Turning ‘Brapanese’
By Tals Diaz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Last updated 19:11:00 09/05/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Call it a heady dose of culture shake, like mixing sake with caipirinha.
It began a few months ago with the arrival of male model, Akihiro Sato, who hit the city like an Atlantic tsunami, turning the local fashion and media industry into a giggling gaggle of hormonal teenage girls. The insider buzz reads a bit like a cross-cultural eyewitness report: Brazilian-Japanese model from Thailand turns Manila in over its head! Within a few weeks, the samurai surfer from a tiny coastal town in São Paulo had managed to snag major face time on television ads, magazine covers, runway shows, plus an exclusive contract with Penshoppe as its latest endorser.
Like a kneejerk reaction, the local modeling agencies began fishing in the gene pool for more talents of the “Brapanese” configuration. The latest one ushered by Mercator Models into the city as of three weeks ago is Hideo Muraoka, also from São Paulo, who will also soon be exhibiting his, ahem, innate talents for a hip local label.
Just where is this mythical country of Brapan known for its breathtaking scenery? my colleagues have joked. More important, where do we apply for a visa?
CULTURE CLASH
Zoolander fixations aside, Akihiro has become the unlikely catalyst for a little history lesson, as more and more people have begun to ask just what the connection is between Brazil and Japan, two countries that seem to be diametric opposites. On one hand, Brazil’s is a culture marked by wild partying, infectious music and unabashed worship of the female behind. On the other extreme is Japan, a culture famous for its honor codes, Zen-sibilities and radical politeness. Bum and shibumi. Bikini and kimono. Where’s the connect?
Perhaps it began with an effective tourism campaign about a hundred years ago. Posters in Japan showed a shirtless farmer pointing to the South American map that admonished, “Let’s go to Brazil with the family!” It had to do with a treaty signed in 1907 between the Brazilian and the Japanese governments that permitted Japanese migration to Brazil.
It was the onset of World War I that spurred the biggest Japanese diaspora in 1914, particularly in São Paulo, since that was where most of the coffee plantations were. Today, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with “Nipo-Brasileiros” as they are called estimated at 1.5 million.
SEXY SUSHI
Intrigued about the cult of samba sushi? It’s not hard to ride this Nipo-zilian wave. It’s a different kind of global appeal; it’s East meets—bows, and carouses with—the South. The two cultures have their own share of inborn creative katok after all, perhaps one just less blatant than the other. So it’s almost like a divine experiment of cross-breeding two quirks, seeing what would happen if anime characters were set free in Carnaval. The offspring? A wonderful creature called Lovefoxxx. I’d say she’s the quintessential modern Brapanese.
Lovefoxxx of course is the muito-adorable vocalist of electro-rock band, Cansei de Ser Sexy. I actually first heard of Cansei de Ser Sexy (which actually means “Tired of being Sexy,”) when a friend e-mailed me their hella catchy song, “Alala,” about a year ago, which instantly became my most repeated iPod tune. Turned out that iPod had something to do with their global success, since they broke free from the MySpace universe and into the mainstream when their song, “Music is My Hot Hot Sex,” was used in an Apple iPod TV commercial. It began when British student, Nick Haley, used the song in a homemade 30-second commercial for the iPod Touch that he created and then posted on the video sharing site YouTube on Sept. 11, 2007. Apple got wind of Haley’s creation and soon picked it up for broadcast, which aired in the US in October 2007, and later in Japan and Europe. In March 2008, the music video for the song amassed over 112 million views on YouTube, reported to be the most viewed video on the site.
Now that’s what I call some sexy sushi! If anything, this little dip in the gene pool has spawned a brilliant pop culture crush. What’s next? Havaiana-kiri (honorable death by slippers)? Bikini-monos? Bossa Noh? Okay, okay, it’s pretty obvious, the sake-rinha has gotten into the system.
More ‘Brapan’ imports we’d like to see:
Sake-rinha: A drink made of sake and cachaca in crushed ice.
Samburai: Samurais shaking their bootay
Bossa Noh: Japanese drama set to lilting beach music
Ronaldi-Noh: Japanese drama starring football star Ronaldinho
Havaiana-kiri: Honorable death by persistent slipper beating
Bikini-mono: A fashionable silk robe with revealing cut outs, ideal for evening beach wear
By Tals Diaz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Last updated 19:11:00 09/05/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Call it a heady dose of culture shake, like mixing sake with caipirinha.
