Customer Reviews

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Length:: 2:58 Mins

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After plowing through Brian Ashcraft's last book covering Japan's still thriving arcade scene, I was craving more work from the Kotaku editor. I was surprised at first that his next published work would be covering Japanese schoolgirls, but somehow knew it would be another compelling read. I quickly hit "pre-order" on Amazon.com and waited patiently for the fateful day I would find it laying on my doorstep.

Brian's newest book titled "Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How teenage girls made a nation cool" is an eight chapter non-stop page turner that takes you through the many types of Japanese schoolgirls and describes how the style has been an influence on Japan since the late 1800's.

Jumping between the schoolgirl's types, you will read about their roles as idols, rock musicians, actresses and influence on anime and videogames. They are super heroes of Japan, students by day and role models by night. There is no doubt that their influence even stretches outside of Japan, seeing how Quentin Tarantino casted Chiaki Kuriyama in Kill Bill. A certain level of sexiness mixed with power seems to be what causes everyone around the world to look. Companies will run their entire business solely focused on marketing to the Japanese schoolgirls. It's something that will never go away, yet will always be ever-changing.

Brian Ashcraft and his wife, Shoko Ueda, give the most comprehensive look at the girls that have shaped Japan. Whether you have interests in Japan's history, a love for videogames, or are an anime otaku, this book will definitely keep your eyes glued to the pages.

As an anime fan and as a person interested in Japanese culture I was excited when I stumbled across Ashcraft's book at my local Borders. At first glance I thought it would be a regular novel but was both intriqued and shocked to find the book litered with photographs and pictures. The book even has a soft cover sleve which is usually exclusive to paperback books from Japan. I immediately picked it up.

The novel covers eight chapters. The first is dedicated to the origin of the schoolgirl's sailor suit with tidbits on the sailor suit's effect on Japanese culture woven in. You'll learn old customs like taking a boy's second button from the top to current fads like gluing loose socks to yourself.

The second chapter covers idol worship and music. Thanks to this chapter I've discovered new Japanese music that I would have otherwise never heard of. You'll learn about different super groups and music featuring information on AKB48, Momoe Yamaguchi, Masako Mori, Junko Sakurada, Tsukasa Ito, Seiko Matsuda, Scandal, Jurian Beat Crisis, Onyanko Club, and Morning Musume.

The third chapter covers movies. You'll learn about the influence of the school girl on both western cinema (Kill Bill and Babel) as well as eastern cinema (Kite, Battle Royale). In particular the section goes into depth on the school girl movies of the seventies and their use of school girls as catalysts into fantasy both sexual and horrorific.

The fourth chapter covers shopping and how school girls form the bulk of Japanese buying power. You'll learn how items like the pager and the cell phone were popularized by the school girl and how the school girl's lack of interest can swiftly execute a fad (such as the Tamagotchi).

The fifth chapter covers magazines and fashion. You'll learn about the infamous Kogals of the nineties and their effect on helping women escape from stereotype and form their own individual styles. You'll also learn about the fashion magazine Egg and it's use as a forum for Japanese schoolgirls before the age of the internet.

The sixth chapter covers art. As expected you'll learn about the school girl's influence on art with samples from Rin Nadeshico, Noriko Yamaguchi, Motoyuki Kobayashi and others.

The seventh chapter covers video games. You'll learn about the infamous Japanese dating sims, as well as visual novels. Many of these games and visual novels have since become anime, such as To Heart, Kanon, and Clannad.

The eight chapter covers anime and manga. You'll learn about the evolution of the school girl in manga from the high school teen (Peach Girl) to magical girl (Sailor Moon) to mecha controling saviors (Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Japanese School Girl Confidential is a must buy for anyone remotely interested in anything involving Japanese culture. Though I bought the book mainly for its chapters on music, movies, games, and anime the other chapters were just as immersing and informative. It may be a quick read but the information you'll gain is well worth the money!

I seem to be in the minority on Amazon about this book, so I saw the need to write a review. This book isn't bad, but most people who read it thinking it give in-depth knowledge about Japanese schoolgirl/pop culture should take note that this book seems to be badly researched. While not an expert, I noted several factual errors (His description/information of Tokimeki Memorial and Morning Musume as well as AKB48 come to mind easily) He seems to get a lot of his historical information on wikipedia or online since I've seen some of the other factual errors on blogs and wikipedia itself.

