CONSUMING BODIES
Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art
Edited by FRAN LLOYD
London: Reaktion Books, 2002. 256 pages, $25

reviewed by Susan J. Napier

To sum up this provocative and fascinating book in a short review is virtually impossible, but worth trying, nonetheless, as Consuming Bodies deserves a wide audience. The varied but always rich discussion of sex, consumerism, and art in relation to Japanese culture, by eight different critics and/or scholars of the contemporary art scene in Japan, should appeal both to those interested in the visual arts and performance art and to anyone concerned about the state of contemporary Japanese society. Consuming Bodies not only discusses recent artists and art movements (such as Takashi Murakami and his ethos of superflat images inspired by manga, anime, and woodblock prints, or Makoto Aida's acerbic visual commentaries on Japanese history and society), but also grounds them in a historical and cultural perspective, bringing up a disparate range of influences, from the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima to French philosophers such as Sartre and Baudrillard.

Although the book is based on a touring exhibition of the work of eight Japanese artists, it is far more than an exhibition catalogue. As the editor, Fran Lloyd, an art historian at Kingston College in London, states in the introduction, the book "focuses on the resurgence of the imaging of sex and consumerism in Japanese art." It begins with a deft overview by Timon Screech of sex and consumerism in the Edo period (1603-1867), the period just before modernization, which, with its emphasis on the visual arts, consumption, and sexuality, is seen by many scholars as having clear connections to contemporary, "postmodern" Japan. The next chapter, by Nicholas Boronoff, covers the time extending from the Edo period to the twentieth century and includes a provocative discussion of art and censorship in modern Japanese history. In Chapter 3, Fran Lloyd introduces seven contemporary artists whom she characterizes as exhibiting one of two tendencies, either a radical critique of consumerism (usually through disturbing sexual imagery, ranging from the "comfort women" of World War II to the eroticization of modern-day schoolgirls) or a mining of popular or folkloric elements, such as anime and manga or the more grotesque or erotic aspects of religious ritual.

The next chapters continue this examination of the disturbing and provocative elements in recent art, including performance art and video installations. Bubu and Yoshiko Shimada provide a visual record of a performance called "Occupied Japan," in which we read a call girl's thoughts while looking at photos of her "performance" with a military client. Yuko Hasegawa offers a fascinating chapter on how the pervasive ethos of kawaii, or "cuteness," has affected the depiction of gender relations in contemporary art. Working from the notion that kawaii is related to a sense of an "incomplete identity" or "infantization," Hasegawa profiles several artists who use seemingly "cute," feminine images to subvert or parody the gender stereotyping still endemic in Japanese society. While Hasegawa focuses on pop culture images, Midori Matsui's chapter on "Legacies of Japanese Anti-Modernity" includes some fascinating high cultural references, mainly to literary giants such as Natsume Soseki and Mishima. Matsui uses an examination of the historical roots of "anti-modernity" in Japanese culture as the starting point for a discussion of recent anti-modern artists such as the painter Makoto Aida or the performance artist Juro Kara. In the book's final full chapter, Stephen Barber contributes an extremely useful overview of Tokyo's urban spaces as sites for performance art, pointing out some aspects peculiar to Japan, such as the willingness of large corporations to sponsor alternative or even subversive art. Finally, in the "Afterword," Yoshiko Shimada comments on Japan's cultural relations with other countries, such as Singapore or the United States. She describes a theater production in Singapore that drew on Japanese atrocities in World War II; the performance, however, was in front of an audience of young Singaporeans who seem to be more interested in the "cool" aspects of contemporary Japanese pop culture. Even more intriguing is Shimada's contention that the popularity of Takashi Murakami in the United States is a new form of "Orientalism," in which Western audiences find a "futuristic Oriental spectacle that they can enjoy without feeling any relationship to it."

Such provocative statements are one reason why Consuming Bodies is such a rewarding book, but there are many other reasons as well. Although each chapter can be appreciated on its own, the book in its entirety becomes a wonderful introduction not only to a variety of important Japanese artists but also to some of the most important currents animating Japanese culture today. Certain artists are mentioned in a number of chapters, suggesting their high level of significance. They include not only such obvious ones as Murakami or the deceased Butoh founder, Tatsumi Hijikata, but the writer Mishima as well, who seems to be enjoying a certain rediscovery thirty plus years after his politically problematic suicide. Certain themes and tropes also reappear throughout the book. The importance of anime and manga as direct sources or general inspiration is clear in a number of chapters, while the otaku, the obsessive consumer of anime and manga, is also frequently mentioned. Most importantly, the nexus between art and the various manifestations of the Japanese sex industry is examined in rich and disturbing detail, conveying a portrait of a society that is still deeply creative but seems at the same time to be profoundly demoralized.

The book contains a few errors that should be corrected. Howard Hibbet is a scholar of Japanese literature, not of ukiyo-e, and the action attributed to the Mamoru Oshii's anime Ghost in the Shell in Hasegawa's chapter actually takes place in the manga version by Masamune Shirow. These are, however, minor flaws in a book that makes a considerable contribution to our understanding of a complex and important new world of art.