Stay punk!! Stay free!! Subcultural identity, resistance and Covid-19 in northern Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID21873143
AuthorsJames D Letson (0000-0001-9514-1524, Film Independent, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume10
Issue1
Pages119-140
Publication date2021-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePunk & Post Punk (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2044-1983 • E-ISSN: 2044-3706
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/punk_00056_1
OpenAlexW3045914821
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

Punks have been a feature of subcultural scenes in Japan since as early as 1977. One of the main hubs of punk and hardcore activity outside of Tokyo is Sapporo, where an eclectic mix of both domestic and international influences has informed the growth and maintenance of a broad and inclusive community. Here, ‘punk’ and ‘hardcore’, rather than being seen as different, are considered to be just two points on a wide spectrum of ‘punkness’. In a country often described as culturally conservative, northern Japan’s punk and hardcore subculturalists provide an opportunity to reassess ideas of subcultural resistance. Through their everyday practice of resistance, which is simultaneously spectacular, yet unrecognized as resistance, the punk community in Sapporo reject the ‘salaryman’, as a symbol of Japanese ‘national character’. This article comprises an ethnographic study of the punk and hardcore community in Sapporo, looks at what holds this eclectic community together and suggests the concept of ‘everyday resistance’ as a framework for further study. The current Covid-19 global crisis has brought unprecedented challenges – as it has to communities all over the world – but has provided an opportunity to see how a community’s everyday practice inform and shape responses to emergency situations

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · China · Ethnography · Linguistics · Media studies · Political science · Punk · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Music History and Culture

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