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2023.09.05

       Japan is the world's largest exporter of manga, which has been an essential pillar of the Japanese publishing industry. It was not until after WWII that Japanese manga embarked on the road of industrialization. In 1947, Osamu Tezuka, the God of Manga (Cohn, 2007), published his manga series Shin Takarajima. Combining the techniques of drama painting popular at the time, the work used the form of a storyboard and dialogue box to create a new narrative mode for Japanese comics. In the same year, the magazine Shonen Manga was founded and began to regularly publish various manga works, and the embryonic form of the manga industry began to appear (Kuangyi, 2022). With the continuous publication of black and white manga in the form of "comic strips", they were gradually recognized by the public, and various comic magazines came into being in the 1950s and 1960s. 1959 Kodansha founded the Weekly Shonen Magazine, and Shogakukan founded the Weekly Shonen Sunday manga magazine (Greene, 2023). 

       The manga industry grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s, reaching its peak in the early 2000s. In 2004, the sales of Japanese manga exceeded 500 billion yen, and the sales of manga-related markets reached nearly 10 trillion yen, accounting for about one-fifth of Japan's gross national product (Hwang, 2021). With the popularization of electronic data, the Internet, and smartphones, the digital era severely impacts traditional paper media, and where should the Japanese manga react?

       In my opinion, firstly, the manga industry needs to continue to combine with other industries along with the development, to drive the growth of its own economic benefits and the integration and upgrading of different related industries. For example, when the development of the animation industry gradually rose, the manga industry began to deepen its linkage with the animation industry. In the beginning, popular manga works with high sales volume were animated, and animation works were made from manga works, and the release of animation works further promoted the sales of manga works. The series, which was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump manga magazine, was announced to be animated in 2019, followed by the release of the TV anime in April and the animated film in October 2020 (Hwang, 2021). Infinity Train was released in theaters and eventually grossed more than 40 billion yen in Japan, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese film history. The manga industry and the animation industry have driven each other, not only promoting the development of Japan's domestic market economy but also enhancing the influence of Japanese animation culture and contributing to the value export of Japanese culture.

       Secondly, with the rise of new media such as the Internet and the opening of the digital era, the market share of traditional media is shrinking, and there are more diversified carriers for information dissemination (Macwilliams, 2008). Various manga magazines have launched electronic versions so readers can read comic works online directly. In 2014, Shueisha launched the "Shonen JUMP+" manga APP, which simultaneously publishes serials from the paper weekly Shonen Jump magazine, updates the e-magazine at the same time as the paper magazine is released, and schedules special online content for popular manga works to meet the reading needs of readers and minimize the loss of readers (Hwang, 2021). Kodansha and Gakukan have also developed the manga APP "MAGAZINE POCKET" and the manga APP "MANGAONE" to provide readers with the electronic reading of manga works. The trend of Japan's three major manga magazines shows that the pace of combining traditional paper media and electronic publishing is getting faster and faster. Facing the complex and changing environment, the impact of electronic data, the rise of the network communication path, how to maintain the tradition of paper media, combine the advantages of electronic publishing, keep pace with the times, and keep up with the trend of the digital age, is a problem that publishers must think about. The Japanese manga industry is also constantly exploring and adjusting, including printing two-dimensional code on manga magazines, developing manga reading software, opening manga network platforms, providing electronic comics and magazine reading, and better providing personalized and diversified works reading services.

Bibliography 

1.     Cohn, N. (2007). Japanese Visual Language (pp. 187–203). Continuum Books. 

2.     Greene, B. (2023, September). Lecture 2: Manga. Lecture.  

3.     Hwang, W (2001). Research on the Transformation of Modern Comics from the Perspective of New Media. Essay, Hubei University - East Asia Program.  

4.     Kuangyi, L. (2022). The New Reflections on Japanese Manga Publishing in the Digital Era. Modern Comics, Volume 4, 125-128.

5.     MacWilliams, M. (2008). Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY, USA: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 3-17.

2023.09.27

        As a comprehensive art, anime shows the historical tradition and national culture of a country, while the diversification of aesthetic consciousness constantly endows anime with new era connotation and conveys intuitive emotional experience. In Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke, Susan Napier summarizes three typical styles of Japanese anime: the apocalyptic, the festival, and the elegiac (Greene, 2023). The last category of "the elegiac" is a very local aesthetic concept in Japan, which makes Japanese anime art different from other countries, showing a unique Orientalism aesthetic (Greene, 2023). The elegiac is especially represented by the works of the contemporary famous animation master Hayao Miyazaki.

