This is going to be very interesting — though disturbing — to watch over the next few years. I am sincerely hoping that by electing Sanseito politicians angry people have been able to blow off some steam, and that it does not develop into something far more dangerous.
I live in the usa and it sure didn't work that way here. It just emboldens the trump tards to take more unethical & illegal actions against anyone unlike them, just like nazis
Exactly. That is the disturbing part. I am hoping Japan will not follow the path of the U.S. and Europe. Especially, because we don't have a two party system here and people have historically used fringe parties for protest votes. Over my thirty years as a Japan Correspondent I have reported on them repeatedly.
They’ve said that they are now aiming to secure another 50 seats in the next election. That is undoubtedly wishful thinking, but I think there is something more to this than simply protest. It could be the beginning of a movement. Only time will tell.
One can hope that the main parties pay attention. Based on what we see in Europe they won't and Sanseito will end up being a significant part of the future.
Hopefully they'll be more UK Farage-like and less France Le Pen-like. The control of the media thing is not promising though.
I wonder how thing will go in future elections. Having spoken with a number of younger people and coworkers I got the impression they leaned right more so to induce change from the current government, rather than actual policy stances or deeper knowledge about the party and candidates.
Going forward, if Sanseitou have a spotlight put on them and their policies or lack of actionable plans, it may move voters in a different direction.
The fact that Japan has multiple political parties could be a saving gace here.
America has been so stuck with a two-party system for so many years. I'm think we'll ever break out of it. but it also means you only really have two choices and makes it really easy for manipulation of the populace, especially for single policy voters.
It's funny the party blames foreigners for Japan's perceived "ills" & yet at the same time realizes they need a foreign influx of cash from anime, manga, video games, tourism, etc. to bring in money which are all the things that make the most money for japan. And I've read numerous times over the last few years about housing in Japan & how they have an abundance of empty homes that japan is selling for almost nothing to foreigners
They have said something along the lines of, we love the tourists, but don’t stay. They want their cake and eat it too, but soft power doesn’t work that way; it’s as much about the values you project as about your products, and their values are pretty twisted.
And resident Koreans, and Kurds, and anyone else they can blame to whip up support. When this kind of thing starts, no one is safe -- not even natives, once those with pitchforks run out of outsiders to demonize. It is an incredibly slippery slope.
That's what I think could happen under the trump dictatorship. Once the Latinos are shipped out, then it's the blacks & middle easterners on the chopping block. And last the poor whites who don't support fools
I heard that some (or many) youngsters in Japan (I bet more dudes than gals) choose what to vote for through AI. They input their ideas, values, hopes and fears, and AI acts as a sort of matching app of sorts. Surreal, weird, and deeply troubling.
i can see why some people would feel completely disenfranchised if the same party had been in charge for almost all of the post war era. it's too bad that the people capturing those people are right wing and nationalists
NHK election data shows the main supporters of SanSeiTo are 60% male with most being under 30, which may point to dissatisfaction with economic concerns, especially the increase in consumption tax to support the elderly and fed up with crony corruption in the LDP which is partially to blame for the rice shortages and price hikes. They could be blaming immigrants for taking jobs, but the youth unemployment rate is down to 4.4% and not that high. Maybe they really do care about foreigners not following the garbage rules, but it seems like scapegoating.
If SanSeiTo only has big support with younger voters, they will have a hard time picking up more seats since only 13% of Japanese voters are under 30, and that percentage is shrinking.
On the foreigner front, there have been a series of high-profile news stories (such as tourists using the healthcare system without paying in, or the Kurdish refugee enclave in Saitama, or the one about Chinese investors kicking elderly residents out of apartments to make an AirBnB), but I don't get the sense that young Japanese are turning as xenophobic as Sanseito hopes. Rather, young people who feel poor because of high prices, shortages, and what have you, see all of these tourists coming in and having a blast and are getting annoyed -- not so much at the foreigners but at their own leadership.
Off topic question but an answer would be appreciated, because of all the credit card companies refusing to work with or sale products from japan that are considered sexually explicit or violent, can that be a reason (in my opinion) why the US seems to only get shonen, shoujo, isekai anime instead of different genres? I know those are what makes the yen in japan, but is there not more diverse anime not being shown to americans? Maybe your pal Pat could weigh in also. ありがとう
Platforms are only interested in translating/distributing things that appeal to the broadest potential audiences, and while one of the great things about Japan's illustrated entertainments is its depth, that also means a lot of the content is seriously niche. More and more is coming out every day, though: witness the releases of vintage gekiga being published by Living the Line, for instance. https://livingtheline.company.site/products
I guess niche titles or ones that are popular but with an underground audience. Titles not known to the masses. One example of a great anime i saw a few years ago would be "flag", about a conflict in the middle east. I thought it was great. But I can see why it wouldn't be a mainstream hit. I would just love anime that isn't created solely for toys and merchandise. So I was just curious if there are anime like that in japan but not subbed or dubbed in the US since there would be little opportunity for money from merchandise. The lack of variety is what I think hurt anime & manga in america back in 2008 when it dropped in mainstream popularity for a few years.
