is an
informative format compared to other formats since it was developed from
newsreels (Rabiger, 15). The function of documentary is, according to VLdeg
Cgmmunigatign by Smith, to convey information, ideas, and history, to describe
a subject and describe and develop issues (149). The characteristic that makes
documentary different from other formats is the use of non-staged natural
material (Grierson, 145). The use of natural material helps people effectively
believe that what they are watching is what is actually happening or has

happened in real life.

However, simply showing natural materials does not make a documentary.
In documentary, footage should be organized into “the kind of embracing
(filmmaker’s) statement about human life” (Rabiger, 14). For example,
newsreels use factual footage and were very popular during World War II.
However, newsreels are not considered documentary. Footage in newsreels
are documentary material, but the footage is so episodic and disjointed that It

fails to present a film maker’s message. It focuses on introducing events

25

instead of humans life through the film maker's point of view. In this sense,
painting or caricature has more of the essence of a documentary because the
subject is portrayed directly by the artists’ hand, whiCh is that the way the artist
portrays the subject reflects his/her point of view. John Grierson, the leader of
the British documentary movement of the 19303, said that a documentary is “the
creative treatment of actuality” (Rabiger, 17). How you treat the actuality shows

the producer's point of view.

II. The Issue of objectivity
In documentary, it is important to present a filmmaker’s message fairly in

treating the subject. Penetrating, yet fair-minded exposure of a subject is often

called “objectivity". The lack of “objectivity” causes bias and mistreats actuality.

Rabiger gives the example of the lack of objectivity as follows:
Nettie Wild's “A Rustling of Leaves (1990), a courageous and
sympathetic account of the populist guerrilla movement in the
Philippines, leaves one guiltily skeptical throughout. Wild's political
commitment has led her to showing heroic left-wing peasants in a
struggle against bad right-wing thugs. This is probably true, but anyone
with a grain of political sawy knows that when the most honorable
resistance movement has been fighting for a while, both sides inevitably

commit atrocities. Thereafter the waters become muddy indeed.(7)

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To avoid bias, the work should include every possible attitude that the
filmmakers can find. The makers of the work leave it up to their audience to
make up their own minds. In the case of Wild, it shOuld not only show the
protagonists’ declared principles but also the ugly and paradoxical aspects of

liberation through violence.

However, it is impossible to present an Issue with perfect objectivity since
any decision during the production can be biased. For example, what is an
“objective” camera position? When does one “objectively“ decide when to turn
the camera on and off? How can one “objectively” decide which parts most
represent ”objective truth”? If the maker of a work strongly intends their work to
be objective, they have to be very careful for each decision to reduce the

degree of those inevitable bias.

Ill. The evolution of documentary film
i. Vertov’s Kino Eye

The spirit of documentary is said to be found first in Russia with the Kino-Eye
of Dziga Vertov. During and after the 1917 Revolution, Russian film makers
were very much involved in documenting fighting ,wars, and governmental
changes. Vertov. a young poet and film editor, was charged with shaping and
editing a mass of film into a finished product. Vertov’s fame is not as an editor,
but as a theorist and developer of an approach to film making. His theory was

called ”Kino Eye”, a cinema to record life without imposing on it. The Kino Eye

27

method has much in common with the newsreel, but it is a purer form of factual
film, for its aesthetic intent is to separate and to preserve the more permanent
aspects of everyday life from the transient stuff that constructs newsreels. The
Kino Eye approach was different from newsreels because it used all the
interesting grammar of cinema, including slow motion, rapid motion, reversed
movement, still photography, divided screen, microscopic images, and all forms
of montage. The Kino Eye was a “lively cinema which called the viewer’s
attention not only to the camera and the cameraman, but also to his own eye
and to his own sense of visual perception.” (Barsman, 24-25). In this sense, the
Kino Eye of Dziga Vertov had evolved the spirit of documentary first in the

history of film.

