Karlstads universitet 651 88 Karlstad Tfn 054-700 10 00 Fax 054-700 14 60
[email protected] www.kau.se
Faculty for economy, communication and IT
Johan Lindell
Japanization?
Japanese Popular Culture among Swedish Youth
Media and Communication Studies III C-Thesis
Date/Term: 11/6 VT08
Supervisor: Miyase Christensen
Examiner: Christian Christensen
Abstract
Japanese presence on the global cultural market has steadily been increasing throughout the
last decades. Fan-communities all over the world are celebrating the Japanese culture and
cultural identity no longer seems bound to the local. This thesis is an empirical study which
aims to examine the transnational flow of Japanese popular culture into Sweden. The author
addresses the issue with three research questions; what unique dimensions could be ascribed
to Swedish anime-fandom, what is appealing about Japanese popular culture and how is it
influencing fan-audiences? To enable deeper understanding of the phenomenon, a qualitative
research consisting of semi-structured telephone-interviews and questionnaires, was
conducted with Swedish fans of Japanese popular culture. The results presented in this thesis
indicate that the anime-community in Sweden possesses several unique dimensions, both in
activities surrounding Japanese popular culture and consumption and habits. Japanese popular
culture fills a void that seems to exist in domestic culture. It is different, and that is what is
appealing to most fans. Anime and manga have inspired fans to learn about the Japanese
culture, in some cases, Japanese popular culture has in a way “japanized” fans – making them
wish they were born in Japan.
Key words: Japanization, Japanese transnationalism, popular culture, fan-communities,
anime, manga, globalization
INDEX
1. INTRODUCTION 3
1.1 BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 PURPOSE ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2.1 Research questions .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 TERMINOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................ 5
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7
2.1 GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURE ................................................................................................................. 7 2.1.1 Cultural Imperialism Questioned........................................................................................................ 9 2.1.2 The Concept of Cultural Proximity................................................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Japanese Transnationalism............................................................................................................... 13
2.2 GLOBALIZATION, MEDIA AND IDENTITY.................................................................................................. 18 2.2.1 Question of Cultural Identity ............................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2 Media Fandom................................................................................................................................... 21
2.3 THE ACTIVE AUDIENCE – PREVIOUS RESEARCH ...................................................................................... 24 2.3.1 The Nationwide study ........................................................................................................................ 25 2.3.2 The Export of Meaning ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.3.3 The Anime Fan .................................................................................................................................. 26
3. METHODOLOGY 28
3.1 QUALITATIVE METHOD ............................................................................................................................. 28 3.1.1 Reception Analysis............................................................................................................................. 28 3.1.2 Semi-structured interviews ................................................................................................................ 29 3.1.3 Survey – Questionnaire ..................................................................................................................... 30
3.2 RESEARCH CREDIBILITY........................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1 Validity ............................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.2 Reliability ........................................................................................................................................... 32
4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 33
4.1 THE UNIQUE DIMENSIONS OF JAPANESE TRANSNATIONALISM............................................................... 33 4.1.1 Anime Fandom .................................................................................................................................. 33 4.1.2 Culturally Distant? - What is appealing about Japanese Popular Culture? ................................... 41
4.2 QUESTIONS OF JAPANIZATION .................................................................................................................. 45 4.2.1 Culturally Odorless? .......................................................................................................................... 45 4.2.2 Evoking a Japanese way of life? ....................................................................................................... 48
5. CONCLUSION 52
6. REFERENCES 55
7. APPENDIX 58
7.1 APPENDIX 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 58 7.1.1 Interview manual ............................................................................................................................... 58 7.1.2 Transcriptions .................................................................................................................................... 59
7.2 APPENDIX 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 81 7.2.1 Questionnaire..................................................................................................................................... 81
2
“The line outside the youth-centre in Vallentuna is long and filled with teenagers
dressed up in Japanese-inspired clothes. They’re waiting to get into Domokon 02, an
event aimed at those who like Japanese popular culture. At the front of the line stand
Lchigo and Retasu from the movie Mew Mew. In real life their names are Ida and
Angelica and they’re wearing colourful dresses with matching wigs. They’re from
Karlstad and are here to cosplay.”
- Zappaaa’s weblog. September 23, 2007
3
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The excerpt from Zappa’s weblog works excellently in introducing the topic for this thesis. It
tells us about a contemporary phenomenon that has been occurring in many western countries
during the last years. It tells us about teenagers dressing up and standing in line for an event
celebrating a complete foreign culture. It tells us about the international impact of Japanese
popular culture.
Over the last decades Japanese popular culture such as anime, manga and videogames have
been flowing out of Japan into an international market with increasing success. Now
perceived by a world-audience, Japanese popular culture is widely celebrated across the
globe. Today “the global market in Japanese youth products has skyrocketed, these exports
now exceed what had been the leading industries in Japans post-war economy, automobiles
and steel”1 and “everything Japanese is in- and oh, so ‘cute’!”.2 Today one could argue that
Japanese cultural commodities, not only media technologies such as mp3-players, gaming-
consoles, digital cameras and cell-phones but also media content such as Super Mario and
Pokémon are increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives. The recent openings of
“Sweden’s first J-store” Tokyo Stop where customers can visit and “breathe, read, smell, taste
and live Japanese popular culture”, Japanese music-store New Nippon, Japanese dance-club
Klubb Shibuya illustrates the increasing popularity and presence of Japan in Sweden.3
According to Publishers Weekly Japanese comic books, Manga, was the best selling comic
books alongside with Mickey Mouse in Sweden in 2005. And similar trends seem to take
place in Finland:
Manga and anime are now household names for the Finnish young people, and the love of comics and
animated films also lead to a deeper interest in the Japanese language, country and people. This is not a
Finnish phenomenon only; the same can be seen in the other Nordic countries and more widely in Europe,
too.4
1 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 12. 2 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 1. 3 http://tokyostop.typepad.com/ 4 Saarela, A. Current Issues Between Japan and Finland. Embassy of Finland, Tokyo. 2007 http://www.finland.or.jp/netcomm/news/ShowArticle.asp?intNWSAID=61355&intToPrint=1&LAN=EN
4
The quote above refers to Finnish Minister-Counsellor Anu Saarela´s speech at Fukuyama
Finland Society in Tokyo last year. Even though not referring to any scientific facts, Saarela
has, like many of us, noticed that the inflow, and increasing exposure of Japanese culture, has
had a great impact on our everyday lives, and as argued by Saarela, in fact come to promote a
“deeper interest in the Japanese language, country and people”.5
1.2 Purpose
The main purpose of this thesis is to try to grasp- and get a deeper understanding for the
discourse of Japanization. By conducting empirical research and looking back on previous
studies in the field, I aim to examine what the impact of the transnational flow of Japanese
popular culture into Sweden is, and in what way it is influential within certain Swedish
audiences. Anime fandom is one of the results of Japanese transnationalism and this thesis
tries to examine the uniqueness of anime fandom. Also, a standpoint in this thesis is that the
cultural proximities (further discussed in 2.1.2 The concept of Cultural Proximity) between
Sweden and Japan are few, making the question of “what is appealing about Japanese popular
culture” an interesting and interlinked issue that needs to be addressed in order to further
examine the impact of Japanese popular culture in Sweden.
1.2.1 Research questions
What unique dimensions could be ascribed to Swedish anime fandom?
What is considered to be appealing about Japanese popular culture within fan-
audiences?
In what ways is Japanese popular culture influential within Swedish fan-communities?
5 Saarela, A. Current Issues Between Japan and Finland. Embassy of Finland, Tokyo. 2007 http://www.finland.or.jp/netcomm/news/ShowArticle.asp?intNWSAID=61355&intToPrint=1&LAN=EN
5
1.3 Terminology
There are, within the community I have conducted my empirical study on, many different
words and expressions that might not be comprehensible for any non-anime-fan trying to take
part of this thesis. In this chapter I will briefly explain the meanings of some fundamental
terms which may assist when taking part of the text.
Anime – The word “anime” simply means “animation”, anime is Japanese cartoons, often
based upon Japanese comic books, manga.6 Anime, unlike most western cartoons, is aimed
towards consumers in all ages. Patrick Drazen argues that the Japanese do not see cartoons as
entertainment aimed at children only: on the contrary, anime also explores more serious
themes such as love, death, and war.7 Anime TV-series and movies are often subtitled by fans
and available to download from the Internet, called fan-subs. Anime in its original, non-
subtitled form are referred to as “raws”.8
Cosplay – “The term cosplay combines the words costume and play (or role-play)”.9 The
meaning of cosplaying is to dress up as a fictional character from an anime or manga and join
masquerades, posing for photos etc. Cosplaying is heavily associated with fans of Japanese
popular culture but also occurs in other areas such as the gaming-communities.10
IRC/Forum – IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and is a communication-software for
computers. With IRC, people can start discussion-channels and participate in private or public
chats, file-sharing etc.11 Internet-forums are web-based platforms for communication, were
members can create a profile with personal information, answer existing topics created by
other members or create new “threads” (new topics).
Manga – Manga are Japanese comic books that, according to Fredrik Schodt, emerged from
old Japanese traditions of art and the imported physical form of the western comic book. The
6 Schodt. F. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. 1996. p 14 7 Drazen, P. Anime explosion!: The what? Why? & Wow! of Japanese animation. 2003. p 8 8 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 182 9 Ibid. p 65 10 Ibid. p 65 11 http://www.mirc.com/mirc.html
6
content as well as the audience of manga is, just like anime, very diverse. Because of the
Japanese way of writing, manga is read “backwards” by westerns standards.12
Mecha – Mecha is short for mechanicals and in the context of Japanese popular culture, it is
often referred to as “giant robots often piloted and operated by humans”. Mecha is a subgenre
in anime and manga (e.g. Gundam Wing and Neon Genesis Evangelion). Models of mechas
from anime and manga are sold as modelling-kits, “garage-kits” or “gun-pla”, in Japan.13
Otaku – Otaku is roughly translated into nerd or geek (mostly within the context of anime
and manga).14
Shōnen/Shōjo – Japanese popular culture such as anime and manga are marketed towards
audiences groups with specific age and sex: shōnen-manga, .e.g. being aimed at teenage boys
and shōjo towards teenage girls. Other examples of consumer-groups/manga-genres are yōnen
(anime and manga for children), josei (for women) and seinen (for men).15
Studio Ghibli – Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio created by Isao Takahita and
Hayao Miyazaki famous for world-hit anime movies such as Spirited Away, Princess
Mononoke and My Neighbour Totoro.16
Uppcon/Fricon/Närcon/Domokon/Ichiban – Uppcon, Fricon, Närcon etc are all
conventions in different parts of Sweden dedicated to Japanese popular culture. Uppcon,
being the biggest Japanese popular culture convention in Scandinavia is situated in Uppsala
and is an annual event organized by the non-profit organization Uppsalakai. Over 2,000 anime
and manga fans attended Uppcon 08, held in September 2007.17
12 Schodt. F. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. 1996. p 21-22 13 Lunning. F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 69-70. 14 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 52 15 Ibid. p 28 16 McCarthy, H. Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. 1999. p. 9 - 10 17 http://08.uppcon.se/site/start http://www.uppsalakai.org/
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2. Theoretical Framework
In this chapter, I will overview the theoretical context of Japanese transnationalism, since the
issue of “Japanization” evolves around theories on globalization, media, fan-cultures and
identity, this chapter will be a diverse one, reflecting upon a variety of theories from different
fields of research. However, knowing about earlier research is fundamental when trying to
grasp a relatively new phenomenon such as the transnationalism of Japanese popular culture;
what makes it possible for a cultural product to be successful on an international market, what
is the history of Japanese transnationalism and globalizaton, what is a fan? These are all
important questions which this chapter seeks to address and understand.
2.1 Globalization and Culture
For business purposes /…/ the boundaries that separate one nation from the other are no more real than
the equator. They are merely convenient demarcations of ethnic, linguistic and cultural entities. They do
not define business requirements or consumer trends. - IBM18
If we were to explain the contemporary condition of our world with one single phenomenon,
one could argue that “Globalization” would be a suitable one, especially when looking at the
world from a communication theory perspective. The issue of globalization, though, is argued
in Joseph D. Straubhaar’s World Television – From Global to Local to be the dominant
paradigm in many different fields of research of in our time.19
Globalization is, according to Chris Barker, a multidimensional phenomenon, concerning the
world military order, the world-capitalist economy, the nation-system and global information
systems, hence, globalization characterizes our complete existence.20 The increasing
transnational flow of economy, culture, humans etcetera is the result of major technological
land-winnings in modern times and has come to promote an era of globalization in large parts
of the world. With the help of new technologies of communication, mankind has enabled
18 Morely, D & Robbins, K. Spaces of Identity – Global Media, Electronic landscapes and cultural boundaries. 1995. Routledge. P. 10 19 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 19 20 Barker, C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 34
8
herself to be connected with remote places, people and cultures21, thus, contributing to a
“worldwide spread, over both time and space, of a number of new ideas, institutions, and
culturally defined ways of doing things and technologies”.22 According to Marjorie Fergusson
the meaning of globalization differs within proponents, critics and research fields. However,
as Fergusson argues, there is a consensus that globalization refers to “both a journey and a
destination; it signifies an historical process of becoming, as well as an economic and cultural
result; that is, arrival at the global state”.23
According to John Tomlinson globalization is disturbing “the way we conceptualize culture.
For culture has long had connotations tying to the idea of a fixed locality”.24 Although, as
argued by André Jansson, we will always be localized entities since we cannot perceive the
world from another perspective than our own, but in the era of globalization the senses of the
individual are extended and connected to remote places and people, enabling the uprooting of
culture.25
Marshall McLuhan was early to understand the significance of the electronic technology and
the impact it would have on transnational communications. With his Gutenberg’s Galaxy: The
Making of Typographic Man and Understanding the Media: The Extensions of Man, the
former written in 1962 and the latter in 1964, McLuhan coined the term “Global Village”.26 It
is important, though, to realize that the state of globalization, paradoxically, does not address
the entire globe and that global power structures are asymmetrical: there are cultures which
has no access to the modern communication technologies which, in a way, excludes them
from the globalized world. And as a contrast, there are cultures which are more or less
dominant on the global market, such as the United States.27 As discussed in the next chapter,
theorist Herbert Schiller was early to recognize the asymmetrical divide of power in the era of
Global relations.28
21 Jansson. A. Globalisering – Kommunikation och Modernitet. 2004. p 12,18 22 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 79 23 McQuail, D. Communication – Theory & Research. 2005. p 23 24 Tomlinson, J. Globalization and Culture. 1999. p 27 25 Jansson. A. Globalisering – Kommunikation och Modernitet. 2004. p 12 26 McLuhan, M. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1964. p 14 27 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p. 21 28 Scannell, P. Media and Communication. 2007. p 125
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2.1.1 Cultural Imperialism Questioned
Written in the mid 1970’s, Herbert Schiller’s thesis on cultural imperialism, came to pioneer
and alter existing media and communication research. In his Mass Communication and
American Empire Schiller argues that the world has entered a new era of colonization and
imperialism, this time with the United States as the centre of global communication. An
American hegemony is disseminated across the world through cultural commodities: “the new
era is defined by a massive shift in global power structures: The increasing strength of the
American industry is replacing the weakening authorities in Europe”.29
Canada is connected with the USA through a long and undefended boarder. Through osmosis America is
destroying not only our Television but also our values and our culture…American Television has almost
precluded the development of a Canadian cultural identity…through its own incorrect development the
American television has had a negative influence on domestic television in Canada. American TV has
destroyed the television as an art form. It is often said that Russia and China are the potential enemies of
Canada. It is my opinion that the United States constitutes a much more dangerous enemy /…/30
Henry Connor, here quoted in Mass Communication and American Empire, states a clear
example on Schiller’s thesis. By the time that Schiller developed the “cultural imperialism”
thesis he estimated that 75% percent of the Canadian citizens were in reach for the
broadcasting of American TV-stations. And throughout the world, Schiller points out, a
broadcasting network consisting of 38 TV-stations and over 200 radio stations is owned and
operated by the American ministry of defence.31
The results, and the very essence of Schiller’s thesis, is that the enormous extension of
American culture, mainly Television broadcasting, has set up a standardized commercialized
format for broadcasting, printing, radio and other media production forms. Also, it is argued
that the dissemination of cultural commodities constitute a “soft-power” which forces
consumer ideologies and other American values upon receiving countries, “getting others to
29 Schiller, H. Konsten att sälja Ideologi. 1977. p 12-14 [My translation] 30 Ibid. p 28 31 Ibid. p 28-29
10
want what you want”.32 Hence, it is argued that the cultural extension from America will
ultimately be homogenous world-culture under an American hegemony.33
Schiller’s thesis on cultural imperialism is certainly not uncalled for, the US is still the great
distributor of popular culture it was thirty years ago:
Rarely before in human history has there been so massive an intervention of the force and ideas from one
culture to another as there is today from American to the rest of the world.34
More recent research has shown that the US clearly has maintained its leading role on the
global Television market. According to Tim O’Sullivan, the import-percentage of US
Television-shows are still very high around the world. In 2003, 40% of the programs on
Canadian Television were imported from the US, the same numbers apply on western Europe.
In Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America the amount went up to 60%.35
However, modern theorists and researchers have brought more complexity to the issue- and
effects of globalization over the years. Although one could agree that the US-dominated TV-
market brought standardized prototypes for production and distribution of popular culture
across the globe: as argued by Straubhaar, globalization tends to standardize commercial
media models. Tomlinson argues that the issue of cultural imperialism is in fact, the
globalization and decentring of capitalism, hence, the spread of modernity.36 However the
issue of a homogenized world under a dominant American hegemony is a more complex one.
Along with many others, author Koichi Iwabuchi argues that Schiller’s thesis is a discursive
construction rather than an actual empirical fact based upon people’s experiences. Schiller
simply assumes that every TV-consuming individual is interpreting media texts in the same
way, creating ideology from the stimulus of the transnational flows of American culture, and
absorbs the values it carries and in a way becoming Americanized.37 A simple stimulus –
response approach to the complex issue of cultural identity is, of course, a problematic one.
As Iwabuchi argues: “’Americanization’ seems to have reached another level of signification.
32 Branston, G & Stafford, R. The Media Student’s Book. 2006. p 488 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 32 33 Schiller, H. Konsten att sälja Ideologi. 1977. p 62 34 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 32 35 Dutton, B, O’Sullivan, T, Rayner, P. Studying the Media. 2003. p 236 36 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 83 37 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 39
11
It operates at the level of form rather than content”38 supporting Straubhaars and Tomlinsons
earlier statements. Also, when studying cultural globalization one cannot simply ignore other
contenders on the global market. As for one example of what Chris Barker refers to as
“reverse flow” (when the flow of non-western cultural commodities impacts on the western
culture): reggae music, which origins from Central-America, has had a tremendous impact on
the west according to Barker.39 And as I will argue later, Japan has emerged and constantly
grown in its role as a great distributor of transnational culture and thus challenging the
claimed global American hegemony.
One can talk about a paradigm-shift in the studies of culture and globalization, from Cultural
Imperialism - perspective to the Globalization. The increasing flow of culture brings, instead
of homogenization, cultural diversity: “Globalization brings about an organization of diversity
rather than a replication of uniformity”.40 Instead of “homogenization”, contemporary
researchers use the term “hybridization” and “multi-layered identities”. This issue however
will be addressed in 2.2.1 Questions of Cultural Identity.
