Tarento
Tarento (タレント) is a
Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for
major media personalities who regularly appear on
television,
radio and other forms of entertainment. Successful tarento craft unique public personas in order to cater to certain Japanese
demographics, just as in every other entertainment culture. However, insofar as Japanese culture demonstrates certain extremes, so, too, tarento reflect these cultural fixations.
For example,
Morning Musume is the rough equivalent of England's
Spice Girls, however, their stars are constantly "retired" as they approach adulthood and replaced by new girls, some as young as twelve (much like
Menudo). Despite their young age, they mostly appeal to the older Japanese male audiences in their 30s - 40s.
Sometimes, Tarento are given prominent air time on TV and are promoted heavily due to their association or relationship to an established celebrity or politician, and not because they possess any discernable skills for entertaining audiences. One of the bigger examples of this phenomenon is
Ayako Fujitani, daughter of martial arts star
Steven Seagal and
Aikido master
Miyako Fujitani. The son of
Tokyo governor
Shintaro Ishihara,
Yoshizumi Ishihara, has also achieved a measure of exposure due to
nepotism.
Additionally, Tarento, both male and female, may be discovered and be given considerable exposure due to their perceived physical beauty and endowments, but the way they are promoted is different from being strictly a fashion model. This is because they spend time making music CDs,
vehiclized movies, and television appearances that captialize on and make vehicles out of their physical beauty, with little stress put on their actual ability to entertain in these situations. Recent examples include
Ryoko Hirosue and
MEGUMI who could be considered the equivalent of
Lindsay Lohan considering the way they've been promoted in the Japanese media. This category of tarento is sometimes confused with
aidoru - singers that are popular due to their good looks.
Foreign, non-Asian Tarento often exploit
stereotypes and caricatures to gain notoriety.
Catherine "Caiya" Kawasaki, a former
American model, used the Japanese stereotype of American women being noisy and domineering on her ex-husband, singer
Mayo Kawasaki.
Bobby Ologun, a
Nigerian comedian, uses both stereotypes and caricatures in his act when he flubs lines in Japanese to play off the "foreigners have trouble with the language" stereotype as well as contort his face in the
golliwog "
Sambo" style to gain laughs, even though it can, debatably, be seen as offensive to some foreigners living in Japan[
1].
Often, Tarento, whether men or women, have notoriously short career spans, and their earning capabilities are not as highly as popularly imagined. This is mostly due to many of them becoming famous from a single
gimmick and fade into obscurity after the novelty wears off. The vast majority make just enough to maintain a middle-class lifestyle in
Tokyo, Japan's media capital. That said, their work is generally considered interesting, one achieves social prominence (and all the associated benefits), and a successful tarento career can be the launching point for a career as movie
actor or even
political figure. An example of that would be
Takeshi Kitano, who is now a prominent director, started out as a comedy tarento and still does weekly shows. Female tarento who are unable to leverage their career into something larger sometimes slowly "decline" into
AV work, marriage and eventual obscurity.
Japanese television is centered around these people, with a majority of
prime time shows centering around the trips they take, watching
VTR recorded dramatizations of events and/or giving their opinions, or mimic each others' characters in a practice called
Monomane. Many, sometimes dozens, are called in to take part in these prime time shows.
Quiz shows are also dominated by them, and whereas celebrities in other countries give their winnings to charity, Tarento keep the money and prizes for themselves.
*
Gaijin tarento -- Foreign personality
*
List of Japanese celebrities
