Sabato 24 Mag 2008, 5:50

What's the deal with the pop songs on "Japanese" themes form the early 80's? Looks like Japan was some sort of trend in many European countries. Examples:

Aneka - Japanese Boy (UK, 1981)
Rose Laurens - Mamy Yoko (France, 1983)
Gyllene Tider - Teaser Japanese (Sweden, 1983)
Alphaville - Big In Japan (Germany, 1984)

Apparently the Japonaiserie songs were unusually popular, too; Aneka was a one-hit wonder with her song; Laurens' big memorable hit was Africa - Voodoo Master, but Mamy Yoko was quite a big success, too.

I wonder if there are any comparable examples from America, and whether the US anti-Japanese sentiments of the 80's have left any traces in pop music. These European lyrics are more than a bit ambiguous. Aneka laments that her Japanese boyfriend has left her for no reason; Laurens sings about a geisha, Mamy Yoko, but the lyrics are a mix of all possible and impossible Japan references (Hiroshima, hi-fi, fishing, paper houses, sampans?!); Gyllene Tider is issuing a warning for a Japanese femme fatale:

Eyes of black meet eyes of blue
beast and beauty, wave goodbye
sayonara moon up in the sky
And boy - take your eyes away from her
And boy - lay them on another girl
She's a teaser japanese
She's a teaser japanese
She's a teaser japanese
And boy - you're gonna get burned
Hey-ho!

Okay… And Alphaville's lyrics are apparently about drug use and sex tourism. At least, back in Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly days, Europeans showed some sympathy towards the Japanese…

I know that pop songs are made of clichés, but after discovering this pattern, it is a bit disturbing.