Cool Japan
Encyclopedia
The concept of Cool Japan (クールジャパン), along with that of "Gross National Cool," was coined in 2002 as an expression of Japan
's emergent status as a cultural superpower
. Gaining broad exposure in the media and academia, the brand
of "Cool Japan" has been adopted by the Japanese government as well as trade bodies seeking to exploit the commercial capital of the country's culture industry
. It has been described as a form of soft power
, "the ability to indirectly influence behaviour or interests through cultural or ideological means."
entitled "Japan's Gross National Cool," Douglas McGray wrote of Japan "reinventing superpower" as its cultural influence expanded internationally despite the economic and political problems of the "lost decade
." Surveying youth culture and the role of manga
, anime
, fashion
, film
, consumer electronics
, architecture
, cuisine
, J-pop
, and phenomena of cuteness
such as Hello Kitty
, McGray highlighted Japan's considerable soft power
, posing the question of what message the country might project. He also argued that Japan's recession
may even have boosted its national cool, due to the partial discrediting of erstwhile rigid social hierarchies and big-business career paths.
Hegemon," an increasing number of more reform-minded government officials and business leaders in Japan began to refer to the country's "gross national cool" and to adopt the unofficial slogan "Cool Japan." In a 2005 press conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
linked the idea to Bhutan's concept of Gross National Happiness
. The phrase gained greater exposure in the mid-noughties as NHK
began a series Cool Japan Hakkutsu: Kakkoii Nippon! which by the end of 2009 had reached over a hundred episodes. Academic initiatives include the establishment of a "Cool Japan" research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, while some western universities have reported an increase in the number of applicants for Japanese Studies courses due to the "cool" effect.
with American phenomena such as McDonald's
, McGray argued that some of the former seems shallow by contrast, while the head of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs
does not favour the concept. McGray also highlighted the difficulty of quantification
, while academics have explored inherent difficulties in the "selective appropriation" of cultural products by policy-makers for national aims
and cultural diplomacy
.
A 2010 editorial in the Yomiuri Shimbun
conversely argued that the government was not doing enough to advance the country's business interests in this sphere, allowing South Korea
to emerge as a competitor. The editorial highlighted structural inefficiencies, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry promoting "Cool Japan," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
responsible for cultural exchange, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
in charge of Japanese foods. Lecturer Roland Kelts has also suggested that a failure to fully distinguish, brand and engage the overseas audience and market may mean that "Cool Japan" is "over."
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's emergent status as a cultural superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
. Gaining broad exposure in the media and academia, the brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
of "Cool Japan" has been adopted by the Japanese government as well as trade bodies seeking to exploit the commercial capital of the country's culture industry
Culture industry
Culture industry is a term coined by critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer , who argued in the chapter of their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' ; that popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods...
. It has been described as a form of soft power
Soft power
Soft power is the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction. It can be contrasted with 'hard power', that is the use of coercion and payment...
, "the ability to indirectly influence behaviour or interests through cultural or ideological means."
Origins
In a 2002 article in Foreign PolicyForeign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
entitled "Japan's Gross National Cool," Douglas McGray wrote of Japan "reinventing superpower" as its cultural influence expanded internationally despite the economic and political problems of the "lost decade
Lost Decade (Japan)
The is the time after the Japanese asset price bubble's collapse within the Japanese economy, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically...
." Surveying youth culture and the role of manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, fashion
Japanese street fashion
Japan began to emulate Western fashion during the middle of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 21st century it had altered into what is known today as 'street fashion'. The term 'street fashion' is used to describe fashion where the wearer customizes outfits by adopting a mixture of current...
, film
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
, consumer electronics
Japanese consumer electronics industry
The Japanese consumer electronics industry is one of the most prominent industries in the world and is the world's largest electronics manufacturer by companies such as Sony, Pentax, Casio, Citizen Watches, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Roland, Sharp, Canon, Epson, Yamaha, Sanyo,...
, architecture
Japanese architecture
' originated in prehistoric times with simple pit-houses and stores that were adapted to a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han Dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores and ceremonial burial chambers....
, cuisine
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
, J-pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
, and phenomena of cuteness
Cuteness in Japanese culture
Since the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun , has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms...
such as Hello Kitty
Hello Kitty
is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow. The character's first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974 and brought to the United States...
