Question: What factors have contributed to Japan’s transnational cultural power in Asia? Do you agree that Japan’s transnational cultural power intersects with its postcolonial ambition? Even though Japan is no longer the colonial power in Asia, it still has a strong presence over Asia due to its cultural power within the region. Through various forms of media and popular culture, Japanese culture has spread to not only Asia but also many Western societies. There are many factors contributing to this cultural power.
Although the Japanese government has various policies to support the spread of Japanese culture, many Asian countries on the receiving end are accepting of this and want more of it. On top of this, there are also economical and technological factors contributing to the spread of Japanese culture. However, this cultural power that Japan possesses does not necessarily intersect with Japan’s postcolonial ambition. If Japan’s cultural power is related to their postcolonial ambition, then with the rise of the Hallyu wave, South Korea would be doing the same.
Also, Japan’s colonial ambition lied mostly in Asia however, Japanese culture has not only dominated Asia, it has also infiltrated the West. Culture is increasingly a more important field within Japanese diplomacy and the government has taken various steps to promote and create a positive image on Japan and Japanese culture (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, n. d. ).
Through cultural diplomacy, the Japanese government is able to transmit Japanese culture, ideas and traditions to the rest of the world.
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After the nuclear crisis, Japanese boy band Arashi lent a helping hand through their video ‘Message from Japan’ to promote tourism (Kyodo, 2011).
Other examples include the “Anime Ambassador” project in 2008 to increase interest of Japan through anime and the Foreign Minister’s Prize for the best Cosplay at “The World Cosplay Summit” in Japan since 2007; all brought out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, n. d. ).
However, not only has the Japanese government been taking action to promote Japanese culture, countries on the receiving end also want more of Japanese culture.
The lifting of the ban on Japanese culture by South Korea in phases in 1998 with the fourth phase occurring in 2004 led to the flow of films and dramas between the two countries (Kono & Hara, 2011).
Also, various Japanese dramas are aired in other Asian cities. For example, hit drama ‘Hanzawa Naoki’ aired in Taiwan on 13th October 2013 and on cable in Hong Kong on 16th November 2013 (Blair, 2013) (TVB, n. d. ).
Animations like ‘Pokemon’, ‘Sailor Moon’ and ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ are also dubbed into English and exported to Western societies like the US and Australia.
If Japanese culture was not popular overseas, other countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong television stations would not purchase Japanese dramas to air. Also, the overseas market was not part of the plan when producing shows but rather a bonus (Nakano, 2002).
Therefore, the Japanese government did not necessarily have the intention to dominate the culture of another country but rather overseas citizens enjoy and therefore take preference of Japanese culture. Technology has also played a role in the expansion of Japanese culture.
The development of technology has led to the breaking down of geographical barriers, allowing people throughout the world to enjoy Japanese culture. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, pirated VCDs of Japanese dramas were extremely popular and were the medium for people in countries like China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to enjoy Japanese dramas (Nakano, 2002).
The development of the internet and video sharing sites like YouTube, despite being illegal, accelerated the spread of Japanese culture and reached a larger audience.
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This further emphasises that the Japanese government did not force their popular culture onto other societies but rather those on the receiving end, especially the Asian countries initiate the flow (Nakano, 2002).
Also, rising middle class as a result of economic growth in Asia has seen the indigenisation of Western popular culture into Japanese culture (Iwabuchi, 2011).
The cultural proximity of Asian nations leads them to take preference of Japanese cultural products over Western products. However, only westernised products will sell in Japan (McGray, 2010).
Consequently Japan indigenises Western elements or techniques to suit the Asian market. This can be seen in two Japanese animation films, ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. Both films used high-tech computer graphics to produce the film which was not only a success in Japan and Asia, but throughout the West as well. Other products which have used computer graphics in their production include the films ‘Final Fantasy VII Advent Children’ and ‘Astro Boy’, both of which were released in English and distributed internationally.