Onto the matter of writing. There is actually very little book here. It's not quite 200 pages and a lot of it is either taken up by pictures (some being full page) or by the text's own large print. It comes off as even shorter than that. Also, it seems like it was written by a crazed fanboy at times. I can only assume that he included his Japanese wife(?) as a way to attempt to legitimize his work, but it seems like only one voice speaks here. Also, weird for any book, let alone one of referece, it has no concluding chapter/essay. It just STOPS.

That being said, this book was an interesting read and I think it will help non-fans or new fans of anime/Japanese pop culture to get some nice background information on the basis of trends and fads in Japanese schoolgirl pop culture, but that same reader should take the text as a whole with a grain of salt as any real research will prove a lot of the author's facts as poorly researched. I don't think this book is horrible, but I don't recommend it at all.

I bought this book expecting to find some semi-soft-porn describing the hot sex practices of young girls. What I got instead was a history book so fascinating that I read it all the way through from cover to cover. I could not put it down. It described the amazing story of how the typical Japanese school girl a generation ago was shy and retiring and nobody noticed her or cared about her but now, like Pinky and the Brain, they have taken over the world. How did they do this? How did they come to dictate fashion trends and designs? Why is the whole world trying to find out what the Japanese Schoolgirl is thinking, whereas previously they doubted that she had any thoughts at all? Why has the Japanese schoolgirl uniform reached the height of fashion? Why do Japanese women nowadays dress in schoolgirl uniforms even though they are no longer in school.
I was disturbed however by the chapter on "Suicide Circle" or "Suicide Clubs". The thought that Japanese schoolgirls might commit suicide because it is fashionable to do so is disturbing. It is not clear whether this was reality or just an exploitation movie. It is known than any time a suicide is publicized there are always copy-cat suicides. The fact that somebody would make a movie about this is upsetting. Sam Sloan

This is like reading a really long magazine article on Japanese schoolgirl uniforms. Plenty of pictures to show examples, colorful and informative just enough so that you'll keep interested and understand what he's talking about but not too deep that you'll get lost in references. Fun read all in all.

I liked it a lot. If you are looking for hard core facts about Japan and Japanese life, look else were.

It's ment ot be informative but in an entertaing way, not like text book way.
As one other revieer stated, the author did make some booboos

This book puts a lot of things in perspective it may be a little dated but the current world wide trend for manga and anime this is a great start and well worth the read. Once you read this book you will have an appreciation as to what this culture is and stands for dont get to deep just accept it and have fun is the base of there life. Thanks

...but I feel like an utter creeper after reading it.

I can only talk so much trash because this book has been essential for a research project. It captures the culture, the persona, the trends, and the lingo brilliantly. If you want an insight into Japanese adolescence, read this book.

BUT

When you're done, read A Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women Are Changing Their Nation by Veronica Chambers and watch the Japanese film Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano for a more well-rounded idea of gender and identity in Japan. They make a powerful argument that the cutesy-kawaii identity so cherished by author Brian Ashcraft (who kinda comes off as a creepy fetishist) is actually a prison of sorts. It's an identity that renders young women childish and disempowered and allows for their easy commodifcation.

Still, if you're looking for an easy in to Japanese pop-culture, this is a fine, breezy book. Welcome to being a creeper. You're in good company.

I really enjoyed this book, and think it makes a good compliment to Patrick Macias' Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook (reading one made me feel like I understood the other a bit better).

The main negating factor for me is that I want to know more about the various topics, as this is a part of Japanese pop culture I am quite interested in (which maybe sounds kind of creepy, but I promise you it isn't, haha).

I don't really want to detract stars for that though because I personally feel that:
1) there might not be that much more info on the topic
2) if there is more info, it may not be interesting enough to put in the book (being appealing only to those who are super interested)
3) some of it may not translate over well (to explain one thing, you have to explain all this other stuff and maybe it's hard to summarize).

I trust what Ashcraft wrote pretty well; from what I've seen he's been writing about this kind of thing for some time, and in my opinion he does it well (examples: his work with Wired, Kotaku). So I'd say he's credible.

Overall, for me it was a neat look into the impact and influence that the symbol of the Japanese schoolgirl has. Being a young American woman who enjoys Japanese fashion, the "Material Girls" section was my favorite part, especially learning about the history of Egg magazine and how companies seem to have a more direct relationship with their young customers (in contrast to here, where it seems to be mostly top>down). It might not be to everyone's tastes though, so I suggest giving a quick flip-through before purchase.