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I want to be wtv type of whimsy this is icl

Kahimi Karie Trapeziste

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tokyo street snap

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A National Treasure Or The Talents Of A Devil?

I haven't really seen well-written articles on the topic of Sheena Ringo's controversies as most of them would either be extremely biased views on the controversy or would not even cover the contoversy in good detail. So, I decided that I would write a blog on it myself.

Today, I will be talking about one of the most controversial artists of the Japanese music industry; Sheena Ringo.

Sheena Ringo, for those who don't know who she is, is one of Japan's most best-selling and influencial artists who has sold over 10 million records. She is known for her punk rock and jazz influenced sounds and nasy voice. Her songs often delve into heavy topics such as prostitution, death with heavy eroticism and symbolism presented in her lyrics.

Personally I am a big fan of her artistry, especially as an avid female listener. Her depiction of a woman in society feels very accurate and relatable to me. Not to mention I am a big fan rock, jazz and sometimes techno-influenced sounds.

So why is she so controversial if she is known to be one of Japan's most influencial and best-selling female music artists alongside the likes of Kumi Koda and Mika Nakashima and back then female Hikaru Utada? (Note: Hikaru Utada came out as non-binary last year and uses they/them pronouns. This blog is in no way deminishing their gender identity but they were known as one of Japan's most best-selling female artist prior to them coming out)

It all began in 2008 when Ringo decided to use the Rising Sun as merchandise in a form of a Flag.

This didn't cause a big stir inside Japan but was widely controversial overseas, especially in Korea.

For those who don't know, Korea and Japan have a rough relationaship due to the Japanese ruling of Korea during World War 2. I recommend researching on this by yourself as the histroy is very complicated and this blog will become SUPER long if I document every single fact about it. Later on after the war, Koreans in Japan were subjected to a lot of racism and many Koreans also became not in favour of Japanese people.

Although the Rising Sun symbol existed centuries prior to the Second World War, it was particaularly used a lot during Imperial Japan's ruling of Southeast and Northern Asia as a form of propaganda. This has lead to the Rising Sun Flag becoming a symbol of Japanese Imperialism and alt-right to many from outside of Japan, mainly Asian countries that were under the Japanese rule.

Obviously when Ringo, a person who did not seemed to conform to societal norms when it comes to identity, sexuality presented in her music and footage, and even patriotism, used the Rising Sun flag for her merchandise, many Korean fans felt betrayed. This lead to her losing a large portion of her Korean fanbase. Still, many Koreans were used to the glorification and history of the Rising Sun symbol. Thus, Ringo still was able to maintain a fairly large following in Korea.

The turning point for Korean fans however was when Ringo released NIPPON in her album, SUNNY in honour of the 2014 World Cup for the Japanese team.

Although the album cover of SUNNY did stir some drama, the most controversy was drawn from the lyrics of NIPPON.

Some lyrics that many found problematic were:

この地球上で いちばん

混じり気の無い気高い青

-and-

噫また不意に接近している淡い死の匂いで

The first lyric translates to:

"The purest and rarest shade of blue on earth"

which many interpreted as Japanese puritism, the colour blue representing the Japanese race.

The second translates to:

"The faint scent of death approaching"

which many thought was a reference to and golorification of the Kamikaze.

This was the main interpretation that Korean media used and what many Korean fans thought was of the song. Considering Ringo's past controversies and the work-in-progress relationship of Korea and Japan, I personally think this is completely understandable. However it was quite clear that Ringo actually did not have any ill intentions when writing the lyrics.

In an interview, Sheena Ringo said that she "never noticed how the song would come off as problematic, as that was never my intention."

For this reason there are other popular interpretations of the same lyrics such as

この地球上で いちばん

混じり気の無い気高い青

being interpreted as a reference for the Japanese national football team's uniform colour, which is a dark navy colour.

-and-

噫また不意に接近している淡い死の匂いで

"faint smell of death approaching" being interpreted as a way for uplifting the Japanese football team and telling them to win the game.

Art is subjective and the true meaning of the song we will never know but it is truly up to the listener.

However...

As a Korean Sheena Ringo listener, I do want Sheena Ringo's fans to be able to realise whatever she did IS in fact wrong. Using a universal symbol of oppression, hate and imperialism of more than half of Asia while being aware that most of your fanbase outside Japan comes from the countries that were part of the Japanese colonial empire on your merchandise and your DISCOGRAPHY would first of all, in your position, be an extremely dumb decision from an economic standpoint since you'll lose a whole bunch of international fans who were once willing to buy your merchandise but also, second of all, will feel like great betrayal to many of your fans. Many Japanese are aware that the rising sun flag is not favoured by most outside of Japan (and tbh should not be favoured in any way). Sheena Ringo is certainly not the one to say that "she was not aware" because for one, Japan has one of the fastest internet speed in the world and not only that, but a FREE internet with little to no censorships. A quick google search would've proved her otherwise(the album came out in 2014 and the Tokyo Jihen merch in 2008, so google and wikipedia was a thing even back then). Also she seems very aware of her influence overseas which would just make her behaviour odd and really ignorant.

At the end of the day, I do think Sheena's music and artistry should be celebrated. After all, to say that this woman didn't bring something different to the J-music or didn't have any impact on J-music would be completely wrong. But the lesson learnt would not be to completely neglect yoru favourite artist's wrongdoing or to cancel them. Heck, not even the "separate the artist and the art" argument can be used in this context.

The lesson learnt should be for you to be able to hold your favourite artists accountable for their actions while also being able to appreciate their artistry as well as acknowledge their impact on a certain genre.

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Deadass

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페이지 ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ 티라미수 🌐

passion-pinkpantheress ‎⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ ౨ৎ 에스.이.에스 ౨ৎ

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Had to paint Moo Deng!! I love her so much

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Angles

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‘Euphoria’ Heidi Bivens’s fashion book.

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