Department of Japanese Studies, Frankfurt am Main

  • Popular culture as a strategy for reconstruction in post-Fukushima Japan: The latest from the “Cool Japan!” campaign
    A lecture by Dr Cosima Wagner

Overcoming the threefold disaster of 11 March 2011 has become Japanese society’s most pressing task in the years ahead. The popular culture industry is supposed to play its part here too, whether in revitalising the creative industries in the affected prefectures, or by improving the country’s international image as part of the Japanese government’s “Cool Japan” campaign. The talk will discuss the significance of popular culture as a strategy for reconstruction in post-Fukushima Japan, and explore the political figures, motives and objectives behind this measure. Critical voices will also be introduced and the notion of cultural globalisation “Japanese style” re-examined.

Lecture in German