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

3.5 Conclusion

This chapter analyzed the structure and characteristics of the Japanese cultural industries. It also detailed the evolution of the domestic market, respectively since the beginning of the 1990s for the manga industry, since the mid-90s for the video games one, and since the beginning of the 2000s for the anime one. The Japanese cultural industries have become very high-skilled in manufacturing commodified popular culture on a massive scale. Whilst big companies are involved in the production of Japanese pop culture, at the same time thousands of small companies and venture start-ups are also engaged in the production of popular culture. Tokyo represents the hub of Japan’s cultural industries, especially the districts of Akihabara, Shibuya and Harajuku.

The production committee system began to spread in the mid-1990s to fund the production of anime. It is now the most common way of funding anime because the members of the committee share financially the risk. The structure of the video games sector consists of hardware manufacturers (home and portable consoles) and software makers (game publishers and developers). However, it does not mean that video games companies focus only on one activity. The structure of manga publishers is divided into mangaka, editors in charge of publishing, binding and printing manga magazines and manga books, and retailers that sell manga to consumers.

The Japanese cultural industries are characterized by close relationships with their consumers. They cultivate close relationships with amateurs as well. The case of dōjinshi and otaku illustrate both relationships. Otaku symbolize the close proximity between this sector and their customers. In the case of dōjinshi, each side gains an advantage in this reciprocal system. For example, on the one hand, amateur mangaka drawing dōjinshi can hope to be recruited by editors. On the other hand, manga publishers are aware that dōjinshi can train new talent.

The domestic market of the Japanese cultural industries is the second biggest of the world after the US. It represents approximately 5.7 per cent of the world market. According to the DCAJ, the domestic market was estimated at ¥11.89 trillion in 2012. It decreased significantly from 2007 until 2009, and since then has been stagnant. If we examine the Japanese anime market, we note that it increased significantly between 2002 and 2005. Yet, the sales dropped between 2005 and 2009. Sales have improved since 2009, but they are still below the peak of 2005. If we consider the anime market in a broad sense, it continuously rose between 2002 until 2008, from ¥1.1 trillion to ¥1.41 trillion. In 2009, it decreased to ¥1.28 trillion, and since then has regularly increased with a peak (¥1.49 trillion) reached in 2013.

Concerning the video games market, the collapse of the software sales is spectacular. Indeed, between 1997 and 2012, the sales of video games sharply dropped 50 per cent. If we aggregate the sales of hardware and software, their peak was reached in 1997. After a strong drop of the sales until 2004, they grew massively until 2007. Since then, the combined sales of hardware and software have fallen. Though the arcade video games market contracted between 2006 and 2011, it is still more important in 2011 than the video games market. In the sector of video games, the segment of online games, in particular mobile games, have skyrocketed since the mid-2000s to the point that mobile games nowadays are the most important segment of the video industry.

Lastly, the sales of manga magazines have drastically fallen since their peak in 1995: a collapse of around 53 per cent. The situation of the sales of manga books is different because their peak was in 2005. However, since 2005, the sales of manga books have steadily decreased. In 2012, they were almost equivalent to those in 1992. Both sales combined, the best year of the Japanese manga market sales was in 1995. Yet, since 1995, the combined sales have massively been reduced. In the last ten years, the consumption of electronic manga have developed. This has led publishers to edit more electronic manga than before.

Whether it be the industries of anime, manga or video games, they have to cope with a structural change: the massive development of the Internet. This has profoundly modified the way of consuming popular culture. The Internet will probably force the anime, manga and video games industries to deliver their products directly via downloading and/or streaming for smartphones, tablets and laptops. The current boom of electronic manga and online games proves that the structure of the cultural industries is evolving. The stagnation of the Japanese economy and the shrinking of the young population will give more incentive for them to consider the foreign markets. In order to set the scene for Chapters 5 and 6, it is necessary to analyze the exports of Japanese pop culture in the next chapter.

Chapter 4: The global growth of Japanese popular culture

4.1 Introduction

Teachers of Japanese and scholars in Japanese studies can testify that it is the current popularity of Japan’s pop culture that has led young people around the world to learn Japanese and to enroll in Japanese university-related courses. Previously, in the 1980s, it was the economic performance and business management that triggered an interest in Japan. According to the Japan Foundation, the dissemination of anime and manga has provoked a surge of students learning Japanese. Among the reasons, watching anime, reading manga and listening to J-pop are often cited (54 per cent). The number of foreigners studying Japanese abroad rose from 127,000 in 1979 to almost 4 million in 2012 (Japan Foundation, 2013a). Therefore, learning Japanese is one of the ripple effects of the dissemination of Japanese pop culture. Another ripple effect is to come to Japan as tourists. Sugiura Tsutomu, an economist, expressed his surprise that two young French, friends of his son, returned to their country without having visited either Kyoto or Kamakura. They rather visited the districts of Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro with the specific purpose of purchasing manga (Sugiura, 2008: 132).

It is not the first time in history that Japanese culture has attracted attention worldwide. The first wave of Japanism took place at the end of the 19^th century and the second emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. In both waves, the focus was on traditional culture such as pottery, lacquerware, tea ceremony, ikebana (flower arrangement), calligraphy, kimono and martial arts. The interest was limited to a narrow group of intellectuals and Japanophiles. In contrast to both these periods, the current attraction of Japan, the third wave of Japanism, rests on its contemporary pop culture. Moreover, rather than limited to the elites, Japanese pop culture has spread to the general public, especially among the young people (Sugiura, 2008: 133-4).

The aim of this chapter is to explain how Japanese pop culture (anime, manga and video games) has been massively disseminated around the world since the 1980s. The focus is on East Asia⁵⁶, Europe and the US. These three regions represent the most important markets for Japanese pop culture, demonstrating that it has acquired a worldwide audience. To avoid any misunderstanding, this chapter does not explain why this pop culture has attracted fans around the world (Iwabuchi, 2002; Kelts, 2006; MacWilliams, 2008), but focuses on how it has been disseminated abroad. In the first section, data are presented as evidence of the global growth of Japan’s pop culture. In the second one, the dissemination by Japanese and foreign companies is detailed. The last section of this chapter analyses the importance of piracy and fans’ activities in the global spread of Japanese pop culture.