Budaya Populer Jepang di Asia Timur and Tenggara: Saatnya untuk Sebuah Paradikma Regional?
Nama : Wawan Laway
kelas : Ikom A 2019
Nim : 19041184088
Mapel : Bahasa Inggris
Over the past two decades, Japanese pop culture products have been heavily exported, traded and consumed throughout East and Southeast Asia. Various types of these products are very easy to get and ready for the market, especially in the big cities of this region. For example, many fashion magazines in Hong Kong come from Japan, either in the original or Cantonese versions. Japanese comic books are routinely translated into South Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Taiwanese languages. These books dominate the comic book market in Asia. Japanese animated characters, such as Hello Kitty, Anpan Man, and Poke'mon can be found everywhere in markets in Asian cities, in the form of toys or school / office equipment both licensed and unlicensed. Japanese animation, which is usually translated, is the most popular animation. Astro Boy, Sailor Moon and Lupine are examples of successful animations that can be found in almost all animation shops in Hong Kong and Singapore. In major cities in China, now that hobby activities are increasingly accepted, Japanese popular culture products are quickly entering local shops, opening the door for the spread of the country's cultural market.
kelas : Ikom A 2019
Nim : 19041184088
Mapel : Bahasa Inggris
Over the past two decades, Japanese pop culture products have been heavily exported, traded and consumed throughout East and Southeast Asia. Various types of these products are very easy to get and ready for the market, especially in the big cities of this region. For example, many fashion magazines in Hong Kong come from Japan, either in the original or Cantonese versions. Japanese comic books are routinely translated into South Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Taiwanese languages. These books dominate the comic book market in Asia. Japanese animated characters, such as Hello Kitty, Anpan Man, and Poke'mon can be found everywhere in markets in Asian cities, in the form of toys or school / office equipment both licensed and unlicensed. Japanese animation, which is usually translated, is the most popular animation. Astro Boy, Sailor Moon and Lupine are examples of successful animations that can be found in almost all animation shops in Hong Kong and Singapore. In major cities in China, now that hobby activities are increasingly accepted, Japanese popular culture products are quickly entering local shops, opening the door for the spread of the country's cultural market.
The success of Japanese popular culture in East and Southeast Asia over the past two decades has attracted the attention of many writers to produce scientific writings about it. Although this topic is often not addressed in political science and international relations literature, this topic has a fairly strong basis in cultural education, anthropology, and ethnography. Much of the writing focuses on specific problems that focus on the problem of consumer reactions to the spread of culture in relation to global-local conversation (Alison 2000; Craig 2000; Ishii 2001; Iwabuchi 2004; Martinez 1998; Mori 2004; Otake and Hosokawa 1998; Treat 1996) . Until now there has been no research that presents comprehensive empirical evidence about the capacity of Japan's newly formed cultural markets in East and Southeast Asia, or research that studies these issues in a regional paradigm.
It is not impossible to analyze many studies about the dissemination of Japanese popular culture and all the images in these studies, or even analyze the authors' ability to see problems. But this paper will highlight some of the main issues concerning the theory and analysis they use, all of which directly touch upon the main problem in analyzing the spread of Japanese culture to other countries. The main objective is to propose a regional paradigm in analyzing cultural dissemination in the East and Southeast Asian region, including Japanese popular culture.
Existing Literature: Everything Global
Most research on Japanese popular culture abroad consists of a number of case studies containing anecdotes with a tendency to give the text privileges and the things they describe. This is partly understandable, due to an interest in a specific discipline in academics and a lack of comprehensive empirical information in this field. Issue edited by Timothy J. Craig entitled Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture (2000), is a good example. This book discusses the success of Japanese popular culture in the 1990s. In the thirteen leading articles there is a textual analysis of Japanese music, comics, animation, television programs, and films, while the last four articles discuss the dissemination of Japanese comics, animation and pop artists abroad.
Another interesting example is the issue edited by John Lent, Asian Popular Culture (1995), and edited by Timothy J. Craig and Richard King, Global Goes Local: Popular Culture in Asia (2002). These books contain analyzes of specific products from Japanese popular culture and their ancestors, observing contexts in the content of stories, practices, and broad social meanings. For example in the Asian Popular Culture, Ron Tanner observes the making of animated toys, the process of export to America, and how they reflect "the tendency of the country (Japan), at least the government's agenda" in an effort to a brighter future (100). In the same edition, Ito Kinko questioned the meaning of weekly comic magazines in Japan, here he argued that "comic magazines reflect social realities about the work and role of women, gender power structures, and double standards" (134). Similar to Global Goes Local, Mark Mac Williams argues that the famous comic Hi no tori (The Phoenix) by Osamu Tezuka is implicitly "a revision of Japanese belief" There are many other examples such as these trends that have been published. Like important writings by Martinez 1998; Mori 2004; Otake and Hosokawa 1998; Achodt 1996; and Treat 1996.
