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Showing Coolness through Material Goods
What is in this Section
1. Alcohol
As we discovered in our fieldwork, there were many teens and youth drinking in Miyashita Park. Drinking alcohol on the roof of Miyashita Park can be labeled as a ‘youth transgression to show coolness.’ Therefore drinking underage is a form of rebellion that results in social acceptance. According to the ethnographic data we collected, in Miyashita Park, the roof is utilized as a drinking spot where young high school and university-aged people would gather and socialize. When drinking, they would sit in groups, talk loudly, laugh, and overall act in a rowdy manner. This is appealing to youth as they can act with no restraints in an energetic atmosphere. ‘Across a range of studies and collaborations, defined and explored in great detail the ‘new cultures of intoxication’ where advanced drunkenness and this associated loss of control appear to be an integral and a desired feature of particularly younger drinker’s engagement with alcohol’ (Thomas Thurnell, 2016). The alcohol they were drinking was in cans, I never saw a bottle of alcohol. These were most likely bought at a nearby convenience store. As the day got darker, there would be more and more groups of youth gathering on the roof. As this is an area where rules and laws were not enforced, this is an attractive spot for youth to drink. Even if some youths were not drinking, simply sitting next to someone who was drinking gave them a sense of rebellion. What was observed during our field site visits was that the roof of Miyashita Park is commonly known and used as a drinking area for youth.
2. Cigarrettes
This is another object that symbolizes ‘coolness’ in youth. The result of wanting to conform as a vulnerable youth can lead to the use of cigarettes to show off to peers. As Gilbert explains, ‘The act of smoking a cigarette can be read by the smoker, and by others, as associated with rebellious and dangerous behavior, where the sense of potential danger through addiction means that cigarettes may provoke in the adolescent smoker a sense of daring and ‘bad’ behavior at the same time as being fashionable.’ As this concept pertains to youth on a global scale, we see the same phenomenon occurring in Miyashita Park. This shows that rebellious behavior is enticing for youth, as previously mentioned. As cigarette use is widely frowned upon in the One large component of underage cigarette use is the motivation to be perceived as cool or desirable. This results in peer attention and approval. In Miyashita Park, smoking cigarettes is a double transgression as smoking is not allowed in the park and the young smokers tend to be underage. Compared to drinking, smoking was not as common for youth behavior. When they did smoke, it was either a vape or cigarette. From what we saw on the Starbucks lawn, where most of the cool kids hung out, this was the area for smoking. Although this is a bizarre place to smoke cigarettes, smoking is associated with being cool, therefore smoking is concentrated in the areas where the cool kids hang out.