ll. Flaherty’s Nanggk 9f the Ngrth

The term “documentary" was first used by John Grierson while he was
reviewing Robert Flaherty’s Mgana in 1926. Robert Flaherty was an American
filmmaker whose work Nanmk gf the Notth (1922) is acknowledged as
documentary’s seminal work. Nanmk I! the North shows the life of an Eskimo
family. He began shooting in 1915. Flaherty shot seventy thousand feet of film
(approximately 17 1/2 hours of screening time), and he assembled it into a print.
Later while packing the negative for shipment, he dropped a lighted cigarette
into it and the film went up in flames. This accident made him go back to shoot
Nanook and his family and turned out to be “the best thing that could have

happened to Flaherty’s career as a film maker" (Barsam, 129) After knowing

Nanook and his family so long, Flaherty’s relationship with his ”actors” became
so natural that they could quietly and unseIf-consciously continue their lives
before his camera. Also his philosophy was to engage their interest,
understand their problems, obtain their cooperation, and then to make himself
one of the group by agreeing to live and to suffer with them. This approach was
very successful, which made the results look convincingly natural. We see how
Nanook and his family live, their eating habits, sleeping arrangements, and
hunting expeditions. It is about an ordinary man in circumstances which are
ordinary to him, but which seem extraordinary to us. And this extraordinary
Eskimo’s daily life brought a larger theme -a struggle between a man and

nature. This theme was later imitated by many American documentaries.

III. John Grierson

After Flaherty's documentaries such as Nenmk ef the Nenh and Meme, this
new form of film was rapidly developing in the British documentary movement
during the 19303 to 19403. John Grierson is the most responsible for this
development. In 1924, John Grierson visited the United States and saw
Flaherty’s Nenmk ef tne Nertt] and Eisentstein’s Petemkin -the two most
important seminal influences on documentary film. From these films, he saw the
possibilities for a new form of film making. He was convinced that film was a
serious medium capable of shaping public opinion. His goal was to make film a
great social force. Later, Grierson played an important role in the Empire

Marketing Board (E.M.B. Film Unit) which was established in 1928 by the British

29

government to support film making. This organization was originally charged
with promoting “all the major researchers across the world which affect the
production or preservation or transport of the British Empire’s food supplies”
(Grierson, “E.M.B. Film Unit") One of the first E.M.B. Film Unit produced films
was Grierson’s Dmets. Its underlying theme is the shift in the herring fishing
industry from small, independent operation to a large, industrial effort. But its
overall focus is on the men who brave the rough seas, do the hard work, and
bring home the catch; their wonderful faces alone are enough to preserve the
film's interest. It concerns a routine and supposedly insignificant activity -
herring fishing -yet brings it alive, not only in terms of the physical process, but
more important, in terms of the human drama involved in this vital part of the
British economy. It demonstrates to the British -as Flaherty had demonstrated
several years before - that “artistic vision can transform existing everyday
material, through photography and editing, into a film of interest, quality, and
drama." (Barsam, 42-43). After the success of Mere, Grierson convinced
E.M.B. Film Unit should be expanded. It began to grow with the purpose of
creating good documentaries, which later contributed to the development of

documentary films.

IV. Capturing the reality :Dlrect cinema and Cinema Verlte
It is needless to say that catching the “reality" is the key of documentary.
However, it is not easy to film reality. In front of a camera crew with huge

equipment like cameras, lighting instruments, sound recorders, how much can

30

the subjects behave as naturally as they are in their everyday life? Once the
subjects are aware of the camera’s presence, they could modify their behavior.
As Rabiger says, “Life was too often being staged fOr the camera and too
seldom being caught as it happened”(22). However, this was to change with
technological advances of a new handheld camera. The result was a revolution
in the relationship of the camera to the subject. Now truly mobile and flexible,
the camera and recorder became observers adapting to life as it unfolded. With
this newly mobile camera, a new approach to capturing the reality evolved.

This new approach was called “direct cinema.”

The object of this “direct cinema” was to intrude as little as possible in order
to capture the spontaneity and uninhibited flow of live events. Shooting was
informally done without special lighting or evident preparatiOns with waiting on
the sidelines for events of significance to take place. Direct cinema works best
when ongoing events consume the attention of participants. However, the more
the camera gains visibility and priority, the less this works. Also the lack of

lighting equipment could lessen the picture quality and the film aesthetics.

