Main Article Content
Abstract
In this paper I look at two programs broadcasted on NHK—Japan’s public broadcaster—featuring foreigners living in Japan, Cool Japan and Home Sweet Tokyo, and the refracted ways in which Japanese identity is constructed through gazes that are self-Orientalizing and Occidentalizing. I place the two within three contexts: the Cool and Sugoi Japan campaigns, the foreign talent industry, and the increased concerns over foreigners in Japan. Using a functionalist approach, my analysis highlights the roles played by these two programs within Japanese society and for a Japanese audience, especially in its representation of foreign residents in light of cultural nationalism. While NHK produces some programs featuring non-Japanese hosts and guests, Cool Japan and Home Sweet Tokyo are of unique interest for their purported aim to represent and give voice to foreigners living in Japan.
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References
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- Arudou, D. (2015). Embedded racism: Japan’s visible minorities and racial discrimination. Lanham: Lexington Books.
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- Befu, H. (1993). Nationalism and nihonjinron. In H. Befu (ed), Cultural nationalism in East Asia: Representation and identity (pp. 107-135). Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Befu, H. (2001). The hegemony of homogeneity: An anthropological analysis of nihonjinron. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
- Billig, M. (1995). Banal nationalism. London: Sage.
- Capobianco, P. (2015). Confronting diversity: Africans challenging Japanese societal convictions. Contemporary Japan 27(2), 189-212.
- Carrier, J. G. (ed). (1995). Occidentalism: Images of the West, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Cool Japan Strategy Promotion Council (2015). Cool Japan strategy public-private collaboration initiative. https://www.cao.go.jp/cool_japan/english/pdf/published_document2.pdf.
- Creighton, M. R. (1995). Imaging the Other in Japanese Advertising Campaigns. In Carrier, J. G.
- (ed.), Occidentalism: Images of the West (pp. 135-160). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Dale, Peter N. (1986). The myth of Japanese uniqueness. London: Oxford University Press.
- Desmond, J. (1991). Benin art revisited: Photographs and museum collections. Visual Anthropology 4, 147-160.
- Fukuda, C. (2017). Gaijin performing gaijin (‘A foreigner performing a foreigner’): Co-construction of foreigner stereotypes in a Japanese talk show as a multimodal phenomenon. Journal of Pragmatics 109, 12-28.
- General, R. (2019, February 14). YouTuber ‘Mr. Yabatan’ becomes a celebrity in Japan as a fluent confused foreigner. Nextshark. https://nextshark.com/norwegian-youtuber-mr-yabatan-japan/.
- Green, D. & Kadoya, Y. (2013, September). English as gateway? Immigration and public opinion in Japan, ISER Discussion Paper 883. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/92877/1/766845818.pdf.
- Higuchi, N. & Matsutani, M. (2016). Support for the radical right in Japan: Converging to the European politics? Social Theory and Dynamics 1, 59-68.
- Hodgkins, C. (2015, October 26). Himo Zairu manga goes on hiatus due to online criticism. Anime News Network. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-26/himo-zairu-manga-goes-on-hiatus-due-to-online-criticism/.94631.
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- Hurst, D. (2017, March 3). Japan racism survey reveals one in three foreigners experience discrimination. Guardian (International edition).
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- Hwang, S. (2015). Cool Japan discourse and techno-nationalism. Journal of Information and Communication 32(4), 59-64. https://doi.org/10.11430/jsicr.32.4_59.
- Iwabuchi, K. (1994). Complicit exoticism: Japan and its Other. Continuum 8(2), 49-82.
- Iwabuchi, K. (2010). ‘Ordinary foreigners’ wanted: Multinationalization of multicultural questions in a Japanese TV talk show. In Yoshimoto, M., Tsai, E. & Choi, J. (eds.), Television, Japan, and globalization (pp. 27-50). Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan Press.