It began a few months ago with the arrival of male model, Akihiro Sato, who hit the city like an Atlantic tsunami, turning the local fashion and media industry into a giggling gaggle of hormonal teenage girls. The insider buzz reads a bit like a cross-cultural eyewitness report: Brazilian-Japanese model from Thailand turns Manila in over its head! Within a few weeks, the samurai surfer from a tiny coastal town in São Paulo had managed to snag major face time on television ads, magazine covers, runway shows, plus an exclusive contract with Penshoppe as its latest endorser.
Like a kneejerk reaction, the local modeling agencies began fishing in the gene pool for more talents of the “Brapanese” configuration. The latest one ushered by Mercator Models into the city as of three weeks ago is Hideo Muraoka, also from São Paulo, who will also soon be exhibiting his, ahem, innate talents for a hip local label.
Just where is this mythical country of Brapan known for its breathtaking scenery? my colleagues have joked. More important, where do we apply for a visa?
CULTURE CLASH
Zoolander fixations aside, Akihiro has become the unlikely catalyst for a little history lesson, as more and more people have begun to ask just what the connection is between Brazil and Japan, two countries that seem to be diametric opposites. On one hand, Brazil’s is a culture marked by wild partying, infectious music and unabashed worship of the female behind. On the other extreme is Japan, a culture famous for its honor codes, Zen-sibilities and radical politeness. Bum and shibumi. Bikini and kimono. Where’s the connect?
Perhaps it began with an effective tourism campaign about a hundred years ago. Posters in Japan showed a shirtless farmer pointing to the South American map that admonished, “Let’s go to Brazil with the family!” It had to do with a treaty signed in 1907 between the Brazilian and the Japanese governments that permitted Japanese migration to Brazil.
It was the onset of World War I that spurred the biggest Japanese diaspora in 1914, particularly in São Paulo, since that was where most of the coffee plantations were. Today, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with “Nipo-Brasileiros” as they are called estimated at 1.5 million.
SEXY SUSHI
Intrigued about the cult of samba sushi? It’s not hard to ride this Nipo-zilian wave. It’s a different kind of global appeal; it’s East meets—bows, and carouses with—the South. The two cultures have their own share of inborn creative katok after all, perhaps one just less blatant than the other. So it’s almost like a divine experiment of cross-breeding two quirks, seeing what would happen if anime characters were set free in Carnaval. The offspring? A wonderful creature called Lovefoxxx. I’d say she’s the quintessential modern Brapanese.
Lovefoxxx of course is the muito-adorable vocalist of electro-rock band, Cansei de Ser Sexy. I actually first heard of Cansei de Ser Sexy (which actually means “Tired of being Sexy,”) when a friend e-mailed me their hella catchy song, “Alala,” about a year ago, which instantly became my most repeated iPod tune. Turned out that iPod had something to do with their global success, since they broke free from the MySpace universe and into the mainstream when their song, “Music is My Hot Hot Sex,” was used in an Apple iPod TV commercial. It began when British student, Nick Haley, used the song in a homemade 30-second commercial for the iPod Touch that he created and then posted on the video sharing site YouTube on Sept. 11, 2007. Apple got wind of Haley’s creation and soon picked it up for broadcast, which aired in the US in October 2007, and later in Japan and Europe. In March 2008, the music video for the song amassed over 112 million views on YouTube, reported to be the most viewed video on the site.
Now that’s what I call some sexy sushi! If anything, this little dip in the gene pool has spawned a brilliant pop culture crush. What’s next? Havaiana-kiri (honorable death by slippers)? Bikini-monos? Bossa Noh? Okay, okay, it’s pretty obvious, the sake-rinha has gotten into the system.
More ‘Brapan’ imports we’d like to see:
Sake-rinha: A drink made of sake and cachaca in crushed ice.
Samburai: Samurais shaking their bootay
Bossa Noh: Japanese drama set to lilting beach music
Ronaldi-Noh: Japanese drama starring football star Ronaldinho
Havaiana-kiri: Honorable death by persistent slipper beating
Bikini-mono: A fashionable silk robe with revealing cut outs, ideal for evening beach wear
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