By -Harishna Devi
Abstract
What goes on behind the frames of your favourite anime, and how has the popularity of your favourite show been orchestrated to your liking? The anime industry has been flourishing since the 2000s and has greatly contributed to multiple facets of Japan’s cultural popularity. Through this growth several initiatives and government funded marketing strategies were arranged to secure Japan’s ranking with international audiences. With a newfound audience, previously niche subcultures were exposed and acclimated to rapidly expanding economic and cultural markets. This article explores the critiques of the animation industry through the lens of orientalism in cultural appropriation as the aftermath of unbridled globalisation of culture in a capitalistic system. It is also argued that the rapid globalisation of anime caused a domino effect, by worsening the labour conditions of underpaid and overworked animators and shifting the cultural legitimacy of anime.
Introduction
From Hello Kitty’s red bow to Doraemon’s never ending pocket, anime has remained a staple for children all around the world. To many, anime represents nostalgic memories of collecting figurines and showing off ultra rare Pokémon cards. Behind the childhood memories, anime expands into a billion dollar market for tourism, entertainment and art for Japan. It has transformed from an underground subculture to the face of Japan’s entertainment industry. From the success of Pokémon to modern day hits like Jujutsu Kaisen, which brought in a revenue of over 24 Billion yen, anime has been steadily and strategically making itself a symbol to represent Japan. However, animation studios have struggled to accommodate for the expansion of anime and have instead regressed into capitalistic labour conditions.
Engineering popularity: Project Cool Japan
Cool Japan is a government initiative aimed to identify and export cultural artifacts of Japan. It was first introduced in 2010 to promote Japanese culture as a socio-economic commodity. This initiative was heavily influenced by the rise of U.K. ‘s popularity through Project Cool Britannia in the 1990s, inspiring Japan to coin the term ‘Cool Japan’. Cool Japan includes food, anime, pop culture and other elements of Japanese culture that Japan aimed to export.
Maylyn Weng, a researcher, theorised that anime was utilised as a medium of soft power for Japan. She goes on to explain the origin of this soft power and uses Canada-Japan relations to showcase how international relations can be achieved through the appeal in aesthetics for anime. Japan’s usage of soft power can also be traced to its initiatives to promote tourism through anime-themed attractions like the Ghibli Park and a specific guide on anime attractions alone in the Japanese National Tourism Organisation website. Though it is well discussed that anime was marketed by the government to sanitise Japan’s global image post World War II, there is no official source of information bearing authenticity and it remains a theory at best.
Anime became so sensational to the point that fans would embark on anime pilgrimages or Seichi Junrei, where they would visit landmark locations from anime. Shibuya Station and Bar Lupin and even the Noshiro Technical High School were often visited in this genre of tourism. Seichi Junrei spread internationally, with fans of Banana Fish leaving heaps of flowers in the New York Public Library. The globalisation of anime was heavily motivated by government initiatives like subsidised rates for tourists visiting Japan. An increase of 4.6% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2023 in Seichi Junrei was recorded by the Japan Tourism Agency.
Anime Industries & The Myth of Paid Work
With over a third of the world’s population watching anime by 2021, a growing pressure to carry the nation began to settle in animators. Despite the successful multi-billion dollar expansion in the industry, animators endured low pay, high stress and an overall asphyxiating environment. Japan has a history of exploitative industries and unethical working practices which can be traced back to its need to regain economic stability post World War II. The formal recognition of Karōshi, death by work, and parasitic work hours have since then plagued Japan’s work culture.
Animators were forced to work with limited time and resources, with over 84% of animators working 8+ hours a day. Upon the release of the schedule for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, multiple animators expressed their concerns on social media. MAPPA studios reportedly arranged for animators to sign NDAs following the release of Season 2. The studio had also outright rejected the team’s requests to delay the scheduled episodes, forcing animators to produce highly detailed fight scenes at the eleventh hour. Moreover, Episode 17 was aired when only a third of it was completed leaving the much awaited key episode in ruins. Mappa’s animators later responded to criticism of the episode on social media and apologised for the audience’s disappointment. Attack on Titan, another internationally enjoyed anime, hospitalised the animators behind the project. An animator claimed that he had not gone home in three days during the animation of a key episode.
Ironically, ‘Zom 100: Bucket list of the dead’, an anime showcasing Japan’s work culture had to be rescheduled to air the rest of Season 1 later in the year, since its animators could not keep up with the vigorous schedule.
Despite the heavy workload, animators are paid only $18,000 – $22,500 which is less than half of what U.S. entry level animators are paid. Moreover, the animation industry’s unsustainable practices lead research institutes to predict only 5,700 animators will be left in the industry by 2030. The industry has forced several talented animators to quit in response to the harsh working conditions and little consideration for their physical and mental health. Other members of the industry like voice actors report receiving salaries as late as 1.5 years after their gig.
