Cool Japan

Conducting research on cute character mascots for the upcoming soon-to-be-a-bestseller Hello Please, I kept stumbing across quotes from a man by the name of Tomoyuki Sugiyama, author of the Japanese-language book Cool Japan: Why the World is Buying into Japan. Intrigued, I snagged a copy for a closer look.

It's the latest in a growing genre of books explaining why otaku-generated content is Japan's Next Big Thing to the powers that be. Sugiyama's qualification is that he's the founder of Digital Hollywood, a -- somewhat ironically named, given what he's hawking -- Tokyo school for budding digital artists and designers.

Sample chapters include far-ranging fare such as "Why the Anime boom took off in Europe before America" (the fact most of the shows were actually broadcast there played a big part), "What does 'Speed Racer' being popular among MIT students mean?" (that anime tropes have the same ability to move American engineers as Japanese), "Why Katsuhiro Otomo, Rumiko Takahashi, and Leiji Matsumoto are so popular abroad" (their ability to synthesize an essence of mechanical design, violence, and sexual drama in ways that don't naturally occur to non-Japanese), "Exporting the otaku soul" (what it says), "Why aren't animators compensated at levels commesurate with the size of the industry?" (way too many fingers in the pie), and my personal favorite, "Anime created the 'loose socks' fashion trend!"

Don't let the last fool you. After all the ink spilled by American "experts" on the topic of Japanese pop cultural ascendence, it's fascinating to finally see a Japanese take on the phenomenon. If there's any issue with the book, it's that it's structured as a series of quick anecdotes and op-ed essays rather than as investigative journalism. Case in point: he pins the blame for the decrease in the amount of Japanese anime on American airwaves not on a lack of good content, but rather squarely on Japan's lack of trained entertainment laywers -- in other words, because Japanese creators consistently get screwed when they try to negotiate with Americans. Great stuff, but I wish he'd expanded on it, perhaps by including some actual quotes or statistics to shore up the argument (I know, I know -- good luck getting anyone in the industry here to complain on the record.)

So what's the scoop? In a grossly simplified nutshell, Sugiyama proposes what could be called the "Otaku, Inc." approach: teaching otaku-related techniques (i.e., manga/anime illustration, game design, etc.) in concert with hard sciences at the university level so as to create an army of new "content engineers." Of course, savvy students have been doing just this on their own for years, but Sugiyama's endgame is the establishment of an "alternate Hollywood," where creators that realize the value of their content have the tools and know-how to make it work on a global level. In a world where countries like China and India are poised on the brink of becoming economic superpowers, Sugiyama suggests that Japan's inherent "cool quotient" will make the difference between continued success and falling by the economic wayside.

If all of this sounds dangerously close to taking all the fun out of everything, let me re-cast things in anime terms: he wants to place the remote-control box for the Gigantor that is the Japanese economy in the hands of so many short-pants-wearing otaku. Crush them, Nippon-Robo!

Comments

[hillsy]

There is a show on NHK (here in the US, some areas have a subscription channel called TVJapan that appears to be just an NHK feed) called "Cool Japan", where gaikokujin "correspondents" appear on a show to tell the Japanese host what they think is "cool" about Japan. Some of it is intriguing such as the chants of the sweet potato merchant, or the little songs used by the trains to signify direction of the train. Invariably though, a "correspodent" brings up manga, anime, or loose socks. It's interesting that it's always what the foreigners think of as "cool" and never a Japanese opinion.

[Matt]

In the rare cases that Japanese commenators do get a voice abroad, they're inevitably controversial, like Shintaro Ishihara's nationalistic screed _The Japan That Can Say No_. There doesn't seem to be much (if any) market for foreign commentary on American topics in the USA, whereas in Japan there is a positive hunger for foreign opinions on nearly any Japanese topic, no matter how mundane (what exactly DOES qualify one as a loose socks commentator, anyway?)

A few years back, the dynamic duo of Beat Takeshi and Hawaiian sumo wrestler Konishiki hosted a show called "You're Weird, Japan," where they tackled such earth-shaking issues as whether kids were embarassed to move their bowels while at school in other countries, too. (The real reason most Japanese tuned into the show, I suspect, was to see the inevitable weekly screaming match break out among the numerous foreign panelists.) I can't imagine a similar show taking off in the United States.

[Ike]

"You're Weird Japan" started off as an interesting show. I was still in college and showed it to some of my friends and tey thought it was interesting. I'm half-Japanese, but I tend to agree with what the foreigners say in the show although sometimes I can't stand their arrogance like they're looking down upon the Japanese. The show eventually got lame though, became more like the typical variety show, except with gaijins.

But the idea of giving creators a business mindset is definitely an important thing. It also happens in the videogames industry. I believe this is where the industry truly needs to mature because right now, it just seems like the foreign market and non-industry people are sucking the industry dry. Who gets paid more in a company? The programmer who puts in 18 hours a day? No, it's the sales coordinator who doesn't know jack about games that earns 2-3 times the money. If the programmer knew a thing or two about sales, man what a difference it would make.

[Steve Harrison]

Well, at the risk of being one of those 'so called' experts, I can say with complete authority and clarity that the reason there's little anime on TV is not because Japanese lawyers are weak, it's because the 'content providers' have a 30 year old view of the American TV marketplace, in both understanding *what* would be popular and the overpricing of the licenses.

What 'Japan Inc' wants is Gundam running on NBC at 8:30 on Tues as a lead in to a hit drama. This would have signified succes in 1979, but THAT IS JUST UTTERLY UNREALISTIC.

