Beyond 'Cool': An Anthropological Examination of the Production, Reception, and Cultural Impact of Japanese Popular Media in a Globalized World

Abstract

This thesis, "Beyond 'Cool Japan': explores the global phenomenon of Japanese popular media through an anthropological lens. This project explores ways that members of the global audience engage with their experiences of Japanese media. The methodology utilized for this research involves a multi-sited ethnography that has followed the circulation, appropriation, and re-signification of Japanese media both digitally and physically. Chapter 4, "The Personal Cultural Project," provides an in-depth examination of how participants have adapted mass-produced media content into personally meaningful cultural resources to form communities and develop their individual identities. Chapter 5, "Digital Mediascapes and Infrastructure," explores the fan-created structures that enable these personal cultural projects. The chapter also highlights the cultural labor performed by fans in localizing content and creating transnational communities. The central argument presented in this thesis is that the global success of Cool Japan is mediated through the unpredictable agency of fans and challenges cultural imperialism. This thesis provides ethnographic evidence for the glocalization of the Cool Japan phenomenon. This research calls for re-examining notions of soft power and for considering the conceptual fluidity of culture, as well as the importance of informal grassroots initiatives in shaping global cultural influence.