Japanese trends and Japanese popular culture, such as manga, anime, and game software, are generating a massive swell of pop culture worldwide, points out a recent story in the Nikkei Shimbun.
Toyota and Sony were regarded as global "warring businesses" in the post-war industrial revival period. Today, this image has been replaced by "warring characters," such as Pikachu, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon.
Anime and game software have firmly-established brands. Miyazaki Hayao's "Spirited Away" drew high marks at European and American film festivals. Modern artists, like Takashi Murakami, have gained celebrity status in Japan but only after garnering admiration from overseas. Japanese pop artists and television stars are gaining acceptance throughout Asia. Among the world's younger generations, Japan's popular culture is gaining a reputation as being "cool."
Keeping robot pets, taking photos and videos using mobile phones, eating at rotating sushi bars, singing karaoke, buying alcohol and slurping down instant noodles from vending machines, and killing time in manga cafes and "love hotels" are common enough in Japan. But now, these customs and lifestyles are being introduced abroad as unique forms of present-day Japan.
"In fact, from pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and food to art, Japan has far greater cultural influence now than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic superpower," says Douglas McGrey in his article "Japan's Gross National Cool" that appeared in the influential U.S. political journal, "Foreign Policy."
The real-life Japanese culture, gaining popularity overseas now, differs greatly from the traditional arts, such as kabuki and sumo wrestling that used to attract overseas interest. Pop culture's power to permeate and influence is far and away greater even than the influence of "ukiyo-e," or "floating world" paintings, was on the Impressionism movement.
The spread of video games and the huge television audiences garnered by Japanese anime during the 1990s made the current situation possible. Even as the Japanese were referring to the "lost decade," its image abroad was being reborn.
| 2003 Markets for Manga, Anime & Game Software |
| Manga |
Yen 516 billion ($49 billion) |
| Anime Video |
Yen 191.2($18 billion) |
| Game Software |
Yen 309.1 billion ($29 billion) |
|