        Hayao Miyazaki’s anime follows the traditional idea of beauty and sadness in the aesthetics of elegiac, infuses humanistic feelings into it, avoids showing the great joy and sorrow in life, and shows the subtle sadness and deep love in life, so that the audience can see hope in the sadness and realize the beauty of life in the passage of time (Meng, 2021). The expression of all these emotions is based on the fact that a large number of pictures of harmonious coexistence between man and nature are implanted in the animation (Napier 2001). In "Spirited Away", the white dragon itself is a clear river, only because of human pollution and silting and losing itself, and finally can only be subject to the Tang Po; The river god became muddy and smelly in the endless pollution of human beings, so that people were afraid to avoid it; Chihiro's parents are dissimilated into pigs because of gluttony, which shows the endless demand from nature and the opposition between man and nature. It is not difficult to see from the anime that nature gradually moves toward destruction under the harm of human beings, and then moves toward clarity in Chihiro's efforts, which makes people reflect on their own behavior and feel the beauty of life and spiritual detachment. Almost all Miyazaki Hayao's anime contain the process of man and nature from opposition to unity, in which the complex of object sorrow is both inherited from tradition and influenced by reality.

        In addition, the diplomatic and soft power attributes of animation as a cultural product have attracted many attentions. According to the report "Cultural times -- The First Global Map of Cultural and Creative Industries" in 2013, the total income of global cultural and creative industries has reached 2.25 trillion US dollars, which accounts for 3% of the global GDP (UN, 2013). Taking Japanese anime as an example, its GDP has surpassed the steel industry and become the second largest pillar industry in Japan after the automobile industry (Meng, 2014). In 2002, American political analyst Douglas McGray noted the diplomatic function of anime and publicly praised the international influence of Japanese anime and other popular culture in his article "Japan's Gross National Cool". He believes that the cool national charm it generates is a form of soft power (McGray Douglas, 2002), which coincides with Napier's view of Japanese pop culture as a symbol of national identity and annotation (Greene, 2023).

        At present, the nature of Japanese animation is no longer a simple cultural product, but has been elevated to the national political level, and is a soft power source protected by a series of policies and laws. With the increasing trend of globalization of trade, extensive and deepening of mass culture communication, and popularization of the Internet, Japanese animation is no longer just a subculture popular among young people, but a carrier that can represent Japanese lifestyle and values. Therefore, Japanese animation diplomacy is essentially a means to explore, build, use and generate soft power resources, and a more diversified and flexible information communication medium.

        Lastly, as Ian Condry mentioned, anime is a world-making production that needs collaboration from different parties (Greene, 2023). What I think more important is anime facilitates with other industries spontaneously. Napier indicated the prevalence of TV was critical to help anime become a cross-cultural product (Napier, 2001). However, it is the reverse symbiosis promotes mutual prosperity.

Bibliography

1. Meng, YJ. (2021). The Construction and Expression of the Elegiac in Japanese Anime. Journal of Yan’an Vocational & Technical College. (35), 3, June 2021, 78-81.

https://doi:10.13775/j.cnki.cn61-1472/g4.2021.03.023   

2. Greene, B. (2023, October). Lecture 3.2: Anime. Lecture.  

3. Greene, B. (2023, October). Lecture 3.4: Anime. Lecture.  

4. Napier, S. (2001). Anime and Local/Global Identity. In Animé from Akira to princess mononoke: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation (pp. 15–34). Palgrave.

5. McGray, D. (2002). Japan’s Gross National Cool. Foreign Policy, (130), 44. https://doi.org/10.2307/3183487

2023.10.22

           The otaku culture is an integral component of the Japanese youth subculture. As the post-World War II "baby boom" generation in Japan matured, the otaku culture displayed remarkable vitality, exerting profound influence not only on Japanese society, culture, and economy but also significantly shaping the development of Japanese animation. Its impact on Japanese animation can primarily be observed through the following aspects: sensory stimulation in sexuality and cuteness, structural orientation in alternate worlds and gaming, and characterization of the portrayal of marginalized individuals. The theoretical framework underlying this influence mainly derives from Otsuka Eiji's concept of “animation realism” and Hiroki Azuma's notion of “gamic realism.” During the 1980s, otaku anime began to emerge. In the 1990s, the iconic work Neon Genesis Evangelion vividly showcased the distinct characteristics of otaku culture, which Azuma claimed as an example of the fall of the grand narrative (Greene, 2023). In the 21st century, works by Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai have introduced a new direction for otaku animation by attenuating the melancholic tones associated with marginalized protagonists while accentuating optimistic elements (Nie, 2023). This shift has somewhat diluted its subcultural essence while enriching its overall significance.

