LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Attitudes and Behaviors Concept
There are many reasons to study attitudes and behaviors. However, one reason as mentioned in Icek and Fishbein’s Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior is that “social scientists assume that attitudes could be used to explain human action since they viewed attitudes as behavioral dispositions” (55). This reason is based on the idea that “man’s social actions – whether the actions involve religious behavior, ways of earning a living, political activity, or buying and selling goods – are directed by his attitudes” (13). Therefore, the concept of attitude, defined by Icek and Fishbein, is “a person’s general feeling for favorableness or unfavorableness for that concept” (55) and that it is the readiness for response that provokes behavior which can be in favor or disfavor towards objects (Icek and Fishbein, 1980).

Besides, Icek and Fishbein relate the idea of attitude with the behavior by the Theory of Reasoned Action. This theory is based on the assumption that human beings are usually quite rational and make systematic use of the information available to them. Consequently, people consider the implications of their actions before they decide to or not to engage in such a behavior. In this case, the intention has two basic determinants, the individual positive or negative evaluation of performing behavior, called ‘attitude toward the behavior’ and the social pressure called ‘the subjective norm’. Therefore, an individual will intend to perform a behavior when they evaluate it positively and when they believe that important others think they should perform it (Icek and Fishbein, 1980).

In his book, Attitude Change: A Critical Analysis of Theoretical Approaches, Kiesler stated that the concept of attitude comes from the need of scientists to look for something to explain consistency in individual behavior and that attitude is a “primary theoretical function to explain individual difference in reaction to socially significant objects” (7). According to Kiesler, attitudes contribute to overt behavior or in other words, individual difference in behavior should correspond to individual difference in attitude (Kiesler and others, 1969).

To sum up, an attitude is the person’s feeling toward some objects or concepts, in favorable or unfavorable way and also is used to explain the differences of human behaviors. Moreover, according to the theory of reasoned action, attitude toward the object results in the individual’s intention to perform, or not to perform, a certain form of behavior. Therefore, the concepts of attitude and behavior are related and in order to understand human behavior, it is necessary to study the human attitudes.

2.2 Media Culture Concept
An article “What Do the Media Do to us? Media and Society” by Professor Somkiet Tangnamo, a lecturer of the Fine Arts Faculty, Chiang Mai University, translated from the book Media and Society by Michael O’Shaughnessy and Jane Stadler (chapter 3), has mentioned the relation of media and culture in society by analyzing its function and how it influences culture and vice versa (สมเกียรติ, 2549).

According to Somkiet, media’s function is the representation of the world for it tells us how the world should be through different kinds of media like newspapers, radio and television, which are the main sources of information we receive everyday. We know what some places are like though we may have never been there. Besides, it interprets the information for us and provides explanations to understand the world by putting emphasis on some things while ignoring others. It helps us evaluate the information and teach us how we should perceive the information in this world. And then we understand the world with relation to gender, ethnicity and race. We were taught about the distinctions between men and women, white and not white and so on. In conclusion, it constructs the pattern for us in seeing the world.

Media does not present the real world. It is rather the re-presentation of the real world. It constructs reality, values and norms and re-presents them as if they were real. Moreover, reality is controlled by certain groups of people; for example, the producers and the investors are only a small group of people making media to suit their own purposes. For example, their purpose is to make the highest profit they can or to set some ideologies in media. Therefore, what is seen in media may differ from actual reality.

The theory of media states that it both reflects and affects society. Media is the mirror that helps people understand society for it reflects reality, values and norms in a particular society. When people want to study a society they can look at it through that society’s media using movies, novels and TV shows. It reflects how people in that society think, feel or act. And in this way media is the way to understand society. On the other hand, media can also affect the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of people in the society. It creates values and has influences on its audiences. Sometimes it does even more than reflecting the events as it changes and makes them to be ‘media events’. It puts value on some situations while ignores others. It makes simple things become extraordinary or make it a part of our lives. For example Valentine’s Day and Christmas have been emphasized by the media as if they were very important for people throughout the whole world.

Moreover, the link and relationship between media and culture is not clear cut. It is blurred and not obvious which one comes first. Producers present their ideas and values in the media and transfer them to their audiences. Then, it expands to larger groups and becomes about social values, which will in turn, affect the media producers eventually. In other words, media produces values, norms and beliefs for people in society to consume and those social values then, cyclically, return and have influences on the media once again.

