Reception of Japanese and Korean Popular Culture in Europe 2 Vytautas Magnus University 2012 UDK 008(520:4) Re-15 Editor in-Chief / Redaktorė Kyoko Koma, Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas (Vytautas Magnus University) Editors board (alphabetic order) / Redkolegija: Jean-Michel Butel, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations) (France) SangGum Li, ⿖㌆╖䞯ᾦ (Pusan National University) (South Korea) Sepp Linhart, Universität Wien (University of Vienna)(Austria) Takashi Kitamura, ᄢ㒋ᄢቇ(Osaka University )(Japan) Aurelijus Zykas, Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas (Vytautas Magnus University) (Lithuania) Publication coordinator / leidinio sudarytoja koordinatorė Ieva Kudirkaitė, Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas (Vytautas Magnus University) Sponsor / Rėmėjas ISBN 978-9955-12-797-0 © Vytautauto Didžiojo universitetas, 2012 © Vytautas Magnus University, 2012 pu{yvk|j{pvu Z CONTENT Introduction / 5 Jeong-Im Hyun Korean Pop Fans in France: Fascinated by Strangeness or Familiarity? / 13 Kyoko Koma Acculturation of Kawaii fashion in France through comparative analysis of questionnaires (France, South Korea, Taiwan) and interviews (France) / 31 SangGum Li High and Pop Culture in the Age of Cultural Pluralism / 53 Sepp Linhart The popular image of Japan in Nazi Germany (1933-1945) / 71 Noriko Onohara Costume and Trauma Reception of Japanese Fashion in Britain through Five Exhibitions in London / 97 Aurelijus Zykas The Development of Japan’s Public Diplomacy and Country Branding within the Worldwide Development of the Country’s Image Policy / 127 About Authors / 149 pu{yvk|j{pvu \ Introduction This book is the result of an international and interdisciplinary collective research project called Comparative study of Reception of Japanese and Korean Popular Culture in Europe, supported by the Suntory Foundation subsidy program 2011-2012, following the 2010-2011 program organised by Centre for Asian studies at Vytautas Magnus University. It has been a long time since Japanese and Korean popular cultures were popular on the world stage. This research focuses on the reception of Japanese and Korean Culture in Europe, which could be considered as one of the most influential factors in constructing the image of these two Asian countries. Our research background is as follows: In the 1990s, when Asian Popular Culture (Lent 1994, Westview), or Global Goes Local (Craig and King 2002, University of Hawaii), was published, Studies of Asian popular culture tended to focus on the localisation of globalised (that is, American) culture in each Asian country. However, in the 21st century, in the domain of the studies of Asian popular culture, we find the terms “Japanisation”, “Japanese transnationalism” (Iwabuchi 2002, Duke University), and “Koreanisation” (Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park). Under existing circumstances we have not yet found many books on the reception of Japanese and Korean popular culture in Europe, although books on Japanese and Korean popular culture have already been published in Europe. Last year we published Reception of Japanese and Korean Popular Culture in Europe, the result of the first stage of our research (2010-2011), ] pu{yvk|j{pvu including, Reception of Korean Popular Culture in Poland (S. Choi), Takarazuka’s Overseas Performance in Europe and Asia (T. Kitamura), Reception of Kawaii Culture in France and in Lithuania (K. Koma), The Reception of Korean Popular Culture in Germany (S. Li), Popularity of Japanese and Korean cinematography in European countries (M. Šiaučiūnas), The contemporary culture of South Korea in the Mass Media of Lithuania (J. Seo), The discourses of Popular Culture in 21th Century Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy Agendas (A. Zykas). In previous years we researched a particular country as a kind of separate case study: we tended to research how Japanese and Korean popular cultures are accepted not only in western European countries such as Germany and France, but also in eastern European countries such as Poland and Lithuania. This year, with a change of some researchers, we complete our research with theoretical elements on popular cultural studies, a comparative analysis of the reception of Japanese and Korean popular culture in selected European countries, and Japanese public diplomacy history. Sepp Linhart discusses, in The Popular Image of Japan in Nazi Germany (1933-1945), the popular cultures of Japan during the 1930s that are different from today, such as films, manga, anime, popular literature, J-Pop, popular aesthetics, fashion, electronic games, characters, cult figures, karaoke, cuisine, sports, etc. He analyses the bestsellers about Japan published during the Nazi period in Germany, when Japanese popular