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

• Main Author: Quek, Rebecca
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Culture
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55779
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

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.