Japanese magazines in Taipei (November_2006)
In explaining the success of Japanese popular culture in East and Southeast Asia (not in America or Europe), some people argue that "cultural proximity" determines the path to spread cultural flow, or "Asian fragrance" (Asian fragrance) which easily resonates among local consumers. In this opinion, the spread of culture is geo-cultural and not only between countries. Writing on Japanese TV dramas in East and Southeast Asia, Iwao Sumiko introduced the concept of "shared sensibilities" (1994: 74), Honda Shino wrote "East Asian Psyche" (1994: 76), and Igarashi Akio wrote "cultural sensibility" (1997: 11). Even though this "cultural closeness" cannot be explained, for example why young Taiwanese choose to buy Japanese products from China, or why Thai students prefer to listen to American music, which is clearly not culturally close.
Some others argue that Japanese popular culture products are "faceless" (as written by Alison 2000; Shiraisi 2000). This is because the appeal of Japanese popular culture that is not national and therefore very easy to transfer, so that culture can no longer be recognized as Japanese culture. It is indeed very difficult to see the Japanese characteristics of the animated characters Hello Kitty, Doraemon, or Poke'mon, or how to see a cultural message that may be carried by those products that are received by consumers in Asia.
Meanwhile, consumers in East and Southeast Asia seem to be able to recognize cultural products originating from Japan. When doing a number of interpretations from a survey questioner with 239 students from universities in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul 1, one of the strongest impressions I saw was that most were able to identify animation, music, and comics originating from Japan, even though these products were already translated into local languages. They are also able to distinguish which products are imported originals and which are locally made imitations among Japanese popular culture products. In this context, the "Japanese smell" of the goods may lie in certain appearances whose grouping can be associated with "Japan" which can be recognized and valued by consumers, rather than its contents in the form of "Asian" cultures.
The writings of Iwabuchi Koichi (2002; 2004) provide a new approach, someone who interprets the manifestations of Japanese cultural activities in a broader cultural dynamic. Iwabuchi is a pioneer in Japanese popular culture research in East and Southeast Asia, and his work provides much evidence of the popularity of Japanese television dramas in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, South Korea, and mainland China. He argues that the concept of "cultural proximity" does not always provide an explanation of the consumption of Japanese popular culture. He argues that Japanese popular culture products represent "modern" ideas that are the choice of consumers.
In his book Recentering Globalization (2002), Iwabuchi put the rise of Japanese cultural power in line with the process of globalization. The basic argument he uses is the expansion of Japanese culture into Asia in the 1990s related to the decentralized power of global-local relations. In Iwabuchi's view, Japanese media companies have been exporting Japanese experience in spreading Western culture in Asia (20). Thus people in Asia no longer consume "Western" but localized versions or a combination of the two (105).
In a publication in which Iwabuchi as editor, Feeling Asian Modernities (2004), provides the most complicated way of trying to theorize the content and flow of Japanese popular culture. A contributor named Lisak Yuk-Ming Leung analyzed two popular Japanese dramas which aired in Hong Kong in 1992 (Love Generation) and 1997 (Long Vacation). According to him, the message "ganbaru" ("working hard and trying") has spread throughout Asia through Japanese TV dramas that "carry the messages of Ganbaru in a new form" (91). The new behavior was shown by the city hero figures in the drama who had tried hard at work and in love ... which is encouraged by his opponent to strive continuously ”(92). The audience of these plays, for themselves, has adopted the message of the new gan in various intensities in all age groups (100-102).
In the same edition, Yu-fen Ko argues that Japanese idole drama players play a role in the "latent ambivalence of anxiety and the desire for modern things (108). In this context, Japanese dramas show "real problems in life" faced by Taiwanese (108). Lee Ming-tsung's research also found that the practices of cultural mixing imagined in Taiwan and experienced in Japan facilitated a culture-oriented transformation and self-identification with another cultural domination, namely Japan (130). In the same book Siriyuvasak Ubonarat examines the one about Bangkok and Dong-Hoo Lee who researches about South Korea gives the same results about how Japanese popular culture products "project modernity". The studies also stated that the act of consuming Japanese culture and cultural practices brought an identity from Japan and ultimately had an impact on the identity of the countries in East Asia or the region as a whole.