According to Somkiet’s article, it can be concluded that media and culture are combined together and are inseparable. Moreover, the media culture or what is presented in the media are somehow different from reality because it is produced in the way that someone else wants it to be, which makes media culture different from the culture that is created in real life (สมเกียรติ, 2549).

2.3 Feminized Men in Japan
A research done by Shoko Takizawa from SUNY Albany’s Women Studies Program, “The Cultural Feminization of Men” was recently awarded the Presidential Scholar’s Award for undergraduate research. It focused on the phenomena of feminized men in Japan. Her research presents the transformation of how young Japanese men are feminized and the way ideal images are presented through media like men’s magazines, TV dramas, advertisements, commercial ads and cosmetic products targeted at men. She found that in Japan there is a redefined concept of the ‘young man’. There is longer a clear distinction between male and female images. The image of gender is blurred and has become unisex. The reason for these changes is that after the collapse of the bubble economy, one that increased employment opportunities for women, their ability to choose men and delay marriage also increased. The image of men presented through the media is androgynous; they do not look like men, women or even gay men. For example, the idealized images are hairless bodies and smooth skin and referred to as ‘beautiful men’. These images are used in marketing strategies especially in relation to cosmetic products targeted at men by presenting the image through feminized celebrities and idols. Other media such as magazines expressed this idea. Some recommendations for men in those magazines are manicuring, eyebrow waxing, facial hair removal and many others. What has happened to Japanese men is becoming what the U.S. has called metrosexualism (Takizawa).

2.4 Japanese Female Adolescents and the Feminized Male
A study by Mark Mclelland, a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, “Why are Japanese Girls’ Comics Full of Boys Bonking?” examined the phenomena of Japanese girls who love to watch male homoeroticism in comics and fantasize about male homosexuality rather than heterosexual romance. His research found that these romantic comics about boys (which are comic strip stories about romantic love between boys) is a symbol of romanticism and equal love that Japanese girls cannot have in real life due to the strong patriarchal society of Japan. They, therefore, identify themselves with the male character. This implies that this kind of comic is an escape from reality and is a fantasy among female adolescents in Japan (Mclelland).

Another research by Mark Mclelland, “Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern Japan”, explains the situation of homosexuals in modern Japanese society and the homosexual in women’s media. His study states that homosexuality has existed in girl’s comics for a long time, since the late 70’s with a wide range of reader groups, and it is a common idea found in girl’s comic. They are comics written by and for women but the main characters are male. The male characters in the girl’s comics are just fantasy for they are not ‘gay men’ and or actually ‘men’ either. They are drawn to suggest an ideal androgynous image: tall, slender bodies, high cheek bones and pointed chins, wide eyes and long flowing hair, and they behave with ‘feminine mannerisms’, expressing emotion and vulnerability like female characters in male appearance. The homosexual comic has two levels. The first one is shounen-ai or boy’s love which is more romantic and another is YAOI which has more sexual scenes. The YAOI comic is similar to the PWP (Plot, What Plot?) genre of ‘slash’ fiction developed by American women which imagines sexual scenarios between male heroes of popular TV dramas. However, while PWP is sold and written privately only in the internet, the YAOI comic is commercially produced and sold in bookstores throughout Japan. The beautiful boys in YAOI or shounen-ai are created by Japanese women as an expression of their dissatisfaction with current gender stereotypes and the ‘narrow life paths’ which restrict women in the strong patriarchal world of Japan (Mclelland, 2000).