           Lecture 3 mentions that Hiroki Azuma sees otaku as a grand, non-narrative culture (Greene, 2023), which I will explore in depth in this blog. The reasons for the disappearance of the grand narrative in the field of otaku culture can be attributed to the two different views put forward by Otsuka Eiji and Hiroki Azuma, respectively, even though they both reach the same destination. Otsuka pointed out that the protagonist in Neon Genesis Evangelion is unwilling to grow up or become the main body until the end, which reflects a tendency against traditional or mainstream culture. Without the main body of the grand narrative, the grand narrative naturally does not exist. In the discussion, Otsuka always relates the Otaku Murder and Aum Shinrikyo events to the anime (Greene, 2023) and creates the concept of "animation realism." If Otsuka demonstrates the narrative of otaku mainly from the ideological perspective, then Hiroki Azuma calls the narrative of otaku "database narrative" from the standpoint of form. Hiroki Azuma believes that otaku only care about the things in their works that stimulate their senses, which are stored and invoked like a database. Also discussing the Neon Genesis Evangelion, Azuma argued that “The Neon Genesis Evangelion fans in the 1990s, especially the third generation, even at the peak of the boom, they do not seem to be too concerned about the whole world of Evangelion, but from the beginning, they focus on the over-interpretation of the secondary creation and the object of the cute characters, that is, the involvement and setting of the characters." (Azuma, 2012).

             In my opinion, the rise of otaku is closely related to the hikikomori theory mentioned by Heinze: social withdrawal is a way of showing self-understanding (Heinze & Thomas, 2014). After World War II, Japan experienced a bubble economy and a "lost decade," with the shadow of war hanging over its head and the reality of declining incomes, unemployment, and soaring crime. Young people are turning their backs on hopeless real life and seeking comfort in the virtual world of comics, games, and novels, taking the initiative to distance themselves from political life. Under the modern self-identity crisis, factors such as occupation and region as the source of identity in traditional society have lost their original meaning and value (Heinze & Thomas, 2014). Otaku culture has become a choice for individual life politics, which can meet the needs of their personalized life and help individuals eliminate their identity dilemmas and relieve anxiety. In the face of various risks brought by modernity, at the level of daily behavior, few people will face up to these problems but exclude them from their own lives and escape risks through individualized "life strategies." In other words, people relinquish control over the broader social environment and focus instead on purely personal demands for mental and physical self-improvement. This apparent withdrawal from social relations is, in fact, an essential way for otaku to build their self-identity.

Bibliography

1. Greene, B. (2023, November). Lecture 5.2: Fan Cultures and Moral Panics. Lecture.

2. Nie, Xr. (2023). Outline of Otaku Culture and Japanese Anime. Hundred Schools in Arts. (191), 2, January 2023, 114-123. DOI: 1003-9104(2023)02-0114-10.

3. Greene, B. (2023, November). Lecture 5.3: Fan Cultures and Moral Panics. Lecture.

4. Azuma, H. (2012). Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals (Zhu, Trans.) Daiheo Publisher. 62-63.

5. Heinze, U. & Thomas, P. (2014). Self and Salvation: Visions of Hikikomori in Japanese Manga. Contemporary Japan. (1), 26, 151-169. DOI: 10.1515/cj-2014-0007.

2023.11.15

        The Japanese neorealist film movement from 1945 to 1967 was a crucial period in the Japanese film history after WWII, and a large number of neorealist films emerged in the context of political pressure and economic depression (Greene, 2023). Under the active promotion of new and old directors, various film genres have developed and formed their own creative characteristics. Mikio Naruse, Akira Kurosawa, Yasujir Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi these four directors can be said to be the most distinctive masters of at that time, their works have their own styles, and jointly created the characteristics and achievements of Japanese neorealist films.