- Japan Foundation (2003). Aratatana Jidai no Gaiko to Kokusaikoryu no Aratatana Yakuwari (Diplomacy in a new era and a new role for international exchange). Tokyo: International Exchange Research Group.
- JETRO—Japan External Trade Organization (2005). ‘Cool’ Japan’s economy warms up https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/reports/market/pdf/2005_27_r.pdf.
- Kayama, R. (2002). Puchi nashonarizumu shokogun (Petit nationalism syndrome). Tokyo: Chuo koron shiinsha.
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- Kitayama, Y. (2018). The rise of the far right in Japan, and challenges posed for education. London Review of Education 16(2), 250-67. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.16.2.06.
- Kittaka, L. G. (2019, December 30). British guy, Japanese in-law, one house equals NHK World’s hit comedy ‘Home Sweet Tokyo.’ Japan Forward. https://japan-forward.com/british-guy-japanese-in-law-one-house-equals-nhk-worlds-hit-comedy-home-sweet-tokyo/
- Krauss, E.S. (2017). NHK: The changing and unchanging politics of semi-independence. In Kingston, J. (ed.). Press freedom in contemporary Japan. London: Routledge.
- Lie, J. (2001). Ruth Benedict’s legacy of shame: Orientalism and Occidentalism in the study of Japan. Asian Journal of Social Science 29(2), 249-261.
- Lutz, C. & Collins, J. (1991). The photograph as an intersection of gazes: The example of National Geographic. Visual Anthropology Review 7(1), 134-49.
- https://doi.org/10.1525/var.1991.7.1.134.
- McLelland, M. (ed). (2017). The end of Cool Japan: Ethical, legal, and cultural challenges to Japanese popular culture. London: Routledge.
- McVeigh, B. J. (2006). Nationalisms of Japan: Managing and mystifying identity. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Matsui, T. (2014). Nation branding through stigmatized popular culture: The ‘Cool
- Japan’ craze among central ministries in Japan. Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and
- Management 48, 81-97. http://doi.org/10.15057/26980.
- METI—Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2012). ‘Cool Japan Strategy.’ Creative Industries Division, https://www.meti.go.jp/english/policy/mono_info_service/creative_industries/pdf/120116_01a.pdf.
- Miller, L. (1995). Crossing ethnolinguistic boundaries: A preliminary look at the gaijin tarento in Japan. In J.A. Lent (ed), Asian Popular Culture (pp. 189-201). Boulder: Westview Press.
- Miller, L. (2011). Cute masquerade and the pimping of Japan. International Journal of Japanese Sociology 20(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6781.2011.01145.x.
- Morris-Suzuki, T. (2002). Immigration and citizenship in contemporary Japan. In Maswood, J., Graham, J. & Miyajima, H. (eds.), Japan—Change and continuity (pp. 163-78). London: Routledge.
- Nakamura, K. (2001). Convergence and competition: Policy issues in Japan. In Nakamura, K. & Agata, K. (eds.). Convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting in Japan, United Kingdom and Germany (pp. 141-159). London: Routledge.
- Perkins, C. (2010). The banality of boundaries: Performance of the nation in a Japanese television comedy. Television & New Media 11(5), 386-403.
- Ryall, J. (2017, September 9). ‘Pollution by tourism’: How Japan fell out of love with visitors from China and beyond. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2110388/pollution-tourism-how-japan-fell-out-love-visitors-china-and.
- St. Michel, P. (2017, November 23). BJ Fox navigates life in Japan as a stay-at-home dad in the sitcom ‘Home Sweet Tokyo.’ Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/11/23/tv/b-j-fox-navigates-life-japan-stay-home-dad-sitcom-home-sweet-tokyo/
- Said, E. (1978). Orientalism, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- Saito, Y. (2017, November 6). Cool Japan Fund’s big ambitions mostly fall flat. Nikkei Asian Review, https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Cool-Japan-Fund-s-big-ambitions-mostly-fall-flat.
