[/floatr]Roland Kelts special to the Yomiuri: Cultural boom amid business bustThe most recent outlooks for Japan's Pop Culture invasion of foreign lands have been bleak: declining DVD sales in the United States, otaku abandoning a gentrified Akihabara, the profitless cribbing by fans using Internet and mobile technology, and a generation of young Japanese who couldn't care less about their nation's image--not to mention ominous economic news from nearly every country in recent weeks, pushing culture to the margin as people find ways to endure. But we're in February now, the second month of the year, when activities that were formerly dormant begin stirring. The so-called cons, anime- and manga-oriented conventions in the United States and Japan, are about to launch even more ambitious efforts in '08--partly because they keep entertaining larger legions of fans. As you read this, for example, a two-week program titled "Japan: Culture and Hyper Culture" (Feb. 7-19) will be launching at the august Kennedy Center in Washington...The new year's commercial news remains gloomy: As I wrote previously, Geneon USA folded at the start of this year, and ADV, another massive U.S. importer, distributor and producer of Japanese animation, last week announced a massive cutback in its number of planned North American releases this year. But the communities that Japanese culture is creating and fostering--from the otaku and dojinshi in Japan to the cosplayers, fanboys, fangirls, convention-goers and Kennedy Center acolytes in the United States--are only strengthening...more...
Kelts is a Tokyo University lecturer who divides his time between Tokyo and New York. He is the author of "Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S."
