Are Morning Musume bad for Japan's image?

[ruixiong89]

I guess you can't look at it with a Western perspective. Yes, indeed, we would think that H!P does have a perverse element because of the seeming exploitation of young girls to satisfy the desires of males who are way older than them. I don't think any of us disagree that H!P does really good music. But that aside.

You got to understand that Japan has a long history of treating sex as something like a necessity in life. It's comparable to say, the need to eat, or the need to use the toilet. The Japanese treat it as such. In fact, women back in the past did not even consider breasts to evoke any sexual sentiment, which explains why they went swimming topless.

These attitudes about it being perverse are no doubt coming from us who have had these western perceptions afflicted within our minds. Of course, from our perspective, yes, indeed, this seems dangerous because of the potential danger to these girls. However, what I'm saying is that the Japanese don't treat it as such. We have no right to impose what we think on what they think, regardless of how disgusting we think they are.

You wouldn't say cannibalism was bad if you were a tribesman living somewhere in an isolated forest. It's civilization and culture that has imposed these social constructs within our minds.