But Matt Alt (I just finished Pure Invention and am mainlining light direct from Zipang even as I write) is it not the 'opposite of' so-called diversity that sends millions if gajinnyjinjins to Japan? A so-called diversity in the West that has proven by now to be little more than the crystallization of evermore uniformly-defined tribes, these identifiable almost at a glance? To what degree do the "progressive" elements within 🇯🇵 even grok how far we out West have 'come along' with all this? Does the situation not parallel that of say Chinese converts to Christian worship, who cannot yet begin to conceive of the sort of conflicts experienced today by a western person-of-faith?
Thank you again for the great gift of Pure Invention. I's a permanent part of my pocket-superpower now for sure...
I guess I disagree with the idea that the majority of mass market manga and anime, underneath the bells and whistles, are not already in general very right wing. They are made by corporate quasi fascist organisations and they produce content not exactly out of step with that world. I think , sadly, this is a key reason for the recent surging popularity in the west. Miyazaki hates most manga and anime for what it represents. His work has been fighting this since the 70s.
I think one would really have to twist the definition of "fascist" to apply it to the publishers of Japan's major manga magazines and anime companies. What is your definition?
There is a lot of willful misunderstanding of the themes of all sorts of entertainment happening in the West, certainly not limited to anime, which is why you see a lot of far-right folks lionizing Star Wars or what have you. Everyone's a rebel in America so it's easy to empathize with mass-consumer entertainment where the politics are deliberately simplified to reach the biggest audiences. It's doubly so with Japan, where politics are hidden even deeper behind the cultural veil. See, for instance:
"One of the secrets of Japan’s soft power is, paradoxically, its absence of a clear political policy on many issues. That negative space is the dark matter of its pop-cultural prowess."
One would have to be willfully disregarding a lot of very well-documented history to view the Japanese content industry, and manga in particular, as right wing. Though I suppose it depends on one's definition of right wing, too.
Corporate business practice worldwide, and not excluding Japan, is a form of extreme totalitarianism in how staff are treated etc. Like Chomsky said, if governments acted how corporate business does to it's citizens we'd essentially have no rights at all on even the most basic things. Corporate Japan is actually one of the most patriarchal, oppressive and totalitarian in the world. It is impossible that it's mass market content doesn't reflect these values. There are exceptions, and the artists within do manage to slip in their own resistances under the radar. But generally speaking the themes of power and violence are of course fascist.
But if I might sidetrack for a second: manga publishers do not dictate content. I know this because spent much of the last year with an artist-editor team at one of the biggest publishers (stay tuned for the essay) and saw the creative process unfold with my own eyes.
One might argue that publishers are selecting for certain types of content, or that there is a lot of sameness as to what gets into major shonen magazines. But even there, reader surveys play a huge role in what gets cancelled and what keeps going. I'd argue that manga, even from the big companies, is about the most grass-roots form of mass media there is.
I'm not in any way anti all manga, or denying the more progressive creators that obviously have always existed. But I'll just finish by saying the Japanese right wing government and politicians have never had a problem with it, and often endorse it enthusiastically (remember the far right mayor of Tokyo a few years ago?), so it's just business as usual. The industry has never really been one for challenging right wing power structures imo. It's generally too insular and burdened by convention for that.
I'm not sure which far-right governor (not mayor) of Tokyo you're referring to. The demagogue Shintaro Ishihara tried his best to clamp down on manga in a bid to "protect nonexistent youth":
This was particularly galling given how his own bestselling novels depicted many of the things he decried about manga. Classic case of "rules for thee and not for me." It was widely denounced and as a result was never enacted. Conservative politicians long denounced manga and only made a very abrupt about-face in the Aughts when they realized how key it was to reaching young voters, and more recently in promoting tourism (which is basically the only growth sector in the economy now.)
This is going to be very interesting — though disturbing — to watch over the next few years. I am sincerely hoping that by electing Sanseito politicians angry people have been able to blow off some steam, and that it does not develop into something far more dangerous.