2.5 Thai Adolescents and Japanese Culture
The study entitled “Foreign Cultural Influence on Thai Adolescent Identity: A Case Study of Japanese Music” was conducted by Viparat Panritdam to study adolescent’s behavior as one of the consumer cultures in society as well as to study the relation between the consumption behavior of Japanese pop music and Thai’s adolescent’s identity. The data was collected through observation and in-depth interview. The interview was divided into two parts: the consumption behavior of Japanese music which included the interviewees’ interest in becoming Japanese music fans, and their behavior as Japanese music fans. The second part regarded the consumption behavior of Japanese music and their sense of identity. The target group consisted of 17 female adolescent Japanese music fans from Bangkok aged between 12-22 years old that had access to Japanese music through media such as radio, television, magazines and the internet. Another interview was also conducted with two owners of Japanese music shops and an expert in Japanese music, because this group is the main information source and they could introduce some target groups to the researcher. This way the interviewees would feel more comfortable and familiar with the researcher too, allowing the researcher to get information more easily. The result of the study showed that media and peers play a prominent role in leading adolescents to be influenced by Japanese music. The music and acoustic technology fulfills adolescents’ fantasies and make them happy. Adolescent’s behavior of listening to Japanese music can be explained within two processes, distinction and imitation process. The first process, distinction, represents their identity distinctively from their friends who do not listen to Japanese music. At the same time, the second process, imitation, leads them to copy the Japanese musician’s identity, i.e. dressing in the same way as their favorite singers in concert. Japanese music fan clubs situate their social and cultural location by participating in such activities as concerts or parties where they show their identity through dressing up and acting in a stylized way, as well as creating their own specific language in groups to indicate individuality and identity (วิภารัตน์, 2544).

2.6 Satisfactory Characteristics for Adolescents
Another research completed by Wijit Madsathan entitled “The Satisfactory Characteristics of Opposite-Sex Adolescents in Educational Institutions in Khon Kaen” is to find out the satisfactory characteristics of opposite-sexes among 16-18 year-old adolescents. The research was done by questionnaire rating the satisfactory characteristics in three aspects: physique, scholastic and manual performance, and affective domain. The research found that the satisfactory characteristics of opposite-sex adolescents as a whole were arranged in the order from the most to the least: clean dressing, good appearance, good at studying, honesty, good-looks and handsomeness respectively. In the physical aspects, the satisfactory characteristics are good manners, good looks, handsomeness, clean dressing, good appearance, fine complexion, and up-to-date dressing from most to least respectively. This research shows that adolescents regard the personality and outer appearance as the important things because they are the first impression to attract the opposite sex (วิจิตร, 2546).

2.7 The Ideal Thai Man
A research done by Kittiwut T., Coleman E. and Pacharin D., “The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Thailand”, states that images of Thai men are represented by the notion of chaai chaatrii, which is an embodiment of the typical masculine features: authority, courage, self-assurance, physical and emotional strengths, and sexual prowess. Various expressions for manhood and manliness also reflect an image of a vigorous and muscular warrior: chaai chaat tha-haan (bravery and chivalry), chaai ok saam sok (the muscular chest), chaai chaat acha-nai (the stallion's stamina and perhaps muscularity), and chaai cha-kan (strength and vigor). Moreover, the nag leng image, translated to a midway between “playboy” and “gangster” in English, was simply a paragon of the traditional Thai male role that manliness has become associated with the following behavioral patterns: smoking, drinking, gambling, womanizing, extramarital sexual affairs, public brawls, petty crimes, and corruption. The ideal secular men who do not participate in these male vices are therefore often labeled by other men with negative terms, such as “not a genuine man,” a kathoey or naa tua mia (the female face) (Kittiwut).

2.8 Background on Japanese Music and Singers among Thai Adolescents

2.8.1 Japanese singers and fan clubs in Thailand
Japanese music spread to Thailand many years ago and has had a lot of influences among Thai teens. As mentioned in Viparat’s research, she has categorized Japanese music into three main types. The first one is visual rock bands which are heavy metal music bands placing emphasis on their image, costumes and appearance. Visual rock bands exhibit their uniqueness of image and appearance as one gender, one language, and one nationality. The male singers thus are dressed like females. They are popular among small groups of people, especially teenagers. The example of popular bands are X-Japan, Glay, L’arc~en~Ciel, Luna Sea, etc. The second group is the all female band. They are good at both singing and dancing. The famous groups are, for instance, Namie Amuro, SPEED, MAX and Utada Hikaru. And the third group is the all male band of Johnny’s family that produced all male bands and idols since the 70th century. The famous groups are SMAP, TOKIO, Kinki Kids and V6 (วิภารัตน์, 2544).

In Viparta’s terms, the development of Japanese music in Thailand can be divided into three steps. It first entered Thailand as the theme songs and original soundtracks for television drama or cartoons. The coming of Japanese music through Japanese singers has just recently happened a few decades ago. And she has summarized the development of Japanese music in Thailand as below;

1. ‘The Beginning’ took place in 1985 when Japan started to spread their culture to other countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand. The popular singers at that time were Shonentai, Yoko Minamino, Miho Nakayama and Hikaru Genji.

