Illustration: Japanese Influence of Western Design

Information has its way of spreading throughout the world, just as through language, writing, printing, electronic mass media (which includes radio, film and television ), and electronic-information (which includes the internet, electronic mail, world wide web, newsgroups, chat rooms, teleconferencing and telecommuting), art is also a way of distributing information. Given that the form of transportation changed with time and the distribution of information, trade between countries also increased and different countries started to adopt certain parts of their cultures. Part of these cultures include art, the Japanese has influenced other countries at the Western with its use of space, drawing conventions, subject and colour in art. This influence of the Japanese art is known as Japonisme.

Anime:

(Japanese)

(Western)

Japanese anime dates back from 1917, anime is animation in short and it is basically that which has been hand-drawn or designed in a computer. These designed moving images include television series', short films and full-length films. Looking at the image above of the Japanese style anime, one would realize that it consists of vibrant characters, colourful graphics, and fantastic themes. Western style of anime dating back to the 1960's was never actually seen as anime at fisrt by referencing 'Astro Boy', in the 1970's and 80's production companies then outsourced the Japanese studios in helping production of many original animated series' including Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By looking at the Western design of the anime culture, it can be seen that the colours are rather dark than that of Japanese and the characters do not seem to be 'innocent' but in a pose that shows that they are ready for anything that comes their way.

Manga:

(Japanese)

(Western)

 Manga are comics which were created in Japan by the Japanese, these are not created for a specific age group as different people of different ages may found them fascinating, knowing that most animation is for children's interests, by looking at the images above, the one which is Japanese shows a woman on her underwear and that is not something one would introduce to a child. Manga has a broad range of genres which includes: action, adventure, horror, romance, sexuality, comedy, drama, business/ commerce etc. When the Western adopted the art style it was known as the Amerimanga, and today that different cultures merge and that manga evolved, the term that replaced Amerimanga as a non-Japanese manga is Global Manga. The 2 images above show the difference between the Western style and the Japanese style, the Western show suspicious looking characters with weapons portrayed in darker colours whereas the Japanese show bright colours and calm characters.

Otaku:
(Japanese)

(Western)

Japanese used this "okatu" term to refer to people with obsessive interests such as anime and manga. Okatu can be related to being a fan of something, with so many things that capture our interests in the world we therefore try to imitate those things we see as to be "cool". Most girls used to own barbies from a young age and even when grown up they still find teddy bears cute, and some even own "Spongebob" teddies which they so much adore.The images above show how this can be explained, first image of Japanese Okatu is of an anime character holding a toy, the second is of another character playing a video game, which may be normal unless one is obsessed of it or tries to imitate it. The third and forth picture is of how this culture influenced the west, where the third image is of an animated bear called the "Dropout Bear" which was just a college mascot at first but then an American rapper going by the name of Kanye West in the fourth image, used it to represent himself on his album covers and it is now known as his trademark.

Kawaii:

(Japanese)

(Western)

Kawaii is what the Japanese refers to as the quality of cuteness. This cultural context has become a prominent aspect of the entertainment, clothing, food and toys. This art style was used by the Japanese to enhance the appearance of different things, the first image above show designs of sweets, and the second image show clothing, The third image shows how the Western people implemented the designs on their own clothes, wrists and and even nail colour to go with, the fourth image shows how kid's meals' containers are made attractive to the with these designs.