I live in the usa and it sure didn't work that way here. It just emboldens the trump tards to take more unethical & illegal actions against anyone unlike them, just like nazis
Exactly. That is the disturbing part. I am hoping Japan will not follow the path of the U.S. and Europe. Especially, because we don't have a two party system here and people have historically used fringe parties for protest votes. Over my thirty years as a Japan Correspondent I have reported on them repeatedly.
They’ve said that they are now aiming to secure another 50 seats in the next election. That is undoubtedly wishful thinking, but I think there is something more to this than simply protest. It could be the beginning of a movement. Only time will tell.
One can hope that the main parties pay attention. Based on what we see in Europe they won't and Sanseito will end up being a significant part of the future.
Hopefully they'll be more UK Farage-like and less France Le Pen-like. The control of the media thing is not promising though.
I wonder how thing will go in future elections. Having spoken with a number of younger people and coworkers I got the impression they leaned right more so to induce change from the current government, rather than actual policy stances or deeper knowledge about the party and candidates.
Going forward, if Sanseitou have a spotlight put on them and their policies or lack of actionable plans, it may move voters in a different direction.
Who really knows though.
The fact that Japan has multiple political parties could be a saving gace here.
America has been so stuck with a two-party system for so many years. I'm think we'll ever break out of it. but it also means you only really have two choices and makes it really easy for manipulation of the populace, especially for single policy voters.
It's funny the party blames foreigners for Japan's perceived "ills" & yet at the same time realizes they need a foreign influx of cash from anime, manga, video games, tourism, etc. to bring in money which are all the things that make the most money for japan. And I've read numerous times over the last few years about housing in Japan & how they have an abundance of empty homes that japan is selling for almost nothing to foreigners
They want the money without having to deal with the people (or rather the sheer volume of “low-quality” type tourists).
They have said something along the lines of, we love the tourists, but don’t stay. They want their cake and eat it too, but soft power doesn’t work that way; it’s as much about the values you project as about your products, and their values are pretty twisted.
Or to put it bluntly Chinese. Both as tourists and as people buying up apartments etc. in Japan
And resident Koreans, and Kurds, and anyone else they can blame to whip up support. When this kind of thing starts, no one is safe -- not even natives, once those with pitchforks run out of outsiders to demonize. It is an incredibly slippery slope.
That's what I think could happen under the trump dictatorship. Once the Latinos are shipped out, then it's the blacks & middle easterners on the chopping block. And last the poor whites who don't support fools
I heard that some (or many) youngsters in Japan (I bet more dudes than gals) choose what to vote for through AI. They input their ideas, values, hopes and fears, and AI acts as a sort of matching app of sorts. Surreal, weird, and deeply troubling.
i can see why some people would feel completely disenfranchised if the same party had been in charge for almost all of the post war era. it's too bad that the people capturing those people are right wing and nationalists
NHK election data shows the main supporters of SanSeiTo are 60% male with most being under 30, which may point to dissatisfaction with economic concerns, especially the increase in consumption tax to support the elderly and fed up with crony corruption in the LDP which is partially to blame for the rice shortages and price hikes. They could be blaming immigrants for taking jobs, but the youth unemployment rate is down to 4.4% and not that high. Maybe they really do care about foreigners not following the garbage rules, but it seems like scapegoating.
If SanSeiTo only has big support with younger voters, they will have a hard time picking up more seats since only 13% of Japanese voters are under 30, and that percentage is shrinking.
On the foreigner front, there have been a series of high-profile news stories (such as tourists using the healthcare system without paying in, or the Kurdish refugee enclave in Saitama, or the one about Chinese investors kicking elderly residents out of apartments to make an AirBnB), but I don't get the sense that young Japanese are turning as xenophobic as Sanseito hopes. Rather, young people who feel poor because of high prices, shortages, and what have you, see all of these tourists coming in and having a blast and are getting annoyed -- not so much at the foreigners but at their own leadership.
Off topic question but an answer would be appreciated, because of all the credit card companies refusing to work with or sale products from japan that are considered sexually explicit or violent, can that be a reason (in my opinion) why the US seems to only get shonen, shoujo, isekai anime instead of different genres? I know those are what makes the yen in japan, but is there not more diverse anime not being shown to americans? Maybe your pal Pat could weigh in also. ありがとう
Which genres are you referring to specifically?
Platforms are only interested in translating/distributing things that appeal to the broadest potential audiences, and while one of the great things about Japan's illustrated entertainments is its depth, that also means a lot of the content is seriously niche. More and more is coming out every day, though: witness the releases of vintage gekiga being published by Living the Line, for instance. https://livingtheline.company.site/products
I guess niche titles or ones that are popular but with an underground audience. Titles not known to the masses. One example of a great anime i saw a few years ago would be "flag", about a conflict in the middle east. I thought it was great. But I can see why it wouldn't be a mainstream hit. I would just love anime that isn't created solely for toys and merchandise. So I was just curious if there are anime like that in japan but not subbed or dubbed in the US since there would be little opportunity for money from merchandise. The lack of variety is what I think hurt anime & manga in america back in 2008 when it dropped in mainstream popularity for a few years.