All the studies mentioned above are rich in information and analysis related to various Japanese popular cultural activities in other countries. In my opinion, the most important thing is in rejecting Western theoretical ideas of globalization about cultural trends that are increasingly homogeneous (uniform). Globalization theories describe a uniform world in which the elovution of business and cultural networks increasingly influences the fate, identity and culture of humans (for example, the writings of Druker 1993; Hannertz 1991; Huntington 1996; Kotckin 1992; Robertson 1991; Schiller 1974; Tomlinson 1991 and Wallerstein 1991). All illustrate the cultural uniqueness of ethnic groups that are not bounded by national boundaries joining to adapt to new global rules. The contribution of ethnographic researchers above for his defense of increasingly uniform cultural theories lies in his great appreciation of diverse cultural and diverse practices that persist in the face of the forces of uniformity of globalization.
The weakness of this literature is its interpretation of the global-local paradigm. Most of these researchers view the expansion of Japanese culture abroad as part of a global process and see their own statements that identify that Japanese cultural commodities have limited circulation, deeper acceptance, and have a real impact on cultural geography in the region. For them the global-local paradigm is used only as a unit of analysis; "Local" is the recipient and adapter to the local culture (indigenizer), meanwhile Japan is considered as an indigenizer and also as a mediator to the "global". This tendency is part of a broader phenomenon of contextual analysis and the labeling of cultural practices studied as part of a global process (see for example Craig and King 2002; and Hall 1995).
Interestingly, those who clearly state regional acceptance for Japanese culture in East Asia, they state their arguments without thinking. Important studies explain "Japanization / Asianization" (Otake and Hosokawa 1998), "Pop Asianism" (Ching 1996), "Trans-Asian Cultural Traffic" (Iwabuchi 2004), and "About East Asian Popular Culture" (Chua 2003) tend to see this phenomenon as the impact of globalization in the East and Southeast Asia region. Because they do not consider that "territory" can function as a unit of analysis, the analysis made tends to only look at this phenomenon in passing. As a result, they fail to understand what role intra-regional relations play in shaping the circulation and consumption of cultural products.
In this context, Iwabuchi has done the right thing by maintaining the opinion that the influence of Japanese culture is real and very strong in East and Southeast Asia. In contrast, many Japanese popular culture products, such as music, style accessories, and idol stars, rarely find consumers outside the cultural geography of this region (Iwabuchi 2002; 47, 84). Perhaps this observation can lead us to another argument from statements about globalization that already exist.
It's time for a Regional Paradigm
Until now, my argument is that we should try to build a regional paradigm as a basis for analyzing the flow of cultural spread between countries in East and Southeast Asia. In other words, we should look at "territory" not only as a process in which culture spreads across national borders or as a manifestation of global-local relations, but sees it as a unit of analysis that has special characteristics that distinguish it from the discourse about globalization.
A clear sign is the fact that territory has become important in world politics and economics, even in the midst of globalization (Hettne et al. 1999; Masfield and Milner 1999; Mittelman 1996). An indication of this phenomenon is the development that has been achieved by the European Union, and some efforts are being made to form regional units in North America (NAFTA), South America (Mercosur), Africa (AU), Asia (ASEAN, EAEC), and Asia-Pacific (APEC).
In East and Southeast Asia, economic improvement in the last 3 decades has increased the power of the region, whose function has been shaped by "market dynamics" and economic activities between countries. This process continues despite significant shortcomings in formalizing regional territories and places more emphasis on informality, negotiation, and specific approaches to regional policy, as observed by several researchers (Castells 2000; Frankel and Miles 1993; and Katzenstein 2002).
Several studies looking at economic dynamics suggest that market-centered processes have become the main engine driving the regionalization of East and Southeast Asia (Haggard 1997; Hatch and Yamamura 1996; Katzenstein and Shiraishi 1997; Petri 1993). Recent comprehensive research by the World Bank provides the following findings, since the mid-1980s intra-regional trade has increased with an increase rate of approximately twice that of world trade and is higher than intra-regional trade at NAFTA or in the European Union. According to World Bank research, trade relations between most East and Southeast Asian countries have increased sharply in intensity, and economic relations and interdependence between the economies of the region have been significantly strengthened (Ng and Yeats, 2003).