- Schäfer, F. (2009). The re-articulation of cultural studies in Japan and its consequences for
- Japanese Studies. International Journal of Cultural Studies 12(1), 23-41.
- Shimazu, N. (ed). (2006). Nationalisms in Japan. London: Routledge.
- Shirana, M. & Ikeda, T. (2017). Japan is Great. (Trans. Essertier, J.). The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus 15(3). https://apjjf.org/2017/03/Shirana.html.
- Snow, N. (2019). NHK, Abe, and the world: Japan’s pressing needs in the path to 2020. Asian Journal of Journalism and Media Studies 2, 15-27.
- Surak, K. (2013). Making tea, making Japan: Cultural nationalism in practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Suzuki, S. (2015). Nationalism lite? The commodification of non-Japanese speech in Japanese media. Japanese Language and Literature 49(2), 509-29.
- Hayakawa, T. (2017). The story of the nation: ‘Japan Is Great.’ (Trans. Essertier, J.) The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus 15(6). https://apjjf.org/2017/06/Hayakawa.html.
- Tamaki, T. (2017, April 26). Japan has turned its culture into a powerful political tool. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/japan-has-turned-its-culture-into-a-powerful-political-tool-72821.
- Tsunoda, T. (1985). The Japanese brain: Uniqueness and universality. Yoshinori Oiwa (trans.). Tokyo: Taishukan Publishing Company.
- Valaskivi, K. (2013). A brand new future? Cool Japan and the social imaginary of the branded nation. Japan Forum 25(4), 485-504.
- Wallace, C. (2016). Japanese nationalism today—Risky, resurgence, necessary evil or new normal? Mejiro Journal of Humanities 12, 63-77.
- Yamaguchi, T. (2013). Xenophobia in action: Nationalism, hate speech, and the internet in Japan. Radical History Review 117, 98-118. https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-2210617.
- Yoshimoto, M., Tsai E. & Choi, J. (eds.). (2010). Television, Japan, and globalization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Yoshino, K. (1992). Cultural nationalism in contemporary Japan: A sociological enquiry. London: Routledge.
References
Ando, S. (2009). A look at nihonjinron: Theories of Japaneseness. Otemae University Discussions 10, 33-42.
Arudou, D. (2015). Embedded racism: Japan’s visible minorities and racial discrimination. Lanham: Lexington Books.
n. a. Average Daily TV viewing time per person in selected countries worldwide in 2016. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/276748/average-daily-tv-viewing-time-per-person-in-selected-countries/.
Befu, H. (1984). Civilization and culture: Japan in search of identity. Senri Ethnological Studies 16, 59-75.
Befu, H. (1993). Nationalism and nihonjinron. In H. Befu (ed), Cultural nationalism in East Asia: Representation and identity (pp. 107-135). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Befu, H. (2001). The hegemony of homogeneity: An anthropological analysis of nihonjinron. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
Billig, M. (1995). Banal nationalism. London: Sage.
Capobianco, P. (2015). Confronting diversity: Africans challenging Japanese societal convictions. Contemporary Japan 27(2), 189-212.
Carrier, J. G. (ed). (1995). Occidentalism: Images of the West, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cool Japan Strategy Promotion Council (2015). Cool Japan strategy public-private collaboration initiative. https://www.cao.go.jp/cool_japan/english/pdf/published_document2.pdf.
Creighton, M. R. (1995). Imaging the Other in Japanese Advertising Campaigns. In Carrier, J. G.
(ed.), Occidentalism: Images of the West (pp. 135-160). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dale, Peter N. (1986). The myth of Japanese uniqueness. London: Oxford University Press.
Desmond, J. (1991). Benin art revisited: Photographs and museum collections. Visual Anthropology 4, 147-160.
Fukuda, C. (2017). Gaijin performing gaijin (‘A foreigner performing a foreigner’): Co-construction of foreigner stereotypes in a Japanese talk show as a multimodal phenomenon. Journal of Pragmatics 109, 12-28.