This illustrates that not only Japanese pop culture popular in Asia, it is also well received in Western societies like the US. The similarity in economic situation in many Asian countries and the growing middle class creates the market for various pop culture products (Iwabuchi, 2011).
However, this materialistic market prefers products with an East Asian flavour whilst being global at the same time (Iwabuchi, 2011).
This gives the Japanese an advantage over the US.
The western elements of Japanese pop culture provides East Asians with the modernity and global aspect they are after whilst the Asian elements of Confucian ideas and values embedded within these societies allow the East Asian population to relate to these cultural products. Japan also achieves this through collaboration on film or drama projects. For example, Yuko Fukei acted in Korean drama ‘IRIS’ and the drama ‘Strangers 6’ is a collaboration drama between Korea, Japan and China.
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This not only increases market share and brings down production costs, it also creates synergy and makes better use of resources. However, this does not indicate that Japan’s cultural power intersects with its postcolonial ambition as there are more examples of Korean actors collaborating in other Asian dramas in order to broaden their market. For example, Goo Hara played a cameo role in the drama ‘Galileo 2’, Choi Siwon acted in Hong Kong movie ‘A Battle of Wits’, and Yoo Hana played the female lead in Taiwan drama ‘My Lucky Star’.
Aside from these collaborations, many Japanese manga/anime turned dramas have been remade by other countries which include ‘Hana Yori Dango’, ‘Itazura Na Kiss: Love in Tokyo’ and ‘Hanazakari no Kimitachi e’ which all have Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean versions of the drama. Also, the shojo manga ‘Skip Beat’ was made into a Taiwan drama featuring K-Pop idols Choi Siwon and Lee Donghae. However, this is initiated by the country on the receiving end and therefore further reinforcing that Japan is not posing its power on other Asian countries but is rather welcomed and well received by the viewers.
If Japan’s cultural power can be classified as cultural imperialism then it can be said that South Korea is following the steps of Japan. With the rising popularity of the Korean wave, many aspects of Korean pop culture have spread not only throughout Asia but also in many western societies with idol groups promoting and holding concerts throughout the US and Europe. With minimal help from the government, idol groups like H. O.T, Shinhwa and Baby VOX gained popularity in China in the late the early 2000s and soloist BoA’s Japanese debut album topped Japan’s Oricon Chart (Park, 2011).
Since then, other idols have also ventured into the Japanese market and broken many records not only for their achievement on the Oricon Chart but also concert performances at the Tokyo Dome. However they are not limited to the Japanese market. Girl groups Wonder Girls and Girls Generation as well as soloists Rain (Bi) and BoA have all ventured into the American market.
Super Junior’s sub-unit Super Junior-M was targeted at the Chinese audience and the idol group EXO simultaneously promotes in the Korean and Chinese markets. American song ranking chart, Billboards also has a segment ranking the Top 100 K-Pop songs, further reinforcing the spread of Hallyu throughout the world (Billboard, n. d. ).
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Aside from songs, Korean dramas have also spread throughout the world. Aside from ‘Dae Jang Geum’ and ‘Winter Sonata’s’ popularity in Japan and China, historical drama ‘Jumong’ was also popular in Iran (Iran GlobalPost Correspondent, 2009).
The Korean Film Festival in countries like Australia also led to the premier of Korean films such as ‘Werewolf Boy’ and ‘The Thieves’ in Western societies (Korean Film Festival in Australia, 2013).
As Japan’s influence as an economic power weakened, its cultural power increased has influenced not only Asia but also (to a lesser extent) the west. However, this does not necessarily mean cultural imperialism and nor does it intersect with their postcolonial ambitions. Rather than imposing Japanese ideals and values onto other Asian societies, they choose and prefer Japanese cultural products.
In this sense, the people on the receiving end have the option to choose Japanese popular culture rather than having Japanese values and ideals imposed on them like during the colonial days. Also, the cultural influence that the Japanese possess in Asia is what the US has already achieved and the result of Korea with its Hallyu wave. Therefore, if Japan’s cultural power is cultural imperialism then the US has also achieved this and Korea will eventually achieve this too.
