Japanese Music Lyrics in Gender Perspectives
"A Declaration in my kingdom". (1979) Lyric/Music：Masashi Sada
Before I got married to you, I have to tell you
It might be harsh for you but listen to my true desires. You must not go to bed before I go to bed You also must not wake up later than me Cook well, you must be beautiful every day As much as you can
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Just follow me without saying anything about other things…..
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and since you have left your house and come to my house, Think that there is no place you can come back From now on, I am your house. -----Skip----------------------------à You must not die before I die. I won’t need anything, just hold my hand and just fall two tear drops for me I will say, I’m sure I will say that thanks to you, my life was great. -----Skip----------------------------à
Don't forget about that The woman whom I love is,,, that is just only you that is only you whom I love in my life
Japan is known as one of the developed countries but based on the gender gap ranking which is focusing on the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy, and politics, Japan is the NO111 among the 144 countries in 2016. We can guess that the level awareness of gender equality is really low in Japan. In addition to that, Japanese does not have a perfect word that fits the word “gender”. This shows that in this country, people are not used to considering gender issues.
Analyzing the Japanese music lyrics with a gender perspective, interesting points are found. Here are the two examples of the song in a different period in Japan.
The first one is “A Declaration in my kingdom” which is a very popular and famous song in Japan, released in late 70's and spread in the 80's. This song was often sung at the wedding ceremony and has been famous in Japan until now. From the gender analysis perspective, it shows the apparently patriotic system in Japan. Japanese people are accepting this situation and even the view of a woman in this song was considered as a natural thing at the time. Men expect women to just follow and support them without any words. Even though at the very end of this song, the lyric says “you are the only woman whom I love in my life”, it still can be seen that the society also accept this attitude since this was sung at the wedding ceremony.
The second song was sung by the current Japanese idol group, HKT48. The lyric is written by the very famous popular producer. Actually, he is one of the highest-income persons in the cultural field in Japan by working mainly as a producer. He also produced the AKB48, which is a very famous girl's idol group in Japan, and another group named as SKE48, etc. Thus, it can be said that he is one of the most influential people in Japan. According to the Internet site, most of their fans are men, especially the middle-aged men or youth.
From this song, we can see what the Japanese men’s expectation for a girl. Many of the Japanese men want the girls just to be cute. They just considered a girl as an object like a doll. The doll does not have to have education and knowledge. Although girls in Japan sometimes do not notice about this frustrated custom, they unconsciously learn and acquire this custom and tend to want to be like that. It seems that this concept unconsciously prevails into the Japanese society. Of course, not all idol songs are like this. Recently Japanese women are getting stronger, so some women are really angry about this song and this topic was flaming in some Internet site.
Thinking about these two songs in the different periods, men’s expectation in Japan has changed a little bit. In the past, they expected the women’s obedience and subordination. Currently, they expect more on the beauty; a cutie like a decoration. They don’t want girls to have knowledge. This current custom reflects the gender gap ranking because in the category of gender gap ranking, “political empowerment for women” and “economic participation and opportunity” are pulling Japan’s ranking down. These two level are really low in Japan according to the World Economic Forum. Considering this situation, raising awareness for the gender equality should be the first step to improving women’s rights.
Dianna Agron Above Einstein (2016) Lyric: Yasushi Akimoto
Music：FIREWORKS
Translated by Mayuko Tanabe
I never think of anything complicated
I’m fine with being ignorant
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It’s fine as long as I’m good with makeup I don’t care about the news
All this ordinary stuff– I could just ask someone to help me with them
As a girl, Love is my profession
Until I become a mom, it’s okay to be a child
More than that,
Isn’t it more important to take care of my skin so that it remains nice and smooth?
Who was this Einstein person again?
I know I’ve heard of him before But actually I don’t really know him
He was sorta like this great person who is written about in my textbooks But Dianna Agron is my favorite