2.1.2 The Concept of Cultural Proximity
How can a cultural product become a transnational hit – how can a foreign TV-show become
more popular than its domestic counterparts? Joseph D. Straubhaar and Antonio C. La Pastina
argue that the concept of “cultural proximity” is a determining factor when explaining
transnational media-flows.41 The theory of “cultural proximity” addresses the issue of a
cultural similarity or bond between the receiving/transmitting cultures and argues that
“audiences will tend to choose to watch television programs that are closest, most proximate
or most directly relevant to them in cultural and linguistic terms”.42 Although most of the data
collected in their extensive research showed that audiences mostly preferred locally produced
TV-shows, there were cases when imported TV-shows were more popular than the locally
produced. One example from their study is the success of Marimar, a Mexican telenovela43,
in a rural community in Northeast Brazil. In this community religion was very present and, as
38 Ibid. p 153 39 Barker, C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 42 40 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p. 43 41 La Pastina, C & Straubhaar, J. Multiple Proximities between Television Audiences and Genres. 2005. p 1 42 Ibid. p 3 43 Term used for Latin-American-produced television soap-operas
12
one woman in the study put it “this telenovela doesn’t have all of that grabbing and nonsense
you see in most of the others”.44 Also, according to Straubhaar, women in Macambira were
fond of the narrative structure found in Mexican telenovelas. The audience in Macambira felt
a more ideologically proximate towards a foreign text than towards urban Brazilian
productions. Hence, ideological and religious proximities might enable the success of a
foreign text.45 The success of Japanese popular culture, particularly TV-dramas, in Taiwan is
partly explained by the cultural bond, or proximity, between the countries. Iwabuchi puts it:
“Taiwanese share a modern temporality with Japan”46 that is argued to enable Japanese
success in the Taiwanese cultural market. These proximities however, are not shared with the
west, making it hard for the similar Japanese products (TV-dramas) to hit outside the Eastern-
Asian region.47
The success of a foreign cultural product might, according to Iwabuchi, also be explained
through desired proximity with modernity. For example: the United States has long been
reflecting modernity, and the consumption of American culture in for example Taiwan could
be explained through a craving for the American way of life.48 Although, the linguistic aspect
is argued to be the most important proximity, but as added by Straubhaar and La Pastina,
there are other elements such as geography and history that are important factors as well,
further more “dress, ethnic types, gestures, body languages, definition of humour, ideas about
story pacing, music, tradition, religious elements etc” make out important proximities.49 The
regional flow of culture in Latin-America and Eastern-Asia is best explained by the idea of an
existing cultural proximity in these regions. In both regions, proximities in both language and
geography benefits and enables the extensive regional flow of cultural commodities.50 As I
will explain later, the export of Japanese cultural commodities in the cultural proximate
region (Eastern Asia) differs from the export to the west because of the lack of cultural
proximities between Japan and the west.
44 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 214 45 Ibid. p 217 46 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 122 47 Ibid. p 121-122 48 Ibid. p 152 49 La Pastina, C & Straubhaar, J. Multiple Proximities between Television Audiences and Genres. 2005. p 4 50 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 133 La Pastina, C & Straubhaar, J. Multiple Proximities between Television Audiences and Genres. 2005. p 3
13
Though, one should, as Koichi Iwabuchi argues, “be cautious not to mechanically /…/
employing ‘cultural discount’ or ‘cultural proximity’ in an essentialist manner”51 and as
Straubhaar puts it “genres and subgenres can exert all attractions to specific audiences that
cross and even contradict the overall logic of cultural proximity”.52 As Annie Allison’s
studies shows: an American audience of Japanese popular culture where attracted by the
“utter sense of difference” Japanese cultural commodities conveyed. Japanese popular culture
constitutes an attractive alternative to domestic culture.53 Hence, the very essence of not being
cultural proximate is what is appreciated here.
2.1.3 Japanese Transnationalism
In his Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism, Koichi
Iwabuchi argues that the discourse of “Japanization” has it’s origin in an industrial and
economical context. In the 1970’s, western economists witnessed the efficiency within
Japanese organizational structures and industries, and it was suggested that the west should
adapt the Japanese methods, hence “Japanize” the industries of the west. In the 1980´s, the
discourse of “Japanization” began to change is meaning as media and academics opened their
eyes for Japans role on the global culture market With the increasing outflow of Japanese
cultural commodities and technologies the term “Japanization” has come to shift its meaning
towards the one of “Americanization”, in the context of globalization and culture.54 However,
as Iwabuchi and Annie Allison argues, the success of Japanese cultural commodities on
international markets can be tracked back even further, to post-World War II with the launch
of Transformers toys, the premiere of world-hit movie Godzilla in the 1950’s, the regional
broadcasting of Astro Boy and Speed Racer in the 1960’s and Doraemon, the animated robot-
cat in the 1970’s.55 But it was, though, during the 1980’s when Japan’s global presence truly
started to shine. In 1986 Hollywood production company MCA-Universal was bought by
Japanese media conglomerate Matsushita, in 1988 Sony bought CBS Records- and in 1989
Columbia Pictures Entertainment and has since become examples of the expanding Japanese
51 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 27 52 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 196 53 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 16-17 54 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnaitonalism. 2002. p 23 55 Ibid. p 1 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 13
14
economy and increasing global presence.56 It was the decade when the anime Akira became a
hit in the US, the launch of Super Mario, the Sony Walkman, the Nintendo Entertainment
System on global markets and the broadcasting of the Japanese soap-opera Oshin in over fifty
countries.57
Today, as Anu Saarela puts it: “anime and manga are now household names for the finish
young people”.58 In 1995 Ghost in the Shell reached nr. 1 on American video charts and in
1996 the export values of Japanese manga and anime topped at the amount 75 billion dollars.
From the late 1980’s up until today Japanese game console distributors Nintendo, Sega and
Sony has dominated the global videogame market, and Super Mario is more famous than
Mickey Mouse among American children. The multi-platformed phenomenon Pokémon which
hit the global market 1998 became a tremendous hit – and according to Iwabuchi, by the year
2000, Pokémon commodities like game software, trading cars and other merchandise reached
sales of over 70 billion dollars. Also the Pokémon anime and the first feature film made great
hits on the international market, the first broadcast in over fifty countries, the latter shown in
over thirty making an over-seas box-office record of 176 billion dollars.59 The exports of
cultural commodities from Japan, especially anime, manga and videogames (referred to as the
three big C:s of Japanese cultural export by Iwabuchi: cartoons, comics and computer
games60), had by the year 2002 financially exceeded the former two leading export industries;
steel and automobiles. The interest of Japanese youth products has skyrocketed across the
globe in the last decade, according to Annie Allison.61
These striking numbers show an increasing Japanese presence on the global market and bring
with it the question on what impact Japanese cultural commodities have on its world
audience: “does this really represent a shift, however, from the global (cultural) power of
Americanization?”.62
The global cultural impact of Japan is a complex and contentious issue according to Koichi
Iwabuchi. On one hand we see “the emergence of obsessively devoted fans of Japanese 56 Branston, G & Stafford, R. The Media Student’s Book. 2007. p 246 57 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism.2002. p 1, 29-30 58 Saarela, A. Current Issues Between Japan and Finland. Embassy of Finland, Tokyo. 2007 http://www.finland.or.jp/netcomm/news/ShowArticle.asp?intNWSAID=61355&intToPrint=1&LAN=EN 59 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism.2002. p 30 60 Ibid. 27 61 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 13 62 Ibid.
15
animation in both Europe and the United States whose craze for Japanese animation makes
them wish they had been born in Japan/…/”.63 On the other, as theorists argue, the discourse
of “Japanization” cannot simply be explained as another paradigm of “Americanization”,
where it is argued that the American cultural commodities carry with them ideas of
democracy and the American way of life whereas the Japanese are not. As Joseph Nye argues,
compared to the United States, Japan as a global nation is a one-dimensional economical
power and its global presence lacks the characteristics to disseminate a global hegemony
similar to the one spread by the United States. Hence, the Japanese impact on the world is
argued to be “culturally odorless”.64 Also, Mike Featherstone, quoted in Recentering
Globalization, argues that ”unlike American commodities, Japanese consumer goods to not
try to sell back on a Japanese way of life”.65
Hannerz, for example, argues that “the Japanese…find it a strange notion that anyone can ‘become
Japanese’, and they put Japanese culture on exhibit, in the framework of organized international contacts,
as a way of displaying irreducible distinctiveness rather than in order to make it spread.”66
Hence, as Iwabuchi argues, “’traditional Japanese culture’ is a culture to be displayed in order
to demarcate Japan’s unique, supposedly homogenous national identity”.67 Japan’s
representation of itself as a unique and exclusive culture, has had its influence on how modern
Japanese culture is distributed on the global market. In an interview with over twenty people
working in the Japanese Television industry, Iwabuchi finds that almost every Japanese TV-
producer possess the idea that Japanese products would not be well received in Asian
markets: “Japanese media industries seem to think that the suppression of Japanese cultural
odor is imperative if they are to make inroads to international markets”.68 The intraregional
exports from Japan to Eastern-Asia, however, do not necessarily possess the similar “cultural
odorlessness” as the exports to the west. Cultural commodities like fashion magazines,
popular music and TV-dramas which possess a visible “Japaneseness” are popular within the
region, this could be explained by the cultural proximity in language, history, geography etc
that is shared in the region.69 Although, concerning cultural commodities aiming at a world-
audience, the development of a new market-strategy seemed logical. For Japanese success on
63 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism.2002. p 31 64 Ibid. p 32-33, 35 65 Ibid. p 28 66 Ibid. p 6 67 Ibid. p 6-7 68 Ibid. p 94 69 Ibid. p 34, 133
16
a global market, Japanese TV-industry needed to be part of the local production rather than
exporting cultural commodities that would supposedly not be well received by the foreign
audience. Japanese media conglomerate Sony and Matsushita are examples of when Japanese
media-producers glocalize their production by buying out local producers (MCA-Universal,
CBS Records, Columbia Pictures Entertainment).70 Also, when producing media texts with
the purpose of reaching international audiences, it is argued, Japanese producers intentionally
make the content less Japanese. As Iwabuchi argues: “the cultural impact of a particular
commodity is not necessarily experienced in the terms of the cultural image of the exporting
nation”71. The cultural presence of Japan in Japanese cultural commodities is consciously
toned downed as a result of the idea that the exclusiveness of Japanese culture would be a
restraining factor on the global impact of these products.72 The content in the three big C:s of
Japanese cultural exports; cartoons, computer-games and comics are, what the Japanese calls
mukokuseki: meaning “something or someone lacking nationality”.73 With a great tradition of
being exported to international audiences (one of the first international hits being Astro Boy
which aired on international markets in the early 1960’s), Japanese animation also has a great
tradition of “hiding” its Japaneseness. The characters in Japanese animation for example,
lacks Japanese- features, making them either mukokuseki (no obvious nationality) or in some
cases even Caucasian.74 Another example is found in the popular videogame Super Mario
which, in its visual design, completely lacks anything Japanese, for example, the main
characters Mario and his brother Luigi are of Italian nationality.75 In Joseph D. Straubhaars
World Television: From Global to Local this phenomenon is referred to as “de-localization”:
“the uprooting of activities and relationships from local origins and cultures”.76 However, as
Straubhaar argues, even though the marketing-strategy might have its origin in Japan, it is
hardly exclusively applied in Japanese media-production today. According to Straubhaar,
producers of Brazilian and Mexican telenovelas also apply the idea of de-localization since
they intend to reach an international market, it is also applied by American producers.77
However, as argued by Iwabuchi “the influence of a cultural product on everyday life, as we
70 Ibid. p 93-94 71 Ibid. p 24 72 Ibid. p 25 73 Ibid. p 28 74 Ibid. p 28 75 Ibid. p 94 76 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 169 77 Ibid. p 169-170
17
have seen, cannot be culturally neutral. Any product has the cultural imprint of the producing
country /…/”.78
Another factor which brings more complexity to the issue is the one of “Americanization of
Japanization”. As it is argued by Iwabuchi, Japanese media producers are in many cases
dependent upon American channels of distribution. Not only was Pokémon first de-localized
and Americanized for the US audience, it was also distributed to the rest of the world in its
American shape. The same applies to hit animated movies Ghost in the Shell and Princess
Mononoke which distribution and marketing to the west was handled by western companies
Manga Entertainment and Disney.79 However, the de-localization of Pokémon was handled by
Nintendo of America, owned by- and originating from Nintendo in Japan which further
illustrates the complexity of modern globalization and the dynamic integration of global
media industries. As for the de-localisation of Pokémon, Iwabuchi only mentions the re-
naming of the 151 different Pokémon-characters in the game which hardly takes away its
original essence.80
The contradiction surrounding the transnationalism of Japanese culture reaches its peak when,
in spite of theories on de-localized and maybe even Americanized Japanese products, fans
across the globe are consuming, adoring and cosplaying anime and manga characters, wishing
they were born in Japan.81 Among American anime fans studied by Susan Napier, it turned
out that their favourite movies from Studio Ghibli was in fact the most “Japanese” ones (My
Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away).82 It is argued by Annie Allison
that the yearning for Japanese culture can be explained to “the utter sense of difference”. For
the American audience, Japan is on the borderline between fantasy and reality, the exotic
settings, story lines and characters in Japanese cultural commodities what is appealing to
American youth. Knowing that Japan is a real place though, is inspiring American youth to
learn about Japanese culture, language and history. For a majority of the Americans
questioned by Allison Japanese popular culture offers alternate, complex and strange fantasy
world which seem to bring with it the interest of learning the Japanese language and culture.83
78 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism.2002. p 27 79 Ibid. p 38 80 Ibid. p 38, 94-95 81 Ibid. p 31 82 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 54 83 Ibid. p 16-17
18
2.2 Globalization, Media and Identity
One could argue that media, as well as – and in symbiosis with- “globalization” characterize
our very existence. Today, media is a part of our everyday lives to the extent that we no
longer react to it as unusual or unnatural. Media does not merely provide us with information
and entertainment, media, as argued by Jostein Gripsrud, provides a rhythm to which we
structure our lives: “the programs gets us out of the bed, to work, home during rush-hour,
through dinner-preparations, into the entertainment and reflections of the evening, and finally
to bed again – Ether-media forms a normal schedule for a normal life”.84 Media help us define
the world around us, providing different dimension of reality through representations of
fiction or fact, telling us what is important and what is not. It is argued that media never
present the world in a direct manner, but rather re-present in a manufactured form.85 As
receivers of thousands of media messages every day, we are forced to reflect on our own
standpoint, who we are, who we would like to be and what we don’t want to be. Media help
us build an identity.86
“Media connects us with the world outside our home, neighbourhood, and work. Media reminds us that
we are part of a society and a world /…/”87
Benedict Anderson argues that media create “imagined communities” since: “the members of
even the smallest nation will never know their fellow-members, meet them or even hear of
them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”.88 Anderson emphasises
how the press in a large scale enabled the development of national identities. Today we see
imagined communities created by new media, such as the Internet. Gripsrud argues that these
“imagined communities” provides us with an impressingly strong connection to people we
have never met: “If we stumble upon a Swede on a street in Kuala Lumpur our nationality
however, are reason enough to start talking to each other and experience a bond”.89 As
further argued by Anderson: “/…/ written Arabic functioned like Chinese characters to build a
84 Gripsrud, J. Mediekultur, Mediesamhälle. 2002. p 15, 41 [My translation] 85 Branston, G & Stafford, R. The Media Student’s Book. 2006. p 141 86 Gripsrud, J. Mediekultur, Mediesamhälle. 2002. p 18, 25 87 Ibid. p 16 [My translation] 88 Anderson, B. Imagined Communities. 1991. p 6 89 Gripsrud, J. Mediekultur, Mediesamhälle. 2002. p 20 [My translation]
19
community out of signs, not sounds”, and thus, the role of the media (alongside with
language) in this particular context is to serve as builder of national identities.90
At the same time as media connects us with our own nation, creating imagined communities
and nationality, the transnationalism of media is, as emphasized in the other chapters, one of
the forces behind globalization, thus creating global imagined communities. As exemplified
by Abu-Lughod, quoted in Straubhaar: “in Egypt, public television was seen as an aggressive
attempt to assimilate the distinct communities into a nation-state”91 and as reflected by
Straubhaar: “one can also see the development of regions or markets, based both on
geography and cultural-linguistic identity groupings, which are less than global but more than
local”.92 Also, as culture, messages, goods and people circle the globe, theorists argue for a
“marginalization of the nation-state” since national identities might be supplemented with
“transnational sources of identity”93, however, national and local levels of identity is still the
strongest for most people according to Straubhaar.94
2.2.1 Question of Cultural Identity
In contemporary media and cultural studies it seems that there exists a somewhat united
standpoint on the discourse of identity. As Iwabuchi puts it: “it has become commonplace to
argue that national identity is never naturally given but rather discursively constructed,
invented and imagined”.95
“Self-Identity” is described, by Anthony Giddens, as the processes in which subjects build up
a continuation and consistency to one-self in order to answer ‘what to do?’, ‘how to act?’ and
‘who to be?’. Identity is not an entity possessed by the individual, but rather a way in which
the individual understand- and present herself. Hence, identity is a continuous process and
indeed something that might change in time and space. Stuart Hall adds the idea that identities
90 Anderson, B. Imagined Communities. 1991. p 13 91 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 61 92 Ibid. p 7 93 Spencer, P & Wollman, H. Nations and Nationalism – A Reader. p 280, 296 94 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 222 95 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 51
20
can be described in different fragments, or layers, which can be contradictory.96 As
Straubhaar’s and La Pastina’s field study show:
For example, a man interviewed in Salvador, Bahia /…/ had a number of layers of identity corresponding
to media and information /…/ he was then working as a taxi-driver /…/ he knew enough about the war in
Iraq to want to make jokes about President Bush /…/ he was familiar with quite a bit of U.S. popular
culture /…/ he knew about the recent independence in East-Timor /…/ he knew songs from other Latin-
American countries, and sometimes watched Mexican soap-operas with his wife /…/ he enjoyed talking
to people he considered to be educated, but also got along very well and talked a lot with fellow drivers.97
Straubhaar and La Pastina argues that “people increasingly identify with multiple cultures at
various layers and levels”, for example: “people establish different identities at school and
work, with family and friends”98 As described in earlier chapters, theorists have long argued
that the transnationalism of culture would eventually lead to homogenized world-culture as a
consequence of the U.S. as the centre globalization. As further described, this idea has also
been argued against and in contemporary research, researchers addresses the issue with the
new dominating paradigm of “hybridization” or “multi-layered cultural identities”. Hence,
contemporary cultural and media studies does not struggle to prove an ongoing
homogenization of the world-culture, but rather takes on a more negotiating and careful
standpoint towards the issue of globalization:
In hybridization, global forces bring change, but that change is adapted into existing ways of doing things
via historical processes in which existing local forces mix with new global ones, producing neither global
homogenization nor authentic local culture, but a complex new hybrid with multiple layers of culture,
where older, traditional forms may persist alongside new ones.99
Straubhaar argues that the inflow of foreign culture, into a local culture brings, to a certain
extent, new cultural elements that are adapted over time and cross-fertilize with the local and
thus spawn a hybrid society.100 The question of hybridity refers to the effects of globalization
over a long period of time. Hence, the assumption that the transnational flows of American
culture would make the world American is, according to Straubhaar, not all that satisfying.
Adding to this, André Jansson acknowledge the US as a great distributor of popular culture
96 Barker. C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 15 97 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 231 98 Ibid. p 230-231 99 Ibid. p 5-6 100 Ibid. p 12
21
and points out that world-audiences can be fascinated- as well as influenced by Americans
movies and TV-shows. However, that does not mean that our basic values are lost. Jansson
describes our meeting with a foreign media text as a negotiating progress, as viewers we
interpret media texts on the basis of our cultural identity.101 Straubhaar argues that interaction
with global mass-media rather should be seen as a factor that adds to an already multi-layered
cultural-identity.102
Being influenced by social-processes and language, our identities are depending upon the
issue of culture. As argued by Chris Barker: “indeed there can be no identity, experience or
social practice which is not discursively constructed since we cannot escape language”.103
Identities are “cultural” since they cannot exist outside culture itself.104 What is culture then?