2. ‘The Decline’ was in 1993 due to the fact that American culture had become more influential in Thailand so that Thai adolescents did not favor Asian culture but preferred Western culture instead, especially American.

3. ‘The Return’ of Japanese music in 1996 started from the coming of X-Japan in Thailand. The trend of X-Japan brought back the popularity of Japanese music so that many music agencies in Thailand sold Japanese albums with the copy rights from Japan. At that time, the Japanese music fan clubs had increased into wider groups and until this day still have influences among Thai teens. Many teenagers imitate their favorite singers by wearing the same clothing, for example, and they would feel strongly dissatisfied to hear someone talk about their favorite singers in a bad way (วิภารัตน์, 2544).

Among the Japanese bands that are famous in Thailand, the male singers seem to have more fans than the female ones. This could be due to the fact that fan clubs are more likely to have more female members than males, and it is quite common that female fans tend to like male singers more than female singers. The current famous male singers can be easily separated into two types which are J-Rock and J-Pop. The J-Rock bands that are now popular in Thailand are Luna Sea, Lucifer, Dustar-3, Die~en~gray and so on. The J-Pop bands are basically from the two big agencies, Johnny’s Jimusho and Pony Canyon. The current groups from Johnny’s Jimusho that are now popular in Thailand are Tackey & Tsubasa, NewS, and KAT-TUN for instance. And the current groups from Pony Canyon are W-inds, Lead and Flame.

These singers have a separated group of fan clubs. The fans who like J-Rock bands usually think that J-Pop bands are not good enough in their singing skills, while the J-Pop fans often found that J-Rock singers are less attractive. It can often be seen that some groups of fans choose one band to be their idol and role model and dislike the others. Though they are a J-Pop fan club, they may not like some bands in the J-Pop genre and this also happens with J-Rock fans as well. Sometimes, it can be said that they prefer the images of singers and bands more than the songs and music itself.

The image of male singers, historically, has gone through many changes. In the past, the male singer should normally portray a masculine image to attract female fans, for example they should be tall and handsome. However, during recent years there are some changes among male singers. The most prominent are the visual rock bands with men dressing more like women. Surprisingly this trend was widely accepted among teenagers, especially female ones, and the visual rock band of that kind quickly became popular. For the J-Pop bands and singers, the image of male singers has become androgynous making it hard to identify whether their look is male or female. The androgynous image or ‘feminine image’ of male singers is very striking for Thai teenagers. There are many fan clubs that really admire the feminine male singers and have many activities to show their identity and their favor in the singers, for example having parties or concerts to honor them.

The feminine image of male singers, and its popularity among fans, brings about the consideration of what happens in teenager’s culture and their music idol trends. Have the admirable characteristic of men changed? This is the question that needs to be answered.

2.8.2 Johnny’s Jimusho: A feminine male idol among Thai teens
When talking about all male band singers that are very popular in Thailand, one of the first names that will come to many people’s mind is ‘Johnny’s Jimusho’ as also mentioned in Viparat’s research. Sometimes it is known as Johnny’s entertainment or Johnny’s family. ‘Johnny’s Jimusho’ or ‘Johnny and Associates’ in official English is the name of a Japanese talent agency, child star training center, management company, marketing powerhouse and media conglomerate that has been successful for nearly 40 years. It was formed by the California-born Japanese-American Johnny H. Kitakawa in 1963 (Nippop, 2005). The company has been the top talent agency in Japan for many years and annually making in excess of 3 billion yen (Metropolis, 2005).

The history of this agency is that it did not begin as a talent agency but a baseball team instead. The team first attended a performance of the musical West Side Story and then was so inspired that they decided to stage their own show. Johnny Kitakawa then got the idea that he could develop the talents by himself and establish an artist management company in 1963. The first singing group he launched was called ‘Johnny’s’. However the one that was a clear success was the Four Leaves in 1968. After the Four Leaves, Johnny’s Jimusho produced an endless number of boy bands and many have had gigantic hits (Nippop, 2005).

