Japanese popular culture finds success with audiences all around the world and international acclaim for media like manga, anime and video games is reported widely back in Japan, where it is described as kuuru japan (Cool Japan), a phrase that has been a household term for over a decade. As the Olympics approach and “inbound” tourism numbers reach record highs year after year and increasing attention within Japan is being paid to the country’s status as a destination for international tourists and consumers of popular culture, the Cool Japan moniker continues to be attached to government programs and private sector branding. In this lecture, Benjamin Boas, a Cool Japan Ambassador working with the government’s Cabinet Office, takes a critical look at the history of Japanese culture’s appeal abroad, the ways this appeal is spread and the differing ways the phenomenon is seen domestically and abroad.