The rise of the middle classes in metropolitan cities in East and Southeast Asia is another indication. These middle classes are the product of production and are the driving force behind regionalization in East Asia and provide a model for others to follow. Since the late 1980s, where about 10 years of annual economic growth exceeded ten percent, it has facilitated the emergence of the middle classes in East Asia. Noting the emergence of these classes, Shiraishi Takashi argues that "they are the product of regional economic developments that have taken place under a wave of informal American power, for half a century, initially beginning in Japan, then North Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, then Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and now in China "(2004: 33). (Regarding the middle class in East Asia, see also the writings of Chua 2000; Hattori et al. 2002; and Robson and Goodman 1996) 2. Their socioeconomic strength continues to generate demand for consumer goods and imported cultural products, raising consumption regional and bring its markets together.
In the field of culture, rapid development has produced changes. Observations of these changes will probably point to a regional paradigm that provides better equipment for analyzing the manifestations, practices, and impacts of popular culture in East and Southeast Asia. The main characteristic of cultures from East and Southeast Asia since the 1990s is the overlapping encounters between American, Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures. The intercultural meeting takes place simultaneously and in a variety of different intensities that continuously forms the appearance of culture and lifestyle. People in East and Southeast Asia share sources of popular cultural products that they might choose according to cultural choices, simultaneously consuming American, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and other cultural products. Millions of young people in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Jakarta want the latest fashions from Tokyo, listen to the same type of American pop music, watch Chinese dramas on television or DVD, read Japanese comic books, and go with friends to watch Korean films that the latest (Otmazgin, 2005).
Cultural gatherings in East and Southeast Asia, although selectively-generally involving the urban middle class, not the entire national population. Our cities are understood as the center, because it is a meeting where the flowing culture overlaps with excessive consumption. Mega cities in East Asia (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and others) play a role as a matrix for innovation, expansion and cultural mixing; In these cities the formation of intra-regional and extra-regional awareness culminated. Therefore, in East and Southeast Asia, we should talk about multi-layered interactions between cities rather than between countries.
Moreover, regional collaboration between mass media companies and promoters has a strong impact on the East and Southeast Asian markets. These players are important entrepreneurs in looking for new business opportunities to expand and they have driven the development of East and Southeast Asian media markets in the past two decades. Their activities support the expansion of East and Southeast Asian cultural markets, develop and strengthen regional cooperation and relations, and provide the cultural content of the substance for a picture of "Asia"
Army_of_Kitty-chans, Hong Kong (April 2004)
Film, Music and Television
Pan-Asian films are a real example. With a good relationship between Asian and Western motifs, they have gained high popularity in East and Southeast Asia, and also smaller in the American market. Films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero Jan Dara, 2046, Initial D, and Musa are produced and marketed across countries. Some ambitious co-productions involve staff members and artists from South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. 3 Places where production costs are low such as China, Thailand and Malaysia provide incentives to shift production sites. The existence of potential consumers in regional and global markets drives marketing strategies that aim to engage a broad audience in East and Southeast Asia and others. The resulting picture has an impact on regional and extra regional viewers in conceptualizing "Asia".Regional collaborations have also taken place in the fields of music and television, trying to exploit the rise of popular culture in East and Southeast Asia and create a new culture. From the broadcast media industry, the main tendency of music and television production in East and Southeast Asia is to develop more regionally than in an effort to expand globally. Channel V is one player's problem here. This channel is an Asian version of MTV which enjoys phenomenal popularity in East Asia. This channel continuously introduces local and international pop and rock music to broad cable television viewers. Music programs owned by Channel V often categorize selected music as "Asian Music", which includes pop music from artists and bands from various East Asian countries. Sony Music Entertainment also works to create pan-Asian music. In 2004 the company produced two volumes of pop music collections using artists from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. The success of this album motivated the creation of a new volume in 2005 which also involved music from Thailand. 4In the field of television, some cooperation between countries has occurred, although the high cost of production has prevented efforts to conduct production between countries, which made this cooperation stopped at an early stage. The importance of some of the efforts that have been made lies in the exploration of private entrepreneurs and knowledge of the consequences of the transfer of cultural production. In television broadcasting covering several countries, Star TV is the largest company in Asia lately, contains a wide variety of entertainment, news and sports channels and attracts the attention of consumers in 300 million homes from China to India. The station's strategy prioritizes local content and broadcasts in Asian languages, specifically Mandarin (Sinclair 1997).Japanese music and television companies are important players. Some of them have explored markets in East Asia, driven by commercial companies and local demand. For example, Pony Canyon and Avex Trax, two of the six major Japanese music companies, have expanded their spread in the East Asian media market by making the transition from licensing agreements with local companies to opening their own branches. In the television field, Amuse, Rojam, Fuji TV, and JET TV are quite well-known. These companies often used the basis of Japanese formations engaged in broadcasting and television production in the 1990s, collaborating with local companies and media organizations. These companies not only market Japanese music and television programs, but have acted as examples and models of local cultural industries in East Asia.The examples above are only a small number of regional cultural developments in East and Southeast Asia in the last few decades. This development has created a new reality in which the urban middle class in East and Southeast Asia widely shares various cultural opportunities products and goods. Even though they are fixed in different locations, with different incomes, a comparable level of lifestyle consumption exists for the majority. The middle class in urban China, Malaysia and Indonesia now want the same cultural choices as its neighbors in Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok.In conclusion, markets and societies in East and Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly uniform due to economic, social and cultural forces. In all cities in the region, especially the popular culture market and mechanisms for cooperation have been developed, these processes provide an opportunity for a lengthy and conceptual analysis of the dynamics of regional cultural encounters. With this, observations of popular culture flow here are carried out in more detail and accuracy than long and rhetorical talks about global-local relations, with an implicit or explicit emphasis on homogenization. A regional paradigm that considers local and regional specificity might be more useful in studying the cultural flow in this region.