The golden age of the idols was in the 1980’s and Johnny’s created the biggest of all the stars, Tanokin Trio, Ninja, Shibugakitai and Hikaru Genji. Hikaru Genji became the first group to start off their career with eight straight No.1’s and in 1988; they had the three top-selling singles of the year. In the 1990’s the idol boom had faded and they struggled to achieve real success as just a singing group. So Johnny’s turned them into multimedia talents. Within a couple of years, they were simply everywhere, on TV and radio shows, commercials, best-selling albums, playing dramatic roles, on magazine covers and in the spotlight at the top of the popularity rankings. For example, Kimura Takuya, the member of SMAP, became the dream boy for a whole generation of school girls and continues to be voted Japan’s sexiest man (Japanzone, 2005). The technique of Johnny’s is that it is to tap into whatever the current music is and manufacture a group which reflects it. For example, Ninja reflected the heavy metal boom and SMAP were originally intended to be a pseudo-rap group. With this fact, Johnny’s Jimusho can cover almost all pop music in the market (Metropolis, 2005).

The Johnny’s production style has often been likened to a factory. They scout young boys for looks and character, then putting them through intensive training that includes grooming, public speaking, dancing, singing, acting, gymnastics and sometimes more special skills such as skating. The company is always flooded with letters from youngsters and their parents, hoping to become the next male super idol. Most of Johnny’s boys sign on in their early teens, but the age can be as young as nine. Among the current groups in Johnny’s family are, for example, SMAP, TOKIO, Kinki Kids, Arashi, V6, NewS, Tackey & Tsubasa, KAT-TUN, Kanjani8, Johnny’s Junior and others.

TV exposure is an essential part of the Johnny’s formula. With Johnny’s front line artists always in demand, Johnny’s uses TV programs as a means for his up and coming groups. Sometimes their talents appear initially as back dancers or in other non-spotlight positions. Even before they have their own hit records, they may have been on TV many times. It can be said that the Johnny’s artists are more like ‘talents’ than purely musicians or singers because they perform in a wide range of entertainment categories; for example live theater, TV drama, movies, commercial ads, cooking shows and comedy.

The Johnny’s idols will be trained for many years before they can have their singles or album or what is called ‘debut’ in their terms. For example, Shounentai, the very first group of Johnny’s, was signed for seven years before they made their recording debut. After launching their debut single and becoming popular, the successful group is used to bring up the next generation of aspiring Johnny’s idols, giving them time in their TV shows or other productions. However, there is a criticism according to the high success of its boy bands that the members do not have to be particularly good singers, dancers or actors, and that they are “merely famous for being famous”.

The system for bringing up Johnny’s idols has very strict rules. The members of Johnny’s family are under strict contracts, and their public images are carefully groomed. The general rule is members are not allowed to publicly have girlfriends, as the boys are of greater interest to fans when they are ‘available’. The evidence to show that their image is of strong concern was when two members of NewS band, Hiroki Uchi and Kusano Hironori, were caught drinking whiskey while being under 18, a very strict law in Japan. For Johnny’s members, public image is the most important thing, and therefore, as punishment, these two members were not allowed to work or even be seen in public for an unspecific amount of time. This situation, caused NewS band to stop their work as a singers group for the whole year in 2006. This evidence shows that their image must be clean without any sign of getting a bad reputation at all.

In Thailand, Johnny’s Jimusho has influence among Thai teens. Many Thai teens are crazy for their idols. The example being that Johnny’s singers have had concerts in Thailand many times, such as at Pattaya Music Festival concert and at J-Asian Pop concert. A concert held in 2004 was also good evidence to prove their popularity in Thailand. Hideaki Takizawa and Tsubasa Imai, the duo of Tackey & Tsubasa group, held a concert in Thailand entitled “One-To-Call! Freedom Music Festival” which was their first concert outside Japan after their first single debut in September 2002. The concert was warmly welcomed by their fans with more than 10,000 attending their concert. Apart from these two idols, there are many others such as KAT-TUN and Johnny’s Junior. During their concert in Thailand, their CDs were on sale; released nearly at the same time as in Japan and they were sold in large numbers compared to others foreign albums in Thailand. They appeared in many Thai variety shows and magazines and on the day of their arrival in Thailand, more than 5,000 school girls were waiting for them at the airport (TSN Life, 2547).

