University of Alberta

Cracking the kimono code


By Gilbert A. Bouchard
July 25, 2007

Jennifer Beamer will be spending almost a year in Japan studying kimonos.
 Edmonton - Come September, University of Alberta student Jennifer Beamer will be spending the better part of a year in Japan studying kimonos and the role they play in Japanese culture and identity-building after winning a prestigious award from the Japan Foundation.

Calling the award "a dream come true," Beamer, a PhD student in material culture, was one of only 15 scholars to win one of the foundation's Japanese-Language Program for Researchers and Postgraduate Students awards. Established in 1972, the Japan Foundation is a special legal entity devoted to international cultural exchange, including the promotion of overseas Japanese studies and intellectual exchange.

Beamer's selection will allow her to study kimonos - a historically significant loose outer garment held in place by a sash, worn by Japanese men and women - in Osaka, Japan from October 2007 to May 2008.

"I'm particularly interested in the contrast of the traditional and the modern you see in Japan. You see the Japanese wearing traditional kimonos and participating in traditional hobbies and clubs while also living in totally modern 50-storey, high-rise apartment buildings and being obsessed with electronics," said Beamer.

In particular, Beamer's PhD work looks at the role the government plays in the promotion of wearing this traditional garb that is profoundly associated with Japanese national identity.

For example, Japanese citizens who wear kimonos can get various discounts like a break on their museum entry fees. "You can also rent kimonos and many people go as far as to eschew wearing western suits in favour of wearing the kimono. My work is about trying to figure out what this means."

Beamer's PhD work continues her master's degree research that looked into how kimonos are sold online internationally.

"This is very comfortable garb that has been kept partially alive by North American collectors."

Beamer started her studies at the U of A in the 1990s, studying the chemical compositions of textiles but shifted over and took a communication degree. She became interested in Japan and Japanese culture when she participated in a teaching and exchange program.

"That's when I started falling in love with this culture and its interesting contradictions that loves both their traditional kimonos and their cellphones," she said. "I remember going to open-air markets and seeing them sell truckloads of kimonos."

One of Beamer's teachers, Dr. Arlene Oak, a U of A professor of material culture and a major participant in the university's recently launched Material Culture Institute, is thrilled with her student's win and the potential of her research.

"It's fascinating to study something like the kimono and look how it rises and falls in popularity," Oak said. The professor underlined the fact that the kimono - an article of clothing that has several thousand years of history - possesses a complex cultural symbolism and plays an important role in Japanese culture.

"With the kimono you also have other interesting factors like the government programs developed to encourage people to wear them as well as the fact that the kimono has become a high-fashion garment," she said.

"Jennifer will be on the ground and be able to study and speak to people who are wearing or choosing not to wear the kimono."