Another approach to capture reality is “cinema verite (film truth)” In cinema
verite, the filmmaker does not try to lessen the camera's presence. Instead, the
interaction between the subjects and the filmmaker is even encouraged. By
getting involved with the subjects, the filmmaker tries to bring the reality to the

surface and capture it. Though the concept of cinema verite was originated with

31

Jean Rouch in France, we can see the same method reflected earlier in
Flaherty's Nenmk ef tm Nenh. In Barsam’s Nenfm'en film, he wrote:
But the Flaherty philosophy was to engage their interest, understand their
problem, obtain their cooperation, and then make himself one of the
group by agreeing to live and to suffer with them.(130)
Eric Barnouw described the difference between “direct cinema” and ”cinema
verite” in his book, Deeementem: A Hieteg ef the Nen-Fietien Film as follows:
The direct cinema documentarist took his camera to a situation of tension
and waited hopefully for a crisis; the Rouch version of cinema verite tried
to precipitate one. The direct cinema artist aspired to invisibility; the
Rouch cinema verite artist was often an avowed participant. The direct
cinema artist played the role of uninvolved bystander; the cinema verite
artist espoused that of provocateur. Direct cinema found its truth in
events available to the camera. Cinema verite was committed to a
paradox: that artificial circumstances could bring hidden truth to the
surface.(254—55)
Though the approach in direct cinema and cinema verite is different, the desire
is the same, which is to break down the barriers between the filmmaker and the

subject to capture reality as close as is possible.

V. The future of documentary
It is already known that new technology can affect documentary films. The

technology will keep growing, and so do documentary films. As digital camera

32

technology further evolves, the camera and its medium for recording is getting
smaller and lighter while even improving its picture quality. Non-linear editing
systems make the complex editing of video and audio a lot easier and brings
more quality to the work. The spread of cable television has brought audiences
diversity in program content which was impossible when the national networks
were the only channels to choose. The tendency of niche programming is even
getting stronger with upcoming technology such as digital signals transmitted
from a satellite system in space, which enable us to have more than 300
channels. The fusion of computer and television with fiber optic cables will
bring us a new medium -an interactive TV, which will enable viewers to
participate in the program. Technology changes the way of production and
distribution which will also affect its content. However, the spirit of documentary
is always the same as Rapul Rotha says in Deeumentem Film . “The
documentary film reflects a profound respect for actuality and expresses both

the externally visible world and interior world of those being filmed.”(68)

33

CHAPTER 4

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Purpose

There are two main purposes for this program. One : To introduce the world
of street dancing to the masses since street dancing has not been taken
seriously nor understood. Two : To inform the audience about alternative
aspects of Japanese youth since American media coverage of Japanese.
people has often failed to introduce the life of young generations. This also
serves to help break the stereotype of Japanese people created by the

American media.

Audience
The target audience of this program is American young people age 15-25 who

do not have much chance to know about Japanese people.

Communication Objectives
To demonstrate street dance culture in Japan and its values which are very

different from Japanese traditional values.

Program Content
The 32 minute video program titled “Far East Coast is in da House! «street
dancers in Japan” introduces hip hop Istreet dancing culture and its value in

Japan. The opening attempts to catch the viewers’ attention and invite them

34

into the story. The strong contrast between the traditional mainstream and the
alternative new generation are made effectively by a montage along with the
narration. The second section attempts to define what street dancing is. An
Interview of a street dancer who also had experience in so-called technical
dance like classic ballet is introduced By comparing street dancing and
technical dance, one of the most important aspects of street dancing -
individuality, is emphasized.

This section also introduces how this culture is practiced in clubs and streets.
The third section demonstrates the dancers’ involvement in hip hop culture as a
whole incorporating music and fashion. Footage of two dancers going to a
record store and a clothing store show their involvement and enjoyment of the
culture. Their obsession with fashion is explained as pursuit of hipness which
later leads dancers to Afro centric hair styles. While showing their styles and
the process of their adaptation to the Afro centric hair style, the point is made
that young people in Japan today are good at expressing themselves and
clothing and hair styles are the tools of self expression. The fourth section
focuses on the people who try to promote this culture. The section starts with a
brief history of the street dance scene in Japan. Along with the history, a hip
hop event organizer is introduced and explains his contributions to the scene.
The latter part of the section introduces female dancers who teach younger
people to bring more female dancers into the scene and promote this culture.
The fifth section demonstrate how Japanese dancers have been influenced by

American dancers. Interviews from both Japanese and American dancers help

35

to show their relationship. The sixth section demonstrates the process of
preparing the performance which includes music production, choreography,
and rehearsal. After the demonstration of the proce33es, dancers’ feelings
while performing is expressed through the interview of a dancer. The last
section explains how great it is being a dancer through the interview of a
dancer. He talks about his great moment of being one with the music. He also
mentions how hip hop culture has positively affected his way of life and became
more expressive without being rigidly controlled by other people’s eye, which is
very common in Japanese society. The program ends with a montage of
dancers dancing to attempt to show their individual self-expression and to leave

the strong and powerful impression to the viewers.