General, R. (2019, February 14). YouTuber ‘Mr. Yabatan’ becomes a celebrity in Japan as a fluent confused foreigner. Nextshark. https://nextshark.com/norwegian-youtuber-mr-yabatan-japan/.
Green, D. & Kadoya, Y. (2013, September). English as gateway? Immigration and public opinion in Japan, ISER Discussion Paper 883. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/92877/1/766845818.pdf.
Higuchi, N. & Matsutani, M. (2016). Support for the radical right in Japan: Converging to the European politics? Social Theory and Dynamics 1, 59-68.
Hodgkins, C. (2015, October 26). Himo Zairu manga goes on hiatus due to online criticism. Anime News Network. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-26/himo-zairu-manga-goes-on-hiatus-due-to-online-criticism/.94631.
Homma, A. (2016, December 26). Cool Japan Fund CEO on what’s uncool about how Japan handles its cool. Japan Today. https://japantoday.com/category/features/executive-impact/cool-japan-fund-ceo-on-whats-uncool-about-how-japan-handles-its-cool.
Hurst, D. (2017, March 3). Japan racism survey reveals one in three foreigners experience discrimination. Guardian (International edition).
Hwang, S. (2015). Cool Japan discourse and techno-nationalism. Journal of Information and Communication 32(4), 59-64. https://doi.org/10.11430/jsicr.32.4_59.
Iwabuchi, K. (1994). Complicit exoticism: Japan and its Other. Continuum 8(2), 49-82.
Iwabuchi, K. (2010). ‘Ordinary foreigners’ wanted: Multinationalization of multicultural questions in a Japanese TV talk show. In Yoshimoto, M., Tsai, E. & Choi, J. (eds.), Television, Japan, and globalization (pp. 27-50). Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan Press.
Japan Foundation (2003). Aratatana Jidai no Gaiko to Kokusaikoryu no Aratatana Yakuwari (Diplomacy in a new era and a new role for international exchange). Tokyo: International Exchange Research Group.
JETRO—Japan External Trade Organization (2005). ‘Cool’ Japan’s economy warms up https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/reports/market/pdf/2005_27_r.pdf.
Kayama, R. (2002). Puchi nashonarizumu shokogun (Petit nationalism syndrome). Tokyo: Chuo koron shiinsha.
Kingston, J. & Asano, K. (2012). Japanese mass media self-immolation protest over Abe government’s constitutional coup. The Asia-Pacific Journal 10(54), 1-7.
Kitayama, Y. (2018). The rise of the far right in Japan, and challenges posed for education. London Review of Education 16(2), 250-67. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.16.2.06.
Kittaka, L. G. (2019, December 30). British guy, Japanese in-law, one house equals NHK World’s hit comedy ‘Home Sweet Tokyo.’ Japan Forward. https://japan-forward.com/british-guy-japanese-in-law-one-house-equals-nhk-worlds-hit-comedy-home-sweet-tokyo/
Krauss, E.S. (2017). NHK: The changing and unchanging politics of semi-independence. In Kingston, J. (ed.). Press freedom in contemporary Japan. London: Routledge.
Lie, J. (2001). Ruth Benedict’s legacy of shame: Orientalism and Occidentalism in the study of Japan. Asian Journal of Social Science 29(2), 249-261.
Lutz, C. & Collins, J. (1991). The photograph as an intersection of gazes: The example of National Geographic. Visual Anthropology Review 7(1), 134-49.
https://doi.org/10.1525/var.1991.7.1.134.
McLelland, M. (ed). (2017). The end of Cool Japan: Ethical, legal, and cultural challenges to Japanese popular culture. London: Routledge.
McVeigh, B. J. (2006). Nationalisms of Japan: Managing and mystifying identity. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
Matsui, T. (2014). Nation branding through stigmatized popular culture: The ‘Cool
Japan’ craze among central ministries in Japan. Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and
Management 48, 81-97. http://doi.org/10.15057/26980.
