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The Economies of Anime Anime As The Economies of Anime Anime as a soft power, a cultural product and a (trans)national medium Uyoyo Onemu - 1236065 MPhil - Screen Media Research Brunel University London ii Contents Acknowledgments v Abstract vi Chapter 1. Literature review and methodology 1 Chapter 2. Anime as a Japanese cultural product 33 and a (trans)national medium Chapter 3. The cultural and economic influence of Studio Ghibli 51 Chapter 4. Neo-nationalism and pacifism in anime 83 Chapter 5. International anime fandom & subculture 97 Chapter 6. Final conclusions 113 Bibliography & media 119 iii iv Acknowledgments I would like to note my appreciation and thankfulness to my supervisor, Dr. Leon Hunt, Senior Lecturer in Arts and Humanities at Brunel University. Throughout the process of writing this thesis, Leon has always been a tremendous help. Not only did his broad knowledge in the field, his suggestions, corrections and advice make this thesis what it is now, but I also would like to express my appreciation for his support, which always helped me to regain my enthusiasm and determination. v Abstract Japanese animation, from here on referred to as anime, occupy an important and unique position in Japanese contemporary media. In my thesis, I will discuss and explore the following questions and current debates about anime as national Japanese product: - What is the importance of anime for the Japanese economy? - Has anime - as part of Japanese popular culture - become a soft power for Japan? - What is the cultural and national identity of anime? - Is anime a transnational product? Anime is the Japanese word for animation (brought to the screen, through series or film). Anime is also the term generally used worldwide to distinguish Japanese animation from Western animation. The term anime is also used to refer to anime as a certain recognisable style, sometimes regardless of its origin. Throughout this thesis the term anime is used specifically to identify Japanese animation, or animation (at least) involving Japanese cooperation. I will discuss anime as an international economic and cultural phenomenon and examine why anime is often more than just the moving images of Japanese pencil drawings. This thesis interrogates the position of anime as a cultural export and as a form of soft power and explores anime's current status within Japan’s (cultural) economy and international export markets. I discuss the relation of the Japanese economy to cultural popular products, with anime as a particular focus. My questions are as follows; - Why do we perceive anime as a Japanese cultural product and a (trans)national medium? On what scale (and is it still)? - To what extent is anime important as an actual asset for Japan’s soft power? - How does the Japanese government use anime (being a part of popular culture) and how does the economy benefit from it? vi Chapter 1. Literature review and methodology Introduction The focus of my research is the relation between Japan's cultural economy, the national and cultural identity of anime and anime’s role as a form of soft power. The questions asked in my research are as follows: - What is soft power and what is its usefulness? - How does Japan use anime as a resource of soft power in practice? - What is the relation between anime as a cultural export products and Japan’s cultural and national Identity? - What are the national and transnational aspects in the creation of anime and how tangible is the ‘Japaneseness’ of anime? There is a substantial amount of existing work on anime and anime-related topics available, such as the debate about the national and transnational and anime as a part of popular culture. Many of these have different approaches, subjects, themes and sub-themes. In this literature review, I examine this existing work by comparing the most important findings from these authors. I am considering how these findings relate to my own research in which I am focussing on the 'economy' of anime; its current status within and outside Japan's export markets and the importance and meaning of anime's (cultural) identity. I have mapped out the major areas of debate, approaches, structured by approach and relevance to my own research. Due to the transnational aspects of anime (or rather, the fact that anime has become a transnational phenomenon), both Japanese and Western authors have focussed on anime as a research topic. Although I have used the work of Japanese authors whose work is available in English, the majority of the authors used in this literature review and this thesis are Western (European or American). Exploring the exact differences 1 between these authors and findings in a broad perspective is beyond the scope of this research. However, both Western and Japanese authors have made important contributions to understanding anime as a transnational phenomenon. According to one of these Western authors, Thomas Lamarre in The Anime Machine (2009: xxi), live action film has dominated history and theories of the moving image, neglecting animation. However, in other countries too, there is a long tradition of animation. By 1988, already 40 percent of Japanese studio releases were animated (Napier 2005: 16- 17). In Japan, anime holds a significant and unique position: it has a powerful hold on Japanese culture, is often a representation of Japanese culture and dominates the film market in Japan, but at the same time is also now the most globally visible form of Japanese cinema. The question is, however, whether anime can represent Japan in the way live action cinema did. In recent years anime has not only become increasingly popular but has also gained a growing scholarly attention in Europe and the USA. The intellectually challenging themes and popularity of, for example, Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-Hime, dir: Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 1997), along with other anime films, has stimulated the writing of scholarly articles about these works and about anime in general. By the 1990s, anime gained recognition as a Japanese cultural product that is worthy of intellectual study (Napier 2005: 18). One of the purposes of this thesis is to research the position of anime as a ‘soft power’ and its current status within Japan’s (cultural) economy. In terms of Gross Domestic Product, Japan is the third largest economy in the world after the United States and China.1 Even though the economy is no longer growing as rapidly since the economic bubble burst in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it is still growing. According to The Japan Times, 1 GDP stands for the market value of goods and services within a country. A rising GDP indicates a higher standard of living, the lower the GDP is, the lower the standard of living is in a country. 2 economists expect a growth of 1.3 percent by March 2020 (published December 18th, 2018). However, industries in Japan such as retailing and agriculture have been facing difficulties. The Japanese media sector is huge and at a somewhat more stable point but was declining in 2013 when it came to sales. The Japanese music industry, for example, is still the second largest music market in the world whilst continuing to be dominated by Japanese artists (Anon. 2018). Anime and manga occupy a strong position in Japan’s economy as media export markets and naturally, part of Japan’s cultural economy. But even though the economic position of popular Japanese content is big and immensely popular, anime creators in Japan have been struggling with a decline in sales of media due to the increase of free content via video sharing sites. A report from 2017 from The Association of Japanese Animations shows that the total value of the anime industry had a market value of 17.5 billion U.S. Dollars in 2016, growing compared to previous years.2 These sales have mostly derived from overseas markets which have grown 171.9% since 2013 reaching a record of 7.154 billion dollars in 2016. With numbers like these, it is no surprise that anime seems a logical choice as a form of soft power. Many scholars have attempted to explain or point out the 'beginning' of anime.3 It seems it is something that is hard to determine. The first Japanese animated film was Tale of the White Serpent (Hakujaden, dir: Taiji Yabushita, Japan, 1958) that was produced by Tōei animation studios. Some scholars (like myself) mark the true start of anime (or to be more specific, the start of the anime 'hype') with the series of Astro-boy (Tetsuwan Atomu, dir: Osama Tezuka, Japan, 1963-1966 [first series]) whilst others look at anime that was already produced from the early 1900s. Rayna Denison points out that 'anime' has not always been the term used and in some cases has been applied retroactively. According to 2 See http://aja.gr.jp/english/japan-anime-data for the full report. 3 The cultural background of anime shares a common heritage with manga, which often creates a confusion between the two terms. Manga is the Japanese word for comic and thus means the drawing of a story on paper. 3 Denison, the 'rise' of anime within Japan’s animation culture is a demonstration of the power of Japanese anime industries and (sub)cultural gatekeepers around the world, to control how anime is understood (and thus, what we perceive as being anime). She comes to the conclusion that the term anime, as we know it now, is a relatively new term that has often been applied to the whole history of cell animation (Denison 2015: 5). As Denison points out, too, it becomes hard to determine what anime exactly is, as there are many different views of what should be considered anime, and what should not: there are a variety of types of media hidden under the rubric anime and (academic) books on anime refer to various sources of media al identified as being anime, too (ibid: 6).
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