But Matt Alt (I just finished Pure Invention and am mainlining light direct from Zipang even as I write) is it not the 'opposite of' so-called diversity that sends millions if gajinnyjinjins to Japan? A so-called diversity in the West that has proven by now to be little more than the crystallization of evermore uniformly-defined tribes, these identifiable almost at a glance? To what degree do the "progressive" elements within 🇯🇵 even grok how far we out West have 'come along' with all this? Does the situation not parallel that of say Chinese converts to Christian worship, who cannot yet begin to conceive of the sort of conflicts experienced today by a western person-of-faith?
Thank you again for the great gift of Pure Invention. I's a permanent part of my pocket-superpower now for sure...
I guess I disagree with the idea that the majority of mass market manga and anime, underneath the bells and whistles, are not already in general very right wing. They are made by corporate quasi fascist organisations and they produce content not exactly out of step with that world. I think , sadly, this is a key reason for the recent surging popularity in the west. Miyazaki hates most manga and anime for what it represents. His work has been fighting this since the 70s.
I think one would really have to twist the definition of "fascist" to apply it to the publishers of Japan's major manga magazines and anime companies. What is your definition?
There is a lot of willful misunderstanding of the themes of all sorts of entertainment happening in the West, certainly not limited to anime, which is why you see a lot of far-right folks lionizing Star Wars or what have you. Everyone's a rebel in America so it's easy to empathize with mass-consumer entertainment where the politics are deliberately simplified to reach the biggest audiences. It's doubly so with Japan, where politics are hidden even deeper behind the cultural veil. See, for instance:
https://blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/the-dark-matter-of-japans-fantasy
"One of the secrets of Japan’s soft power is, paradoxically, its absence of a clear political policy on many issues. That negative space is the dark matter of its pop-cultural prowess."
One would have to be willfully disregarding a lot of very well-documented history to view the Japanese content industry, and manga in particular, as right wing. Though I suppose it depends on one's definition of right wing, too.
Corporate business practice worldwide, and not excluding Japan, is a form of extreme totalitarianism in how staff are treated etc. Like Chomsky said, if governments acted how corporate business does to it's citizens we'd essentially have no rights at all on even the most basic things. Corporate Japan is actually one of the most patriarchal, oppressive and totalitarian in the world. It is impossible that it's mass market content doesn't reflect these values. There are exceptions, and the artists within do manage to slip in their own resistances under the radar. But generally speaking the themes of power and violence are of course fascist.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree here.
But if I might sidetrack for a second: manga publishers do not dictate content. I know this because spent much of the last year with an artist-editor team at one of the biggest publishers (stay tuned for the essay) and saw the creative process unfold with my own eyes.
One might argue that publishers are selecting for certain types of content, or that there is a lot of sameness as to what gets into major shonen magazines. But even there, reader surveys play a huge role in what gets cancelled and what keeps going. I'd argue that manga, even from the big companies, is about the most grass-roots form of mass media there is.
I'm not in any way anti all manga, or denying the more progressive creators that obviously have always existed. But I'll just finish by saying the Japanese right wing government and politicians have never had a problem with it, and often endorse it enthusiastically (remember the far right mayor of Tokyo a few years ago?), so it's just business as usual. The industry has never really been one for challenging right wing power structures imo. It's generally too insular and burdened by convention for that.
I'm not sure which far-right governor (not mayor) of Tokyo you're referring to. The demagogue Shintaro Ishihara tried his best to clamp down on manga in a bid to "protect nonexistent youth":
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/japan-comics-industry-to-fight-new-under-18-rules-idUSTRE6BG4H8/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Metropolitan_Ordinance_Regarding_the_Healthy_Development_of_Youths
This was particularly galling given how his own bestselling novels depicted many of the things he decried about manga. Classic case of "rules for thee and not for me." It was widely denounced and as a result was never enacted. Conservative politicians long denounced manga and only made a very abrupt about-face in the Aughts when they realized how key it was to reaching young voters, and more recently in promoting tourism (which is basically the only growth sector in the economy now.)
Stop me if you've read about this already
https://open.substack.com/pub/richardhanania/p/why-does-korea-have-an-under-endowed?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3pkhw ...nothing even remotely equivalent in Japan?