Japanese Style [updated] | Taboo

Contemporary Japanese artists sometimes deliberately violate taboos for effect. For example:

Japanese etiquette enforces taboos to preserve group harmony: taboo japanese style

In the Edo period, tattoos were used as a form of "penal tattooing" to permanently mark criminals on their foreheads or arms, making their "otherness" impossible to hide. And what of desire

There is a seductive quality to these taboos. When public life is so rigid, so controlled

And what of desire? Japan is famous for its "weird" erotica, its hentai , and its love hotels. This, too, is a function of the taboo. When public life is so rigid, so controlled by tatemae , the private desires must find an escape valve. The "perverse" is not a celebration of liberation; it is a reaction to suppression. The more the public face is smiley and polite, the darker the shadows behind the curtain become.