The outstanding character of Johnny idols that is different from other male Japanese singers is their appearances. Most of them are boys with beautiful faces and slim figures. The male idols in Johnny’s family clearly possess feminine characteristics. Their appearance, as mentioned in the previous chapter, is ‘androgynous’ with eye brow waxing, white complexions, long and dyed hair, and for them, permed hair is something common. In their TV shows, they sometimes dress as female characters and act like females. In concerts, their performances are ambiguous so that audiences can hardly tell whether it is the posture of a male or female. Their sexy dances or “ero-dance” looks more like feminine characters than any stereotype of male behavior.

The Johnny idols, especially the current groups, do not have the stereotype of ‘manliness’; they can be both masculine and feminine. It all depends on their costume and concept of each time they are shown in public. They are not protective men with muscles and strong bodies that women used to dream of, but they are a new kind of men that women nowadays, at least their fan clubs, fantasize about because they are more like an ideal figure or imaginary character come true to be human. So, when mentioning about feminine male singers in this research, it is likely that most of the evidence will be focused on the idols in Johnny’s singers because they are the most outstanding example among others.

One interesting issue about Johnny’s Jimusho is the rumors about Johnny Kitakawa, the boss himself, and his sexual involvement with the young beautiful boys in his agency. Concerning the fact that this agency has only boys, this rumor seems to be convincing. Moreover, in the early days of Johnny’s Jimusho, there have been accusations that Johnny sometimes enjoys the boys in his bands more than might be considered appropriate. In the 1970’s, an idol’s parents charged Johnny with “indecent behavior” with their son. In 1988, former Four Leaves member Koji Kita wrote a book about Kitagawa’s sexual harassment of him. Another idol, Jo Toyokawa also made similar charges to Johnny. Besides, there are lots of books and magazine articles that make accusation on a similar topic (Nippop, 2005).

However, though they are widely believed to be true, the clean image of pretty boy groups has hardly been dented by these accusations. While there are plenty of rumors and negative reports, Johnny Kitagawa has not been convicted of any wrong doing and importantly his business has not been affected at all. Johnny’s stars remain visible and popular with lots of new bands ready to replace the old ones, and it will go on this way continuously. The reason that Johnny’s entertainment has survived amongst so many bad rumors could be associated to the fact that most Japanese females are fans of bishounen manga, comic books in which pretty young boys have romantic encounters (Japanzone, 2005). They are familiar and perhaps, fond of the idea of love between men, therefore the rumors cannot affect the popularity or divert the fan club’s positive attention.

2.8.3 Fan Fiction
After participating in many activities with the Japanese music fan club, one interesting finding was a trend of fan fiction that was widespread within Thai female adolescents. It is one of the main activities that almost all of the fans of Japanese feminine male singers are participating in, having and sharing some experiences or at least having heard about it. Fan fiction started originally from the popularity of bishounen comics among Thai teens which was influenced by Japanese trends. Japanese comics are very popular among Thai teens and bishounen comics are part of it. In order to understand what fan fiction is, it is needed to trace back to the history of bishounen comics first. The word ‘bishounen’ in Japanese means ‘beautiful boys’, so the bishounen comic is a comic with romantic scenes between young beautiful boys. There are two levels of bishounen comics, shounen-ai and YAOI. The first is more romantic while the second one has more sexual scenes. With the popularity of bishounen, came the doshinji, or fan sites in the internet where many writers wrote boy based love stories. Doshinji has two types; the first is when a writer creates a plot and characters by themselves. The second one is when writers use famous characters in former comics or other idols as main characters. The most interesting thing of bishounen comics and doshinji is that it is a story written by and for women only (Doshinji Farm, 2548).

The fan fiction for Japanese music fan clubs is similar to doshinji. Most of fan fiction can be found on the internet. The story is created by the writers, and characters in the story are Japanese male singers. The writers are not professional writers but they are fans who love reading this kind of story. They are stories basically about romantic love between male singers. Sometimes, the plot is inspired by true stories and events. For example, the story about love between two singers in the same or different groups sounds more realistic while some stories are in sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, or comedy depending on the writer’s imagination. What they focus on using is the singers’ character, name and physical appearance, to help the reader to imagine, while the story itself is independently invented.

Fan fiction is available on web boards and on many fan sites, with many writers posting their stories there and lots of readers waiting for new stories to appear. And it is not only on the internet that fan fiction can be found. Sometimes when a story is famous enough the writer will publish it in a form of pocket book or novel and put it on sale. Readers can buy fiction via the internet or at some fairs or meeting parties between fan clubs. Some writers sell their fiction directly to their regular customers who know each other prior by telephone, while some leave the news of their new fictions on web boards or online diaries, so that if readers are interested they can call to order. The price of fan fiction, when published, is around 100 to 400 baht. It is quite expensive, compared to novels and pocket books sold in book, stores but they are sold in great numbers among fan clubs.