       From the depression to the boom of Japanese cinema after WWII, we can see the cinema was developed in several genres. The first is the satirical film. Kon Ichikawa, Minoru Shibuya, and especially Keisuke Kinoshita made great contributions to the satirical film genre, who is also famous for his versatility (Greene, 2023). Take, for example, Keisuke Kinoshita's Morning for the Osone Family, which is more familiar to Chinese film fans or viewers (Chan, 2011). The film chronicles a morning in a middle-class Japanese home. With a subject matter that is both anti-war and a celebration of Japanese women, and a plot that is entirely rooted in everyday life, Keisuke Kinoshita's sober shots exemplify the Japanese cultural tradition's knack for satirizing a seemingly placid narrative pace. Irony is well grafted into the plot development, reflecting the theme naturally and deeply. However, the heroine and her daughters, who are juxtaposed with the satirized objects, melt the theme edge of the author with tough traditional Japanese femininity. The third category is anti-war films. Hideo Sekigawa's Listen to the Voices of the Sea was the first anti-war film to be essentially non-political and anti-American (Lee, 2016). The anti-war theme expressed Japanese dissatisfaction with the American occupation at the time. Another representative of anti-war films is Kaneto Shindo. His Children of Hiroshima deeply exposes the evil of war and even the destruction of the lives of "guilty nations" by a "morally" dominant international power (Chan, 2011). The indictment of the war from the standpoint of Japan and Japanese life opened the way for the Japanese to truly embrace anti-war movies. The last type is the shomin-geki, a film that cares about the lower class (Greene, 2023). Through the delicate description of the social atmosphere, difficult material conditions and realistic responsibilities, to show the social situation at that time, reflect the director's film intention, and carry out realistic current reviews or praise. The main characteristics of Japanese shomin-geki films are the dilution of the plot, the loose development of the plot and the narrative style similar to the chronicle. Representatives of the popular drama field include Yasujir Azozu and Kenji Mizoguchi.

     In the film, Akira Kurosawa's work mixes the two cultures of Japanese tradition and Western tradition to show the modern culture of Japan. From 1954 to 1962, Kurosawa created five samurai-related films. During this period, the samurai returned to the traditional image, most of them were vengeful and full of justice, which formed a sharp contrast with the previous samurai image. In the film Seven Samurai, the seven samurai represent tenacity, friendship, martial arts, wisdom, optimism, the future and hope, and they are the embodiment of Kurosawa's ideal samurai (Martinez, 2007). The return of the traditional samurai image also represents a resurgence of national self-confidence in Japan. With the support of the U.S., Japan successfully entered fast track of economic development, which promoted the emergence of the consumption revolution in Japan. From the transformation of the samurai image in Kurosawa's films, we can tease out a clue to the changes in Japanese society. From the collapse of traditional beliefs after the war to the loss of identity during the American occupation; From the end of the occupation period, Japan's economic take-off, to the rapid development of Japan's various social problems, and then to the collapse of the Japanese bubble economy. It is difficult for most directors to make films that are not influenced by the social environment, and Akira Kurosawa is no exception. Therefore, Akira Kurosawa's films interpret the changes in Japanese society from another Angle.

Bibliography

1.     Greene, B. (2023, November). Lecture 6.1: Japanese Cinema and TV. Lecture.

2.     Greene, B. (2023, December). Lecture 6.2: Japanese Cinema and TV. Lecture.

3.     Chan, Z. (2011). A Brief Analysis of Japanese Neo-Realist Film Schools and Masters. Science and Arts Journal. 2, March 2011, 106-107. DOI: 1002-2139(2011)03-0106-02.

4.     Lee, S. (2016). The Transformation of Samurai image in Akira Kurosawa's Films. View and Audience. (63), July 2016, 106-107. DOI: 10.19395/j.cnki.1674-246x.2016.07.063.

5.     Martinez, D.P. (2015). Seven Samurai and Six Women: Kurosawa Akira’s Seven Samurai (1954). ProQuest Ebrary. May, 2015.

2023.12.06

        Japan regards the development of its cultural industry and promoting Japanese culture as an essential task, and has made remarkable achievements in developing national cultural soft power. Especially after WWII, Japan gradually shifted its focus from economic to cultural construction (Otmazgin, 2012). Since then, Japan's cultural diplomacy has been in full swing, and the cultural industry represented by the animation industry has developed and grown, generating specific cultural influence and cultural attraction in the world.

