Cool Japan: the relationships between the state and the cultural industries

Acknowledgements 2

Abstract 4

List of figures 5

List of tables 5

Abbreviations 5

Glossary 8

Notes 9

Introduction 10

0.1 Structure of the thesis 17

Chapter 1: Business and politics in Japan 21

1.1 Introduction 21

1.2 The developmental state 23

1.2.1 The concept 23

1.2.2 The varieties of capitalism literature 31

1.3 Japan’s state-business relations 38

1.3.1 The debate on the dominance of the bureaucracy 38

1.3.2 The characteristics of state-business relations in Japan 47

1.3.3 The cultural, content and creative industries 55

1.3.4 State-cultural industries relations in Japan 61

1.4 Conclusion 65

Chapter 2: Theoretical framework and methodology 67

2.1 Introduction 67

2.2 State-business relations theories 69

2.2.1 Corporatism 69

2.2.2 Pluralism 72

2.2.3 Marxism 77

2.2.4 Elitism 81

2.3 The analytical framework of the developmental state 85

2.3.1 The features of the developmental state 85

2.3.2 The evolution of the developmental state 97

2.3.3 The developmental state and the cultural industries 106

2.4 Methodology 108

2.4.1 Quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods 108

2.4.2 Case studies method 111

2.4.3 Sources used in this research 112

2.4.4 Theoretical and practical limitations to the methodology of this thesis 114

2.5 Conclusion 116

Chapter 3: Cultural industries in Japan 118

3.1 Introduction 118

3.2 The characteristics of the Japanese cultural industries 119

3.3 The structure of the Japanese cultural industries 125

3.3.1 The structure of the anime industry 126

3.3.2 The structure of the video games industry 131

3.3.3 The structure of the manga industry 134

3.4 The Japanese cultural industries and the domestic market 135

3.4.1 The Japanese anime market 136

3.4.2 The Japanese video games market 138

3.4.3 The Japanese manga market 143

3.5 Conclusion 146

Chapter 4: The global growth of Japanese popular culture 149

4.1 Introduction 149

4.2 Japanese popular culture and the foreign markets 150

4.2.1 The exports of anime 152

4.2.2 The exports of manga 155

4.2.3 The exports of video games 157

4.3 The dissemination of Japan’s pop culture by companies 159

4.3.1 East Asia 159

4.3.2 Europe 164

4.3.3 The US 169

4.4 The dissemination of Japan’s pop culture by piracy and fans’ activities 172

4.4.1 Illegal flows in East Asia 172

4.4.2 The role of fans 177

4.5 Conclusion 184

Chapter 5: The Cool Japan policy 186

5.1 Introduction 186

5.2 State actors and the development of the cultural industries overseas 188

5.2.1 The Cabinet Office 188

5.2.2 The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 193

5.2.3 The J-LOP and the J-LOP+ 204

5.2.4 The Cool Japan Fund 209

5.2.5 The Japan External Trade Organization 215

5.2.6 The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 220

5.2.7 The Agency for Cultural Affairs 224

5.2.8 The Japan Tourism Agency 226

5.3 State actors and the improvement of Japan’s soft power 230

5.3.1 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 231

5.3.2 The Japan Foundation 234

5.4 Conclusion 238

Chapter 6: The Cool Japan policy and the anime, manga and video games sectors 242

6.1 Introduction 242

6.2 The anime industry 244

6.2.1 The reactions to the Cool Japan policy 244

6.2.2 The institutional links between the anime industry and the state 252

6.2.3 The issue of piracy 258

6.2.4 The heterogeneity of the anime industry 260

6.3 The manga industry 261

6.3.1 The reactions to the Cool Japan policy 261

6.3.2 The institutional links between the manga industry and the state 264

6.3.3 The issue of piracy 265

6.3.4 The heterogeneity of the manga industry 268

6.4 The video games industry 269

6.4.1 The reactions to the Cool Japan policy 269

6.4.2 The institutional links between the video games industry and the state 272

6.4.3 The issue of piracy 275

6.4.4 The heterogeneity of the video games industry 278

6.5 Conclusion 279

Chapter 7: Conclusion 281

7.1 Theoretical contributions 281

7.2 Empirical findings 285

7.3 Suggestions for future research 290

Bibliography 294

Appendices 339

Appendix A: List of the interviewees 339

Appendix B: Euro/¥ Yearly Average Exchange Rates 341

Appendix C: $US/¥ Yearly Average Exchange Rates 342

1990 342

144.998685 342

1991 342

134.590917 342

1992 342

126.780118 342

1993 342

111.075476 342

1994 342

102.178964 342

1995 342

93.964940 342

1996 342

108.780000 342

1997 342

121.058127 342

1998 342

130.989167 342

1999 342

113.761921 342

2000 342

107.797888 342

2001 342

121.449114 342

2002 342

125.471332 342

2003 342

115.813429 342

2004 342

108.110713 342

2005 342

110.018656 342

2006 342

116.321732 342

2007 342

117.788794 342

2008 342

103.495694 342

2009 342

93.588693 342

2010 342

87.806972 342

2011 342

79.829741 342

2012 342

79.843166 342

2013 342

97.589811 342

2014 342

105.858149 342

2015 342

121.055814 342

Appendix D: Yuan/¥ Yearly Average Exchange Rates 343

1990 343

30.331951 343

1991 343

25.253585 343

1992 343

23.010732 343

1993 343

19.169456 343

1994 343

11.823342 343

1995 343

11.227046 343

1996 343

13.045161 343

1997 343

14.551590 343

1998 343

15.779136 343

1999 343

13.742789 343

2000 343

13.021145 343

2001 343

14.668888 343

2002 343

15.159258 343

2003 343

14.002744 343

2004 343

13.067352 343

2005 343

13.439892 343

2006 343

14.594641 343

2007 343

15.459842 343

2008 343

14.888195 343

2009 343

13.639809 343

2010 343

12.966023 343

2011 343

12.353752 343

2012 343

12.656439 343

2013 343

15.867126 343

2014 343

17.198795 343

2015 343

19.268729 343

Appendix E: Anime market in the US 343

Appendix F: Entertainment and media market by country in 2011 344