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The End of Cool Japan
Today’s convergent media environment offers unprecedented opportunities for sourcing and disseminating previously obscure popular culture material from Japan. However, this presents concerns regarding copyright, ratings and exposure to potentially illegal content which are serious problems for those teaching and researching about Japan. Despite young people’s enthusiasm for Japanese popular culture, these concerns spark debate about whether it can be judged harmful for youth audiences and could therefore herald the end of ‘cool Japan’. This collection brings together Japan specialists in order to identify key challenges in using Japanese popular culture materials in research and teaching. It addresses issues such as the availability of unofficially translated and distributed Japanese material; the emphasis on adult-themes, violence, sexual scenes and under-age characters; and the discrepancies in legislation and ratings systems across the world. Considering how these issues affect researchers, teachers, students and fans in the US, Canada, Australia, China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia, the contributors discuss the different ways in which academic and fan practices are challenged by local regulations. Illustrating from personal experience the sometimes fraught nature of teaching about ‘cool Japan’, they suggest ways in which Japanese Studies as a discipline needs to develop clearer guidelines for teaching and research, especially for new scholars entering the field. As the first collection to identify some of the real problems faced by teachers and researchers of Japanese popular culture as well as the students over whom they have a duty of care, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese Studies and Cultural Studies.
240 pages, Paperback
Published May 11, 2018
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March 8, 2021
Enter the dark side of Japanese popular culture and the challenges it presents to the international community.
"The End of Cool Japan" is a collection of scholarly essays that discuss how popular culture from Japan has created friction with pop culture around the world. Each essay is written on a variety of categories regarding the controversy, ranging from accusations of child abuse in Japanese media to alleged artistic hijacking through influence from Japanese comics and anime (known as manga and animated shows respectively). The writers of the essays pitch in their arguments for or against the assorted controversies and attempt to sum up their findings via their own research.
The contents of the book are very interesting to say the least. The subject matter is rarely discussed in academic circles due to its taboo nature, yet clearly effort was made by each essay author to get their messages across, even going as far as to include a couple of offensive illustrations to further prove the controversy exists in reality despite most of academia ignoring the fact. Most of the book targets Japanese popular media influence as a dangerous trend that requires stricter regulation, which is valid angle to take given the immense popularity of Japan's products to consumers overseas.
I would like to point out, however, that the book struggles to connect the dots. Each topic, although researched properly with lots of references, appear as completely separate issues that are never linked together. Japanese media, whether in print or video format, share many similarities that should be merged together when discussing the conclusion on what to do about the problems surrounding it. After all, issues brought up must have options on the table for their resolutions, and not just listing the problems without solving them. If the article writers placed suggestions on how to improve the situation, things would have been more coherent between their discussions.
With that said, "The End of Cool Japan" takes on topics that are normally not brought up in scholarly circles, which is the major strength of this book. However, do not expect remedies to the controversies since the writers only report on the problems. Only read this book as a reference to the controversy of Japanese pop culture and its influence on international fandoms and media.
"The End of Cool Japan" is a collection of scholarly essays that discuss how popular culture from Japan has created friction with pop culture around the world. Each essay is written on a variety of categories regarding the controversy, ranging from accusations of child abuse in Japanese media to alleged artistic hijacking through influence from Japanese comics and anime (known as manga and animated shows respectively). The writers of the essays pitch in their arguments for or against the assorted controversies and attempt to sum up their findings via their own research.
The contents of the book are very interesting to say the least. The subject matter is rarely discussed in academic circles due to its taboo nature, yet clearly effort was made by each essay author to get their messages across, even going as far as to include a couple of offensive illustrations to further prove the controversy exists in reality despite most of academia ignoring the fact. Most of the book targets Japanese popular media influence as a dangerous trend that requires stricter regulation, which is valid angle to take given the immense popularity of Japan's products to consumers overseas.
I would like to point out, however, that the book struggles to connect the dots. Each topic, although researched properly with lots of references, appear as completely separate issues that are never linked together. Japanese media, whether in print or video format, share many similarities that should be merged together when discussing the conclusion on what to do about the problems surrounding it. After all, issues brought up must have options on the table for their resolutions, and not just listing the problems without solving them. If the article writers placed suggestions on how to improve the situation, things would have been more coherent between their discussions.
With that said, "The End of Cool Japan" takes on topics that are normally not brought up in scholarly circles, which is the major strength of this book. However, do not expect remedies to the controversies since the writers only report on the problems. Only read this book as a reference to the controversy of Japanese pop culture and its influence on international fandoms and media.
Displaying 1 of 1 review