How much of a fetish do you have?

Before this trip, I would have said, “None.”  Now, I will honestly tell you that yes, I do indeed have a fetish.  And I daresay you have one too.

A fetish is an obsession or excessive devotion to something.  This observation that I do indeed have one came gradually over these last few days from a number of experiences.

On February 16, our group visited Hokkaido University, where Dr. Seaton of the Modern Japanese Studies Program facilitated discussion on topical issues within his research, namely content tourism.

Content tourism refers to tourism that is driven by popular culture influences. For example, if a tourist chose to travel to a destination because it is significant to a certain anime or manga, that would be content tourism.  Its impact is quite significant, as Dr. Seaton illustrated through the following example.  In the anime Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon), the credits include a request to the audience to not attempt to jump fences or trespass on property in order to visit the farms that the anime is set in.

Having grown up reading, watching, admiring and loving Japanese popular media like manga and anime, I am strongly motivated to buy certain things or travel to certain places based on their connections to my favourite mangas or animes.  However, my desire to immerse myself in “Japanese culture” doesn’t stop there.

When my friends and I entered Bic Camera, a department store chain, we found our one-stop shop for souvenirs.  For me, it was unique DIY candy that I had seen featured by Youtubers or “Japanese” flavours like green tea.

At Bic Camera, there are few sales people to approach you and convince you to purchase things.  Our fellow tourist shoppers (I could tell as I overheard Mandarin and Cantonese), like us, needed no direction in buying souvenirs.  Our fascination with Japanese products, thanks to our previous exposure, were our little engines that drove us to buy things.

Buying souvenirs isn’t typically seen as unusual or even proving that you have a fetish.  However, to buy things that we believe are essential and representative of a culture so excitedly, so driven by our obsession, is indicative of something beyond a simple desire for a memento or appreciation of a product’s uses and benefits.

Having a fetish is not automatically a bad thing.  Wanting to visit a location because of its cultural importance (e.g., where an author lived) is understandable. 

To let a rabid obsession overcome you without recognition is dangerous though.  It colours all opinions and perspectives you give and disseminate to others whose little exposure to a culture may be only through you.  Fetishes also typically reduce a culture to a few points and may inhibit you from accepting other aspects of the culture.

So, how do I resolve this topic?  My fascination with Japanese candy cannot be resolved strictly rationally (the heart is fickle and stubborn).  What I can do is do the entire culture justice by learning more about all its aspects and therefore can present a less warped sense of it.  

I’m glad to have learnt more than just facts and figures on this trip.