Singaporean Japanese rock fans and the quest for authenticity : movements in space, self, and community

Prior to the Korean wave, Japanese pop culture was, and still is, a huge influence globally. However, the Japanese entertainment industry, though it has recently been making efforts to promote the exportation of their pop culture, has been known to be extremely insular and distant. As such, overseas...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Quek, Rebecca
Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55779
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Prior to the Korean wave, Japanese pop culture was, and still is, a huge influence globally. However, the Japanese entertainment industry, though it has recently been making efforts to promote the exportation of their pop culture, has been known to be extremely insular and distant. As such, overseas J-rock fans have since developed their own form of travelling in order to watch their favourite acts live. This study focuses on the J-rock community in Singapore and their motivations for travelling to watch their favourite band, through synthesising literature from tourism studies and subcultural studies under the framework of Symbolic interactionism, within the context of East Asian cultural flows. I argue that this trip is a fan’s quest to seek authenticity on three levels, in terms of Japan as a space, the fan identity, and within the local and global community.