Broadcast standards have tightened to the point where NO anime series could run unaltered. Combined with the utter death of Kidvid programming blocks on local stations, there's no place to syndicate a show now. And the old days of Battle of the Planets, Robotech and Macron 1 (in other words, totally altering and mangling the original in an effort to express non-creative creativity) just aren't acceptable. The idea of 'hiding' that a show is a Japanese production doesn't work now. You might point to Pokemon and Power Rangers as successes, but they both struggle along, shadows of their former selves. and it might be argued that Power Rangers really stumbled until the production people gave up trying to force things in an established mode(making everything as if it was more Jyuranger) and went with the Japanese way- a new show every year.

The way to succeed is to break out of the old thinking of America as the land of golden streets, and understand it's just another market to *partner* with.

and I'm ranting, and I apologize, because I so much would love to have a discussion about these things with a person like Mr. Sugiyama....and Toei? I can make your US operations a success....

[Matt]

There's always going to be haves and have-nots in any large business organization, but the question of why many translators aren't compensated in keeping with the amount of work they put into game titles is a whole 'nother discussion. That said, Cool Japan actually paints a rosier portrait of the game industry overall, because fewer entities have their fingers in the revenue stream as compared to the anime industry. Although the anime industry is huge, there are so many business "units" involved in the process that the actual payoffs to the individual "players" are quite low.

Gundam's troubles run a lot deeper than scheduling issues. I don't think Japanese animation companies expect to see the American version of their shows air in prime time, but the competition for prime time-slots is fierce, and I suspect localized content is a lot harder of a sell than stuff designed for American audiences from the get-go. Coupled with the fact that the Cartoon Network and other traditional venues for anime have started developing a lot of their own original content rather than licensing, it's not going to get any easier, either...

[hillsy]

I find the Sentai/Ranger scenario interesting. When it started, they used the original battle scenes (human and robot), and inserted gaijin in the character development scenes. Now, they work with the studio to produce all new footage. With Dekaranger, they started using JUST the robot battles, creating all new human fight scenes. They even made subtle changes to the costume of the "leader" for the US market. Looks like you can't just slap dubs on something anymore....

[Matt]

Definitely! There's a right way and a wrong way to go about things, but I suspect those who complain endlessly about the "unauthorized changes" made to their favorite anime/manga/shows during the localization process have no idea of the lengths most Japanese creators will go to in order to modify their works for foreign tastes.

[Steve Harrison]

But here's where it gets interesting, and hopefully I won't sound too snippy...

I contend that since the early '90s, Japan's entertainment industry turned it's back on the American market and by default the overseas customers and became much more 'Japan-centric' in its output. Partially narrowing the focus due to Otaku money and trying to leverage money away from the Video game boom, but more just...I really have no way to explain it other than to say stuff is much more keyed to Japanese culture and life.

Compare Mazinger Z with Godannar, picture both of them being considered for airing on a barter syndication kidvid block. Picture the process of making them 'safe' for broadcast. Yeah, not gonna matter too much if the Godannar creators have 'input' on the localization process...

It's simply that times are very very different now, and running the '70s playbook just won't work.

[Matt]

Can't agree with you about anyone "turning their backs" on the US market -- the demand for a book like _Cool Japan_ is proof of that -- but there's no doubt that the playing field's changed tremendously since the 1970s. Impact of video games aside, the anime industry has balkanized into mass-market (like, say, anything from Ghibli, or One Piece or Naruto) and ultra-niche-market stuff (like Tachiguishi Retsuden) over the last few years.

The big quesion (and the point of _Cool Japan_) is whether Japan can sustain and thrive upon its image as a factory for cutting-edge trends and entertainment in the years ahead. We'll have to wait another decade or so to know the answer to that one.

[Steve Harrison]

All due respect, the whole statement was about Japan's entertainment industry (read anime) turning it's back on the US AND turning inward, becoming more Japan-centric.

Hence late night satellite shows sponsered by video labels, producing product to be sent to the rental and sell-thru market for short term profit.

Hence Ghibli movies are more and more inscrutable to the western audence, and thus less accessable. Compare Nausicca with Howl's Moving Castle. Yes, they sell in the US, I contend due mostly to the Disney name and the impression "these are all brilliant movies so they must be good!" thinking. Be honest, we all know there are people who will buy something because they're TOLD it's a sign of being 'cool' and 'in'.

(Disclaimer: I don't have a high regard for Miyazaki and consider him having been locked in chasing his own tail for over 10 years, and if not for the other folk at Ghibli he'd have been put to pasture sometime around Porco Rosso)

It seems, from my little bunker, that nothing is ALLOWED to find its audence anymore, there's really no more 50-some episode TV series that start slow and find its niche, it was not too long ago that 26 eps were the norm but now it seems 13 is the number. There's no TIME.

but I rant and I apologize. the heat makes the frustration level rise to the surface :)

[Steve Harrison]

Oh, and lest I forget..

Doozy Bots.

I win. ;)

[Ginrai]

What I find interesting here is the suggestion that artists are paid money befitting their effort. Pfft. That doesn't happen anywhere. The huge corporation makes the big bucks, and the writers and actors and animators et cetera get a tiny tiny crumb. Yeah, Hollywood is like that, you know.

And I think a lot the problem with anime coming now and getting on TV, at least for me, is that it's just craaaaap.

[Matt]

Sugiyama's approach is macro, and so by "creators" I believe he's referring to the rights holders or owners of the IP, not necessarily the artists who drew/sculpted/created the content. Sometimes they're one and the same. More often than not, they aren't. I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

My issue with a lot of the stuff coming out of the anime (and game, and toy) industry these days isn't that it's overly Japan-centric but that it bends over backwards to appeal to a broad and often international audience. I miss the days when "anime" translated into "mindlessly degenerate fun." I realize these two references are going to mark me as a crotchety old man, but what happened to films like "Crusher Joe" or shows like "Fist of the Northstar?" Sometimes I think the genre has grown too self-conscious of its own importance for such wild flights of fancy anymore.