What form does culture have when shaping our identities? Defining culture is never an easy
task, in the tradition of cultural studies it has been described by Raymond Williams as “a
whole way of life”. Hall argues that culture is the very nature of a specific society, from
language to customs. In the context of globalization however, where culture is no longer
bound to specific locations but rather flows between different spaces, culture must be
understood in the question of “which meanings are shared or contested by which persons in
which places under which conditions?”.105 Barker argues that media, in particular television
“…as it spreads across the globe is a major and proliferating resource for the construction of
cultural identity”.106
2.2.2 Media Fandom
There are many different types of fans; sports fans, rock fans and media fans. In Henry
Jenkins Textual Poachers – Television, Fans & Participatory Culture focus lies on “media
fandom”, fans of television and film.107 The word “fan” derives from the word “fanatic”
which origins from the Latin “fanaticus”, meaning “of or belonging to the temple, a temple
servant, or devotee”. Today however, the meaning of the word has shifted from a religious 101 Jansson, A. Globalisering – Kommunikation och Modernitet. 2004. p 110? 102 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 221 103 Barker. C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 23-24 104 Ibid. p 31 105 Barker. C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 11, 33 Tomlinson, J. Globalization and Culture. 1999. p 27-28 106 Barker. C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 7 107 Jenkins, H. Textual Poachers – Television, Fans & Participatory Culture . 1992. p 1
22
context towards the more negatively connotation of “excessive and mistaken enthusiasm”.108
In modern research however, originating from the CCCS109, theorists have given much
attention to the issue of audience reception which have evoked a more sophisticated
understanding of fans and their relation to popular culture.110 This is also confirmed by Lisa
Lewis, according to her research: fans and fan-cultures has upon recently often been viewed
as a “response to the star system”, meaning that the existence of fans is dependent upon the
modern star system brought to us via mass-media. Lewis argues that the discourse of “fan-
pathology”: “fandom is seen as a psychological symptom of a presumed social
dysfunction”111 has been dominating both research and everyday-contexts since the 1950’s
with the rise of the rock ´n roll music. A more recent example is how heavy metal fans were
conceived has being “vulnerable youngsters who have become ‘twisted’ in response to the
brutal and Satanic influence of the music”.112
Lewis argues though, that the image of the fan as being in risk of “becoming obsessed
assassins or hysterical mobs” and that the idea of fandom as “pathology” needs to be
revised.113 In more recent fan-studies by Liesbeth van Zoonen, similarities are made between
fan-communities and political constituencies since both evolve around “knowledge,
discussion, participation, imagination of alternatives and implementation”.114 According to
van Zoonen, authors and researchers have often depicted television as a threat to citizenship,
arguing that it would alienate its audience from political processes. On the contrary, van
Zoonen suggests that TV-shows have a tendency to activate audiences into discussions, voting
and other political domains.115
Henry Jenkins seem to agree with Lewis in that fans are often depicted as brainless
consumers, too devoted in a particular cultural commodity, being social misfits etc.116 While
rejecting the media-fostered fan-stereotype, Jenkins, argues that fans are active producers and
manipulators of meaning, constructing their identity around mediated images. Fans are not
only an active audience since they actively read and respond to media texts: they are also co-
108 Ibid. p 12 109 Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies 110 Jenkins, H. Textual Poachers – Television, Fans & Participatory Culture s. 1992. p 1 111 Lewis, L. The Adoring Audience. 1992. p 9 112 Ibid. p 12 113 Lewis, L. The Adoring Audience. 1992. p 9-11 114 Van Zoonen, L. Imagining the Fan Democracy. 2004. p 39 115 Ibid. p 42-43 116 Jenkins, H. Textual Poachers – Television, Fans & Participatory Culture. 1992. p 10
23
producers of meaning or – as Jenkins puts it: fans are textual poachers. Jenkins argues that the
fascination of a media-phenomenon combined with the frustration over the limitations of the
particular media inspires fans to produce his or her own meaning to “articulate to themselves
and others unrealized possibilities within the original works”:117
Four Quantum Leap fans gather every few weeks in a Madison, Wisconsin apartment to write. The
women spread out across the living room, each with their own typewriter or laptop, each working
diligently on their own stories about Al and Sam.118
Fans as co-producers of meaning is also emphasized by van Zoonen who argues that fans are
highly competent individuals often engage in dialog and deliberation surrounding media texts,
being the complete opposite of the classic image of the couch potato or vulnerable victim.
Since TV is becoming more and more of an interactive medium, allowing its audiences to
intervene with the course of the show, fans are active consumers, who communicate with
networks and producers, and thus, partly having effects on productions.119
Within in the anime-community, cultural production among fans has another shape. Other
than individual fans building models or creating their own manga; cosplay seem to be the
cultural producing activity among fans of Japanese popular culture (sometimes referred to as
otaku) that has drawn most attention. Cosplay is frequently occurring among fans of Japanese
popular culture, especially anime and manga. Fans, or otaku, gather at conventions dressing
up in costumes modelled after a character from Japanese videogames, anime or manga.
According to Theresa Winge, cosplayers spend a sensational amount of both money and hours
into making the costumes, adapting the personality and dialogue of the specific character to be
as true to the fiction as possible.120 Cosplaying evolves around activities such as photo-posing,
look-alike competitions, karaoke and such and thus, cosplay is very much a social activity
which “provides cosplayers with unique interactions, environments and experiences”.121
117 Ibid. p 23-24 118 Ibid. p 152 119 Jenkings, H. Textual Poachers – Television, Fans & Participatory Culture. 1992. p 287-289 Van Zoonen. Imagining the Fan Democracy. 2004. p 39, 45 120 Lunning. F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 65 121 Ibid. p 74-75
24
2.3 The active audience – Previous research
In this section, three examples of previous studies in the field of global communication,
audience research and anime fandom will be discussed. Media-audience as being active and
rational as opposed to being passive and merely a part of the masses is the general standpoint
in the following studies as well as this in thesis.
Watching television is a set of socially and culturally informed activities, a significant aspect of which is
concerned with discursive meaning. Television audiences are active creators; they do not simply accept
uncritically textual meanings but bring previously acquired cultural competencies to bear on them. 122
Mid- 20th century researchers Paul Lazardsfeld and Elihu Katz are argued by Paddy Scannell
to be two of the main contributors to the paradigm-shift on audience research. Lazardsfeld and
Katz’s Two-step flow theory and Personal Influence meant the “end of the masses” and the
beginning of “the active audience”. The former examining and revealing the importance of so
called opinion-leaders in the American presidential election, hence challenging the previous
“effects-model”, the latter further discovering “the people” and power of the individual.123
Taking the concept of the active audience to the next level by further challenging the still
present effects-research, Stuart Hall introduced his encoding/decoding model in 1974.124 With
his essay on encoding/decoding, Hall suggested that media texts are polysemic, the meaning
of a specific text is given by the individual receiver. According to Hall, the meaning
transcribed into the text by the transmitter of the message is not necessarily interpreted as
intended. Hall’s encoding/decoding model suggests that a text can be interpreted in three
different ways: the dominant reading suggests that the audience shares the cultural framework
with the encoders, the audience will interpret the text as intended by its producers, and
audiences with different cultural frameworks might read the text in an oppositional or
negotiating way.125
122 Barker, C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 110 123 Scannell, P. Media and Communication. 2007. p 82-83, 86-87 124 Ibid. p 204 125 Barker, C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 111
25
2.3.1 The Nationwide study
Based upon Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model, David Morley, in his Nationwide study,
aimed to examine whether or not the British news magazine programme Nationwide aimed to
reproduce a dominant ideology and how the text was interpreted by it’s audience. The study
was divided into two parts, to examine what ideological values was encoded into the actual
programme, a semiotic analysis on the text was conducted and the decoding processes was
observed within the meeting and interpretation of the audience by conducting focus group
interviews with audiences from different classes in society.126 Morley’s study indicated that
groups consisting of viewers with working-class background, in greater extent, made
oppositional decodings of the programme while dominant decodings, to a greater extent, were
made by audiences from the upper-class.127 While showing differences in decoding depending
on class, Morley’s study suffers from the lack of consideration of gender or race. As argued
by Barker: “Gender, for example, is equally significance and has been explored by a number
of writers in relation to television”.128
2.3.2 The Export of Meaning
Labelling something imperialistic is not the same thing as proving it is.129
During the 1980’s the TV-soap-opera Dallas became the symbol of the successful
transnational flow of American television. Media researchers saw the world-popularity of
Dallas as an opportunity to test the cultural imperialism – thesis. Among others, Ien Ang,
studied how Dallas was interpreted by international audiences. These studies show that the
interpretations of the soap-opera differed depending of cultural background of the audiences.
While a Dutch audience saw Dallas as a show which makes sense of- and transmits messages
of tragedy in life, a German audience used Dallas in an escapist way, fleeing reality into the
glamorous life of the Ewing family. For a Danish audience, Dallas helped the expression of
strong feelings like love and hate and for an Algerian audience; the American TV-show was a
reminder on what they were loosing.130
126 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder I Kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 278-279 127 Barker, C. Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. 1999. p 113 128 Ibid. p 113 129 Liebes, T & Katz, E. The Export of Meaning. 1993. p 4 130 Liebes, T & Katz, E. The Export of Meaning. 1993. p 15-17
26
In their classic audience reception study, The Export of Meaning, Tamar Liebes and Elihu
Katz examines whether or not the world-hit soap-opera Dallas disseminate values from the
encoding nation America and if international audiences decodes it in a way that responds with
the intentions of the encoders. Hence, Katz and Liebes try, with empirical methods, to clarify
whether or not the dissemination of American popular culture is actually “cultural
imperialism”.131 By conducting focus-group interviews with respondents from a wide range of
different cultural backgrounds, Liebes and Katz aimed to examine whether or not Dallas was
universally understood. The Export of Meaning does indeed show that there is no such thing
as a universal interpretation of Dallas and that audiences with different cultural backgrounds
will read it in different ways. This being most transparent within in Russian and Japanese
audiences. Russians tended to view Dallas as a product of American hegemonic control,
projecting a false image of reality while in Japan; Dallas did not simply match with the values
and tastes of the audience.132
2.3.3 The Anime Fan
The anime community, if one actually could address it as one united community, is argued by
Susan Napier to be one of the world’s fastest growing subcultures. Napier has in her study
tried to identify the anime-fan (or otaku). Napier studied American fans of Japanese animator
Miyazaki Hayao and his Studio Ghibli, producers of the American academy award winning
film Spirited Away and several other world-hits. Napier argues that the fans of Miyazaki
contradict the stereotypical image of the fan constructed by media and society according to
both Lewis and Jenkins. According to Napier’s study, intellectual philosophical and political
discussions surrounding the themes of Miyzaki’s works, often evolving around humanist and
environmental issues, were occurring frequently on online message-boards. This being
explained by the high level of education among the fans studied by Napier: forty-five percent
had received a BA, twenty percent a MA and five percent a PhD. Also, the respondents in
Napier’s study indicated a critical standpoint towards the US, one of the many negative
respondents stated the following about the US: “anti-intellectual bias, the problems of bigotry
and sexism, the loss of community, the loss of the value of the family, and tendency to think
131 Ibid. p 3-4 132 Ibid. p 81, 131-132
27
of those we disagree with as the enemy”.133 Another signifier for the anime community is that
the Internet serves as an important platform for interaction with other members, as put by
Napier:
While members may not be physically in a room interacting around a scratchy tenth-generation videotape,
as the original anime fans were forced to do back in the early 1980’s, the sense of immediacy, the
enthusiasm and depth of the discussion, and the palpable feeling of fellowship on the part of many of the
fans suggest that in some ways they still are gathered together.134
And Brooker argues that: “the internet enabled many fans to take a first step into a larger
world”.135 Napier’s study shows that the average age of the anime-fan is older that the average
fan. 75% of the respondents were male, but, as Napier argues “this has changed enormously
over the last several years. From observation at conventions plus exposure to other anime fan
groups, I would say that female fans are getting close to 50% of fandom”.136 Also, visiting
fictional sites, “pilgrimages”, to Studio Ghibli seem to occur and discussed among the fans.137
133 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 57 134 Ibid. p 52 135 Ibid. p 52 136 Ibid. p 55 137 Ibid. p 51
28
3. Methodology
In the following chapter I will discuss the methods that has been used for collecting data to
support this thesis and why they are adequate for the purpose of the thesis. Also, I will discuss
upon the credibility of the study.
3.1 Qualitative method
The choice of method should depend on what the researcher is trying to find out.138 Since this
thesis tries to grasp the impact of Japanese popular culture in Sweden, a qualitative method
seemed appropriate. While quantitative research may produce reliable and generalizable facts,
it is limited when the researcher aims to understand complex social phenomena.139 In
qualitative studies however, the researcher aims to examine processes, relations and
qualitative aspects thoroughly.140 This is done, mainly with interviews, observations,
ethnographic fieldwork, textual analysis or discourse analysis.141
3.1.1 Reception Analysis
The reception analysis examines the relations between audience and text. This is done by
analysing both the text and audience interpretations.142 Even tough no content-analysis on
Japanese popular culture has been conducted and that the main focus of this thesis lies on how
and why a genre of texts has had an impact on a specific audience, and not the actual
interpretations of a single text. I still argue that this thesis is an audience reception analysis
since it tries to examine the relation between the audience (Swedish fans) and a genre of texts
(Japanese popular culture).
I have chosen to conduct qualitative research in the form of semi-structured telephone
interviews combined with a questionnaire. The purpose of the combination of these two
methods is to try to grasp a larger population with the questionnaires while still being able to
examine attitudes and values by conducting individual telephone-interviews.
138 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 34 139 Ibid. p 43 140 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 43 141 Ibid. p 18 142 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder i Kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 273
29
3.1.2 Semi-structured interviews
According to David Silverman, interviews can be divided into four main categories;
structured, semi-structured, open-ended and focus group interviews. In this study I have
conducted six semi-structured telephone interviews.143 Since this thesis aims to examine to
what extent – or if – Swedish fans of Japanese popular culture is being “japanized”, and what
they find appealing – and why – about Japanese popular culture, structured interviews would
not completely provide the depth needed to explain such a phenomenon. Nor would an open-
ended interview enable the possibility to compare different respondents to each other. The
semi-structured method is combining the structured interviewed and the open-ended interview
enabling the respondents to give complete answers and still holding on to a structure, or
theme, which enables comparison. I aim to create a dialog with the respondents with support
from an interview manual (Appendix 1).144
The respondents for the telephone interviews were selected through the snowballing method;
simply meaning that the researcher lets one respondent help to get in contact with other
respondents.145 With the snowballing method I did not have to get in contact with fans of
Japanese popular culture by scanning through pages on Internet forums and sending
impersonal mail-requests on whether they wanted to participate in telephone interviews.
Instead, one respondent I knew from other forums and that I knew was deeply involved in
Japanese popular culture helped me get in contact with the other respondents. Hence, the
respondents are somewhat socially linked to each other.
3.1.2.1 Transcriptions
Lars-Åke Larsson argues that transcribing is not a neutral activity and argues that two
different researchers would transcribe the same recording in different ways. Larsson argues
that the common rule for transcribing is to write in extensor, basically meaning that all words
spoken, pauses and repetitions should be transcribed. However, as Larsson argues, just as with
all research: the purpose decides the method. The transcription does not necessarily need to
contain every sound and pause, the completeness of the transcription should depend on what
143 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 110 144 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder i Kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 61-62 145 Ibid. p 56
30
is studied.146 I emphasise that the important aspect of the telephone-interviews conducted in
this context is what the respondents have to say, not how they say it. Every word except a few
encouraging “ah:s” and “mm:s “ were transcribed. However, laughs, long pauses and such
were not transcribed or noted since they do not serve the purpose of the interviews. Each
interview was transcribed and translated into English immediately after they were done.
3.1.3 Survey – Questionnaire
The purpose of the survey-research is to be able to draw conclusions upon a population by
examining a selection of representatives.147 In this thesis the questionnaire is intended to
supplement the telephone interviews with answers from a larger group that could represent
one Swedish anime-community. Seventy questionnaires were sent out to members on the
Swedish Internet anime forum Anime.se, being one of the biggest anime forums in Sweden
with 4054 members.148 The participants were selected through the members list on anime.se.
The member on every second page with the biggest amount of posted comments (most active)
and with an available email address on the forum was selected to be part of the questionnaire,
summing up to a total of seventy. However, the response ratio only reached 19% percent (15
respondents), even though a follow-up email was sent out five days after the first mail was
sent. With only 15 out of a total of 70 respondents answering, the question of reliability arises.
The low response ratio could be explained by a numerous of reasons. Firstly, the survey-
method is highly impersonal and it is easy to just ignore the email.149 Secondly, the member
list on anime.se is structured by “registration date”, meaning that members who joined in
2004, when the forum premiered, are found on page 1 and those who joined recently are
found on the last pages. Since the survey covered members from all pages, there is a risk of
mailing members that are no longer active on the forum.
146 Ibid. p 64 147 Ibid. p 78 148 http://www.anime.se/forum/ 2008-05-27 149 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder i kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 89
31
3.2 Research Credibility
Scrutinizing, or examining, Japanization is a complex task. Since it is a discourse in the on-
going globalization debate, the purpose in this thesis has been to examine and reveal the face
of Japanization in relation with Swedish audiences. It is a dynamic discourse with many
different dimensions to it - it evolves around fans and their consumption of Japanese popular
culture and what the increasing exposure of Japanese culture in Sweden has led to.
When evaluating research one evaluates the validity and reliability of the study. The
reliability of research concerns whether or not the study is trustworthy – would similar
conclusions be drawn from another researcher addressing the same issue? Validity refers to
whether or not the study actually examines what it intended to – does the research serve the
purpose of the thesis?150
3.2.1 Validity
David Silverman argues that there are three main factors when evaluating the validity of a
study: the impact of the researcher, the values of the researcher and the truth-status of the
opinions and answers provided by the respondents. Also, Silverman suggests that by
combining methods, e.g. quantitative and qualitative, and allowing respondents to comment
upon the conclusions drawn from them (respondent validation) are two factor which brings
more validity to a study. 151
During telephone-interviews, I have tried to be as objective as possible not asking too leading
questions, however, there is always the issue that respondents feel that they should serve the
interviewer, answering in a specific way. As Ekström puts it “what people say they do is not
the same as what they actually do”152, Silverman adds “interviews does not tell us directly
about people’s ‘experiences’ but instead offer indirect representations of those
experiences”.153 To avoid this problem as much as possible, the method of respondent
validation was used; the respondents were contacted and asked to validate the conclusions
drawn from the telephone-interviews. None of the respondents had anything to add except for
150 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 282, 289 151 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 290-291 152 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder i kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 22 [My translation] 153 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 117
32
respondent 1 who wanted clarify that he was involved with textual poaching activities that did
not arise during the interview.
The purpose of combining two different methods, survey and semi-structured interviews was
indeed to increase the reliability of this study. However, the low response rate of the
questionnaire (15/70) has come to weaken that particular aspect of this study.