The popular stories mostly have sexual scenes in a very obscene way. The story describes sexual scenes so clearly and the more obscene it is, the more popular it seems to be. The researcher found that the singers who were chosen to be main protagonists in fan fiction, and that receive very good feedback, must possess feminine characteristics. These feminine male singers will be positioned as female characters in fan fiction, while some singers who look more masculine will be positioned as male characters in the fiction.

Although some Japanese music fans who read fan fiction find it difficult to differentiate between the real world and the imaginative world in fan fiction, many of the fans state that fan fiction was just their fantasy, a way-out from stress and suffering reality and individual entertainment to enjoy romantic stories about and between men. However, they do not really wish that their favored singers be gay or homosexual men. They just feel pleased and happy to read of them.

2.8.4 Web Boards and Fan Clubs
There are a lot of methods to access information about favorite singers. Thai adolescents can get information about their favorite singers from TV or radio programs and some magazines specializing on Japanese celebrities. However, they are quite few in number. Therefore, in this globalized world, where progressive technology can be found anywhere, internet is one of the main sources for Japanese music fan clubs to access information and news. For a person who does not have any background in regards to Japanese singers, he or she can easily browse through the website using many of the search engines available which will at least help to get some basic information, and in the future, leading to many more detailed sites to be found. Even the researcher herself got a lot of information from search engines, such as Google, so that she could gain access to many websites. From the observation and searching for information through many websites, the researcher found that there are quite a lot of fan sites and web boards, made by Thai fans, which are especially dedicated to Japanese male singers. In this case, the research will be focused only on the fan sites of those Japanese male singers that have the feminine image as mentioned before.

These fan sites and web boards, as the name suggests, are places for fan clubs and people who like the same singers to come to share their ideas and opinions, and even exchange updated news about their favorite singers. It is a community in the cyber world created by fan clubs as a private place for them to express their opinions freely without having to worry that other people will judge them as in the real world. Each web board has its own characteristics. Usually web boards focus on each band differently depending on the favor of each group. For example it could be a web board specially made for fans of one band, while another board is for another band. Usually, there are no strict rules that other bands are banned in a specific web board, but all the fans know it as a manner that they should not post anything about KAT-TUN band on a web board of W-inds band, for example. However, some web boards still have some strict rules to follow, for example selling and buying are not allowed, or some subjects that are not about the specific singers are taboo.

The example of fan sites and web boards are, for example;
boardfixxx (fan fiction web board)
jk_secret (all about Japanese and Korean idols)
shounen_ai board (web board for boy’s love issues and idols)
padawan kkk (web board for fans of KKK – the old unit which is now NewS band members)
news X kattun (web board for fans of News and KAT-TUN)
3k_jr_cos (web board for fans of KKK, Johnny’s Junior and Cosplay band)
koyama’s palace (web board for fans of Koyama)
angelicnews (web board and web site for fans of News)
yamashita-tomohisa (web board and website for fans of Yamashita Tomohisa, NewS and other Johnny’s groups)
yamapi-land.com and yamapi.com (web board and website for fans of Yamshita Tomohisa)
Plus many more that the researcher could not list. These are just examples because web boards of Thai fans keep increasing in number all the time, so that it is difficult to calculate how many of them there are.

Each web board has different rules with webmasters and moderators to look after their small community, keeping it a pleasant place to visit and to make members live together in the cyber world with peace. First of all, before entering the web site, the fan club has to register to be a member of the web board. There are some sites that they can browse through without having to register, but almost all web board requires a ‘sign-in’ username. The username of the fan club can also tell their favor in Japanese singers in that they invent new names. Mostly are the combination between their names and their favorite singers, such as keaw_yamapee, kame_jin_pui or bo_uchi for instance. Besides the username, some web boards, usually the one that comes in the form of web site, allow members to have their signature and personal picture which will appear on screen every time members reply and comment on each topic. The signature and personal picture will tell others about their identity, profile and their appearance. However, none of them use their own pictures. They use the picture of their favorite singers instead in order to tell others who their favorite singers are. It is the same case with their signatures that appear after their comment messages. Their signatures and personal pictures can tell other members directly, that they like the same singers and that they are in the same fan club. In this way, teenagers feel more secure and have the sense of belonging to a group.