Labour unions report that standardised pay and stable income are rare as studios typically seek freelancers and pay via commission, re-establishing its mercenary ways. The rise of Karōshi culture in the industry is not independent from the financial instability of its workers. When animators receive pay on a commission basis, there is a high chance of their work going unpaid if studios decide to edit their scenes out of the final cut. Studios often bypass fair pay through commissioning freelance artists with questionable contracts.
Orientalism & Commercialising Culture
With the widespread export of Japanese culture and the global integration of it through anime, it is important to examine if the cultural and historical roots of the media are also exported. The fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation must be scrutinised. The mass consumption of anime has seemingly dissolved the socio-political and cultural elements of the media to buzzwords and trends. Japanese culture has become a mere accessory to adorn and the history of such artifacts are lost upon the mass production and purchase of it.
The term ‘commodity fetishism’ as explained by Karl Marx in Das Kapital refers to when products are purchased more for the status it provides than its original context and usage. This phenomenon can be linked to the growing trend of anime fans purchasing anime-themed goods of real cultural artifacts with historic significance to Japan. A collaboration of Pokémon and Kutani Ware, a traditional style of Japanese porcelain, led to Pokémon fans spending upwards of 3,000 yen to collect these sets. The collection was quickly sold out and resellers priced these sets at around 35,000 yen.
Over-tourism forced Japan to make regulatory adaptations to preserve the cultural integrity and history of its over-crowded tourist spots. Several locals have grown an aversion to tourists because of their behaviour. The Yasaka Shrine regrettably changed its 1,300 year old practice due to unaccustomed tourists incorrectly ringing the bell chords, forcing priests to hang the chords up earlier in the day. A similar stance was taken by the Watatsumi Shrine, where an official statement was released barring all tourists from visiting the shrine due to disrespectful tourists littering and eating in the premises. Such instances reflect the consequences of unlimited globalisation of culture, wherein everyday practices are commercialised and tourists are alienated from its cultural origins.
There is a growing dissonance between appreciation of culture and the mere accessorization of culture. International anime fans often engage primarily only in the limited window to Japanese culture that anime provides. The commodification of Japanese culture for the sake of rapid exports to a global audience has been academically recognised through ‘Mukokuseki’. Mukokuseki is a critique of Japanese media that designs its characters and backgrounds to be ethnically ambiguous and euro-centric with characteristics like light hair and light eyes to popularise the media. The term literally translates to ‘statelessness’ which demonstrates the conscious decision to remove Japanese characteristics in Japanese media in an attempt to make it digestible and convenient for international audiences.
Furthermore, commercialism in the industry has led to several cultural artifacts like the Katana and Omamori being regurgitated as mere merchandise. The origins of such artifacts are easily buried since international audiences tend to experience diluted Japanese culture through tailored anime references. Such appropriation expands past physical tourism and has been noted in fashion trends as well. Several subcultures like Gyaru, Harajuku and Kawaii have been misinterpreted and watered down to Japanese styles of clothing and makeup. The politicohistorical precedents of these subcultures are long forgotten in favour of selling and exporting the subculture. Cultural appropriation often adopts the undertones of orientalism, where culture is reconstructed through the lens of the western world. Such interpretations prioritise convenience and ease in acquiring culture while disregarding the history of the countries it appropriates the culture from. Through Mukokuseki Japan engages in self orientalism and aids the growing appropriation of Japanese culture by international audiences.
Conclusion
The anime industry has been publicly criticised by the United Nations Human Rights Council for its exploitative measures and despite the Japanese government’s entertainment industry subsidies, animators still do not bear the fruits of their labour. Japan’s age old traditions have been adjusted to accommodate modern day and seemingly temporary trends. Anime is still a rapidly expanding industry but with unsustainable practices and orientalist influences, the future and authenticity of this art is uncertain. Industry wide reforms that prioritise the livelihood of local animators over the casual enjoyment of international audiences must be enforced to preserve anime’s artistic integrity. Japan’s failure to direct its socio-economic success into enforcing labour policies to protect animators, leave many to question the rocky future of tourism, art and labour laws in the country.
About the Author
Harishna Devi is a law student in O.P. Jindal Global University with an evolving interest in discussing socio-political ideologies. She enjoys critical discussions on feminism, intersectionality of identities and studying political resistance to oppression.
Image source :https://www.reddit.com/r/ChillAnimeCorner/comments/1twnlt0/the_water_is_difficult_to_animate/