3.2.2 Reliability
According to Moisander and Valtonen, quoted in Silverman: reliability in qualitative research
is given by two main criteria: by making the research process and data-analysis transparent
and making sure to link and interpret data from a theoretical framework.154 To support the
reliability of this thesis, a theoretical framework of previous research and theories in the field
was used and linked with the results drawn from the data collected. Excerpts and quotes from
the transcripts are frequently occurring in the analysis and results to ensure transparency and
the complete transcription is found in appendix 1. However, the transcription method used in
this thesis is, what Larsson refers to as “unorthodox” since pauses, laughs etc are left out of
the transcription.155 As mentioned earlier, the important aspect of the interviews in this thesis
has been what the respondents say, not how they say it. Also, the interviews were done in
Swedish and the choice was made to translate the interviews into English as I transcribed
them, since it is the language used throughout the thesis. This might indeed constitute a
problem for the reliability of the study as one might argue that meaning is lost in translation.
However, all interviews was recorded and thus, one can return to the source if needed.
The purpose of the questionnaires was to supplement the semi-structured interviews with data
representing members on the forum anime.se. The low response rate (15/70) is of course
problematic for the reliability of the study.
154 Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. p 282 155 Ekström, M & Larsson, L. Metoder i Kommunikationsvetenskap. 2000. p 64
33
4. Results and Analysis
In this chapter, I will analyse and draw conclusions from the data collected in the semi-
structured interviews (Appendix 1) and the questionnaires (Appendix 2). Comparing the
results that can be drawn from my data to theories presented in 2. Theoretical Framework will
be an essential part of this particular chapter. Throughout the following sections, excerpts
from the transcribed interviews will be used and discussed to represent the opinions of the
respondents. Also more statistically-oriented data from the questionnaires will be integrated
hence, supplementing the telephone-interviews.
4.1 The Unique Dimensions of Japanese Transnationalism
4.1.1 Anime Fandom
The uniqueness of Japanese popular culture and its audience is, as emphasized by both Napier
and Winge, striking. As Napier argues, as well as Jenkins and Lewis: the anime fan on the
whole does not fit the stereotype often depicted in the media. The fans studied in this thesis
are between seventeen and thirty-four years old and mostly male. Among the respondents of
the telephone-interviews, three were male (R1, R2, R3) and three were female (R4, R5, R6)
between seventeen and twenty-two years old. Among the fifteen respondents to the
questionnaire, twelve were male and only three were female, their age spanning between
sixteen and thirty-four. One out of fifteen asked in the questionnaire hade lived abroad for a
longer period of time and one out the six respondents in the telephone interviews.
4.1.1.1 Platforms for Interaction
In Napier’s study, the anime community is argued to be “one of the more computer networked
subcultures around”.156 The same goes for the fans studied in this thesis, the Internet is the
main platform on which one can meet with others that share similar interests: this is well
articulated by all the respondents, different forums and IRC chats are argued to be the most
common places. In fact, some respondents considered the Internet to be “the mother of the
156 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 52
34
whole activity”157 and that “…if the Internet and file-sharing didn’t exist…there wouldn’t
have been…barely anyone would have been interested in this”.158 However, there are several
other platforms for the community to interact on: organizations such as Uppsalakai: “…in
some cities you actually have organizations where you can meet people” and with the
increasing popularity of Japanese popular culture the opening of “different stores in
Stockholm…New Nippon which is a music-store and then there’s Tokyo Stop which is manga,
music and clothes and that…you meet new people there and…other than that there’s Klubb
Shibuya…it’s a club for Japanese dance-music”.159 The Internet however, as it seems, are not
merely fundamental to the very existence of the community but it also servers as the main
distributor and guide of Japanese popular culture:
I usually check homepages…like Anime DB…database with series so you’re able to check up what they
are about and what genre and what people…critique and such.160
When asked to for his general understanding of the Swedish anime community and their
anime-consumption, respondent 3 stated that “above anything else, I believe that they watch
things that are high rated on the Internet…”.161 Respondent 1 argues that the one of the
reasons that Internet has become the main platform for interaction for the anime community is
because it is where anime is distributed.162
4.1.1.2 Consumption and Habits
When asked how many hours a week they spent on Japanese popular culture, the answers
from the respondents to the telephone-interviews varied from respondent 4 “ten hours a week
at least”163 to respondent 6 “easily about thirty hours a week”.164 Respondent 5 could not
express the presence of Japanese popular culture in hours:
R5: Wow…that’s almost all the time…that’s really hard to estimate in hours because I am constantly
surrounded by it…in my room for example…I’ve got a lot of posters…a lot of models and I mean I have
157 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 158 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 159 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 160 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 161 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 162 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 163 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 164 Interview with respondent 6 14th of May 2008
35
a lot of video-games and gaming consoles and I guess I play something during a day and and
also…perhaps I don’t watch an anime-series a day or watch and anime every day but its still present
constantly…and the music…its like…there’s a lot of good Japanese music that I listen to and I listen to
that when I’m on the school-bus…and like that…there’s a little every day of course…165
Among the fifteen respondents to the questionnaire, fourteen answered “Yes” on the question
whether or not they liked more than “a few” anime or manga series. When asked about their
general understanding of the anime community, five out of the six respondents to the
telephone-interviews, were positive that most people do watch a lot of different series.
According to respondent 1 and 5 people that are new to anime and manga more often tend to
have a broad variety of series that they follow:
I guess most people like most of it. I’m gonna be honest…its still pretty new…this big bang came just a
few years ago. And then people broaden themselves pretty much because they don’t know much about it. 166
I think most people concentrate on a lot…I think that in the beginning one watches a lot of stuff.167
When asked whether or not the respondents themselves watched a few anime or manga series
or many different, the answers differed. Respondent 2 and 5 for example, admits to a “broad
reading” across both genres and different series and agrees that one of the reasons for
following a wide variety of different series might be that anime and manga is still relatively
new in Sweden: “in the beginning I followed almost anything that popped up…I mean it
didn’t matter…everything was cool and new and exciting”.168 Respondent 1 and 4 on the
other hand are more loyal to a specific genre, in both cases mecha. Respondent 3 and 6 both
agreed that they did find many different types of series appealing and emphasized the quality
of a series as the main factor:
J: No, how about you…do you stick to a specific few series or manga?
R3: No, I go with almost anything
J: Why, do you think?
R3: Ah, it’s like a hobby, you know. Scanning…looking for something interesting.169
165 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 166 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 167 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 168 Ibid 169 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008
36
…And most of the time I pick those that seem most appealing to me…not just anyone but mostly the ones
I read about…check what they’re about and then I watch the first episode…and if I like it I keep watching
and if I don’t like it I usually don’t care for it.170
Does Japanese popular culture replace other activities? The majority of the respondents
agreed that their consumption of, mainly anime and manga, sometimes replaced other, as
argued, more important activities such as schoolwork. When asked if Japanese popular culture
replaced other activities, respondent 2 answered: “Yes, absolutely. It does take up a lot of
time, if you read a couple of volumes per day…a couple of hours disappear. And that’s hours
one could spend studying or being out playing soccer”.171 Respondent 1 agreed that being a
fan of anime and manga is a time-consuming activity: “…you put an hour a day…that’s still
pretty much time. That is one hour schoolwork that is disappearing or regular work”.172
Respondent 6 followed a similar theme:
J: Okay…do you sometimes think that your anime/manga consumption might replace other activities?
R6: Oh, yes. Perhaps not…now I have a little more control so…but before I could just sit at home for
several days watch you know…but I could’ve done more things that needed to be done
J: Okay…you think it’s the same for others as well?
R6: Yeah absolutely…I believe that many that are in school that skip school to watch…or I know several
people that have you know…skipped school to watch episodes and series…that happens guaranteed.173
Respondent 3 however, did not see Japanese popular culture as a replacing other activities:
J: Do you feel that your anime/manga consumptions might sometimes replace other activities?
R3: Naah…I wouldn’t say that. I choose when I want to watch, that’s what’s nice with fan-subbing…it’s
like…you don’t have to follow any specific schedules, its just to watch when you’ve got the time.174
Respondent 4 and 5 both stated interesting comments on the theme, both meaning that
Japanese popular culture should be seen as another hobby, a chosen activity to spend your
spare time on, not simply as something that just replaces other activities:
170 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 171 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 172 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 173 Interview with respondent 6 15h of May 2008 174 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008
37
R4: /…/. If you find a series that you really like, one might stay inside a whole day instead of going out to
do stuff…but it’s not like it replaces studying and stuff like that. But one might not meet people or…I
don’t know…skip going out in the sun…
J: Mm, do you think it’s the same for others sometimes?
R4: Yes, I really think so…it’s like…one can get stuck in it just like one can get stuck in other things.175
J: Okay…do you think that your anime and manga consumption sometimes replaces other activities?
R5: Ehm…no I’m quite careful with that…so that…well of course its…but it’s a part of the activities I
do…so its hard to put it that way since the interest in Japanese popular culture and videogames and
similar are part of my spare time in a way…in the same way it can be soccer for someone else and my
opinion is that they are equally important so…
J: It’s a choice so to speak…
R5: Yes, in a way it is…most people are able to manage soccer and school at the same time, in the same
way that I can manage to watch anime and still do well in school at the same time, or play games and
manage school at the same time…it works.
J: Yeah. Do you think it could replace other activities for other people then?
R5: Yeah exactly, I believe that it easily do that…but at the same time I don’t believe it’s the anime,
manga and videogames that is the reason for replacing other activities, its people who doesn’t feel good
and would be able to stay in all day and watch soap-operas instead of anime…I don’t think the reason lies
within in the Japanese.176
While respondent 1, 2 and 6 gives examples on how Japanese popular culture actually replace
schoolwork and social activities, respondents 3, 4 and 5 emphasizes that it is up to oneself
when and how to spend your time, since anime and manga are mostly distributed through the
Internet, it gives the audience the choice of when to watch or read. Hence, Japanese popular
culture is not in itself a replacement for other activities according to respondents 3, 4 and 5
since: “one can get stuck in it just like one can get stuck in other things”.177
Six out of the fifteen respondents to the questionnaire answered “yes” to whether or not they
had attended a convention or concert dedicated to Japanese popular culture. Among the
telephone-interviewees all but one had attended smaller events or bigger conventions such as
Uppcon. Four out of them had in fact also been working for the non-profit organizations
arranging the events. None of the male respondents (1, 2 and 3) had cosplayed or drawn their
own manga, however, respondent one stated that he built models of robots from mecha-
anime, this being clarified through respondent validation. All the female respondents (4, 5 and
175 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 176 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 20085 177 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 20084
38
6) were involved in activities beyond regular consumption, they were what Henry Jenkins
refers to as textual poachers. Respondent 4 and 6 had tried cosplaying at conventions meaning
that cosplaying is “a way to display what you like”178 and that it enables you to “meet other
people with similar interests”.179 Respondent 6 considered cosplay as a way of creating your
own costume and get into character but also, as respondent 4 stated, as a way to get in contact
with people that likes the same character or series180, hence, it creates an (imaginative) bond
between people who have never met each other. According to respondent 6, there are
cosplayers that just dress up as a character while others really try to, as Winge puts it:
“adapting the personality and dialogue of the specific character to be as true to the fiction as
possible”.181 Considering the statements of both respondent 4 and 6, this study indeed
confirms Winges perspective on cosplaying as a highly social activity. Even though not active
as a cosplayer, respondent 5, is indeed a “textual poacher”, creating her own meaning and
adding layers to an already existing cultural commodity:
R5: Ehm..I draw a lot…not my own manga but its more drawing that evolves around it…I’ve considered
cosplay but no…other than that I build gun-pla if that’s interesting…I mean its garage-kits one orders and
like..models of robots from anime series…and manga series and you put it together yourself and spray
with color and like that…like model-building of an airplane or tank but its robots.182
When asked about the social circumstances when watching or reading anime and the idea of
anime and manga as a rather lonesome activity seemed to emerge from all of the telephone-
interviewees. All of the respondents answered that they mostly read or watched anime and
manga alone. Several explanations were given. Respondent 1 for example, emphasized that
his geographical location was one of the reasons for watching alone. He was situated in the
north of Sweden and stated that “there’s not many people around here that are interested in
that sort of thing”.183 Respondent 5 thought it was easier to watch anime alone since “certain
series are pretty sensitive…they can be pretty dramatic and one sheds a tear and than can be
hard if you’re many others…”184, respondent 5 continuous with the explanation that:
178 Ibid 179 Ibid 180 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 181 Lunning. F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 65 182 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 183 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 184 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008
39
…the important thing with anime is that you wanna complete whole series…you don’t wanna watch a
few episodes then and then…you wanna watch from beginning to end and that can be hard if you watch
with friends because because you have to meet once a week and /…/ it’s hard to watch twenty-six
episodes a day you know.185
Hence, the format of the anime series – stretching over at least twenty-six episodes – clearly
makes out one of the reasons for watching alone. Also, I must argue, the Internet seem to be
the main distributor of anime and manga and that might further encourage what I call
“lonesome reading” since the computer is not much of a social medium unlike the Television
for example. However, as stated by most of the respondents, anime-nights with friends and
such are common as well. Respondent 6 stated that: “there’s anime-nights with
friends…watch some anime movie or a short series in one night…and one can also have
marathons with friends /…/”186, respondent 2 follows the same track arguing that watching
anime with friends “its not completely unusual”187. Even though the aspect of “lonesome
reading” seem to be dominant paradigm among anime and manga fans the issue of interaction
and discussing still seems to be considered an important one, as shown in Napier’s study
where deep discussions on Miazaki’s films were frequently occurring among anime fans.188
Also, the deliberation and dialogue – aspect of fan-communities accentuated by van Zoonen
seem to benefit from the fact that the anime-community is “one of the most networked
subcultures around”.189 Respondents have emphasized both rating anime on online-databases,
discussing episodes with others that have seen them and getting together with friend to watch-
and discuss anime. When describing that Japanese popular culture might come to replace
other activities, respondent 1 call attention to that anime fans “discussing on the Internet
instead of focusing on real-life”190, thus still interacting with other people. Respondent 5
emphasized that the “fun” in watching with others lies within “analyze and talk about it
together”191 discussing episodes with other is also emphasized by respondent 6: “I think one
watch alone most of the time…and then you discuss the series with others who’ve seen it”.192
185 Ibid 186 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 187 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 188 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 51 189 Ibid. p 52 190 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 191 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 192 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008
40
The rather lonesome reading, alongside with Japanese popular culture still being a rather
unusual interest. The Japanese popular culture seems to forge, in some cases a somewhat
hidden, layer of identity. When the telephone-interviewees where asked whether or not their
friends were divided in two different groups (one being the anime-community, and the other
being friends that did not share the interest in Japanese popular culture, for example friends in
school) the answer was consistently positive with the exception from respondent 3.
R2: Old classmates from elementary school, they might not even know that one is involved in this /…/.
That’s not something I have to mention to them, life goes on and the people I talk to about anime and
manga are completely different persons /…/193
R4: /…/ in school for example, I don’t know anyone that watches…or play games…and then it’s
automatically that I don’t talk about that because it not like anime and manga is the complete me194
Just as Straubhaars example on multi-layered identities discussed in 2.2.1 Question of
Cultural Identity, the anime fans studied in this thesis have different layers of identities
corresponding to media, in this case Japanese popular culture. As stated by respondent 4 in
the excerpt above, Japanese popular culture does not characterize their complete identity, it
adds as a layer to an already multi-layered identity. When asked whether or not his friends
were divided into two different groups, respondent 3 stated “isn’t it like that with
everything?”195. I would say it is, Straubhaar argues that the have different layers of identities
corresponding to, as one example, different social activities. But it is interesting that this
particular layer seems to be somewhat hidden within some fans, from people outside the
anime-community.196 Respondent 2 puts it “Well, I would lie if I told you that this wasn’t an
alternative hobby…I mean it’s not a completely usual…and maybe a little…well in today’s
situation...alienated interest”.197
193 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 194 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 195 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 196 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 221 197 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008
41
4.1.2 Culturally Distant? - What is appealing about Japanese Popular Culture?
/…/ I guess it’s because of the different stories than the ones one might dump into in other contexts198
Every anime is different too…drawn, and different perspectives and so on…cartoons is a good way to tell
stories much easier than usual films with actors.199
I like mecha for example…that’s with robots…there’s not a lot of other types of series that contain
that…what I like is that it’s different /…/200
/…/ first of all it’s a little different /…/201
“Different” seem to be the keyword when asking fans what they find to be appealing about
Japanese popular culture. Among the six telephone-interviewees, the difference of Japanese
popular culture compared to western counterparts was consistently brought up as the main
contributor to the appeal of Japanese popular culture. Thirteen out of fifteen respondents to
the questionnaire answered “yes” on whether or not one of the things they found appealing
about anime and manga was that it is different compared to western TV-shows and comic
books. Similar results are displayed in Allison’s study were the American anime-fans that
were studied articulated that the “utter sense of difference” was the appealing feature in
Japanese animation.202
When asked what, in fact, was different and appealing about Japanese popular culture, a
number of different answers were given by the six respondents. The most obvious reason
maybe, stated by respondent 6 is that anime and manga is cartoons but “a lot more mature”.203
The cartoon format enables anime and manga to make the characters seem “as if they live in
this other world while regular TV is so…usual /…/”.204 Yet another reason for the fascination
about Japanese cartoons is, of course, the unique graphical style in which it is presented.
Respondent 1 argued that anime and manga contained a lot more complex plots compared to
western counterparts, since anime and manga often stretch over a long period of time,
198 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 199 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 200 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 201 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 202 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 16-17 203 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 204 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008
42
sometimes over several hundreds of episodes. Japanese popular culture seems to offer a
greater depth in their stories and characters. This is especially emphasized by a respondent to
the questionnaire, who very eagerly stated that:
You get to see characters develop over time, compared to western literature which mostly focuses on
what is actually happening rather than how it affects the characters.205
This seems to create a greater relation between the audience and the text, not frustrating the
fans by the same limits that could be found in western TV-shows for example. Jenkins
suggests that the frustration over the limited nature of a media text contributes to the so called
textual poaching, adding new layers to the text by, for example, writing your own scripts to an
episode. It seems however that, even though many anime fans are poaching, many are not.
Two of the telephone-interviewees, both males, was not involved in any textual poaching
activities even though they spend a lot of time watching anime, and nine out of the fifteen
respondents to the questionnaire answered that they had never attended a convention or
concert dedicated to Japanese popular culture. This could of course be explained that there are
different levels of fandom, one might not be that into Japanese popular culture. But also, it
could be explained by the fact that anime and manga series often stretch over many episodes,
not suffering from the same limits, providing fans with a depth by itself. However, as
mentioned by respondent 1, there are also people who find the community that has emerged
from anime and manga to be appealing feature about Japanese popular culture.206
Also, as respondent 3 and 6 argues that cartoons constitute a great way to:
/…/mediate perspectives…and every series has new characters, they’re never alike, I mean, its never that
you subconsciously connect them to other…as in movies for example where they use the same actors
over and over so that you subconsciously connect them, you know.207
/…/ certain series are unbelievably well drawn and one really sees how people have /…/ put in everything
they’ve got into the series. And you get rid of these bad actors that are present in certain series.208
205 Questionnaire 5 206 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 207 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 208 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008
43
Respondent 5 is also argueing that cartoons are great ways in which to mediate stories since
“it’s pretty free…since its cartoons anything can happen…compared to when it’s actually
recorded”.209 Another major difference between Japanese anime and manga and western
counterparts is articulated by respondent 2:
R2: Well, yeah. Anime is often very concentrated on the personal. I mean, you have…anime or manga for
girls in a certain age, you have anime and manga for guys in a certain age and like that. By that, one could
be part of that and one really receives what one wants to see. It’s more concentrated to different persons.
Like, I read about how you start a band in Japan now, and how they try to hit on the American market.
