How Has Been Reflected By A Western View Of Japan?

The Japanese have often been accused of a lack of creativity with their music, or being “copycats”. Could this be true or is it a misconception brought about by a Western view of Japan? A closer look into historical events in Japan over the last 100-200 years will show that the Japanese are musically creative. From the late 18th Century, music in Japan has been influenced by the Western world in many ways but they have also combined their own traditional music with a more Western twist.

Military music was the first western music to be introduced in Japan and at the time became highly sought after. In 1853 American Commodore Matthew C. Perry came to Nagasaki and introduced two Dutch style military bands to the military academy then attempted

They wanted more access to the outside world which would provide them with opportunities to learn and develop as equal partners (Hughes & Tokita, 2008, p. 361). During the massive educational process of Japanese modernization, the Meiji leaders selected a range of European and American cultural ideas which would then be mirrored in Japan. Western classical music played an important role in these changes (Hughes & Tokita, 2008, p. 363). At the start of the 20th century, popular music in Japan started to develop in many ways. Japan’s wars with China (1894-95) and Russia (1904) were celebrated with military music. But in 1912 the first Japanese jazz group started as a ship band and brought back sheet music when it travelled to San Francisco (Condry, 2006, p. 54). The Manchurian incident in 1931 which started Japan’s 15 year war with China did not affect popular music except for an increase in old patriotic songs and military brass bands. Despite this, many jazz and revue theatres became more popular. As the war situation worsened, state control of popular music gradually tightened (Hughes & Tokita, 2008, p. 350). By 1953 after Japan’s defeat by the Allied forces, jazz was more popular than any other kind of music. The popularity of jazz was due to the exposure of American culture during the period of occupation

It is also true that the Japanese have imitated Western music over time but it is not necessarily a bad thing. By embracing western music, Japan has been able to adapt to modern trends and has learnt how to create modern Japanese music. If the Meiji leaders had decided not to embrace western culture, would Japanese music today sound different? If the Americans had not occupied Japan at the end of WW2 would the influence of their music (jazz) have been as popular as it is today? Or would Japanese music have naturally evolved over