METI—Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2012). ‘Cool Japan Strategy.’ Creative Industries Division, https://www.meti.go.jp/english/policy/mono_info_service/creative_industries/pdf/120116_01a.pdf.
Miller, L. (1995). Crossing ethnolinguistic boundaries: A preliminary look at the gaijin tarento in Japan. In J.A. Lent (ed), Asian Popular Culture (pp. 189-201). Boulder: Westview Press.
Miller, L. (2011). Cute masquerade and the pimping of Japan. International Journal of Japanese Sociology 20(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6781.2011.01145.x.
Morris-Suzuki, T. (2002). Immigration and citizenship in contemporary Japan. In Maswood, J., Graham, J. & Miyajima, H. (eds.), Japan—Change and continuity (pp. 163-78). London: Routledge.
Nakamura, K. (2001). Convergence and competition: Policy issues in Japan. In Nakamura, K. & Agata, K. (eds.). Convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting in Japan, United Kingdom and Germany (pp. 141-159). London: Routledge.
Perkins, C. (2010). The banality of boundaries: Performance of the nation in a Japanese television comedy. Television & New Media 11(5), 386-403.
Ryall, J. (2017, September 9). ‘Pollution by tourism’: How Japan fell out of love with visitors from China and beyond. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2110388/pollution-tourism-how-japan-fell-out-love-visitors-china-and.
St. Michel, P. (2017, November 23). BJ Fox navigates life in Japan as a stay-at-home dad in the sitcom ‘Home Sweet Tokyo.’ Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/11/23/tv/b-j-fox-navigates-life-japan-stay-home-dad-sitcom-home-sweet-tokyo/
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Saito, Y. (2017, November 6). Cool Japan Fund’s big ambitions mostly fall flat. Nikkei Asian Review, https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Cool-Japan-Fund-s-big-ambitions-mostly-fall-flat.
Schäfer, F. (2009). The re-articulation of cultural studies in Japan and its consequences for
Japanese Studies. International Journal of Cultural Studies 12(1), 23-41.
Shimazu, N. (ed). (2006). Nationalisms in Japan. London: Routledge.
Shirana, M. & Ikeda, T. (2017). Japan is Great. (Trans. Essertier, J.). The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus 15(3). https://apjjf.org/2017/03/Shirana.html.
Snow, N. (2019). NHK, Abe, and the world: Japan’s pressing needs in the path to 2020. Asian Journal of Journalism and Media Studies 2, 15-27.
Surak, K. (2013). Making tea, making Japan: Cultural nationalism in practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Suzuki, S. (2015). Nationalism lite? The commodification of non-Japanese speech in Japanese media. Japanese Language and Literature 49(2), 509-29.
Hayakawa, T. (2017). The story of the nation: ‘Japan Is Great.’ (Trans. Essertier, J.) The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus 15(6). https://apjjf.org/2017/06/Hayakawa.html.
Tamaki, T. (2017, April 26). Japan has turned its culture into a powerful political tool. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/japan-has-turned-its-culture-into-a-powerful-political-tool-72821.
Tsunoda, T. (1985). The Japanese brain: Uniqueness and universality. Yoshinori Oiwa (trans.). Tokyo: Taishukan Publishing Company.
Valaskivi, K. (2013). A brand new future? Cool Japan and the social imaginary of the branded nation. Japan Forum 25(4), 485-504.
Wallace, C. (2016). Japanese nationalism today—Risky, resurgence, necessary evil or new normal? Mejiro Journal of Humanities 12, 63-77.
Yamaguchi, T. (2013). Xenophobia in action: Nationalism, hate speech, and the internet in Japan. Radical History Review 117, 98-118. https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-2210617.
Yoshimoto, M., Tsai E. & Choi, J. (eds.). (2010). Television, Japan, and globalization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Yoshino, K. (1992). Cultural nationalism in contemporary Japan: A sociological enquiry. London: Routledge.