And I guess that’s pretty interesting if you’re interested in music…so it’s very personal.210
/…/I mean, certain genres doesn’t exist in regular TV-series…one example is mecha and super-robot-
series /.../211
Anime and manga is cool because there are so many types of and sorts of anime and manga.212
Genres that does not exist in popular culture elsewhere is another unique and appealing aspect
of Japanese popular culture. In the excerpts above, it is made clear that anime and manga is
divided and marketed to very specific audiences. This is also confirmed by Wendy Suiyi
Wong in the introduction of this thesis. Not only are the content of anime and manga often
characterized by its indented audience, such as shōnen-manga (being aimed at teenage boys)
and shōyu-manga (being aimed at teenage girls).213 Anime and manga possess a wide range of
different genres that has no apparent counterparts elsewhere, such as mecha. Respondent 5
also argues that Japanese cultural products are marketed towards youth in a way that has no
real similarity. Pokémon is brought up as an example on the exclusive and intense marketing
of the phenomena:
/…/ it is different compared to the Swedish culture…there isn’t anything that is concentrated on just
youth in Sweden for example…that is concentrated on collecting and …figures and…retrieving stuff and
stuff like that and of course one finds it interesting…if there’s something you like…of course you want
all the extra stuff…you want the characters and…you want stuff surrounding it so yeah…that’s got a lot
to do with it. Just like when you were young and…one got a lot of Pokémon…one would collect all the
209 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 210 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 211 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 212 Questionnaire 5 213 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 28
44
Pokémon cards and one wanted everything that had to do with Pokémon it was the most awesome thing in
the world so…214
Hence, the success of anime and manga in the west could hardly be explained with
Straubhaars and La Pastinas theory of cultural proximity, it seems to be the other way around,
that the distant uniqueness of Japanese popular culture indeed seem to be the reason for
success. As mentioned by Iwabuchi, one should be careful not to “mechanically /…/
employing” the idea of cultural proximity in an “essentialist manner”215, and as confirmed by
Straubhaar and La Pastina, there are in fact genres and subgenres that sometimes “contradict
the overall logic of cultural proximity”.216 The success of Japanese popular culture in Sweden
does indeed contradict the logic of cultural proximity; in fact, the cultural, linguistic,
geographical bonds between Japan as the transmitting nation and Sweden as the receiving
nation are few, but one can, of course, see similarities such as capitalism and a consuming
youth in both countries. Such similarities however, would still not be explanatory for the
success of Japanese popular culture in Sweden since respondents consistently emphasized the
“different”-factor as the reason for liking anime and manga. I would suggest that it is rather
safe claiming that we do not share common proximities that often explain the success of
foreign cultural products. Instead, as Allison’s study has shown, the respondents in this thesis
also seem to find the “utter sense of difference” to be the appealing feature in Japanese
popular culture. For one, Japanese anime and manga are cartoons aimed to adults as well, this
brought up as the first differencing feature when comparing anime and manga to western
cartoons by respondent 6:
/…/ Most of the time anime is more serious than you know Cartoon Network stuff as you say…they’re a
lot more mature.217
Secondly, as emphasized throughout large parts of the telephone-interviews; anime and
manga are, as put by respondent 2: “very concentrated on the personal”, providing different
types of anime and manga to different audiences. Also, there exist genres within Japanese
popular culture that simply has no counterparts in the domestic culture. Respondents have
also mentioned that Japanese popular culture seem to focus more on character development
214 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 215 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 27 216 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 196 217 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008
45
compared to western popular culture. Several differences have been mentioned by the
respondents and whether it is an exclusive genre or the fact that the Japanese actually produce
cartoons aimed towards adult audiences, the sense of difference is what is appealing. In a
way, Japanese popular culture supplement what western and domestic culture seem to lack,
suggesting that the factor of culturally distance, or culturally alternative, are the appealing
feature which explains the success of anime and manga in Sweden and the west. Even though
not occurring as a major issue, one might note that the fascination to, or sense of belonging to
a unique community such as the anime-community might also be an important issue that
makes Japanese popular culture appealing.
4.2 Questions of Japanization
What then, is the impact of Japanese popular culture in Sweden? Are fans in a way being
“japanized”? First of all what is Japaniziation? As mentioned in 2.1.3 Japanese
Transnationalism, the discourse of Japanization has changed its meaning over time, from the
industrial and organizational context similar to the one of Americanization, debating in what
way cultural commodities distributed from Japan influences audiences in the receiving
countries. However, there are two main issues to address before one is able to draw
conclusions upon- and identify the discourse of Japanization among Swedish fans of Japanese
popular culture. Firstly; is the Japanese transnationalism, as argued by Iwabuchi, culturally
odorless? And secondly, what is the impact of Japanese popular culture in Sweden, to what
extent does Japanese popular culture evoke a Japanese way of life?
4.2.1 Culturally Odorless?
As mentioned in 2.1.3 Japanese Transnationalism, Japanese popular culture exported to the
west has been argued by several Japanese authors to be mukokuseki, lacking nationality.
Joseph Nye stated that Japan lacks the characteristics to disseminate a global cultural
hegemony similar to the one of the United States and Mike Featherstone suggested that
Japanese cultural commodities, unlike American, did not try to sell back on the Japanese way
of life.218 On the other hand theorists have witnessed the rising fandom of Japanese popular
218 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 28, 32-33, 35
46
culture in the west or as Iwabuchi put it “the emergence of obsessively devoted fans of
Japanese animation/.../”. Also Susan Napier’s studies indicated that American fans were
particularly fond of the animated films that were “most Japanese” and thus suggesting the
complete opposite.219
When asked whether or not Japanese popular culture had evoked an interest of Japan within
the respondents, all of the fifteen respondents to the questionnaire answered “yes”. Also, all of
the telephone interviewees agreed that Japanese popular culture had in fact, evoked an interest
of Japan and all of them hade either been to Japan or were planning to visit in the future. The
“pilgrimages” mentioned by Susan Napier seem to occur among Swedish fans as well,
respondent 5 made it clear that the reason for her trip Japan was to experience the content of
Japanese popular culture, but also to “play arcades…there’s a lot of arcades in Japan that
doesn’t exist in Sweden”.220 Respondent 2 answered in a similar way:
J: Okay, could one say that anime/manga and Japanese popular culture in general has evoked an interest
in Japan within you?
R2: Yes it has, absolutely. I consider going to Japan…well… it’s quite a big evidence that one is aiming
to travel across the world for….well, a couple of series. Because, one believes that one has received an
image….and I hope to experience the real version soon myself.221
Respondent 1 stated that, when one possesses a liking of Japanese popular culture the interest
for Japan as a country is almost fundamental:
R1: First of all, since one is interested in anime and manga and so on one almost needs to dig deeper into
the history. At least after what I’ve seen, dig deeper into the history to get some facts and so about how
the country has been and so on. Get references. Well, just looking at how the school system works is a
whole science if compared to Sweden.
J: So you would say that the reason for you to want to know more about Japan would be to get a better
understanding of what is happening in anime then?
R1: Yes. And also, it’s interesting to see how other countries work. Japan is very different compared to
Sweden. It’s interesting to see how it works.222
219 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 54 220 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 221 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 222 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008
47
In the case of respondent 1, Japanese popular culture has, as with the others, evoked an
interest in Japan, but it partly explained to possess a function, to better perceive Japanese
popular culture.
When asked whether or not it was obvious that anime and manga originated from Japan all of
the telephone-interviewees shared a united understanding that is was obvious, though in
different ways. Most of the respondents mentioned the unique style in which Japanese anime
and manga are drawn. Respondent 2 mentioned that anime and manga often is very cute, and
big heads, eyes and tears are common characteristics in Japanese anime and manga according
to the respondents. Respondent 3 argued that “one recognize it as Japanese immediately, it’s
their culture, social systems and the whole thing”.223 The settings in anime and manga also
seem to reveal its origins since “there are a lot of big cities which leads one to think about
Japan”224 and according to respondent 4, a lot of anime today are set in Japanese school-
environments. Respondent 5 mentioned that if an anime or manga is set in a Japanese
environment it is “often very traditional Japanese /…/ with Japanese vending machines and
Japanese school-uniforms and Japanese schools/…/”.225 Though not only obvious, the
Japaneseness in some anime is taken to another level:
/…/ one anime that I watch is about Japan and how there’s this superpower named Britannia that has the
worlds…that has conquered the whole world and they’ve changed name on different things like Japan is
‘Area 11’ instead…and its really nationalistic because there’s this rebel group that are supposed to hit
back on Britannia…its very much ‘Go Japan!’.226
When asked if anime sometimes romanticised Japan, respondent 4 stated that it did in fact
present “Japan as an awesome place”.227 Respondent 5 agreed but added that anime and
manga often romanticise Europe as well.
Iwabuchis’s research indicated that “Japanese media industries seem to think that the
suppression of Japanese cultural odor is imperative if they are to make inroads to international
markets”228 thus, the toning down of the “Japaneseness” in popular culture aimed at
223 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 224 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 225 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 226 Ibid 227 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 228 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 94
48
international markets is argued to be second nature when producing anime and manga for
example.229 Is the spread of Japanese mukokuseki culture simply creating an international fan-
community craving for a fake-Japan, are fans adoring a media representation of a Japan that
does not correspond to reality? Well, even though exported popular culture from Japan is
argued to be mukokuseki, as we have seen, fans consider it obvious that anime and manga
originates from Japan, and that it is sometimes even quite nationalistic. Even though the
characters in Japanese anime and manga might be mukokuseki, other features are not. The
traditional Japanese settings, the special sense of humour, the unique graphical style and the
general positive image of Japan that anime and manga possesses are features brought up by
the respondents that make Japanese popular culture reveal its origin and more. Since all of the
telephone-interviewees stated that Japanese popular culture had evoked an interest for Japan
and that they wanted to visit the country clearly puts a question mark on the issue of
“culturally odorless”, suggesting the opposite.
4.2.2 Evoking a Japanese way of life?
To what extent has Japanese popular culture come to evoke a Japanese way of life within fan-
communities? Japanese popular culture has undoubtedly come to evoke an interest for Japan
within fans interviewed in this thesis. This is also acknowledged by Saarela and Allison:
Manga and anime are now household names for the Finnish young people, and the love of comics and
animated films also lead to a deeper interest in the Japanese language, country and people.230
/…/ knowing that this all comes from a real place: from a Japan that actually exists, which inspires some
fans at least into learning about the Japanese culture, language or history.231
It is established that Japanese popular culture does indeed evoke a great interest within fans.
In fact, as respondent 1 and 5 indicate, it seems that, especially, anime also works as an
entrance-way into other areas of Japanese popular culture. Respondent 1 mentioned that he,
229 Ibid. p 25 230 Saarela, A. Current Issues Between Japan and Finland. Embassy of Finland, Tokyo. 2007 http://www.finland.or.jp/netcomm/news/ShowArticle.asp?intNWSAID=61355&intToPrint=1&LAN=EN 231 Lunning, F. Emerging Worlds of Anime and Manga. 2006. p 16
49
except for playing Japanese videogames and watching Japanese animation, also listened to
Japanese music. Respondent 5 illustrated a similar situation:
I began watching anime first and then manga and now one watches J-drama and the music got
interesting…they always play songs in the beginning of the anime…openings…and of course one likes a
song when you’ve heard it fifty times if there’s fifty episodes…or twenty-five…but still…one begins to
like it a lot after a while and you want the complete song and who’s the artist and you find some other
artist /…/232
When asked if they spent more time on Japanese popular culture than Swedish, eleven out of
the fifteen respondents to the questionnaire answered “yes”. Telephone-interviewees 2 and 4
stated that:
I have completely quit watching TV…I don’t follow Prison Break or these regular mainstream series that
are shown on western-TV.233
/…/ it’s easier in a way because one can check out what series are of the same genre and one can read or
watch them instead of sitting and watching a TV-show that one might not actually like.234
When asked about how they felt about the Japanese language it turned out that all of the six
respondents were either studying Japanese or had tried to in the past. The reason for wanting
to learn the Japanese language seemed to be a combination a more functionalistic usage and
pure fascination of the Japanese culture. With the functionalistic perspective, emphasized by
respondent 1, 2 and 5, one gets a “pretty big advantage since one can read more and help the
very process…one could maybe produce own material”235, “you don’t have to sit for a week
waiting for a legal sub to be released”236 and “I want to study Japanese full-time…I will have
use for that when I watch anime and one can download raws /…/”.237 Hence, one reason for
learning Japanese is simply because it is an advantage for the individual interpretation of
Japanese popular culture. At the same time though, there seemed to exist a fascination of the
language. As well as being merely an advantage when watching or reading Japanese popular
culture, respondent 5 mentioned that she was “really interested in the country and the
232 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 233 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 234 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 235 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 236 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 237 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008
50
language” and that she had taught herself one of the Japanese typing languages through a free-
game.238 Respondent 2 mentioned that he attended a Japanese class in school and that:
R2: one simply wants to learn the language…even though I’m not usually interested in languages.239
When asked whether or not the respondents wanted to have been born in Japan, five out of the
six telephone-interviewees were quite determined that they would not. Respondent 4 however,
did not know. While arguing that “the broader audience” possessed a positive image of Japan,
respondent 1 argues that “it’s actually quite a rough country, if you get sick you’re in real
trouble”240, respondent 2 said that his image of Japan was “very positive” but he did not want
to live there since “its so hard there, in Japan, its very hard to get grades…a very rough
society”.241 Respondent 5 said that she “like that I live in Sweden and that I can go to Japan if
I’d like”.242 However, when asked if they would live there for a period of time, they all
answered “yes”. Out of the fifteen respondents to the questionnaire, four stated that they
would rather have been born in Japan, one of them adding that he actually did not dislike
Sweden he “preferred Japan, from a culturally and society point of view”.243
As mentioned before, one key difference between the American transnational cultural flow
and the Japanese is argued by Mike Featherstone and others to be that the Japanese does not
“try to sell back on a Japanese way of life”.244 With marketing strategies such as “de-
localization” it certainly seems as if there are no intentions to do so. However, whether it is
intentionally or not, Japanese popular culture does, in a way, sell back on the Japanese way of
life. According to Annie Allison, Japanese anime and manga inspires American fans to be
part of the Japanese culture. The Swedish fans studied in this thesis wanted to learn the
Japanese language both in the purpose of having an advantage when consuming Japanese
popular culture and also out of fascination of the language. Within some fans, the influence of
Japanese popular culture has come to question the issue of nationality since four out of fifteen
respondents to the questionnaire actually wanted to be born in Japan rather than in Sweden,
none of them had lived abroad before. As mentioned in 2.2 Globalization, Media and Identity,
238 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 239 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 240 Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 241 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 242 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 243 Questionnaire 1 [My translation] 244 Iwabuchi, K. Recentering Globalization – Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. 2002. p 28, 32-33, 35
51
Straubhaar argues that there are few people with “deeply globalized identities” and the
“national level of identity is still the strongest for many people”.245 Apparently though,
Japanese popular culture, for some fans, has indeed become what Michael Mann refers to as a
“transnational source of identity”246 and one could agree that the sense of nationality, during
an age of globalization, is weakening. Hence, one could definitely argue that fans are being
japanized, in the sense that Japanese popular culture has come to evoke such an interest and
craving for the country that fans wants to learn the language and move- or been born there.
However, the majority of the fans studied in this thesis possessed a rather neutral image of
Japan, respondent 6 stating: “I wouldn’t want to be born in Japan just because I like Japanese
popular culture”.247 And fans wanting to learn the Japanese language is not only explained
through a pure fascination, of the Japanese culture, the language is also a tool with which one
better understand the content in Japanese popular culture, thus, simply facilitating the
consumption of Japanese popular culture. Also, as argued in 4.1.2 Culturally Odorless?,
Japanese popular culture has proven to be a supplement to domestic culture, in a way
replacing or filling out the voids of domestic or western culture by constituting an exotic
alternative to what one would normally come across within in the range of domestic media.
Hence, the idea of Japanese popular culture creating an appreciation for the “real” Japan is an
unsatisfactory explanation since Japanese popular culture and the fandom emerged from it
mainly contributes to what Straubhaar refers to as “multi-layered identity” for most fans:
/…/ it’s not like anime and manga is the complete me.248
245 Starubhaar. J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 222 246 Spencer, P & Wollman, H. Nations and Nationalism – A Reader. 2005. p 296 247 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008 248 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008
52
5. Conclusion
This chapter will summarize the thesis and highlight the main conclusions drawn in the
previous chapter.
This thesis evolves around three research questions:
What unique dimensions could be ascribed to Swedish anime fandom?
What is considered to be appealing about Japanese popular culture within fan-
audiences?
In what ways is Japanese popular culture influential within Swedish fan-communities?
In order to try to answer the research questions, a qualitative approach was chosen. Six semi-
structured telephone-interviews were supplemented with seventy questionnaires sent out to
fans of Japanese popular culture. The purpose of this particular methodological approach was
to enable thoroughly and deeply examination as well as provide larger-scale representation of
the population.
Several conclusions were drawn upon the collected data. Japanese popular culture seems to
have a number of “unique dimensions” to it. For one, the anime-community is largely
depending upon the Internet where anime and manga are mainly distributed. This leading to
unique consequences in itself; it encourages discussions of Japanese popular culture on
forums, IRC-channels and databases. It promotes a “lonesome reading” of anime and manga
since the computer is not the social medium like the Television. Anime-fans seem to have two
different groups of friends, one being the anime-community and the other being friends who
does not share – or even know about their interests in Japanese popular culture. In some cases,
this creates a somewhat hidden layer of identity.
Anime fans are indeed, what Henry Jenkins refers to as textual poachers, adding further
meaning to an already existing cultural commodity. Many of the fans had visited conventions
and many proved to be active workers within non-profit organizations. One highly social
activity (textual poaching) that is unique for the community surrounding Japanese popular
culture (to a certain extent also occurring in gaming-communities) is cosplaying.
53
Japanese popular culture is different. This idea is shared by every respondent participating in
this thesis. It fills – or replaces voids within the domestic or western culture. Japanese popular
culture is marketed towards more specific audiences than western counterparts and possesses
a wider range of sub-genres. One example mentioned in this thesis is mecha, robot-anime.
Anime and manga are cartoons for audiences in all ages, this has not been the paradigm with
western-cartoon productions and thus, the Japanese anime and manga fills another void. Thus,
concluding that the success of this particular genre of foreign cultural products is
contradicting the overall logic of Straubhaar and La Pastina’s idea of “cultural proximity”.
Instead, the results of this thesis, suggests that it is, the complete other way around; the fact
that the “cultural uniqueness” of Japanese popular culture was the appealing feature stands as
the explanation of the success of Japanese popular culture in Sweden. Even though it was not
brought up by many of the respondents in this particular study, the sense of belonging to a
community such as the anime-community might indeed constitute as another appealing factor,
or reason to watch anime and manga.
Theorists have argued that Japanese popular culture exported to the west is mukokuseki,
lacking nationality. However, the fans studied in this thesis suggested otherwise. When
characters in Japanese popular culture might lack any obvious nationality, other features do
not. Japanese animation and manga are drawn in a way that directly reveals it’s origin to the
audience. All of the respondents that participated in this thesis were positive that Japanese
popular culture had indeed evoked an interest for Japan. Japanese popular culture inspires
fans to learn more about Japanese culture and language and it serves as, what Michael Mann
refers to as “transnational source of identity”. Some respondents actually wanted to be born in
Japan rather than in Sweden. This does indeed prove the strong influence of Japanese popular
culture and contradicts theorists suggesting that Japan is unable to disseminate a transnational
cultural flow similar to the one of the United States. However, a majority of the fans studied
in this thesis possessed a rather neutral or somewhat critical image of Japan, indicating that
most fans are not being “japanized”; for most fans, Japanese popular culture constitutes as
another hobby, similar to soccer or hockey, adding as another layer to an already multi-
layered identity.249
249 Straubhaar, J. World Television – From Global to Local. 2007. p 221
54
As this thesis is written, so called “Sweden houses” are built in Japan and the success of
Swedish music is increasing in Japan. To what extent is the Swedish culture increasingly
being present in contemporary Japan? This, I argue of course, would stand as a great subject
for further studies and would analyze Japan as the receiving nation of a foreign culture as an
opposite to this study. This thesis has argued that Japanese popular culture is not “culturally
odorless” but in fact, possesses and represents Japanese culture. How, exactly, is Japan
represented in Japanese popular culture? – What values are carried across boarders within
Japanese popular culture? A semiotic research approach to the same issue as addressed in this
thesis would further provide an understanding of Japanese transnationalism.