V. Program Format

Documentary format is used. Even though the objectivity is important issue in
documentary, it is not important in this program since it is about culture. Cinema
verite method is used to capture reality since the camera man has already

known the subjects (dancers) personally.

VI. Program Elements

Montages, interviews, voice-over narrations, music, performance, B-roll, and

character generated words.

36

CHAPTER 5

EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION

The evaluation of the thesis was achieved by showing the documentary to a
group of 10 members of the target audience. This group consisted of six
Caucasians, two Asian Americans, and two African Americans. Six of them are
male and four of them are female. Five are undergraduate students from
Michigan State University. Two just graduated from high school. Three are
graduate students at Michigan State University. Five have a background in
video production. Questions about the program content and production values

were created and asked after the subjects watched the program.

I. Program content evaluation
There are 9 questions about the program content. Blow are questions asked

to the focus group followed by a summary of their answers and an evaluation.

01. How street dancers are different from other technical dancers
like ballet and jazz dancers

-Street dancers are not taught to dance. Originality allows them to express
themselves.

-Express individuality. Not form specific

Evaluation

37

The first section of the program was meant to introduce street dancing to
viewers. The most important point in the introduction is that individuality is a
very important aspect in this dancing, which attracts Japanese youth who feel
oppressed by Japanese tradition. The survey shows that this point was

successfully conveyed to the viewers.

02. How Is hip hop Istreet danclng culture treated In Japan?
-Street dancers often take it very seriously by incorporating it in all aspects of
their lives, the way they dress, their music, their dancing, etc.

-It is an underground culture that is slowly becoming more mainstream.
Evaluation

The program also tried to show that street dancing is taken very seriously by
dancers in Japan. This seriousness is shown by their involvement in hip hop
culture, efforts to promote this culture, efforts to create performance, and the
passion shown during interviews. Most viewers understood the serious

involvement of the Japanese youth.

03. How has street danclng culturally affected Japanese youth?
-It has taught them to be more self-expressive

-It has motivated them and helped them express themselves.

-It has helped them to break out from social molds.

-Positively; put focus, energy into dancing [constructing direction, cross-over,

going global.

38

Evaluation
Emergence of individualism is the most important theme in this project. The

survey shows this theme was clearly presented.

04. Why do some Japanese youth get attracted so much by hip hop
I street danclng culture?

Because it is cool, it is fun. You can make friends.

-Outsiders find a community of like—minded people.

-It is rebellious yet a positive experience.

Evaluation

This question is broad and has many answers. But the main reason presented
in this program was ; they found hip hop culture to be a stylistic medium to

express themselves. This reason was understood by most viewers.

05. Did this program change your Impression about Japanese
people? if so, how?

-Yes, I didn’t know that street dancing was so popular.

-Yes, actually I was shocked because all I knew about Japanese people was
from TV here. This program totally broke the stereotype of Japanese people I
had.

Evaluation

The stronger reaction was received from people who had not gone to college

and did not have much opportunity to know Japanese people. For those people,

39

their image about Japanese people was that they were hard-working and rigid.
They also did not have any idea about hip hop culture in Japan. This meant

that exposure to hip hop culture in Japan had a mere powerful impact.

06. Did this program change your Impression about street
danclng? If so, how?

-Yes, more global than realized

-yes, it is interesting

-it is deeper than I thought

Evaluation

Since the street dancing is not taken seriously by most people, this program

successfully made people realized its deep meanings and values.

07. Please rank your general attentiveness while watching this
program

High Above Average Average Below Average Low

7 people answered ”High” and 3 people answered “Above Average”.
Evaluation

This result shows that the program strongly kept viewers’ attention.

08. Which of the following categories best describes your general
enjoyment of this program?

High Above Average Average Below Average Low

8 people answered “High” and 2 people answered “Above Average”
Evaluation

It is clear that the viewers enjoyed the program very much.

09. What was the emotion right after you watched the whole
program?

- impressed by dancers’ abilities and performance

- I felt good.

- Excitement, I also felt inspired

Evaluation

This question was asked to see if the ending left a good impression of the whole

show. Apparently it did.

ll. Production evaluatlon

Questions about production elements were asked to 5 viewers who had video
production background. The evaluation is made after analyzing all comments.
Interview contents

The contents were good and very informative.

