Plucking Paradise: Hawaiian `Ukulele Performance in Japan

Abstract

This article examines historical and contemporary Japanese attitudes toward the `ukulele (and Hawai`i) configured as paradisical objects of yearning and utopian desire. This is desire in the form of what I call a ‘plucked paradise’ – a form of music-making upon a stringed instrument, as well as the image of a flower being harvested for one’s use. Plucking a string produces a relatively delicate sound that decays quickly; plucking a flower is a small act of aesthetic appropriation. Both of these reference a paradise that is temporal, sensual, and aestheticized. This research asks, what kinds of meanings do participants give to the `ukulele and its music in Japan? How do infrastructural components, particularly Japanese Americans, facilitate the development of `ukulele culture in Japan? By analyzing multiple dimensions involved in the creation of that ‘plucked paradise’, I bring to bear the tensions, conflicts, and creative forces that shape the interaction.