It certainly seems as if we to a greater extent than ever before are living the globalized life,
we adapt and celebrate cultures from across the globe, from places that up until quite recently
were completely alien to us. Critics might say it threatens the nation-state, proponents might
say that we simply are living the modern, globalized life. Fact is though, culture is no longer
bound to the local and, as examined in this thesis, the uprooting and transnationalism of
culture does indeed spawn unique sub-cultures such as the Swedish anime and manga
community which needs to be studied. This thesis has been an attempt to get a deeper
understanding for the discourse of globalization as previous studies in the field seem to
address the issue in an ideological way, modelling out globalization as a large-scale
phenomenon, not giving too much attention to the actual experiences of people. Little focus
seems to lie on the actual effects of globalization on the local-level and there seems to be a
lack of empirical case-studies similar to this one. By studying the local effects of
globalization, this empirical study contributes to the debate as it gives a face to globalization
on the local level. It pushes the argument that Japanese transnationalism constitutes a great
example of what Chris Barker refers to as “reversal flow”, and hence, further challenges the
discourse of “westernization” by giving further attention to the complexity of globalization.
55
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Morely, D & Robbins, K. Spaces of Identity – Global Media, Electronic landscapes and cultural boundaries. 1995. First Edition. Routledge
Scannell, P. Media and Communication. 2007. First Edition. Sage Publications Schiller, H. Konsten att sälja Ideologi. 1977. Swedish edition. Bröderna Ekstrands tryckeri. Schodt. F. Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. 1996. Stone Bridge Press, Berkley
California Silverman, D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 2006. Third Edition. Sage Publications Spencer, P & H, Wollman. Nations and Nationality – A Reader. 2005. First Edition. Rutgers
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Publications Tomlinson, J. Globalization and Culture. 1999. First Edition. Polity press Internet Anime.se. http://www.anime.se/forum/. Downloaded 2008-05-27 La Pastina, A & Straubhaar, J. Multiple Proximities between Television Genres and
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Mirc.com. http://www.mirc.com/mirc.html. Downloaded 2008-06-07 Saarela, A. Current Issues Between Japan and Finland. Embassy of Finland, Tokyo. 2007 http://www.finland.or.jp/netcomm/news/ShowArticle.asp?intNWSAID=61355&intToPrint=1
&LAN=EN. Downloaded 2008-06-07 Tokyo Stop. http://tokyostop.typepad.com/. Downloaded 2008-06-07 Uppsalakai. http://www.uppsalakai.org/. Downloaded 2008-06-07 Uppcon08. http://08.uppcon.se/site/start. Downloaded 2008-06-07 Van Zoonen, L. Imagining the Fan Democracy. 2004. European Journal of Communication.
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popularkulturen-ar-stort-bland-ungdomar/. Downloaded 2008-06-07
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Interviews Interview with respondent 1 14th of May 2008 Interview with respondent 2 14th of May 2008 Interview with respondent 3 14th of May 2008 Interview with respondent 4 15th of May 2008 Interview with respondent 5 15th of May 2008 Interview with respondent 6 15th of May 2008
58
7. Appendix
7.1 Appendix 1
7.1.1 Interview manual
1. Ålder, kön, utbildning, resor/bott utomlands? 2. Varför tittar du på anime/manga? Vad är det som lockar med anime/manga? Varför tror du så många tycker om det? 3. Tycker du om ett fåtal serier eller ser/läser du det mesta du kommer över? Varför? Vad är din allmänna uppfattning om anime/manga fans här – tror du de ser det mesta de kommer över eller bara ett fåtal? 4. Upplever du att din anime/manga konsumtion ibland går ut över andra aktiviteter? Tror du att det gör det för andra? Hur många timmar på en normal vecka ägnar du åt japansk populär kultur – ersätter det svensk/amerikansk populär kultur? 5. Går du/har du gått på anime/manga event eller andra events riktade mot människor med ett intresse för Japansk kultur? Cosplayar, ritar egen manga? Varför tror du så många väljer att göra det? 6. Hur kommer du i kontakt med likasinnade? Internet? Konvent? Annat? 7. Vem tittar du på anime med (själv? Familj, kompisar?). Umgås du i olika gemenskaper – ”vanliga” kompisar för sig och anime/manga communtity för sig? 8. Har anime/manga väckt ett intresse för Japan hos dig? Vad tycker du om det japanska språket, skulle du vilja kunna det? Skulle du hellre vilja vara född i Japan än i Sverige? Skulle du vilja bo i Japan under en tid? 9. Upplever du att det är tydligt att anime/manga kommer från just Japan – finns det något som tyder på att det är japanskt? Vad?
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7.1.2 Transcriptions
Respondent 1
J: I’m gonna start by asking how old are you?
R1: I’m eighteen years old
J: Okay, and over to the next question. Have you travelled a lot or lived abroad?
R1: I’ve travelled relatively much. Not so far abroad but within Sweden and Europe
J: Okay…
R1: Well, it happens about one time a year
J: Okay, and that’s for vacation purposes or is, well, what is the reason for your travels?
R1: Yeah, one could say that it’s mostly vacations
J: Okay, its not that you have relatives abroad?
R1: No, I haven’t got any relatives abroad
J: Okay, and you haven’t lived abroad for a longer period of time?
R1: No
J: Okay
J: I gonna move on with: Why do you watch anime and manga?
R1: Well…the thing is that I’ve been interested in videogames for quite some time and this came as a natural
transition since videogames often is based upon, relatively often, on anime and.. yeah…they are often linked to
each other. But except for that I guess its because of the different stories than the ones one might dump into in
other contexts
J: Could you develop that a little bit? Different?
R1: Well…a lot of what is shown on TV is.. relatively much drama and relatively simple stuff. But when you
enter anime its much more… how should I put this…more complex plots often…a bit more unrealistic of course.
I watch a lot of robot-series then its automatically unrealistic. But most of the time one can relate to real-life as
well. One of the first of these robot-series.. Gundam…is very World War II-ish… I would dare to say. One gets
a sight into reality.
J: Okay.. why do you think so many other like anime?
R1: Well.. I’m a bit concerned about this because…lately it has hade such a big impact here in Sweden
compared to before. I don’t really know why. But…what is most appealing is actually….but okay, it can be quite
serious but at the same time, it can be pretty easily watched. It’s easy to grasp it.
J: You said before that there was something different…that you think it was different and that is what is a bit
appealing. Do you think others share that opinion?
R1: Yes, yeah, I believe so…really. Most of the people I know like it because of that reason
J: Yeah, its some kind of alternative to what is available in Sweden…or?
R1: Yes, it usually…well…kids shows and TV-shows often has a certain theme which one recognize, it’s the
same stuff over and over again etc
J: Okay, Do you like a few series that you watch, or read if its manga we talk about. Or is it, like, most of what
you can get your hands on?
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R1: Well, it’s quite a variety. I have certain genres that I prefer of course. That’s mecha, in other words…and it’s
been during the last years I’ve developed my interest in that. But from the beginning it was a little bit
more…everything. I know some people broaden themselves quite a lot, but I feel that I wanna focus on
something smaller.
J: Okay, but your general opinion on… if you have to see to the anime/manga community in Sweden. Do you
think that most people are quite nisched to a genre like you or do you believe that most people are a
little…towards the other direction, liking, in general most of it?
R1: Yeah…well. I would guess that most people like most of it. If I’m gonna be honest. Its…its still pretty
new… this big bang came just a few years ago. And then people broaden themselves pretty much because they
don’t know much about it.
J: Why do you think they watch anime then, if they really don’t have a clue?
R1: Well… good question…
J: Could it be that there is something different that they try to discover or some community or…?
R1: Yes, the community is a big contributor now because...we have the events for example well…yeah, being a
big contributor to why many actually find it interesting
J: You think that is why many find anime and manga interesting?
R1: Yes.
J: Your anime/manga consumption, if one could call it that, would you say that that could sometimes take the
place of other activities?
R1: Yes I would agree with that. Sometimes, one forget other things because one is focused on that. And you get
to regret that afterwards.
J: How is that? Is it common with marathons?
R1: Yes, marathons. Or alternatively that you put one hour a day…that’s still pretty much time. That is one hour
schoolwork that is disappearing or regular work.
J: You think it’s the same of others as well?
R1: Yes. I really believe so. I know others that got stuck in this as well, they’ve missed out on school. Discussing
on the Internet instead of focusing on real-life.
J: How many hours would you say that you, on a regular week, dedicate to, not only anime specifically but
Japanese popular culture in general, Japanese video games, manga, anime, Japanese music.
R1: Well, at least…well… twenty hours.. during a week
J: Do you listen to Japanese music as well?
R1: Yes a bit. Im not really into that genre that is most popular in Sweden, J-rock, I guess is the most popular
one in Sweden. I’m more into electronic music.
J: Okay, have you attended any event dedicated to Japanese popular culture?
R1: Yes, a couple, I managed an organisation here in Umeå. I’ve been to Uppcon and Ichiban, were I’ve worked.
Its been mostly during the last years.
J: Why do you think so many people want to join these events?
R1: Well, I don’t think its because one can go and watch anime, some people might attend because of that but
most people is attending to meet and hang out. That you actually get to meet people that share the same interest
as you.
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J: Yeah, Do you cosplay or draw your own manga or some other activity surrounding Japanese popular culture?
R1: No, I wouldn’t say that
J: Okay, How do you get in contact with others that like Japanese popular culture? Except for events that you’ve
mentioned already
R1: Well, that’s through the Internet. Okay, in some cities you actually have organisations and where meet
people…but its mostly at the Internet because its distributed there and its easier to, well, there’s files and all sorts
of things.
J: And…you say here that’s it’s the Internet and events…is it different communities one is part of? One
community for Japanese popular culture and then you have your, so to speak, regular friends in another
community? What is your opinion?
R1: Yes, my opinion, my personal understanding is that in my case it is in that way. Two different groups, I
guess its quite hard to get them to work together. People are quite different when it comes to the two
communities. So yes. It’s not, I would guess relatively many people share the same situation. Or it could be just
me since I live so far up north.
J: But you believe that others share the same situation?
R1: Yes, I believe that there is a bunch of people in the same situation.
J: With who to you watch anime, or read manga with for example. Is it alone, with the family or friends?
R1: Sometimes you watch with friends but not too often. Most of the time its alone. In my case, I still wanna
emphasise, could be because where I live, there’s not many people here that are interested in that sort of thing
here in Umeå.
J: You think it could have something to do with the Internet as the primary source of anime?
R1: Yeah, that’s probably a big contributor to that
J: You think so?
R1: Yeah.
J: How do you experience Japan as a country?
R1: Well I don’t share the same experience as the broader audience, that Japan is a very free country and yeah,
that it’s all good there and so on. But if one would see to facts it’s actually quite a rough country, if you get sick
you’re in real trouble and so on. So I don’t see it as a really positive country, but not as a negative country either.
J: Okay, Has Japanese popular culture evoked an interest for Japan in you?
R1: Yes. That I can answer directly.
J: How?
R1: First of all, since one is interested in anime and manga and so on one almost needs to dig deeper into the
history. At least after what I’ve seen, dig deeper into the history to get some facts and so about how the country
has been and so on. Get references. Well, just looking at how the school system works is a whole science if
compared to Sweden.
J: So you would say that the reason for you to want to know more about Japan would be to get a better
understanding of what is happening in anime then?
R1: Yes. And also, its interesting to see how other countries work. Japan is very different compared to Sweden.
Its interesting to see how it works.
J: Yeah… the Japanese language then…would you like to be able to speak Japanese?
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R1: I would like to and I tried to learn it but it didn’t go very well. But I would like to be able to speak it.
J: Why?
R1: Well, first of all I could blame my own laziness and its very hard
J: I mean more like, why you would like to be able to speak it
R1: Ah, okay. Well, everything gets easier to get, anime, manga and games, you don’t have to sit and wait for a
week for example a legal sub to be released instead you could buy the DVDs.
J: Here’s another question; if you had your whole life, but you were born in Japan, would you rather have been
born in Japan then in Sweden?
R1: No, I wouldn’t agree with that. No, after reading about how the country works I feel like that I’m pretty
happy to live in Sweden.
J: But would you like to live in Japan during a limited time?
R1: Yes, I would
J: Why is that?
R1: Firstly because of a lot of my interest lies there and I want to experience the country that actually has
contributed to my community in a way. And I have friends who has been there and hade a good time so I would
like to try for myself
J: One last question then. Do you feel that its obvious, in Japanese popular culture, that it originates from Japan?
Is there anything that reveals that its Japanese?
R1: Well, its both obvious and not at the same time. If I had been new today I would have noticed that it was
very Japanese because it’s a very strange humour and a lot of jokes but some years ago I had no clue that it was
Japanese. The first manga I bought I believed was a regular comicbook
J: How come?
R1: Because…it didn’t feel like anything special at that moment. It was just a story, a comic like any other. It
was printed in black and white and you read it backwards
J: Yeah, precisely
R1: …so one did not think much about that
J: Then where finished, thanks for your participation
R1: Yes
Respondent 2
J: Well then, I’m gonna begin with asking how old you are?
R2: Born in 1990, so I’m seventeen, soon eighteen
J: Have been travelling a lot or lived abroad?
R2: No, I haven’t done that. I’m still in Norrland
J: So you haven’t lived abroad or travelled a lot?
R2: Nah, that’s a couple of vacations now and then but I haven’t studied abroad
J: Not for any long periods of time then
R2: No
J: Why do you like anime/manga… Japanese popular culture in general? What’s appealing about it?
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R2: Well, I really don’t know, that’s a tricky question but… why do one like a book? I guess it’s almost the same
thing actually…too see other situations and imagine yourself in another situation and interpret that in your own
way.
J: Aah, Do you think there’s any differences…why do you think others like anime/manga…is there anything
specific about Japanese popular culture compared to other things?
R2: Well, the closets comparable thing in many cases is fantasy stories, like, Lord of the Rings and stuff like
that…and as it is now there’s a limited…well, of course there is Lord of the Rings and everybody has seen
it…but there’s not much else…and in a broad market like now…one can actually see it growing and new
interesting stuff like…yeah.. its simply growing.
J: Mmm. Is there anything special in the content that differs anime from well… Så ska det låta? Do you
understand what I mean?
R2: Well, yeah. Anime is often very concentrated on the personal. I mean, you have…anime or manga for girls
in a certain age, you have anime and manga for guys in a certain age and like that. By that, one could be part of
that and one really receives what one wants to see. Its more concentrated to different persons. Like, I read about
how you start a band in Japan now, and how they try to hit on the American market. And I guess that’s pretty
interesting if you’re interested in music…so it’s very personal.
J: I understand. Do you like just a few series or to you watch/read a lot of different stuff? Specifically anime and
manga.
R2: I read a lot
J: Different?
R2: Yeah, different genres and different series
J: Why?
R2: Eh, I must return to the book. When you’ve begun you get a taste for it, I don’t really know why but one
tries to find something even better, looking for perfection.
J: Do one receive a lot of tips from friends you know like “watch this, its good”
R2: Yes its pretty much in that way. It has become a lot more popular so its very friend-concentrated. And of
course there are very very serious homepages and other tips were you can do further reading on…if you have
received a tip…you could get information about it.
J: Your general understanding, if you tried to generalize the Swedish anime community, do you think that most
people watch a lot of different animes or do you think that most people just pick a few?
R2: Most people pick a few. I’m really, really sure of that. There are a lot of…I mean there are few inveterate,
most people just watch the most popular like One Piece or Naruto or well…if you go back some time.. Dragon
Ball. And series end and many people don’t wanna try something new.
J: Do you sometimes feel that your anime or manga consumption might replace other activities?
R2: Yes, absolutely. It does take up a lot of time, if you read a couple of volumes per day…a couple of hours
disappears. And that’s hours one could spend studying or being outside playing soccer. So of course it’s
affecting, but one tries not to let it…there’s self-respect in it too.
J: You think it’s the same for others as well?
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R2: Yes I know it does. I have a couple of friends…and it’s hard…I myself am studying at a computer-oriented
program…and then you always have your interest next to you, of course it’s easier to watch a serie than to study
so to speak. I think many people feel like that.
J: Yeah... how many hours during a regular week would you say that you spend on specifically Japanese popular
culture, and by that I do not only mean anime and manga but also well.. Japanese videogames, Japanese music
for example
R2: Ehm well…I have actually never gotten into Japanese popular music and games…I’m not like [Name]. I’m
mostly very very, concentrated on anime and manga but I could estimate that I spend like 14-16 hours per week.
J: Could one say that the Japanese popular culture in a way replaces Swedish popular culture for you?
R2: Yes it does. I have completely quit watching TV…or like that other…I don’t follow Prison Break or these
regular mainstream series that are shown on western-TV.
J: Okay, have you attended anime/manga convent …well any event aimed at Japanese popular culture?
R2: I haven’t attended a convent but I’ve attended events…well..small stuff. But I’ve never been to Uppcon or
similar places.
J: Why do you think that so many chose to meet at these types of events?
R2: Well, I would lie if I told you that this wasn’t an alternative hobby…I mean it’s not a completely
usual….and maybe a little…well in today’s situation…alienated interest. So if you find people that feel similar
as you, and dares to try it…one feels that I could make new friends here.
J: Do you cosplay or draw your own manga or similar activites that not only includes watching and reading?
R2: No I don’t.
J: No, okay…you’ve mentioned events and such… how does one, how do you get in contact with people with
similar interests as you?
R2: Well, it’s hard…one does not usually talk…actually it is still like that, one does speak out loudly about this,
it’s more when you see someone with a computer screen with manga or anime on it in school or people who
know people and one can meet and such. One…it’s not like one has to meet on sites such as Lunarstorm or
Apberget, as we have here, it’s not like that, its more like spreading the word, and meeting in that way.
J: But is it…could you say that internet has an important role?
R2: Yes, absolutely. There’s…there’s a lot of discussions and other things and personally I don’t buy a lot, I
download and get it in other ways. Internet is the mother of the whole activity
J: Okay…Who do you watch anime with? Is it alone, with family, friends or?
R2: Eh, well, most of the times, one watches anime alone but it’s not completely unusual that…well, meet a
couple of friends and….and if some of those are into anime one can persuade others that hasn’t seen anime to
see. It’s both but mostly individual, but also in group.
J: Ehm, could one say that…in a way one gets involved in different communities, where you, on one hand you
have you’re regular friends and on the other you have your anime/manga friends?
R2: Yes absolutely. I know many that…well, I know that it’s like that and I feel it myself actually. Old
classmates from elementary school, they might not even know that one is involved in this, even though it’s a big
interest. That’s not something I have to mention to them, life goes on and the people I talk to about anime and
manga are completely different persons that know I’m into that.
J: Okay, okay…so it’s like that?...different…
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R2: Yes it is. Absolutely
J: Okay, could one say that anime/manga and Japanese popular culture in general has evoked an interest in Japan
within you?
R2: Yes it has, absolutely. I consider going to Japan…well… its quite a big evidence that one is aiming to travel
across the world for….well, a couple of series. Because, one believes that one has received an image….and I
hope to experience the real version soon myself.