In the internet world, they can be what they want to be. They can create a new identity and even a name. It is like a freedom and world that they create by themselves. It is like a small community where only similar kinds of people live together. They are like family and friends that understand each other. After knowing each other for a period of time, they may have an appointment to meet in person, or it could be at a meeting party between members of a web board to do some activities together, such as a mini concert with a cover band or ‘cosplay’ (a group of fans dressed up to act and imitate their favorite characters – for cover bands it is the imitating of singers and relevant band, for cosplay it is the imitating of characters in movies or cartoons). In this case they feel more familiar and close to each other. Many of the fans from the web boards become friends in the real world and do many activities together like going to a movie, shopping or having an appointment every weekend. For some who live in different provinces and could not meet so often, they could exchange their telephone numbers or write emails to each other. Therefore, the web board community is becoming a realm, or small world, of marginal people who find it difficult to talk with and be understood by people in the reality of the outside world.

Apart from e-mail addresses, in the web board’s signature, fans usually leave their link to their blogs or on-line diary. The web boards sometimes ask them to add this information when registered. However, some still wrote their links in their signature anyway no matter if it is required by the webmaster or not. It could be said that most of them want other members to visit their blogs or on-line diary because they want to know each other more. The blogs or on-line diary (called ‘di’ for short among the fan club) is the spaces for them to write their journal about their own lives, routines, or it could be something like an article or poem, pictures or anything they want to share. Anyway, most of the fan club’s on-line diary is about their favorite singers and their opinion. For example, they would write about when the singer plays in new drama, new album and show the singer’s pictures. They can write what they cannot say in the real world, what they cannot say to others who are not in the fan club because nobody would understand. It is different from writing in an on-line diary because, most of the time, people who read it are in the same group or fan club and they understand each other. For the fan club, sometimes an on-line diary is better than a private diary written in a notebook because they can receive comments, opinions and feedback from other. So, they would not feel deserted, as if they were alone. In this way, the fan clubs feel more familiar with one another, and some of them talk together by leaving messages in the on-line diary for a number of years.

Besides talking and exchanging ideas in the web board, what fan clubs usually do in web boards is share files and pictures. The pictures could be from Japanese magazines or captured pictures from a drama, music video or TV program or any picture they find interesting and worth talking about. When they watch a drama or TV show and think that the pictures are very interesting, they will also capture the pictures and post them in a picture forum. The multimedia files shared in the web board are, for example, video clips, music video (PV is the technical term), some dramas or TV programs that are currently on-air in Japan.

Moreover, in the web board, teenagers can access fan fiction very easily as mentioned before in the previous chapter. There are a lot of stories and fictions for web board members to read and share their comments or ideas on what they think about the story and plot. The last activity in the web board is buying and selling their collections about their favorite singers such as singles, CDs, magazines or photos. The most popular products sold on web boards is CDs which are TV programs, dramas and concerts from Japanese television. The price is around 15-30 baht per disc. They are TV programs that the sellers download from the internet and copy on CD. Sometimes, they sell original CDs and many other products directly imported from Japan. For example, if their favorite singers are going to release a new single, they will be some group of people who live in Japan or will go to Japan to buy it, so there will be lots of orders from many fans. This is the same when there are concerts in Japan because they will be a lot of order for concert souvenirs like posters, pamphlet, clear files and much more. The web board is, therefore, another place for fans to buy stuffs about their favorite singers, CDs, pictures or even magazines imported from Japan. In the past, they might have to rely on some shops that were in few numbers but these days the market forum in the internet is a new way for them to buy. It is easier and sometimes cheaper than buying from shops.

Most of the members of the web boards spend almost half of the day with a computer, after they come back from school or during their weekends. Especially in school breaks, they will be more attached to their computer and the internet – spending time chatting via MSN, downloading, uploading, reading news, writing an on-line diary and much more. Some of them spend more than ten hours a day with a computer, so that some even said that the first thing they do when waking up to turn it on. Even when they do other activities, their computer is still turned on to download so that they do not waste any time. Computer, internet and web boards accordingly become one of the main activities for Japanese music fans and at the same time, it is a small community, escaping from the real world.