japanamerica

latest column for The Japan Times : Can METI’s ¥50 billion fund unfreeze ‘Cool Japan’? BY ROLAND KELTS Naysaying is almost always risk-free, especially if you do it online. If you’re a cynic, you’re usually right, and if you’re wrong, you can just delete those errant tweets and posts and join the party. So last month, when Japan’s Upper House rubber-stamped a culture-promotion fund called Cool Japan , I expected little more than bemused shrugs from the anime industry and scorn from Internet otaku (fanboys). Kyary Pamyu Pamyu The government has been trumpeting its support of Japanese pop culture since at least 2002, when journalist Douglas McGray’s essay, “Japan’s Gross National Cool,” helped awaken politicians to a post-manufacturing path to global relevance. At the time, populist Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, an Elvis fan with a storm-trooper-like helmet of gray hair, announced that Japan would be King of content par excellence. Here’s what happened: Doraemon, the

Latest for TIME on METI's newly passed "Cool Japan" content fund and campaign. Japan Spends Millions in Order to Be Cool By Roland Kelts  Just as Washington shuts its stimulus chest, and with the economies of Europe tightening their purse strings in times of austerity, Tokyo’s wallet is suddenly very fat and visible. The object of its lavish spending this time is culture. Japan’s upper house gave final approval on June 12 for a $500 million, 20-year fund to promote Japanese culture overseas. Called Cool Japan, the multidisciplinary campaign is designed to plug everything from anime and manga to Japanese movies, design, fashion, food and tourism. Overseen by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the campaign will woo private investors later this year to hit an eventual target of $600 million. It’s unfortunate that the name of a campaign to showcase creative originality strongly echoes Cool Britannia, the pop-cultural flowering that took place in t