naoki takeda

This paper discusses the variations and typology of subculture contents that is influencing on urban space. Generally, subculture contents as seen in fictions had been separated from the real world. These days, some people seems to overwrite realworld influenced by the fictional stories. As a result of such overwriting real world with fictional stories, we have statues, institutions, vehecles, and other forms of existance of various subculture contents in the real world. This implies that subculture is not only the leisure of spare time, but the subject of some sort of devotion.

This paper discusses the differences between public art works and subculture-inspired art works such as anime and manga that have appeared in urban space. While public art in Japan started as an additional element of the urban landscape to improve urban aesthetics, many other aspects emerged such as providing cultural experience, improving urban real estate values, and revitalizing the downtown. On the contrary, the major purpose of introducing subculture-inspired artworks, such as manga and anime characters in the urban space is clear; to attract more visitors and to revitalize the area. However, subculture-inspired artworks are introduced into many different mediums; gigantic statues or museums for the attractive destinations, small statues and decorations along the street, vehicles and so on. These are all employed to help citizens to understand and sympathize the subculture characters and stories, that leads to the recognition of local identity, which is definitely far beyond the initial purpose. As a result, subculture-inspired art occupies an important position as local monuments, like conventional public artworks.