culture was known by a few films, a little bit of popular literature, ‘genuine’ Japanese sports, the Takarazuka girls opera, and Japanese postcards and stamps. By studying the bestsellers about Japan in Nazi Germany, a country with a totalitarian political regime, one can see, 1. what knowledge about Japan was tolerated, and 2. which Japanese values were propagated to the German masses. He concludes that analysis proves, as could be assumed, that the ‘samurai image of Japan’ was the most influential image during the Nazi period in Germany. In particular, with SangGum Li’s paper published in the pu{yvk|j{pvu ^ previous journal, this contribution permit us to give us a clue to compare perception of Japanese and Korean Popular Culture in German-speaking countries. In this journal’s theoretical element, SangGum Li approaches popular culture, which ‘opposes’ high culture. He discusses, in High and Pop Culture in the Age of Cultural Pluralism, the aesthetic point of view that distinguishes between the ‘high class’ and ‘low class’, which change with history, though the concept of high culture in its production and consumption presupposes superior mental ability and negates the cultural ability of the mass in the modern period. Arguing that, as such, the concept of popular culture can’t be a static notion and focusing on the traditional hierarchy of visual and verbal expression, ‘high level’ and ‘the public’ in cultural pluralism, the culture industry, the commercialisation of culture in a multicultural society, etc., he aims at a concise definition, i.e. about the criteria and boundaries between popular and high culture based on visual and verbal expression within the human senses. Jeong-Im Hyun analyses, in her article Korean Pop Fans in France: Fascinated by Strangeness or Familiarity?, how French youth discovers K-Pop, and why they become K-Pop fanatics. To examine her hypothesis, which is that most K-Pop fans are usually previously exposed to Asian culture, especially to Japanese culture, she explores what makes these fans give up Japanese cultural influence and adopt Korean pop culture through face-to-face and e-mail interviews, of which the majority of interviewees were students at INALCO (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales) in the Korean language department and French K-Pop fan club members. Kyoko Koma, following on from last year, analyses and clarifies in her paper Acculturation of Kawaii Fashion in France Through Comparative Analysis of Questionnaires (France, Lithuania, South Korea, Taiwan) and Interviews (France) characteristic tendencies of adaptation of kawaii culture in France based on her previous research concerning kawaii in France _ pu{yvk|j{pvu and in Lithuania. She practices empirical research on what the motivation is for wearers to adopt kawaii fashion, listening to the voices of some of those responsible for kawaii boutiques and cafés and wearers of kawaii in Paris. Noriko Onohara contributes her paper, titled Costume and Trauma: Reception of Japanese Fashion in Britain Through Five Exhibitions in London, which examines how Japanese fashion has been accepted in Britain, from traditional national costume elements like the Kimono to contemporary international fashion designers. She discusses the image of Japan produced in the Western world at recent exhibitions in London using the key themes of ‘tradition’, ‘trauma’, ‘technology’ and ‘trend’, expressing her thoughts on how the Japanese image is described through Japanese fashion and costume, how Japanese art has influenced modern Western art and fashion, and on the Kimono as street fashion by introducing an English performer based in London with a fascination for Japanese culture and fashion. When comparing the results of J. Hyun and K. Koma’s analyses of the receptions of Japanese and Korean popular culture in France, we found some characteristics of each reception in another place, that is, France. The studies of N. Onohara and K. Koma also permit clarification of some points relating to how Japanese fashion, the same cultural artefact, is accepted in both London and Paris. Aurelijus Zykas contributes his paper The Development of Japan’s Public Diplomacy and Country Branding within the Worldwide Development of the Country’s Image Policy. A.Zykas reviews the development of Japan’s public diplomacy and country branding practices, comparing them to those of Western countries. Analysing three different periods (pre-Cold War, Cold War and post-Cold War), he argues that, during its development starting at the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese public diplomacy always used the ‘Western’ model in the sense of the application of theories and practices relating to the country’s image policy. He concludes by asking what does the transformation through each