Sports: Boxing in Japan

 
Although western style boxing is a martial art in the strictest sense of the word, it does not follow any Japanese martial or religious traditional culture such as other arts (now sports) do. Sumo has its roots firmly planted in Shinto beliefs, and other sports such as kendo come from combat training histories intended as a ritual way of life. Perhaps because of this, some Japanese hold a higher regard for these native arts over what could be implied as a more brutish sport, boxing. This is evident by the backlash unleashed on former yokuzuna (grand champion) Akebono Taro after retiring from sumo to do K-1 boxing.

Professional boxer Norio Kimura swings at opponent Eguchi during a match in Tokyo.

Source: ボクシングJP

Akebono’s story piqued my curiosity as to what inspires a young Japanese man to seek a less prestigious, less "Japanese" sport such as boxing. Baseball, by comparison, has captivated the Japanese heart and mind, and consequently transformed into its own ritual way of life. It's become Japanese. The film Kokoyakyu captures this transformation well. Boxing, I thought, is not graced with such mystique or ceremony.

The college boxing club I visited exists today as a mere four-man group. Their dedication is meted out through six days of training per week. Each session may last more than four hours, and after a mere two the sweat pours from the young men as they run through their endlessly repeated cycle: 3 minutes of training, 30 seconds of rest. They work together at nearly every stage of training, coaching and collaborating. They are neither loud nor boisterous, but quiet, focused, and absorbed in their action. Group exercises complete the evening as the young men call out reps round-robin fashion.

With all this seriousness in training, not a single member expressed a wish to become a professional boxer. I found the purpose was more simply a dedication to physical fitness. When asked if they would continue boxing after college some said they would like to, with a hint in their voice that it may be only a fleeting wish to be able to. “Maybe as a hobby,” I was told. With their steely determination and collaborative ethic, boxing has been transformed into something more recognizably Japanese, despite the hyper masculine, soloist media imagery.

Japanese Pop Culture: The Manga Kissa

 
The manga kissa of Japan sits as a distinct combination of vast manga (comic) library, internet café, and semi-private oasis nestled in the urban sprawl of cities such as Osaka and Tokyo. In the United States the concept of the “third space” (recently promoted by Starbucks) is a close parallel to the embodiment of the manga kissa idea as a home-away-from-home; though the Japanese version notably lacks most of the prominent social aspects found in Oldenburg and Brissett’s conception. Instead it is a sober and silent refuge from the noise of the city, and social pressures that regulate one’s daily life in Japanese society.

The aisles of manga are neatly kept, and each book is individually unassuming, yet visually staggering in their collective totality. Despite having been read dozens if not hundreds or even thousands of times, they show little to no signs of abuse or neglect. Courtesy for others is shown more solemnly through action, and verbal posturing is rarely necessary. Patrons are predominantly men, both young and old, student and office worker alike. Women too are a part of the manga kissa, and a substantial selection of shoujo (girls’ comics) targeted at young women is available as well. Their emphasis on interpersonal relations contrasts with the dominant action and humor themes of shounen (boys’ comics). These are gendered themes in the arc of Japanese life, prominent even in early education.

As a cultural icon, manga in Japan is ubiquitous and considered by many an important aspect of Japanese culture. The manga kissa is, however, only a single element of that larger pop culture phenomenon. While it creates a liminal space in which visitors may escape social reality, it simultaneously reinforces that reality (culturally) through parody and emulation in stories. Patrons may for a brief moment escape society in order to view it from a distance, to distort it and reshape it, before rejoining it once again.