JPop Writing: Growing Up Japanamerican

When I was in kindergarten, I watched the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers every Saturday during breakfast. I loathed Chinese school because it meant I had to leave before the episode finished. I had nearly forgotten the spandex-clad heroes until I read Anne Allison’s article, “The Japan Fad in Global Youth Culture and Millennial Capitalism.” What it said about Americanization hit home. As a Chinese girl born in central New Jersey, I knew the Power Rangers came from Asia but attributed it to an American descendant of Ultraman. I was surprised to learn it was a direct, American, re-creation of a show.

I feel if it targeted an older audience, viewers would have been more accepting of the actual Japanese version. However, children reject foreign material unknowingly. When my friend, Dorothea, also a Chinese girl, and I would play Power Rangers, she would quickly claim pink. Being stuck as yellow was upsetting. Did this mean I wanted to be Caucasian? No. At that age, depictions of Asians versus Americans did not concern me. I liked Trini. I just liked Kimberly more.

I also could relate to Allison’s other article, “Sailor Moon: Japanese Superheroes for Global Girls.” I watched the series years before it came out in the United States – in Japanese. I didn’t know a word, but I still loved it. When it was publically broadcast, I religiously got up at six AM to finally see it in a language I could understand. Seeing superheroes was empowering. However, in both versions, I detested Usagi-chan/Serena. I could not relate to her ditzy character, and even now, I cannot particularly ascribe to the “life-sized” ideal. What drew me in were the other Scouts– intelligent Mercury, strong Jupiter, and exotic Mars. Sailor Moon had drama and continuity that American cartoons lacked: long-term love interests, bad guys who were not purely evil, life-and-death situations. “Recess,” “Doug,” “Pepper Ann” told schoolroom stories. The worst thing that could happen would be little more than a bad test grade. New episodes did not reveal new characters, but with each Sailor Moon, I could expect a new and exciting foe.

However, I feel, if the cartoon had not been Americanized, I would have been exposed to more. As a child, I did not notice sexual undertones in either version. I found it perfectly acceptable that Uranus’s alter ego was a boy, and in both versions, dedicated to her partner, Neptune. In the American version, they were made into cousins. Zoisite, a bishounen enemy from the first season, was turned into a woman, so his relationship with another character would not be homosexual. I believe teaching tolerance by presenting a sensitive topic as “normal” is just as effective, if not better, than outright telling someone to tolerate it.

Americanization is tricky. On one hand, children will not accept a product they cannot relate to. I can understand why producers would have artists change sign labels to English, and have characters use forks instead of chopsticks. However, during the process, the United States also thrusts its moral opinion in, even if the topic is not one that children even think about. This may be more harmful than good, keeping youth from accepting other cultures’ moral differences.