      Japanese popular culture is one of the essential resources of cultural soft power, including anime, animation, games, movies, and TV. These popular cultural products are well known in Japan and internationally, forming distinctive Japanese brands with solid cultural appeal. This attraction mainly comes from its freshness and trend, which people worldwide, especially the young generation, love. As a result, the world has developed a strong interest in Japanese culture. The charm of popular culture is that it can spread without any obstacles with the help of the Internet, even if the language and cultural background are different (Greene, 2023). Exporting pop culture can not only export pop culture products but also export values in a subtle way. For example, young Korean women acculturate by watching Japanese TV dramas, some becoming interested in Japanese dramas while watching other Japanese pop culture products such as manga, anime, J-pop, or movies, and some starting to watch Japanese dramas because of their affection for a particular star (Lee, 2006).

        Cultural export can enhance soft power by promoting a country's cultural products and values to shape its image and reputation. Japan's cultural export has achieved great success in the Asian region, enhancing Japan's international image and reputation and enhancing Japan's soft power. By promoting cultural products and values, Japan can build its image in the Asian region and enhance cooperation and exchanges with Asian countries, thus achieving its geopolitical goals. Therefore, cultural export has essential implications for Japan's geopolitical goals in the Asian region (Otmazgin, 2012).

        In addition, the Japanese government has vigorously supported the cultural industry as a strategic pillar industry by formulating a series of institutional regulations and policies. According to statistics, the Japanese government has promulgated over 600 culture-related laws (Chang, 2016). Hundreds of cultural laws regulate the behavior of Japan's cultural industry while creating an excellent cultural environment for the development of the cultural industry. The Cool Japan Project, for example, was launched after Japan's economic downturn to change the country's brand image. The program aims to promote Japan's soft power and international influence by promoting the country's popular culture and entertainment industries (Greene, 2023, Lecture 7.2). Implementing the Cool Japan program includes cooperating with foreign producers to produce film and television productions, conducting market research through the Internet to determine the needs of overseas markets, and promoting Japanese cultural and artistic activities. Although the Cool Japan Project faced some controversies during its implementation, such as being too commercial, it still promoted Japanese popular culture's international spread and influence.

       Lastly, the core of cultural product innovation is to insist on content innovation. Although Japan is not the earliest country of origin of manga, it has created innovative manga with the creativity of Japanese culture after their introduction to Japan. Therefore, Japanese animation products continue to appear, bringing new cultural surprises again and again. Cooperation between anime producers and Japan's Self-Defense Forces positively impacts the promotion of the image of Japan's Self-Defense Forces (Yamamura, 2017). The Japanese Self-Defense Forces can cooperate with anime producers to present their images and activities in anime works, increasing public understanding and awareness. Such cooperation can help Japan's Self-Defense forces project a positive image, such as its role in disaster relief and its sense of responsibility to protect the country and its people. In addition, cooperation with animation producers can also attract the attention of the younger generation and improve the visibility and recognition of Japan's Self-Defense Forces among young people. Such cooperation can also pass on the values and sense of mission of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to more people through disseminating anime works. Examples include Girls und Panzer and Space Battleship Yamato (Yamamura, 2017).

Bibliography

1.      Greene, B. (2023, December). Lecture 7.1: Broader Uses of Popular Culture. Lecture.

2.      Greene, B. (2023, December). Lecture 7.2: Broader Uses of Popular Culture. Lecture.

3.      Otamazgin, N. (2012). Geopolitics and Soft Power: Japan’s Cultural Policy and Cultural Diplomacy in Asia. Asia-Pacific Review. 19:1, 2012, 37-61. DOI: 10.1080/13439006.2012.678629.

4.      Lee, D. (2006). Transnational Media Consumption and Cultural Identity: Young Korean Women's Cultural Appropriation of Japanese TV Dramas. Asian Journal of Women's Studies. 12:2, 2006, 64-87. DOI: 10.1080/12259276.2006.11666009.

5.      Yamamura, T. (2017). Cooperation Between Anime Producers and the Japan Self-Defense Force: Creating Fantasy and/or Propaganda?. Journal of War & Culture Studies. December, 2017, 1-16. DOI: 10.1080/17526272.2017.1396077.

2023.12.18