Army_of_Kitty-chans, Hong Kong (April 2004)
Film, Music and Television
Pan-Asian films are a real example. With a good relationship between Asian and Western motifs, they have gained high popularity in East and Southeast Asia, and also smaller in the American market. Films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero Jan Dara, 2046, Initial D, and Musa are produced and marketed across countries. Some ambitious co-productions involve staff members and artists from South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. 3 Places where production costs are low such as China, Thailand and Malaysia provide incentives to shift production sites. The existence of potential consumers in regional and global markets drives marketing strategies that aim to engage a broad audience in East and Southeast Asia and others. The resulting picture has an impact on regional and extra regional viewers in conceptualizing "Asia".Regional collaborations have also taken place in the fields of music and television, trying to exploit the rise of popular culture in East and Southeast Asia and create a new culture. From the broadcast media industry, the main tendency of music and television production in East and Southeast Asia is to develop more regionally than in an effort to expand globally. Channel V is one player's problem here. This channel is an Asian version of MTV which enjoys phenomenal popularity in East Asia. This channel continuously introduces local and international pop and rock music to broad cable television viewers. Music programs owned by Channel V often categorize selected music as "Asian Music", which includes pop music from artists and bands from various East Asian countries. Sony Music Entertainment also works to create pan-Asian music. In 2004 the company produced two volumes of pop music collections using artists from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. The success of this album motivated the creation of a new volume in 2005 which also involved music from Thailand. 4In the field of television, some cooperation between countries has occurred, although the high cost of production has prevented efforts to conduct production between countries, which made this cooperation stopped at an early stage. The importance of some of the efforts that have been made lies in the exploration of private entrepreneurs and knowledge of the consequences of the transfer of cultural production. In television broadcasting covering several countries, Star TV is the largest company in Asia lately, contains a wide variety of entertainment, news and sports channels and attracts the attention of consumers in 300 million homes from China to India. The station's strategy prioritizes local content and broadcasts in Asian languages, specifically Mandarin (Sinclair 1997).Japanese music and television companies are important players. Some of them have explored markets in East Asia, driven by commercial companies and local demand. For example, Pony Canyon and Avex Trax, two of the six major Japanese music companies, have expanded their spread in the East Asian media market by making the transition from licensing agreements with local companies to opening their own branches. In the television field, Amuse, Rojam, Fuji TV, and JET TV are quite well-known. These companies often used the basis of Japanese formations engaged in broadcasting and television production in the 1990s, collaborating with local companies and media organizations. These companies not only market Japanese music and television programs, but have acted as examples and models of local cultural industries in East Asia.The examples above are only a small number of regional cultural developments in East and Southeast Asia in the last few decades. This development has created a new reality in which the urban middle class in East and Southeast Asia widely shares various cultural opportunities products and goods. Even though they are fixed in different locations, with different incomes, a comparable level of lifestyle consumption exists for the majority. The middle class in urban China, Malaysia and Indonesia now want the same cultural choices as its neighbors in Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok.In conclusion, markets and societies in East and Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly uniform due to economic, social and cultural forces. In all cities in the region, especially the popular culture market and mechanisms for cooperation have been developed, these processes provide an opportunity for a lengthy and conceptual analysis of the dynamics of regional cultural encounters. With this, observations of popular culture flow here are carried out in more detail and accuracy than long and rhetorical talks about global-local relations, with an implicit or explicit emphasis on homogenization. A regional paradigm that considers local and regional specificity might be more useful in studying the cultural flow in this region.
Nissim Kadosh Otmazgin
Mahasiswa PHD, Unviersitas Kyoto
Nice post👍
BalasHapusThaks bro..
Hapus