Narration
All comments were highly positive. Narrator’s voice and his expression fit the
content of the program. However, one person commented that narration

played too large a role to tell the story.

41

Quality of Image

Overall good. Good angle and good camera movements. But some of the
footage did not have enough lighting, which lessened the quality. One person
commented that more close up and medium shots of dancing shots were

necessary.

Quality of sound
The music added to the flow of the program, helping to get from one scene to
another. However, some parts of the timing of inserting voice overs to the

background music was off.

Use of English voice overs for Japanese Interviews parts

It seems that the quality of the voice overs were a little lower than other
production elements. Some worked better than others. The passion that the
interviewees had in the original Japanese footage did not seem to be

expressed well in English voice overs.

Pacing

Some people commented that it was good. Others commented that it could

have been a little faster and shorter.

42

What one thing could have been Improved?

-It was clear that the main theme was the rise of individualism through street
dancing culture. However, this theme was presented only by dancing footage.
It could be more interesting if this theme was presented by other types of
footage when dancers were not dancing.

-Even though each content was good, there were many places that I thought
this was the ending. It didn’t focus and build up one theme.

- Professional voice overs

Overall Impression, any other comment

-Amazement at finding out about this underground culture in Japan.

- I truly enjoyed the presentation. I was shocked to see that they danced and
dressed like me an African American. I

- I think the video was very entertaining. It also explains a lot about the hip hop
dancing scene in Japan that most people wouldn’t know how kids in the parts of
the world appreciated hip hop culture. It also amazed me that the dancers are
so good almost or as good as the original dancers.

-I was impressed overall. But, I still feel confused or jumbled with actual
content. But the dancing is amazing.

- I would not change the content. However, there were few technical changes I

would make.

43

III. Discussion
From the evaluations, discussion about several aspects are made for future

improvement.

Use of English Voice overs for Japanese Interviews parts

The one thing that could improve the program most is the quality of the voice
overs for the Japanese interview parts. Ideally, the voice overs in this program
should be done by Japanese people who speak good English yet with some
Japanese accent. Good expressive acting is also required. However, it was
difficult to find those people especially because it is very hard for Japanese
people to act well in their second language. Because of this, American people
were used to record the voice overs. In addition to the fact that the voice overs
with Japanese accent was not used, the voice overs could also be improved by
making them sound as passionate as the original Japanese interviews.
Passionate voice overs could help demonstrate how Japanese dancers are
seriously involved in the street dance culture. In addition to this, some of the
elements in the original interviews were lost because of the way they were
translated into English. The use of more casual language such as street
language could work better to convey a more accurate image of the

interviewees.

Use of narration

Another thing that could be improved is the use of narrator. One person from
the focus group mentioned that the narration played too much role to tell the
story. This happened because information that the narrator gave was originally
given by dancers in interviews. Those were replaced to summarize the original
comments for the purpose of shortening them and creating a Smooth flow of the

program.

Quality of image

The quality of image might be improved by using more close up shots and
medium shots of dancing footage. Because most of the dancing footage was
provided by other sources, there was little control over this by the producer.
This footage was originally meant to show the whole movement of the dancers
for the possibility of the viewer’s instructional use. Since this program is not
meant to be instructional, the use of close up of the face, arms, legs and other

parts of body would work to intensify the movement and its excitement.

Other matters

It was noticed that most information given by the interviews was rather more
general than personal, which might make the viewers’ emotional involvement
weak. The lack of personal content also makes the program less dramatic. This

may have happened because the program attempted to present too many

45

themes. Themes should be more focused so that more personal interviews can

be used.

Despite these aspects, the viewers’ overall attentiveness and enjoyment of
the program were very high. The uniqueness of the subject, which is hip hop
culture in Japan, and complex editing of several audio tracks and videos might

have contributed to this result.

IV. Conclusion

The 32 minute documentary program “Far East Coast is in da House! -Street
Dancers in Japan” effectively achieved its communication objective which is to
demonstrate street dance culture in Japan and its values which are different
from Japanese traditional values. It turned out to be very entertaining at the
same time very informative and culturally interesting. There are some criticisms
regarding both the content and the production which could be incorporated in

documentary projects in the future.

Through this program, the misconception of hip hop culture and Japanese
people can be modified. The audience would realize that there are people who
get involved in hip hop culture in other parts of the world, which unites people

through this global culture beyond the differences of race and language.

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