Comments on: What is “Cool Japan”?

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:10:29 +0000

Hi Jonj,

Excellent points. I remember in college studying the anti-Japanese war propaganda (and even once watching a Bugs Bunny propaganda cartoon which was pretty racist by today’s standards). Funny how things change. I agree with you about China too. I have worked with enough co-workers from the PRC that I’ve really appreciated how similar people are in person, even if their respective governments are…silly.

By: JonJ

JonJ — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:51:50 +0000

Of course, these images can change almost overnight, and are not the same for everyone. It wasn’t long ago that the main image of Japan in the U.S. was of a fearsome economic giant that was going to swallow poor little Uncle Sam whole (mucho images of ゴジラ). But that was presumably in the minds of the adults, then, not their kids.

Now the Asian monster swallowing us up, of course, is China (which really is a giant in sheer size, anyway). But one could argue that it is just as “cool” as its little brother to the West, and there was a day when Westerners appreciated its coolness, too.

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:14:23 +0000

That’s a good point. Japan is more exotic to Western eyes, and therefore more “wacky” or “weird”. Language and cultural barrier are definitely the culprit, because once you get past that, it’s just another country, culture, etc. That’s been my experience, and I take it your’s too.

Some people like profiting off the perceived differences though, and that’s probably the media hype we see. Runs both ways though, I’m sure.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:57:58 +0000

What’s interesting is no one talks about “crazy England” with shows like Monty Python or the Mighty Boosh, but if Japan’s media is even remotely absurd it’s suddenly “crazy Japan.” There’s also the language barrier. For most people, they just see the images separated from the message and thus assume it’s all wacky.

That being said, Japan is a particularly entertaining place to live. ^_^

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:52:06 +0000

Amen to that. The “crazy Japan” stuff doesn’t interest me much at all and feels like media hype. I did notice that Japan is playing it up in recent months (even Asahi Shinbun has a section on it now), which is what prompted me to ponder the subject and write the post. :p

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:26:16 +0000

What’s interesting is that the concept of “Cool Japan” has been embraced by Japan itself and made a selling point for tourism. It used to be that people came to Japan for the old culture, the art, the lacquer ware, etc. Now a large segment of people come for the new cool: anime, robots, J-pop stars.

I agree with you that it’s a romanticized thing. Even modern-day items, like wacky commercials on YouTube, are part of the appeal. Now that I’ve become used to Japan I’m less thrilled by these “crazy Japan” kinds of things. The way I see it, it’s just part of the Japanese media landscape, a way to cut through the distracting noise of messages and be heard.

Anyway, good post, as always.