J: Okay, right now then, how do you imagine Japan?
R2: Ehh, well, I really don’t know what you wanna get out… but…
J: I just wanna get your personal…opinion…there’s no correct answer
R2: Well…they live narrow…it’s a pretty cold culture…one knows some about the youth fashion…a little about
that and…well…I don’t really know how to answer the question of how I think of Japan
J: No…If I put I like this…do you have a positive or negative image of the country?
R2: That’s a very positive…one imagines them as very serious people that…yeah….one generalizes so much
that…one believes that…most of them are really good…and very hearty people
J: Ah, how about the language? The Japanese language, would you like to be able to speak it?
R2: Eh, yes, I attend a Japanese course here on the school…and absolutely…it was because of that I wanted to
go…I could’ve continued, in my case, german, but when I got the possibility to choose Japanese it became a
obvious choice for me.
J: Is it because of anime/manga has evoked an interest…is it rooted in that or?
R2: Yeah, I mean, when you know the Japanese language you get a pretty big advantage since one can read more
and help the very process…one could maybe produce own material…yeah something like that… one simply gets
and advantage.
J: Is it only such an advantage that…or is there some other reason as well?
R2: Yeah, one probably think…one gets a little interested…one think it sounds good and…one simple wants to
learn the language…even though I’m not usually interested in languages one starts to feel like that.
J: …In a way being part of their culture or?
R2: Yeah, precisely, I mean, the Japanese language would help in many many different ways. One could travel
to Japan, experience the country, maybe study there and such things…yeah I don’t know.
J: If I put it like this then. If you had your life as it is now but you were born in Japan, would you rather have
been born in Japan than in Sweden?
R2: No…No I wouldn’t. Much because of it’s so hard there, in Japan. It’s very hard to get grades and…a very
rough society…so that’s a general true picture of Japan… I mean school…and Im not so fond of J-rock and J-
pop…but maybe one would like that if one were born there. But I feel that I wouldn’t have…one might get that
anime/manga one day or so before….but that’s not the big reason for me…think in that way that that would be
the reason for enjoy my stay there…
J: But if put this way then, would you like to live in Japan, during a limited period…not being born but get the
opportunity to live in Japan
R2: Yes I would like that, I would really like to test that…maybe get a glimpse of what it is like…one hears a
lot…and yeah, one reads about it in manga and anime and one thinks that one got an image but as I said before,
one would like to…yeah.. be able to get a correct understanding of it too. That would be really interesting
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J: Do you feel that its obvious in specifically anime/manga that it originates from Japan. Is there anything that
reveals that it must be Japanese?
R2: Ehm, well I don’t know….I’ve never been to Japan but the one thing that separates anime from maybe
western…is maybe a lot of tears and…really, really ridiculous…really cute. And if you’ve ever seen an anime,
one knows that this is what will happen. There’s a lot of obvious roles in an anime, I really don’t know to what
extent one could say that…but there’s a lot of big cities that are shown which leads one to think about Japan
J: You mean that Japanese settings are occurs a lot?
R2: Yes, precisely.
J: Okay, and you mentioned “really cute”…by that you mean a type of style…a certain style?
R2: Yes. I think that its either this big tough guy that never does a thing wrong and is like, really, really cool or
its this really stupid guy that always does everything wrong but eventually does the right thing. Or this really
sensitive girl that tries to make the tough guy good and stuff like that. There’s a lot of these classic stories that
are retold in different settings
J: Okay…okay…that was…the interview, we’re done
R2: Ah, okay
J: Nice of you to participate
R2: No problems
Respondent 3
J: Okay, I was going to start by asking how old are you?
R3: Twenty
J: Okay…are you studying or…?
R3: No, nothing at the moment
J: Okay, have you travelled a lot or ever lived abroad?
R3: Yes, I’ve done that
J: Where?
R3: I’ve lived in Ireland and Brazil
J: For how long?
R3: Two and a half years in Brazil and one year in Ireland
J: Recently?
R3: No, that was a long time ago
J: Okay, why do you watch anime/manga, what is appealing?
R3: Oh, that’s a good question…hard to define…because it’s entertaining
J: Its entertaining…
R3: Yes, in another way…
J: Could you develop on that?
R3: Ah, how am I gonna put this, I haven’t thought this through…
J: Just say what you think in a way
R3: Yeah…
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J: ….you say it’s different? In what way?
R3: The question is what differs from western culture…maybe it’s the Japanese culture…I would believe
J: You mean that Japanese culture is pretty visible in anime?
R3: Yes, I believe that
J: Okay…
R3: Ah, I haven’t really thought this through
J: But you say there’s something different
R3: …definitely
J: Why do you think that so many Swedes like anime/manga
R3: Oh...another good question….I’ve never speculated in that
J: You believe it could be the same as with yourself?
R3: Yeah…I guess it’s…they’re good at telling stories and one gets stuck in their way of telling a story…it
catches you. Every anime is different too…drawn, and different perspectives and so on…cartoon is a good way
to tell stories much easier than usual films with actors
J: How?
R3: To mediate perspectives…and every series has new characters, they’re never alike, I mean, it’s never that
you subconsciously connect them to other…as in movies for example where they use the same actors over and
over so that you subconsciously connect them, you know…
J: Interesting point
R3: That’s a pretty big difference
J: Yeah, yeah
R3: Never the same face, you know
J: No, how about you…do you stick to a specific few series or manga?
R3: No, I go with almost anything
J: Why, do you think?
R3: Ah, it’s like a hobby, you know. Scanning…looking for something interesting
J: Ah…ah…what’s your personal understanding of anime/manga fans in Sweden. If you believe that they also a
lot of different or just a few?
R3: Well, above everything I believe that they watch things that are high rated on the Internet, and also things
that people they know recommend…above everything. That’s the way people begin…but I believe that most
people watches a mix of everything.
J: Do you feel that your anime/manga consumption might sometimes replace other activities?
R3: Naah, I wouldn’t say that. I choose when I want to watch, that’s what’s nice with fan-subbing…its like, you
don’t have to follow any specific schedules, its just to watch when you’ve got the time.
J: Mm…mm.. it’s a choice then…but to you think it might replace other activities for other people?
R3: No, I don’t think so. As I said before, you choose when you want to watch…there’s no commercial and no
schedule as it is with the TV. You can watch whenever you want to
J: Mm… how many hours a week do you spend on Japanese popular culture, by that I mean not only anime but
also manga, video games, Japanese music. In a normal week
R3: It’s hard to say…what could it be…at least twenty hours a week
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J: Have you ever attended an event, or similar, dedicated to Japanese culture?
R3: No actually I haven’t
J: No…no concert or such? Smaller events?
R3: No I haven’t
J: Do you draw your own manga or cosplay or similar?
R3: No, no, no…I’m not that into the anime-scene
J: No…why do you think people wanna cosplay?
R3: Mmm, that’s a good question…it’s like a hobby too, you know
J: Okay…how do you get in contact with people sharing the same interests? Is it internet, convent, other?
R3: Yeah, it’s mostly internet. Chat, IRC, Forum
J: With who to you watch anime, by yourself, with family, friends?
R3: By myself and with friends
J: And most often?
R3: Mostly by myself
J: Could one say that there seems to be some kind of divide in different communities, where you have, on one
hand you have your regular friends and on the other, you have friends with whom you share the specific interest
in anime with?
R3: Yeah, isn’t it like that with everything? Every hobby? It’s not that it’s a big difference, not in my case
J: No?
R3: I know a lot of people watching anime so….
J: Okay
R3: It’s no big difference
J: But the friends that doesn’t share the interest, are they a part of the same group as the ones interested in
anime? Are the groups apart?
R3: No, no. They’re not
J: Have anime/manga evoked a interest of Japan within you?
R3: …yeah, I guess it has…actually…
J: Ah…how?
R3: Well, I get more interested in the culture over there, you know. Food and…everything
J: Yeah, what do you think about the language? Would you like to know it?
R3: …yeah…I’ve been interested in that…study that sometime…might do that sometime in the future
J: Ah…If you image that you had an identical life…in Japan…would you rather choose to live there then? To be
born in Japan rather than in Sweden
R3: …naah…no I wouldn’t
J: Why not?
R3: It’s good here…if one would live there and understand the language, I don’t believe that one would have the
same interest
J: I mean, that you were born in Japan and knew the language
R3: Yup…and then I don’t think I would be as interested in anime, I don’t believe so
J: Okay…but would you like to live in Japan for a period of time?
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R3: Yeah, I would
J: How do you imagine Japan then? What’s your image of Japan?
R3: My image…
J: Yeah…positive…negative
R3: Well, seems like a soft country. Would be fun to visit and experience the culture
J: Yeah…you mentioned earlier that you thought that the Japanese culture was very present in anime and manga.
Do you think that its obvious that anime and manga originates from Japan? And what indicates that its Japanese?
R3: …theres a lot of small signs…one recognize it as Japanese immiediatly, its their culture, social systems and
the whole thing
J: You mean that there’s different levels?
R3: Yeah…body language, the speech…and a lot of things…the setting and as I said culture
J: Ah…style wise, is there anything…any special style or?
R3: Well…it depends on what you compare it to…western?
J: Yes
R3: Well…anime focuses a lot on the experience…its not realistic…big eyes and pose a lot…a lot of
that…that’s were it differs a lot
J: Mm…and that’s that, that was all the questions
R3: Okay
J: Thanks for participating
Respondent 4
J: Okay, I’m going to start by asking how old are you?
R4: Just turned seventeen
J: Just turned?
R4: Well, about a month ago
J: …and then your in upper secondary school or?
R4: Yes, the first year
J: Ah, what program?
R4: Sam-språk
J: Okay…have you ever lived abroad or travelled a lot?
R4: Yes, I’ve travelled quite a lot
J: Vacation then?
R4: Yes...I was on a language-trip with school last summer in England…but other than that it has mostly been
vacations
J: Okay…why do you watch anime/manga?
R4: …I don’t know…like…I think its entertaining, I mean, for me its any other type of series out there…I watch
anime/manga equally as much as other…like TV-series and such
J: Okay…but is there something special about anime…yeah and manga perhaps that is appealing. Anything
special with that that makes it appealing to you?
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R4: That depends…I like mecha for example…that’s with robots…theres not a lot of other types of series that
contain that…what I like is that its different…its often more imaginary and such…but there are other series with
a lot of imaginary stuff too though…like marvel and such
J: But what is different then?
R4: Well it feels more imaginative… as if they live in this other world while regular TV-series are so…usual or
how to put it
J: Ah…you mentioned Marvel and such…is that like…anime and manga is not exclusive…one can find similar
stuff in Marvel or…how do you mean?
R4: No…for one thing the style of drawing is different…but also, I think that...most of the Marvel-series are set
in this world…or in a contemporary setting…and you wont find…I mean you could find a lot of manga and
anime series that aren’t…that are set in the future, or some other planet or something…and I think that’s
important…
J: If you were to try to see to the Swedish community…and draw some general…why do you think so many
people like anime and manga? You think it’s because of similar reasons as you…that there’s something different
or?
R4: Well…partly…and then…I think that…I think that many manga series are…Shoyou series…girl series are
very concentrated on love…and well girls in my age love to read things like that…so reading series with drawn
figures that look good…and also the Japanese style is very hyped right now
J: Mmm, why do think the Japanese style is so hyped right now then?
R4: …I don’t know…its…like for one thing…I mean I think it started with the music
J: It begun with the music?
R4: Yes…or it feels like that anyway…I don’t know I cant say that much because…I mean I found anime and
manga through games and such so I don’t know a lot about music and such. But I think it started with the music
and then it spread because of…I don’t know…because it was different. So…Japanese music is different
J: Yes…
R4: I don’t know…I think its charming that its in another language. When I listen to Japanese music I like the
fact that I cannot understand what they’re singing…then you don’t have to complain about bad lyrics or
something like that…one can focus on the music.
J: Okay…yes…do you like a few series or do you read or watch…well most of what you can get or?
R4: No…I mean its mostly things in the same genre…mostly mecha…I mean robot-series or shonen-
series…like fighting and such
J: Mm, mm… so its genre in other words?
R4: Yes
J: Your general opinion on the Swedish anime community then, do you think they see a few or a lot of different?
R4: Noo…I think that they watch pretty much…I mean like, I think the larger part…I think its very divided…I
believe that many guys only watch fighting and such…and that many girls just watch love-oriented…
J: Mmm…do you feel that your anime and manga consumption sometimes replaces other activities?
R4: Yes...yes, I believe so. If you find a series that you really like, one might stay inside a whole day instead of
going out to do stuff…but its not like it replaces studying and stuff like that. But one might not meet people
or…I don’t know…skip going out in the sun…
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J: Mm, do you thinks it’s the same for others sometimes?
R4: Yes, I really think so…its like…one can get stuck in it just like one can get stuck in other things
J: Yes, and on a normal week approximately, how many hours would you say that you spend on Japanese
popular culture and by that I mean manga, anime, Japanese videogames and Japanese music and such
R4: Wow…
J: It’s a hard question…approximately
R4: Yes…its hard because its so different…I mean, its mostly different from week to week but I would say
about….ten hours a week at least
J: Mm, mm. Would you say that the Japanese popular culture, in a way, becomes a replacement for Swedish
counterparts, I mean like, if you watch less television or if you’ve completely quit watching television or?
R4: Yes, absolutely. Its like…I mean…its easier in a way because one can check out what series are of the same
genre and one can read or watch them instead of sitting and watching a TV-show that one might not actually
like…I mean…absolutely
J: Okay…Ehm…have you attended any event…aimed at Japanese culture…or convent?
R4: Yes, I’ve attended and worked at many…
J: Yes, what events?
R4: Wow…ehm…I’ve worked at two latest Fricon… I’ve also worked at Närcon…Uppcon six, seven,
eight…ehm Domokon…Ichiban…yes…I don’t remember everyone
J: No, simply put many
R4: Yeah
J: Do you cosplay or draw your own manga, I mean like activities outside just watching anime/manga?
R4: Noo…I’ve been cosplaying…but from a game…but I don’t draw or stuff like that
J: No, okay. Why do you think, why do you think that people wants to cosplay?
R4: I don’t know, I think it’s a way of display what you like, I mean, for one it draws a lot of attention…I mean
if you attend a convent then you wanna meet other people with similar interests as you or how to put it…and
often you’re a character that you like a lot…and then people who also like that character often comes up to you
and you start to talk and so
J: Okay, you mentioned that one gets to meet people with the same interests as oneself on convents and such, but
are there other ways to contact people with the same interests?
R4: Yes, there’s a lot of forum and stuff like that…but I usually don’t hang out on those…but many people I
know do that. And it often like…if one open their eyes…one can find these sick links…you know everybody
knows everybody…you know a lot of times my friend knows another friends and yeah…stuff like that…So you
can meet through shared friends
J: With who do you watch anime? Is it often by yourself, with the family or friends or…
R4: Mmm…in the beginning I watched by myself a lot, but I think it evolves to watching with others. I find it
more fun to watch with others. Because you get the chance to…like after each episode…one could analyze and
talk about it together which is much more fun than if one watches alone
J: Yeah, yeah…could one say that one hangs out with different groups so to speak…that…on the one hand
you’ve got your regular friends and on the other hand you’ve got your anime/manga…gang?
R4: Ehm…
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J: Is it like one hangs out with different groups or?
R4: Yeah..ah…yeah…well of course its…it is divided but for be its not a lot like that because the ones I like to
hang out with also like anime and manga but in school for example, I don’t know anyone that watches…or play
games…and then its automatically that I don’t talk about that because its not like anime and manga is the
complete me. Its like…I don’t think that’s a problem with the divide in group of friends and such
J: No. Do you think it’s the same for other people?
R4: Yes I do…but I think that for many others there’s only this anime or manga circle…that you
meet…sometimes…and that’s a shame
J: Ah..mm…have anime and manga evoked an interest in Japan within you?
R4: Ehm…nah…for me it was before that. But of course it made it grow
J: You were interested in Japan before or…?
R4: Yeah… as I said I started to read anime and manga because games that I played and that was Japanese
games and those made automatically got me into that…
J: So it was the games from the start…?
R4: Yeah, it was
J: Okay…the Japanese language…would you like to know it?
R4: Yeah, of course! I attended a course before…so I know some and also I learn quite a lot by watching anime
and manga…I mean that’s kinda obvious since one hears it all the time…but yeah, of course I would like to
know it
J: Ehm, if you had your whole life as you do now, but you were born in Japan, would you’ve rather been born in
Japan then?
R4: Wow, I don’t know…I mean like I’m pretty….I’m pretty happy with my life as it is now so…I would be
able to say no but…I don’t know…if I got to…wow.. I really don’t know…
J: If I put I like this then, would you like to live in Japan during a period of time?
R4: Yeah, I would. But I don’t think I would want to live there my whole life…I think that…I mean for me, just
like for many others…I think that Japan is very overrated, I mean…there’s a lot of people thinking that’s its so
very good over there and such…but I noticed…I was there last year with my family…and that was great, we
stayed for two weeks and I almost got tired of it the last couple of days because it wasn’t…its not like in the
series you watch or the games you play, its different.
J: But would you say that in anime and manga and in Japanese videogames…is it obvious that it originates from
Japan, and if so, what is it that makes it obvious that its from Japan?
R4: Ehm…for one thing there’s a lot of manga and anime series that are set in today…there’s a lot of school-
anime…and the school system in Japan is different compared to how it is in Sweden…and the style of drawing is
different, so one sees if its manga or anime…
J: So its obvious then?
R4: Yeah
J: Would you say that the image of Japan in anime and manga is somewhat romanticising Japan?
R4: Yes…yes it is. In almost every manga and anime series that I’ve seen and read presents Japan as an
awesome place
J: Okay.. yeah…that was all questions
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R4: Okay
J: Thanks a lot for participating
R4: Yes, thanks
Respondent 5
J: Ok then, I’m going start by asking your age
R5: I’m seventeen
J: Then your’e in upper secondary school?
R5: Yes, exactly
J: What progam?
R5: Nature-science, math and computer-science
J: Ah…
R5: Second…In second grade
J: Have you travelled a lot or lived abroad
R5: Ehm…I’ve travelled some…I’ve been to Japan…half a year ago and then I’ve been to Denmark, France,
London, Holland ehm…Germany
J: And that’s on vacation or do you have relatives there or lived there…
R5: No, its vacation
J: It’s vacation…would you say that you went to Japan because of…I’ll return to that question, I’ll return to that
question…ehm why do you watch anime and manga, what is appealing about it?
R5: Ehm, it simply begun with a friend who gave me a tip about a series…and he said watch this…and at first I
was really doubtful and I wondered what is this and I begun to watch and I simply got stuck and from then I’ve
learned more and more…and what’s good about specifically anime I think its pretty free…since its cartoons
anything can happen…compared to when its actually recorded…it must happen for real…which enables one to
add superpowers, certain models of robots that cannot happen in reality
J: So it’s unrealistic and that’s what’s appealing?
R5: Well, that too and at the same time its pretty good story and very heart-gripping dramas and like that… the
soft thing about anime is that they often exaggerate a lot…in a pretty realistic way but still very unrealistic
J: Ah, okay
R5: Like, love-dramas gets to be completely perfect in a way that I wish that that would be able to happen to me
but…yes exactly
J: Okay, and why do you think that so many others like it?