, McGray highlighted Japan's considerable soft power
Soft power
Soft power is the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction. It can be contrasted with 'hard power', that is the use of coercion and payment...
, posing the question of what message the country might project. He also argued that Japan's recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
may even have boosted its national cool, due to the partial discrediting of erstwhile rigid social hierarchies and big-business career paths.
Adoption
Taken up in the international media, with the New York Times running a retrospect "Year in Ideas: PokemonPokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
Hegemon," an increasing number of more reform-minded government officials and business leaders in Japan began to refer to the country's "gross national cool" and to adopt the unofficial slogan "Cool Japan." In a 2005 press conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on...
linked the idea to Bhutan's concept of Gross National Happiness
Gross national happiness
The assessment of gross national happiness was designed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than only the economic indicator of gross domestic product .-Origins and meaning:The term...
. The phrase gained greater exposure in the mid-noughties as NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
began a series Cool Japan Hakkutsu: Kakkoii Nippon! which by the end of 2009 had reached over a hundred episodes. Academic initiatives include the establishment of a "Cool Japan" research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, while some western universities have reported an increase in the number of applicants for Japanese Studies courses due to the "cool" effect.
Criticisms
Comparing Japanese popular cultureJapanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation...
with American phenomena such as McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, McGray argued that some of the former seems shallow by contrast, while the head of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs
Agency for Cultural Affairs
The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education . It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. As of April 2007, it is led by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Tamotsu Aoki....
does not favour the concept. McGray also highlighted the difficulty of quantification
Quantification
Quantification has several distinct senses. In mathematics and empirical science, it is the act of counting and measuring that maps human sense observations and experiences into members of some set of numbers. Quantification in this sense is fundamental to the scientific method.In logic,...
, while academics have explored inherent difficulties in the "selective appropriation" of cultural products by policy-makers for national aims
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and cultural diplomacy
Cultural diplomacy
Cultural diplomacy has existed as a practice for centuries. Explorers, travelers, teachers and artists can be all considered examples of informal ambassadors or early cultural diplomats...
.
A 2010 editorial in the Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...
conversely argued that the government was not doing enough to advance the country's business interests in this sphere, allowing South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
to emerge as a competitor. The editorial highlighted structural inefficiencies, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry promoting "Cool Japan," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The is a cabinet level ministry of Japan responsible for the country's foreign relations.The ministry is due to the second term of the third article of the National Government Organization Act , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Establishment Act establishes the ministry...
responsible for cultural exchange, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
The ' a cabinet ministry in the government of Japan responsible for oversight of the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Its acronym is MAFF.-History:...
in charge of Japanese foods. Lecturer Roland Kelts has also suggested that a failure to fully distinguish, brand and engage the overseas audience and market may mean that "Cool Japan" is "over."
Creative Industries Promotion Office
The Japanese government has identified the culture industry as one of five potential areas of growth. In June 2010 the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry established a new Creative Industries Promotion Office to promote cultural and creative industries as a strategic sector "under the single, long term concept of "Cool Japan," to coordinate different government functions, and to cooperate with the private sector." The deputy director described its mission as to "brand Japanese products with the uniqueness of Japanese culture." For 2011 it has a budget of ¥19 billion. In FY 2008, public spending on cultural activities was ¥116.9 billion in South Korea, ¥477.5 billion in China, and ¥101.8 billion in Japan, respectively 0.79%, 0.51%, and 0.12% of total government spending.See also
- Culture of JapanCulture of JapanThe culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America...
- Gross National HappinessGross national happinessThe assessment of gross national happiness was designed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than only the economic indicator of gross domestic product .-Origins and meaning:The term...
- Cool BritanniaCool BritanniaCool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
- Soft powerSoft powerSoft power is the ability to obtain what one wants through co-option and attraction. It can be contrasted with 'hard power', that is the use of coercion and payment...
- Cultural policyCultural policyCultural Policy is the area of public policy-making that governs activities related to the arts and culture. Generally, this involves fostering processes, legal classifications and institutions which promote cultural diversity and accessibility, as well as enhancing and promulgating the artistic,...
- Cool Biz campaignCool Biz campaignThe Japanese Ministry of the Environment began advocating the Cool Biz campaign in summer 2005 as a means to help reduce electric consumption by limiting use of air conditioning...
- Dynamic Korea