R5: Ehm I think it’s a mix of a lot of things, I believe that…first of all there’s a little different…and it can be fun
in that way…to do something that not everybody is watching…and also it’s simply because one likes
cartoons…like the style and such
J: But…you said its different…what…specifically is different in anime and manga? Compared to what’s
on…TV for example
R5: Ehm, well, it’s a complete other style if you put it like that…I mean, certain genres doesn’t exsist in regular
TV-series…one example is mecha and super-robots-series…there is Transformers for example…that is
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American…even though its Japanese producers behind Transformers…that’ve helped with design and such so
it’s made correct…but there is differences if one looked at Transformers or and old series one can see that
Transformers a lot about one hero…and the force, fight compared to like…Gundam which is very concentrated
on the very war-drama…
J: Okay, yeah, Do you like a few series or do you watch and read, like, well most of what you get your hands on?
R5: Yeah I have a broad reading…not everything I get my hands on there’s a great spread and variety in what I
read…In the beginning I followed almost everything that popped up…I mean it didn’t matter…everything was
cool and new and exciting because they show the series in a complete different way compared to other types of
cartoons
J: How do you mean?
R5: I mean…the exciting thing about alot of it is…they go very deep into characters in many anime series…and
the difference is, in Japan they’ve got the idea that cartoons is not only for children…and I guess that’s the big
difference really, except for that there’s not a lot of differences…these series are aimed at adult people too…or
older people…and that contributes to a deeper story compared to…well, I don’t now…Byggare Bob and Spider-
man you know…they think one step ahead.
J: Okay…and what’s you general understanding if you were to look at the whole anime and manga
community…do you think that most people concentrate on a few…or that they watch most of what they can?
R5: I think that most people concentrate on a lot…I think that in the beginning one watches a lot of stuff…but
now its very important that its qualitative series I watch…there must be some thought behind it…but that’s
something that occurs after a while, its like people in school who’s not that into an anime-series…its very
common nowdays that one has seen one anime at least…I guess they watch one type of serie or a few series
while people who discovered anime watches a lot of stuff.
J: Okay…do you think that your anime and manga consumption sometimes replaces other activities?
R5: Ehm…no I’m quite careful with that…so that…well of course its…but it’s a part of the activities I do…so
its hard to put it that way since the interest in Japanese popular culture and videogames and similar are part of
my spare time in a way…in the same way it can be soccer for someone else and my opinion is that they are
equally important so…
J: It’s a choice so to speak…
R5: Yes, in a way it is…most people are able to manage soccer and school at the same time, in the same way that
I can manage watch anime and still do well in school at the same time, or play games and manage school at the
same time…it works.
J: Yeah. Do you think it could replace other activities for other people then?
R5: Yeah exactly, I believe that it easily do that…but at the same time I don’t believe it’s the anime, manga and
videogames that is the reason for replacing other activities, its people who doesn’t feel good and would be able
to stay in all day and watch soap-operas instead of anime…I don’t think the reason lies within in the Japanese
J: No…how many hours on a normal week do you spend on Japanese popular culture?
R5: You mean video-games and such also?
J: I mean video-games, music…yeah…
R5: Wow…that’s almost all the time…that’s really hard to estimate in hours because I am constantly surrounded
by it…in my room for example…I’ve got a lot of posters…a lot of models and I mean I have a lot of video-
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games and gaming consoles and I guess I play something during a day and at also…perhaps I don’t watch an
anime-series a day or watch and anime every day but its still present constantly…and the music…its
like…there’s a lot of good Japanese music that I listen to and I listen to that when I’m on the school-bus…and
like that…there’s a little every day of course…
J: Would one be able to say that the Japanese popular culture, in a way, replaces Swedish counterparts? You
watch less TV, and listen to less Swedish…or American music?
R5: Mmm…I think it could be like that for many people but not for me since I’m pretty into Swedish TV-series
and stuff like that too…so its…I watch that a lot too so I’m really fond of Swedish stuff as well…and I watch a
lot of American stuff too…Its becomes like another interest…I we could return to the thing about soccer again
that…there’s people who…I don’t know…play soccer a lot and watches a lot of series…and listen to music and
such…but instead of soccer I’ve got the whole Japanese culture…so I don’t watch other series less…or
well…perhaps a little less but there’s still there a lot…Its not like its only Japanese…
J: Okay…Have you ever attended any anime or manga event…or convent aimed at Japanese…
R5: Ehm, yeah…I work a lot with non-profit organisations which arrange event so yeah…I’ve too a lot
now…and also I work with other non-profit things that concerns convent…
J: What events have you attended then…or been part of?
R5: Uppcon 07…08…Sattaricon 02….Fricon 01 and 02 but those are more just about videogames…Ehm…I’ve
attended Närcon 02…and Domokon 01 and 02…Ichiban Japan Expo 2008…and Coscon and…I’ve probably
went to more but its hard too…its been a lot
J: Yeah.. ehm…do you cosplay or draw your own manga or activities beyond just watching and reandin?
R5: Ehm..I draw a lot…not my own manga but its more drawing that evolves around it…I’ve considered cosplay
but no…other than that I build gun-pla if that’s interesting…I mean its garage-kits one orders and like..models of
robots from anime series…and manga series and you put it together yourself and spray with color and like
that…like model-building of an airplane of tank but its robots
J: Okay..what did you say it was called?
R5: Ehm..gun-pla
J: Okay…why do you think that many chooses to do these activities beyond watching and reading…cosplay and
yeah…stuff like that?
R5: Because most people…I think that people are fascinated by the culture…it is different compared to the
Swedish culture…there isn’t anything that is concentrated on just youth in Sweden for example…that is
concentrated on collecting and …figures and…retrieving stuff and stuff like that and of course one finds it
interesting…if theres something you like…of course you want all the extra stuff…you want the characters
and…you want stuff surrounding it so yeah…that’s got a lot to do with it. Just like when you were young
and…one got a lot of Pokémon…one would collect all the Pokémon cards and one wanted everything that had to
do with Pokémon it was the most awesome thing in the world so…
J: Yeah, yeah…how do you…you mentioned convent and such…but other than that, how do one find people
with similar interests?
R5: Ehm there’s forums on the internet…IRC channels…but other than that its often that you have a friend that
knows a friend that knows a friend…that’s the way I entered…and forum…
J: So internet has a lot to do with its…
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R5: Yeah, Internet plays a very big part…I think that…if Internet and file-sharing didn’t exist…there wouldn’t
have been…barely anyone would have been interested in this…there would have been a much smaller
group…so Internet is the big factor here…
J: Okay…with who to you watch anime? Is it alone…with the family…friends?
R5: Sometimes you watch with friends but I mostly watch alone…I think its easier to watch alone…certain
series are pretty sensitive…they can be pretty dramatic and one sheds a tear and that can be hard if you’re many
others…but I still happens that you watch with many others…but the important thing with anime is that you
wanna complete the whole series…you don’t wanna watch a few episodes then and then…you wanna watch it
from beginning to end and that can be hard if you watch with friend because you have to meet once a week and
then the day after that because its hard to watch twenty-six episodes a day you know…
J: No, no..okay…Could one say that…if you like anime and manga a lot…if you have a big interest…that it
could be that one spend time with two different kind of groups where you on one hand have the group that you
share your interest in anime and manga with…on the other hand you have other friends that…might not know a
lot about you like anime and manga and you do other stuff with them?
R5: Yeah, I believe that…but I think those friends know that you like anime and manga to some extent..but yeah
I believe that its divided into two groups…I believe that few people hangs out with people that only likes anime
and manga…even though those friends could be more or less…I still believe that most people have friends that
are pretty neutral as well…
J: Have anime and manga evoked an interest in Japan within you?
R5: Yeah, yes. Absolutely. That’s the reason for my vacation there…It was like…I began watching anime first
and then manga and now one watches J-drama and the music got interesting…they always play songs in the
beginning of the anime…openings…and of course one likes a song when you’ve heard it fifty times if there’s
fifty episodes…or twenty-five…but still…one begins to like it a lot after a while and you want the complete
song and who’s the artist and you find some other artist and so on so…yeah…of course its increased my interest
in Japan a lot
J: So the reason for…this is what I wanted to return to in the beginning…so the reason for travelling to Japan it
was to explore what has been growing through anime and manga then?
R5: Yeah among other factors…to play arcades…there’s a lot of arcades in Japan that doesn’t exist in
Sweden..so that too.. but yeah before I was this into…when I was younger like, ten or eleven years old I thought
Japan was cool but one didn’t know much about it you know…so its always been there, that Japan is cool
J: Ah, okay…what do you think about the Japanese language? Would you like to know it?
R5: Yeah, I know one typing-language which I learned through a free-game…so I teach myself a little and
yeah…that the plan is…when I graduate from school I want to study Japanese full-time…I will have use for that
when I watch anime and one can download raws and such… and one gets really interested in the country and the
language and so…I feel really motivated to do that
J: Ah, okay…lets say that you hade your whole life like it is now…but in Japan…would you’ve rather been born
in Japan?
R5: No…I like Sweden…I like that I live in Sweden and that I can go to Japan if I’d like…and I guess it would
be really fun to be there and study and live there for a while…absolutely…but no…I like it in Sweden really
J: But would you want to live in Japan for a period of time?
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R5: Yeah. I would really like that. I would like to study there for a couple of years maybe…live there a longer
period of time…but I’m glad I’m born in Sweden
J: Okay…do you think its obvious that anime and manga originates from Japan…is there anything special that
indicates that its Japanese…and what?
R5: Yeah..firstly it’s the cartoon-style that is quite typical…well of course there is illustrators that…American
and german or whatever that are able to draw that type of style but…As far as I know there’s quite a few series
that are American produced…if there even is any…that looks like that special anime-style. I know there’s manga
produced in different countries but I don’t know about anime…I can only think of one…but I think theres
Japanese people behind that one too…
J: So you would say that that’s purely stylistic…is there anything else except the style?
R5: Yeah, the language…yeah… sometimes there’s….one anime that I watch is about Japan and how there’s
this superpower named Britannia that has the worlds…that has conquered the whole world and they’ve changed
name on different things like Japan s “Area 11” instead…and its really nationalistic because there’s this
rebelgroup that are supposed to hit back on Britannia…its very much “Go Japan!”
J: Is that occurring often in other animes as well? Is anime and manga sometimes romanticizing towards Japan?
R5: Ehm…yeah…its hard to find anything anti-Japanese…but otherwise its quite romanticizing towards the
western culture as well…in many cases they raise and feel excited about a german or if its set in Germany…they
think its very fascinating with European…mostly European culture…but on also…way you notice that its
Japanese is the settings…if its set in Japan its very traditional Japanese environments with Japanese vending-
machines and Japanese school-uniforms and Japanese schools…
J: Okay…that was all questions
R5: Okay, yeah
J: Thanks a lot for participating
Respondent 6
J: Okay. I’ll begin with asking you age
R6: I’m nineteen, turns twenty this year
J: And do you work or study?
R6: I work at a game-store in Stockholm
J: Okay, have you travelled a lot or lived abroad
R6: Yeah, I’ve lived abroad in USA for eight years and I’ve travelled around here and there
J: When you’ve travelled has it been vacations or you’ve been away for longer periods or?
R6: No, mostly vacations
J: Okay…why do you watch anime and manga…what is appealing about it?
R6: Mm, I think that the humour is different and its funny…and certain series are unbelievably well drawn and
one really sees how people have…what do you call it…that have you know put in everything they’ve got into the
series. And you get rid of these bad actors that are present in certain series. Yeah..i like it because of the humour
and…there’s a lot of humour in certain series and a lot of feeling most of the time
J: Okay, okay…so there’s a little difference compared to western…?
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R6: Yeah, absolutely… most of the time anime is more serious than you know Cartoon Network stuff as you
say…there a lot more mature
J: Mm..and why do you think so many others like it?
R6: Ehm, I don’t know… I guess it’s the same…one possess a desire for cartoons and one might feel a little bit
more mature if one watches more serious cartoons.
J: And that is mostly found in anime then?
R6: Yeah, precisely
J: Okay…do you like a few series or do you read/watch a lot?
R6: I usually check homepages…like Animde DB…database with series so you’re able to check up what they
are about and what genre and what people…critique and such. And most of the time I pick those seem most
appealing to me…not just anyone but mostly the ones I read about…check what they’re about and then I watch
the first episode…and if I like it I keep watching and if I don’t like it I usually don’t care for it
J: So its not about a specific genre or…so you watch what you think seem to be the best?
R6: Yeah
J: Okay…whats your general understanding of…if you were to see to the whole anime community…if most
people watch a few series or if they watch most of it?
R6: I think that most people watch most of it but its always the series that are mainstream within in the
community such as Naruto, Bleach and stuff like that….most of the time I have a hard time with those kind of
series myself…but…I think it’s a mix most of the time…but a lot of action is often appreciated
J: Okay but you don’t like action or?
R6: Noo…not really…its more about the…when its so much hype on one series…I don’t feel like watching it…I
watched Naruto from the beginning and then it turned out to be the same thing over and over again and I got
tired of it…the other I haven’t given a chance…others I’ve given a chance but I have a hard time watching
mainstream series
J: Okay…do you sometimes think that your anime/manga consumption might replace other activities?
R6: Oh, yes. Perhaps not…now I have a little more control so…but before I could just sit at home for several
days watch you know…but I could’ve done more things that needed to be done
J: Okay…you think it’s the same for others as well?
R6: Yeah absolutely…I believe that many that are in school that skip school to watch…or I know several people
that have you know…skipped school to watch episodes and series…that happens guaranteed
J: How many hours during a normal week do you spend on Japanese popular culture? And I mean manga, anime,
Japanese music and videogames…everything
R6: Wow…like…lets see…yeah easily about thirty hours perhaps…I think
J: Yeah… have you attended any events or convents aimed at Japanese popular culture?
R6: Yeah, I’ve been to quite a lot. I’ve been to Uppcon since Uppcon 05 and I started to work there Uppcon
07…ehm..then I’ve been to Ichiban…Sattaricon…yeah several different…
J: Do you cosplay or draw your own manga or yeah…simply doing anything beyond reading and watching?
R6: I’ve cosplayed twice…but that was at Uppcon 05 and 06 but I haven’t cosplayed since then…I can’t draw
but I appreciate when others can…I don’t really know if Para-Para counts…
J: Absolutely
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R6: Yeah I…I’m one of the founders of…me and a friend founded the first Para-Para group in Sweden…and
forum…so we’re trying to grow now and performs on different events and trains outside in the summers and
such…
J: Ah…why do you think that a lot of people chooses to cosplay and do other activities beyond reading and
watching?
R6: Cosplay I know…when I did it, it was fun to sew the things and really get into character you like and look
like the character you like. Some just dress up as the character and some act like the character…ehm…I guess
it’s a little fantasy-like…that life would be like that but
J: Yeah…do you also believe that it could be that one seek to contact also like that specific character?
R6: Yeah, of course. People walk up to you and says “oh how fun that you cosplay this character” and how
pretty it is and so on…so one gets in contact with other people that likes the series or specifically that character
J: Ah okay…you mentioned convent and such…one gets in contact with people with similar interests there…but
except for convents and similar…how does one contact people with similar interests?
R6: Its through different forums…yeah IRC and such…and then there’s…nowdays there’s different stores in
Stockholm…New Nippon which is a music-store and then there’s Tokyo Stop which is manga, music and
clothes and that…you meet new people there and…other than that there’s Klubb Shibuya which I’m also
managing…it’s a club for Japanese dance-music…ehm…but I guess its mostly the Internet that connects
people…
J: Is it during the last years these other…how do I put…platforms for meeting new people have emerged…like
the stores and clubs and such…?
R6: Yes, precisely…the opening of those things has been during the last…one, two years…I don’t think it has
been big enough earlier…but now its starting to be really big so now its possible to do that…more people are
interested
J: Okay, but…who would you say that you watch anime with…does one watch alone, does one watch with
family…friends…?
R6: Mmm…I guess I watch mostly alone at home and when in the bus I watch on my PSP…ehm…but I’ve
watched series with friends too…there’s anime-nights with friends…watch some anime-movie or a short-series
in one night…and also one can have marathons with friends so…its both but I think one watch alone most of the
time…and then you discuss the series with others who’ve seen it
J: Okay…could one say that one hangs out with in different groups, that one have…on one side you have your
friends that doesn’t have any interest in anime and on the other side you have the anime/manga community?
That there’s two different sides so to speak…
R6: Yeah, I believe so…that people have two different circles…I have it, in a way, like that…on one side anime-
oriented and the other video-games…sure its still Japanese popular culture but there’s a rather big difference on
the anime fans and the videogame fans…but I believe that many has…in school and such…that they hang out
with friends that aren’t interested in anime but they surely has other things in common…I don’t know…a sport
or something…something like that
J: Okay…have anime and manga or Japanese popular culture in general evoked an interest for Japan within you?
R6: Yes, it really has. I plan to go there to study the language and live there a year or two…ehm…yeah...it really
has actually
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J: The Japanese language then…would you like to know it?
R6: Yes…I’m going there to study the Japanese and learn the complete language…
J: Have you studied it before, in Sweden?
R6: Yeah…I’ve studied for two semesters in an evening-course
J: Okay…if I put it like this…if you hade your complete life as it is now…but you were born in Japan…would
rather have been born in Japan than in Sweden…or where…if you’re born in USA…rather Japan than USA?
R6: I mean…I myself am proud of my ethnicity…so I wouldn’t like to be Japanese just because I like Japanese
popular culture…but…yeah…I wouldn’t rather be Japanese than Swedish/American…so that’s nothing I see in
me…
J: No, okay…but I if put it this way…would you like to live in Japan during a period of time?
R6: Yeah, I would like to do that and I probably will…I don’t think I would like to live there my whole life but a
couple of years at least would be a good experience
J: What is your image of Japan then?
R6: It’s a little different…certain things are very crazy, certain things are very strict…ehm…I believe it’s a very
fun country for people who aren’t raised in Japan…then you’re used to it…but when you go there and
everything so new and so many different things…trends and clothes…fashion…and also a lot of videogame
characters and anime and manga an such things…a lot of many different worlds
J: Okay…would you say that its obvious that anime and manga originates from Japan? I mean…do you think so?
R6: In the way it’s drawn or?
J: Well…is it? Do you see that an anime or manga is Japanese?
R6: Most of the time…there’s anime and manga from Korea as well…that’s called Mangua I think…and you
usually see some differences that…Japanese manga are a little more…bigger eyes and bigger heads and…but
most of the times you see that…and you’re guaranteed to see difference between Japanese anime and western
cartoons
J: Are there anything else except stylistic?
R6: Ehm..yeah..the humour and like…the way in which the people…or characters behave…are most of the
time…differs most of the time from series from other countries…
J: Okay…that’s all questions…thanks for wanting to be part of this
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7.2 Appendix 2
7.2.1 Questionnaire
Enkät – Japansk populärkultur i Sverige Fyll i svaren i word, hur du väljer att markera dina svarsalternativ spelar ingen roll, bara det är synligt! Spara och skicka tillbaka till [mail]@hotmail.com Tack för att Du bidrar till denna studie! Kön Kvinna Man
Ålder: 1. Jag har varit utomlands under långa perioder (t ex studerat/bott utomlands) Ja Nej
2. Jag tycker om fler än ett fåtal serier (Manga och/eller Anime) Ja Nej
3. Jag ägnar mer tid åt japansk populär kultur (anime/manga/japanska tv-spel/musik) än svensk populärkultur (musik/tv/spel) Ja Nej
4. Japansk populärkultur (anime/manga/japanska tv-spel/musik) har gjort mig intresserad av Japan Ja Nej
5. En av anledningarna till varför jag gillar anime och/eller manga är att det är annorlunda jämfört med TV-serier/serietidningar från Sverige (och/eller USA) Ja Nej
6. Jag har varit på ett konvent eller konsert tillägnat Japansk populärkultur (t ex Uppcon, konsert etc) Ja Nej
7. Jag hade hellre blivit född i Japan än i Sverige Ja Nej
8. Övriga kommentarer kring temat ”Japansk populärkultur i Sverige”: