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Creating a Cool Japan:

Nationalism in 21

Century Japanese Animation and Manga

Majesty Kayla Zander

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the

Prerequisite for Honors

in Japanese Language and Culture

under the advisement of Robert Goree

May 2021

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................1

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................2

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3

Chapter 1: Cool Japan...................................................................................................................8

Cool Japan and Nationalism ..................................................................................................................... 8

Cool Japan and Anime ............................................................................................................................ 16

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 19

Chapter 2: Clean Japan ..............................................................................................................22

Clean Japan and Nihonjinron .................................................................................................................. 22

Clean Japan and Media ........................................................................................................................... 25

Clean Japan and Anime ........................................................................................................................... 27

Clean Japan and Anime: Hetalia ........................................................................................................ 32

A Clean Japan ................................................................................................................................. 34

Tsukkomi as Japaneseness ................................................................................................................ 35

Taiwan: Asia-yearning-for-Japan ..................................................................................................... 37

Korea as a Foil ................................................................................................................................ 41

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 46

Chapter 3: Controversial Japan .................................................................................................48

Controversial Japan and Nationalism...................................................................................................... 48

Controversial Japan and Anime: Code Geass ......................................................................................... 56

Controversial Japan and Anime: GATE .................................................................................................. 61

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 69

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................71

Works Cited ..................................................................................................................................74

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank my thesis advisor, Robert Goree, for his endless patience and

guidance. Thank you for never giving up on this thesis project, despite my year-long battle with

procrastination. I cannot express how much your patience, kindness, and understanding has

contributed to the completion of this thesis. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I would also like to thank Yoshimi Maeno, my major advisor, for four years of support

and encouragement. I will never, ever forget your kindness and enthusiasm both inside and

outside of the classroom. Thank you so much for everything.

I would like to thank Eve Zimmerman for all her support and care since my sophomore

year. Thank you so much for the years of advice and guidance as I completed my major in the

EALC department. I loved all of your courses and wish I could have taken more.

To the remaining members of my thesis committee: thank you so much. Thank you,

Angela Carpenter, for years of patience and kindness. I hope to be as eloquent and graceful as

you one day. Thank you, Sun Hee Lee, for agreeing to be a part of this process and for your

kindness.

Next, I would like to thank a different Robert—Daddy, I love you. Thank you for going

out of your comfort zone and watching anime just to spend some time with your kids. Thank you

for the sacrifices you have made in order for me to complete my degree at Wellesley and pursue

what I love. Mommy, thank you for never doubting that I would finish this project and thank you

for taking me back and forth to work, listening to music with me in the car, and watching all the

seasons of Produce 101 with me in the summer. I love you.

I would like to thank all my friends for giving me a space to just be myself. Emma,

Maggie, Midori, Nafisa, thank you for always encouraging me and sending me love when it felt

like finishing was impossible. Jayli, this is probably the last time I will get to say it, so thank you

for introducing me to anime. I love you more than you will ever know. Kendalle, thank you for

listening to me rant and panic over my thesis deadlines for 8 months. I love you so, so much.

I would like to thank Shannon Mewes, whose amazing Ruhlman presentation inspired me

to pursue an anime-related thesis.

Lastly, I would like to thank my stubbornness for not allowing me to give up and my 3am

playlist that got me through the longest nights.

Introduction

In most scholarship examining the history of Japanese anime, Tezuka Osamu is credited

with pioneering the modern age of anime and manga.

While the origins of anime can be traced

to the early 1910s, it was Tezuka’s work during the 1950s and 1960s that influenced an entire

generation of aspiring Japanese animators and artists.

As his techniques transformed into industry

standards, numerous artists began expanding upon

the themes featured in Tezuka’s works, leading to

the development of well-known subgenres such as

mahō shōjo (magical girl), mecha (giant robots), and

ecchi (playful erotica) during the 70s and 80s.

Although series such as Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Magical Princess Minky Momo

(1982) enjoyed domestic success, few modern anime made their way to Western screens prior to

the late 1980s. In 1989, the positive reception of Otomo Kasuhiro’s film Akira (1988) in North

America indicated there was hope for a Western market in the anime industry, despite earlier

licensing failures. Following a series of hit-and-miss distribution attempts during the early 1990s,

anime suddenly gained a strong foothold in the West with the success of Sailor Moon (1992),

Dragon Ball Z (1989), and Evangelion (1995). From 1995 to 1997, each anime introduced

American audiences to a different genre targeted at a specific audience (mahō shōjo for young

girls, shōnen for young boys, and mecha/seinen for older men, respectively). Their popularity

and marketability in the West soon made the three series symbols of the 90s anime boom.

Manga (Japanese comic books/graphic novels) are commonly used as source material for anime (Japanese

cartoons/animations).

Figure 1: Tsukino Usagi from Sailor Moon

Western interest in Japanese media did not stop at anime either, as video games and multimedia

franchises like Pokémon and Yu-gi-oh also became well-known during the 1990s.

As anime became more popular in the West, viewer

interaction with the medium also began to evolve. The 90s

saw the first American anime conventions, the beginnings of

cosplay (costume play) culture, and the rise of fan-produced

translations of anime and manga in the West. In 2002,

Douglas McGray published an article titled “Japan’s Gross

National Cool,” which outlined the Japanese government’s

failure to take advantage of growing international interest in

their cultural exports (53). At the time of the article’s release,

the anime industry was worth about 22.4 billion yen (203

million USD) outside of Japan (The Association of Japanese Animations, 2013). Within three

years, that number had grown to 31.3 billion (284 million USD) (AJA, 2013). While these

profitability figures take into account the work of official licensing agencies that made anime

more accessible to Western audiences, they are

not reflective of the free fan-produced content

that dominated the internet and greatly boosted

anime’s popularity during the 2000s.

Although Western companies such as

Funimation and Viz Media were acquiring the

rights to dub and distribute an increasing

number of anime each year, keeping up with

Figure 2: Promotional poster for

AnimeCon '91

Figure 3: Example of fansubs with a translator's note from

Luck Star (2007)

the growing demand, especially for lesser-known anime to be licensed, proved nearly impossible.

Taking matters into their own hands, piracy and fan-made translations, or “fansubs,” became

prevalent in the international anime community throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Novices and

professionals alike would often form fansub groups or teams to translate, edit, typeset, time, and

encode various series to release to fans, free of charge. Due to the independent nature of

fansubbing and the lack of copyright laws on video-sharing websites like YouTube, Western fans

were given access to a much larger variety of anime during this period. Despite distributors

losing direct profit from the pirated content, ease of accessibility and increased prevalence

continued to boost anime’s popularity overseas. The mid to late 2010s saw the decline of English

fansubs, as copyright laws became more strict and licensing companies such as Crunchyroll and

Funimation began releasing subtitled and dubbed anime at an increased pace. While this

transition entailed new paywalls such as pay-per-view or monthly subscriptions, the subsequent

rise of multi-device streaming meant that almost anyone with a device could now access

thousands of anime legally, at a single touch.

Although the 1990s served as an integral period of growth for the anime industry, the

same could not be said for other sectors of the Japanese economy such as finance, real estate, and

the stock market. After the burst of its bubble economy in 1991, Japan suffered from a prolonged

period of economic stagnation and unemployment. This period, referred to as the “Lost Decade,”

is often cited as ending in 2001, despite its ongoing impact on the Japanese economy. As such,

prior to 2001, government officials lacked the time and resources to focus on boosting

international interest in Japanese cultural assets. While McGray’s concept of “national cool” and

the term “cool Japan” began gaining traction in 2003, it was not until 2010 that the Japanese

Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) began laying the groundwork for what would

become the “Cool Japan Initiative.”

When the Cool Japan Initiative officially launched in 2013, it featured anime and manga

as a creative industry that would aid its goal to improve Japan’s image internationally and boost

the economy through foreign consumption. Despite the initiative’s underperformance, the anime

industry grossed an all-time high of 60.3 billion yen (550 million USD) outside of Japan in 2018

(AJA, 2019). Over the past eight years, the anime industry has flourished overseas, both

culturally and economically. While anime may strike some as childish entertainment, to others it

has become a gateway to understanding Japanese culture. As anime and manga continue to gain

popularity, their influence on the way international audiences view and interact with Japan will

continue to grow and change as well. This is why it has become increasingly important to

analyze exactly what messages anime and manga creators convey to their audiences.

Among the thousands of anime released each year, many tackle deeper themes and topics

such as social inequality, technologization, and militarism. One such topic that I have noticed

appearing more frequently is nationalism. From the anime I watched as a child to my most

recently read manga, I have discovered nationalism sprinkled throughout the stories, hidden in

the punchline of a joke or boldly present in the characters’ ambitions. In an attempt to explain or

provide context for the nationalism I have found in modern anime, this thesis will explore three

frameworks through which nationalism is presented and examine what purpose the indications of

nationalism serve. The frameworks are “Cool Japan,” “Clean Japan,” and “Controversial Japan.”

Chapter 1 will examine the role of cultural nationalism in post-war Japan and the

Japanese government’s attempts to monetize cultural nationalism and improve Japan’s image

through METI’s “Cool Japan Initiative.” This chapter will also examine how Cool Japan is used

in anime to encourage foreigners to engage with Japanese culture. Chapter 2 will discuss Clean

Japan, a self-coined expression used to describe the dissemination of self-applauding stereotypes

through Japanese media. I will discuss what ideologies form the basis of Clean Japan and how

they are used in Japanese media today. I will use examples from three anime and manga series to

demonstrate how Clean Japan manifests itself in anime and what purpose it serves in both the

context of the series and the real world.

Chapter 3 will examine Controversial Japan, another self-coined term that describes

displays of Japanese imperialism and militarization in Japanese media. I will examine the

relationship between neonationalism, Japanese youth, and nationalistic anime before discussing

two anime series that justify or support militarization by featuring Japanese characters defending

their land from an invading enemy and attempting to improve the quality of life for oppressed

peoples. My conclusion will seek to explain where I believe nationalism in anime may be headed

and my thoughts on the future of the Cool Japan Initiative and the anime industry.

Chapter 1: Cool Japan

The first nationalist framework I will examine is “Cool Japan.” Within the context of this

thesis, Cool Japan (derived from METI’s Cool Japan Initiative) describes soft cultural

nationalism found in Japanese media. As its name implies, the purpose of Cool Japan is to

market the “coolness” of Japanese culture to domestic and international audiences. By increasing

the popularity of the country’s cultural exports, the Japanese government hopes that Cool Japan

will aid in stimulating the economy and improving the reputation of its nation and culture.

However, Cool Japan can also serve as a stepping-stone to a larger, much more complex web of

cultural nationalism present in Japanese media.

In this chapter, I will begin by defining cultural nationalism and provide a brief overview

of government initiatives to promote Japanese culture prior to the launch of the Cool Japan

Initiative. Next, I will examine the current progress of the Cool Japan Initiative before

contextualizing the anime industry’s role within Cool Japan.

Cool Japan and Nationalism

Before examining the METI’s Cool Japan Initiative, I would like to elaborate on the

terms “nationalism” and “cultural nationalism.” Merriam-Webster provides a simple definition

of nationalism as “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially a sense of national consciousness.”

The French Marxist Louis Althusser defined nationalism as an “imaginary transposition of [one’s]

real conditions'' used to “represent to [oneself] their real conditions of existence” (163). Along a

similar line of thought, Harootunian defines it as an “aspiration of a group or class” that

combines with the tangible expression of an individual to form an “imaginary universe” that

exists “among other universes in any given age” (59).

All three definitions acknowledge that nationalism exists as an imaginary concept, often

created and manipulated by the state. This concept serves as a nexus of idealized views of

oneself, or the nation, that one hopes to manifest in reality. In order for a single individual to

transpose themself onto the image of the nation, there first has to be a clear sense of “nation.” It

is possible to construct this sense of nation through the establishment of a defined culture, which

gives rise to “cultural nationalism.”

Cultural nationalism can be defined as “a form of nationalism in which the nation is

defined by shared culture.” This definition requires both a set idea of what makes up the culture

and methods to distinguish who belongs to it. Additionally, highlighting the differences between

those within and outside of the culture functions to strengthen the notion of “us” as one united

group. If this group, now wielding a sense of distinctiveness, is able to reach political

legitimization (i.e. by demarcating their territory), then they can become what is commonly

recognized as a nation.

The introduction of nationalism, or the “imaginary universe,” into a society can aid the

development of community, pride, self-identity, power, and wealth. Under state control,

nationalism can also serve as an instrument to indoctrinate and mobilize the people. Althusser

argues that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA), defined as state apparatuses used to spread

ideology of the state, manifest themselves in different private domains (145). ISAs can function

either through the direct control of the state or through the government’s close monitoring of

nationalistic material created by the people. Althusser argues that two closely intertwined ISAs

are the “communications ISA” (the press, radio, and television) and the “cultural ISA'' (literature,

the arts, and sports). He states that both the ISAs “[cram] every ‘citizen’ with daily doses of

nationalism, chauvinism, liberalism, moralism, etc” (154). One of the reasons I have chosen to

focus on anime in this thesis is because the medium allows citizens to give the imaginary

universe visual form in the present. Unlike live-action media that is constricted by its use of real

people and places, anything is possible in animation. Any past or future a creator envisions can

be shown through their work and spread among the people, making anime and manga prime

ISAs.

ISAs are important to the state because they are able to penetrate the private lives of

citizens without immediately raising alarm. In the 50 years since Althusser made his argument,

globalization and technological advances have elevated the role of mass media as a key tool of

the state. As a result of these changes, through our screens we can connect to almost every corner

of the globe. This increased contact with various cultures has been used to both highlight the

differences between our societies and strengthen a sense of unity between shared groups. In the

1950s, Japan began its long path to regaining its diplomatic status and constructing a new sense

of identity for Japanese citizens.

During the U.S.-led Allied Occupation from 1945 to 1952, Japan was forced to rebuild

almost every sector of its society. It was during this period of reconstruction that the Japanese

government began contemplating how the nation could improve its reputation with the countries

it had colonized and fought against during World War II. Effectively defanged through the

stripping of their military and monarchical power, government officials were left with little

choice but to establish Japan’s new image as a peaceful country, changed from the horror of the

atomic bombs and devoted to promoting harmony. Japan’s period of reconciliation and reflection

during the 50s and 60s manifested in many different ways, from diplomatic apologies and

reparation negotiations to the construction of structures such as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial

Museum.

Japan’s first large-scale opportunity to rebrand itself

to the world came during the 1964 Olympics. It had been 19

years since Japan’s unconditional surrender and the country

now had a grand stage to present itself as a modern, peace-

loving nation and validate the work it had put in over the past

12 years. Millions of dollars were poured into the

construction of new infrastructure in and around central

Tokyo. During the same period, architects were tasked with

creating symbolic statues and buildings to be used in

ceremonies commemorating those lost during the war.

Cultural landmarks like the Nippon Budokan, Tokaido bullet

train, and the beginnings of modern

Harajuku and Shibuya were all born out of

the preparation and impact of the Tokyo

Olympics (Tagsold 299).

Perhaps more important than the

upgraded infrastructure, the Olympics

provided the Japanese with a “pure” form

of nationalism that was devoid of ultranationalistic overtones (Abel 148). After the war, Japanese

citizens experienced a period when it was difficult to publicly display support for their country,

as the flag and national anthem were still associated with the atrocities of the Pacific Theater.

However, Japan’s role of host nation and the spectacle of the Olympics meant that Japanese

Harajuku and Shibuya were located next to the “Olympic Village” where foreign athletes and press stayed during

the Olympics. The fancy new shops, renovated train stations, and foreign crowds attracted many Japanese residents

to the area, marking the beginning of Harajuku and Shibuya being seen as cool or trendy areas.

Figure 4: The Nippon Budokan under

construction in 1964.

Figure 5: Sakai Yoshinori carrying the Olympic Torch at the

Opening Ceremony in Tokyo.

citizens were free to openly cheer for their athletes and national symbols without international

scrutiny. Despite widespread concerns regarding Japan’s ability to showcase itself properly (both

as competitors and as a nation), the Tokyo Olympics were an all-around success. Japan not only

effectively reintroduced itself to the world, but also improved its political and economic

reputation and finished with the third highest medal count, lagging behind only America and the

Soviet Union (Abel 165).

The Japanese government took advantage of the international attention generated by the

Olympics to promote various Japanese goods, such as cameras, meters, and other mechanical

products (Abel 153). This served as the groundwork for Japan’s automobile boom in the 70s and

the electronics boom through the 80s and 90s. While these upsurges provided a major boost to

the economy, it became increasingly apparent that in order to boost Japan's cultural reputation,

the government would need to promote Japan’s cultural exports. Although technological exports

were known to be Japanese, they lacked cultural significance.

Although the term “Cool Japan” originates from McGray’s “Japan’s Gross National

Cool,” Asia’s first taste of a cool, post-war Japan was during the 1980s. Iwabuchi Koichi argues

that the 1983 NHK drama, Oshin

laid the foundation for Japan’s modern soft power initiatives.

The Japanese government took the popular drama and exported it (usually for free) to over 60

countries across Asia, North America, and South America in hopes that viewers’ opinions on

Japan would change as they followed the titular character, Oshin, from her Meiji-era childhood

to her late Showa years. The soap opera’s overwhelmingly positive reception prompted

Many companies intentionally changed the names or logos of their exported products to minimize their association

with Japan, since opinions on the quality of their products were still mixed in the West.

Oshin is a Japanese serial drama that originally ran from 1983 to 1984. The story is told as a series of flashbacks as

Tanokura Shin, also known as Oshin, recalls different periods of her life from childhood to old age. As the series

progresses, audiences are introduced to a number of different regions of Japan and historical eras that Oshin lived

through.

discussion among Japanese officials and scholars regarding whether television programs could

become a viable tool in “disseminating a humane image of Japan in the world” (Iwabuchi 75).

Despite persisting tensions with its East Asian neighbors, Japan was able to effectively

rebrand itself, carrying its persona of a harmonious nation into the 21st century. In 2004, Japan’s

Cabinet Office released a report stating that the “spirit of wa and coexistence” would form the

backbone of Japan’s diplomacy, with wa being defined as “a distinct Japanese concept meaning

harmony, peace, fusion, and consideration of others” (Bukh 473). Concepts such as wa and

awase (to match; to combine) are further promoted through the Cool Japan Proposal and its

subsequent guides to Japanese culture.

As mentioned in the introduction, the Cool Japan

Initiative (from here on out, the Initiative) is an initiative

created by the Japanese government in order to boost the

Japanese economy and improve Japan’s reputation through

the promotion of Japan’s cultural industries. Planning for the

Initiative ran from late 2010 to 2012, before being launched

in 2013. METI’s goals for the Initiative included acquiring

8-11 trillion yen in the global marketplace, increasing

international interest in Japan, rebranding Japan’s post-war

image among Asian countries, and rekindling domestic interest in Japanese culture. In order to

do this, the Initiative designated various “creative industries” that would be eligible to receive

government funding and promotion. As of 2014, these industries include:

Advertising, architecture, art and antiques, crafts, design, fashion, movies and videos,

video games, music, performing arts, publishing, computer software and services, radio

and television, plus furniture, tableware, jewelry, stationery, food products, tourism.

(Cool Japan Strategy 8)

Figure 6: Promotional poster for Oshin

Similar to the Tokyo Olympics, the Initiative also has multifaceted goals, especially

regarding its portrayal of Japan to different audiences. Broadly speaking, the Initiative has three

main target audiences: Japanese youth, citizens of neighboring Asian countries, and potential

tourists (especially those from the West). “Raised on Disney” and lacking “awareness of [their]

own cultural structure,” Japanese teenagers and young adults are seen as untapped wells of

economic stimulus for the Initiative’s creative industries (Hambleton 36, Editorial Engineering

Laboratory 3). Through government-funded programming and the promotion of domestic

tourism and consumerism, the Initiative has marketed traditional arts and local goods as

authentic and engaging to Japanese youth, dubbing them “the Original Cool Japan” (EEL 4).

However, the Initiative has had mixed reception in Japan with opinions ranging from optimistic

to “a downward spiral of wasted tax money” (SoraNews24).

Japan has adopted a somewhat contradictory approach when marketing itself to Asia.

Seemingly unable or unwilling to move past the historical pattern of distancing themselves from

the Asian continent, Japan has used various media to arouse feelings of “cultural

superiority...camouflaged by apparent cultural commonality” (Iwabuchi 67). This concept will

come up again in Chapter 2, but from their first contact with China during ancient times, Japan

has oscillated between asserting its commonality and its differences from the rest of Asia. These

shifts are almost always politically motivated—the Initiative itself serving as a prime example. In

Japanese media, cultural commonality is used to encourage Asian audiences to watch Japanese

media under the pretense that Japanese programs are easier to understand and relate to than

Western media. However, the same media being marketed for its mutual Asianness contains

subtle assertions of cultural superiority.

Since the shared cultural strategy cannot be applied to non-Asian audiences, the Initiative

has adopted a mouse-and-cheese model, which is outlined extensively in the Cool Japan Strategy.

The model assumes that if Japan can prove its cultural coolness, foreigners will eventually

contribute to the domestic market through tourism and spread the good word once they return

home. The Initiative has also attempted using flattery to entice foreigner audiences, stating in

official reference material for Cool Japan that foreigners are “the key to revitalizing Japan” and

that “the respect for ‘visiting gods’ embedded in culture also explains why Japanese people treat

gaijin (foreigners) and imported goods with such deference” (EEL 11).

Eight years have passed since the Initiative was launched, but determining its level of

success has been complicated. Considering the current visibility and prevalence of Japanese

culture internationally, Japan’s soft power has increased since 2013. However, when comparing

Japan’s growth to that of South Korea’s during the same time frame, most would agree that

Japan’s accomplishments fall flat. While it is fair to say that the Initiative is working, it has taken

much more time than initially anticipated to gain results. Even then, it is sometimes difficult to

prove that Japan’s growth can be directly attributed to Initiative ventures.

Recurring diplomatic issues have also hindered the Initiative's goal to improve Japan’s

political reputation in East Asia. Repelled by the Trump administration’s volatile trade war with

China, Sino-Japanese relations have improved dramatically as the two countries have increased

economic and diplomatic cooperation, even throughout the COVID-19 crisis. With Korea,

however, tensions over World War II comfort women and forced laborers have flared

periodically from 2015 to 2021. Unresolved disputes and subsequent boycotts of Japanese brands

and products have dampened Japan’s efforts to enhance their reputation in South Korea.

Furthermore, the Initiative has suffered several economic failures due to a combination of

poor investment choices, project mismanagement, and lackluster execution. As of 2017, the

Initiative has lost a total of 4.4 billion yen (40 million USD) in government and taxpayer funding

(Harano 4). When reports were released in 2017 detailing the failures of several Initiative-funded

projects, officials were met with harsh criticism from business analysts and citizens alike.

Eventually this criticism reached the Western press, leading to a string of articles from 2018 to

2019 that decisively labeled the Initiative as a failure. Nevertheless, the Cool Japan Fund has

committed to continued investment in domestic and international projects throughout the 2020s,

including those within the anime industry.

Cool Japan and Anime

Steven Green argues that the Initiative is similar to a 1960s strategy in which Japanese

government officials would choose “winning” industries to “promote and protect” (59). It is a

testament to the anime industry’s growth that it has received government recognition and funding

in spite of its humble origins as children’s entertainment. As stated in the introduction, anime

enjoyed an international boom during the 1990s which birthed a subculture in the West. By the

late 2000s, anime subculture began garnering international attention for its size and staying

power. Although Japanese people were aware of anime’s growing popularity in the West, during

the 1990s scholars began to debate whether or not anime was capable of properly representing

Japanese culture to the world.

Some Japanese scholars were enthusiastic about anime’s explosive popularity and the

interest it had generated in the West. They felt that the emergence of these fans marked the

beginning of a new era in Japanese soft power and that more effort should be put into utilizing

anime and similar media to increase Japan’s influence. However, opposing scholars argued that

anime was not an adequate source of soft power due to its mukokuseki (nationless) nature

(Iwabuchi 31, 34). Not limited to animation, mukokuseki was used to describe a number of

products and mediums that originated from Japan, but lacked distinct Japanese character. When

discussing anime, there are two facets of mukokuseki: visual and societal. Visually, many anime

characters are not drawn resembling any one race. Although they speak Japanese, they often

have ambiguous features or unnatural coloring, which leaves viewers with something of a blank-

slate to interpret the character’s races any way they would like. This aspect of interpretation can

diminish cultural nuances, but allows easier consumption of the foreign works. Societal

mukokuseki, on the other hand, is present in anime that are not set in Japan at all or feature a

version of Japan that lacks distinct aspects of Japanese culture or vastly simplifies them. Both

forms of mukokuseki generate so much criticism because once the cultural and societal nuances

have been stripped from the work (assuming that they were present to begin with), it becomes

difficult to expect foreign fans to grasp and gain interest in Japan’s complex society in the real

world.

Nevertheless, I believe that mukokuseki functions well as a gateway to ease viewers into

Japanese culture. While it would be difficult to argue that watching Dragon Ball Z will teach

audiences all about the real lives of Japanese citizens, it can serve a segue—either to anime that

are more reflective of reality or to a general interest in learning more about Japan. One could

argue that this concept of gateway mukokuseki has already been affirmed through the Initiative’s

inclusion of anime and manga in its official plans and the adoption of its mouse-and-cheese

model.

In a sense, it is precisely because of anime’s mukokuseki nature that it is able to fit into

the Initiative’s strategy. Despite the characters’ ambiguous racial features, more often than not,

the world anime characters live in is either outright stated to be Japan or heavily imbued with

Japanese customs and values. When Iwabuchi discusses mukokuseki, he is speaking about a

period when the most popular Japanese games and anime were those that lacked a distinct sense

of Japaneseness. However, now thousands of new anime have been released, many of which

cannot function without Japan at the center of the series. I consider these anime to be “inward-

facing,” as they center on Japan’s past or rely heavily on Japanese history, traditional culture,

and ideals. For example, Noragami (2014) tells the story of middle school student, Iki Hiyori,

who gains the ability to interact with spirits and kamigami (Shinto gods) after nearly being hit by

a bus. Although inward-facing anime tend to have a learning curve, they can also serve as a form

of pedagogical entertainment that introduces foreign audiences to traditional Japanese literature,

history, religion, and mythology (e.g. fans of Noragami who are not familiar with Japanese

mythology can learn about various gods, folktales, and key concepts of Shinto simply by

watching the series).

Conversely, there are also “outward-facing” anime, or anime that usually focus on the

present and future of Japan and other nations, that tend to contain more conventional attributes of

mukokuseki. However, while mukokuseki anime are almost always outward-facing, outward-

facing anime are not always mukokuseki. Some outward-facing anime, such as Kaze ga Tsuyoku

Fuiteiru (2018)

and Banana Fish (2018)

, might give characters specific ethnicities and

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru, or Run with the Wind, is a 2018 sports anime, based on the 2006 novel of the same

name written by Miura Shion. The story follows 10 college dorm mates as they are unknowingly enrolled into their

college’s track and field team by their RA and team captain, Haiji Kiyose. Despite their varying levels of physical

fitness and athletic background, Haiji has high hopes for the team as they train to race in the prestigious Hakone

Ekiden.

Banana Fish is a 2018 mixed-genre anime, based on the 1985 manga by Yoshida Akimi. Majority of the story

takes place in New York City as Japanese college student Okumura Eiji and his photojournal boss begin covering a

nationalities or it might be central to the plot that the story is not set in Japan. This is why

outward-facing anime set in the present or near future may seem more realistic. Because

outward-facing media accepts the current state of Japan and its history up until now, it can teach

viewers Japanese humor, daily life, business culture, school life, sports culture, fashion,

architecture, industries, etc. There are even shows like Shirobako (2014), an anime about the

anime industry and the production of anime adaptations, which are made with the express

purpose of teaching their audiences.

That is not to say that there can be no overlap between inward and outward-facing media.

Gintama (2006) is a wonderful example of anime that mixes Japanese history and traditional

values with modern culture. While Gintama is well-known for frequently breaking the fourth

wall with its pop culture references and outlandish gags, the story itself is set in the Bakumatsu

period of Edo Japan and many of its characters are based on historical figures from groups such

as the Shinsengumi

and Kiheitai

Although there are many visually defined mukokuseki

characters, the story cannot function without the knowledge that the characters in question are

Japanese.

Conclusion

Examining the financial growth of the anime industry can also shed light on its overall

development and its role within the Initiative. As of November 2020, the Cool Japan Fund has

spent 105.6 billion yen (1.05 billion USD) on 48 investment projects in various fields. Of this

105.6 billion yen, 5.05 billion (505 million USD) has gone into media projects, which includes

story on street gangs in America. During the interview process, Eiji meets Ash Lynx, a teenage gang leader, and is

quickly caught up in the mystery and violence that surrounds Ash’s life.

The special police force of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1863-1869.

A famous volunteer militia that fought against pro-government groups from 1863-1868

The final 15 years of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period, just preceding the beginning of Japanese

modernization.

anime. Some examples of foreign investments include a three-year 1.5 billion yen (14 million

USD) grant given to Tokyo Otaku Mode (2014-2017), an online anime merchandise company,

and 3.3 billion yen (30 million USD) in funding to Sentai Filmworks, an American licensing and

distribution company, in 2019. From 2014 to 2019, the anime industry grossed 9.8 trillion yen

(92 billion USD) world-wide. In the Japanese market alone, it has grossed over 1.1 trillion yen

(10 billion USD), with 2.17% (213 billion yen, or ~2 billion USD) originating from overseas

sales. As of 2019, the global anime industry has reached a value of 2.6 trillion yen (24 billion

USD). Although these stand-alone numbers have fallen short of the 8-11 trillion yen (73-101

billion USD) goal outlined in the Cool Japan Strategy, they are impressive in their own right and

indicative of the industry’s rapid expansion.

However, with rapid expansion comes the rapid change of every corner of the industry.

Within the last 5-6 years, the growing economic value of the anime industry has resulted in more

anime being released faster than ever before. We appear to be in an age when, with enough luck

and talent, anyone can become a mangaka (manga author/illustrator) or light novel author and

have their work adapted into an anime. As the number of stories being told increases, so does the

number of anime and manga that deal heavily with nationalism and associated themes. While

there has been extensive discussion and scholarship written in regards to nationalism in Japanese

media, relatively few have homed in on the nationalistic themes present in modern anime. I have

chosen to discuss anime specifically in this thesis both because it is of personal interest to me as

a long-time fan of anime and because I believe that anime should receive more individual

attention from present scholars, rather than being dissolved under the broad umbrella of “media.”

Today, anime is reaching more audiences than previously thought possible and it is critical that

viewers begin thinking about exactly what they are being shown and why. While that process of

critical thinking should begin at examining Cool Japan and its purpose within anime and manga,

it certainly should not end there. Although some series contain elements of Cool Japan and soft

cultural nationalism that are only meant to attract audiences, other series use Cool Japan as a

gateway to express deeper motives that stem from less innocuous forms of cultural nationalism.

Chapter 2: Clean Japan

If Cool Japan’s role is to show how cool Japanese culture is, then Clean Japan’s role is to

transform that coolness into admiration. Clean Japan is a term I will use to describe positive,

self-serving Japanese stereotypes present in Japanese media. These stereotypes often suggest that

the Japanese are naturally cleanly, polite, calm, virtuous, orderly, hard-working, and peaceful.

Clean Japan also promotes the idea that Japan is an extremely safe, peaceful country.

Whenever unruly characters appear or dangerous events are shown on screen, Clean Japan

ensures that they are clearly labeled as rare occurrences. Although Clean Japan’s start was

limited to Japanese audiences, as Japanese media has spread across the globe, a growing number

of international viewers are now being exposed to these stereotypes and tropes. In this chapter I

will explain the relationship between Clean Japan and the post-war nihonjinron movement

before analyzing the media’s role in Clean Japan. I will then give examples of Clean Japan found

in three anime released from 2009 to 2018 with a sustained discussion of Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Finally, I will examine Clean Japan in relation to the Cool Japan Initiative and the third

framework, Controversial Japan.

Clean Japan and Nihonjinron

Clean Japan stems from: a) nationalistic conceptions the Japanese had about themselves

prior to World War II and b) post-war Japan’s new image that was created by the Japanese

government. During the height of Japanese imperialism in the early 1940s, Japanese ideas on

identity were inseparable from the state. Since 1890, the dominant view on identity in Japan was

I would like to clarify that my focus on Clean Japan in this chapter is not meant to insinuate that Japan is the only

nation that produces self-flattering media. Using cultural nationalism to associate one’s people with positive or

superior qualities is rather common. For example, recall how many American sitcoms attempt to hammer home the

idea that Americans are hard-working or that Americans are friendlier than people of other nationalities.

that of the kokutai, or nation-body. Kokutai ideology defined the Japanese as “a community

bound together through a natural loyalty to the divine Tennō

as a father figure” (Godart 48).

Because the emperor was seen as a divine figure, prior to the end of WWII, many Japanese

people believed that Japan had a divine right to rule over other nations. However after the

unconditional surrender in 1945, subsequent occupation, and constitutional revision, the emperor

was no longer considered to be a living deity, effectively ending the age of using kokutai as a

basis for Japanese identity. During the same period, the Japanese government was also tasked

with remaking Japan’s image for the sake of its economy and future diplomacy. Despite

skepticism from neighboring countries, the government chose peace and harmony to represent

the new Japan, beginning their long journey towards reclaiming their role on the world stage.

Perhaps contradictory to Japan’s new direction, in the 1960s, a wave of scholarly

nationalism rose in Japan. Nihonjinron, or theories on the Japanese, were a type of scholarship

published by Japanese academics and scholars from various fields who sought to explain or

analyze the Japanese race and Japanese culture. Although similar works and schools of thought

existed during the pre-war period, nihonjinron itself did not gain much popularity until after the

war. Nihonjinron began as criticism and self-reflection on the hubris and ideals of the Japanese

empire that led to World War II. However when the American Occupation officially ended in

1952, perhaps out of pent up anxiety and resentment, there was a major shift to writing

nihonjinron that sought to analyze Japan’s past and identify what made its culture unique. From

there, nihonjinron became a hotbed of cultural nationalism.

The basic tenets of nihonjinron have been outlined as follows:

The only valid basis from which to study Japanese society is using native informants'

judgements (emic), as opposed to external or foreign analysis (etic).

Title of the Japanese emperor

The Japanese can be treated as a culturally and socially homogeneous racial entity, whose

essence is virtually unchanged through time.

The Japanese differ radically from all other known peoples in terms of society, culture,

and language.

Japanese “blood” is essential in order to understand Japanese society, culture, and

language.

Foreigners are incapable of completely understanding Japanese culture and language.

(Haugh 28)

While nihonjinron’s popularity peaked during the 1970s, it did not spark large waves of domestic

and foreign criticism until the late 80s and early 90s. Although the Japanese government never

officially endorsed nihonjinron, there were individual government officials who often alluded to

or promoted the genre. Due to the variety of stances within nihonjinron, some ideals were too

polarizing and controversial for the government to collectively incorporate into formal policy.

However, through Clean Japan, which dilutes the central concepts of nihonjinron and makes

them inconspicuous, the government has found ways to subtly support the genre.

Clean Japan operates within what Bukh calls a “particular understanding of reality” that

“targets the self-identity of the population in question and seeks to manipulate it” (465). Rather

than targeting academics, Clean Japan’s goal is to reach the masses. While the execution differs,

the core ideas of nihonjinron and Clean Japan remain the same. Bukh recalls Peter Dale’s

explanation that one of nihonjinron’s central arguments is that “Japan had consistently been a

harmonious, communal, and peaceful society, unlike the conflict-prone, individualistic, and

jingoistic West” (477). Harking back to Japan’s image promoted during the Olympics, we

continue to see “harmonious” and “peaceful” being attributed to the Japanese throughout the

Cool Japan Initiative’s advertising efforts and displays of Clean Japan.

Clean Japan exists on a spectrum with some manifestations being more inconspicuous or

more overt, despite all iterations pointing to the same idea. While nihonjinron itself may seem

too heavy-handed to the average citizen, Clean Japan is innocuous, accessible, and disguises

itself well in the media. Recalling Althusser, ISAs are meant to bridge the gap between the state

and private domains. Clean Japan is a very effective ISA due to how well it permeates into

different forms of media, especially television and anime.

Clean Japan and Media

Alexandra Hambleton asserts that “the media plays a great role in the formation of

Japanese perceptions of non-Japanese even within Japan,” but I would argue further that the

media also plays an important role in how the Japanese perceive themselves (32-33). When

Japanese citizens are constantly shown examples of Clean Japan in the media, it can begin to

warp their perception of Japanese society. One purpose of nurturing nationalism as an imaginary

universe is to allow the average citizen to impose an idealized version of the nation onto themself

and vice versa. If the media constantly espouses the idea that one’s nation is great, then citizens

of that nation will consider themselves great. On the other hand, when looking outward, Clean

Japan tends to highlight the differences of non-Japanese which “contribute[s] to the creation of

an ‘essentialized identity’” (Hambleton 43). This “essentialized identity” is the same identity

created by the Japanese government and maintained by cultural nationalists. When citizens who

have little contact with or access to foreign cultures are only shown negative or drastic

differences between them, it can skew their opinions on those cultures.

Conversely, when

This is not limited to fictional media, as Japanese news stations (usually controlled by the Liberal Democratic

Party) may only show crime reports or other unflattering coverage of certain groups if they are pushing a certain

agenda.

foreigners who know little about Japanese culture are shown Clean Japan, it may result in them

forming unrealistically high opinions of the Japanese.

Up until now, we have discussed Clean Japan with the assumption that audiences were

mostly unaware of the media bias, but what of those who are able to catch on and still choose to

believe in Clean Japan? For Japanese viewers, indulging in Clean Japan could simply be a matter

of pride. It is not far-fetched to argue that seeing such positive depictions of their nation in the

media can boost the egos of Japanese viewers. Like cultural nationalism, this in and of itself is

not uncommon, nor is it necessarily an issue. The problem lies within depictions of Japanthat are

completely one-sided or push false narratives in order to advance an agenda (political, economic,

or social). For others, Clean Japan might simply easier to believe than the truth, which is that

Japan is racially, linguistically, ideologically, and socio-culturally heterogeneous, just like every

other nation. Furthermore, because Japanese culture shares many similarities with its

neighboring Asian countries, there is no basis for the nihonjinron/Clean Japan argument that

Japan is more unique than other nations.

Clean Japan tends to only show viewers what it wants them to see, whether that be

through the generalization or selective filtering of Japanese culture. The erasure of Japanese

socio-cultural complexity within Clean Japan stems from nihonjinron, but presents the same

issue surrounding foreigners consuming mukokuseki media and using it to draw conclusions

about Japan in real life. Foreign audiences that are aware of Clean Japan, but choose to continue

consuming its oversimplified image of Japanese society, may do so in order to engage in

escapism.

Foreign escapism through anime can be attributed to Clean Japan or common themes

within the medium. The former requires viewers to believe that all the major facets of Clean

Japan are true in reality and grants them with the image of an idyllic nation where the streets are

safer than their own and the people are kinder and more welcoming. This image is identical to

the imaginary Japan that the Initiative uses to entice foreigners. Iwabuchi writes that Japanese

nationalists sometimes interpret the popularity of Japanese cultural exports in Asia as the idea of

“Asia-yearning-for-Japan,” in which Japanese technology and culture has become the aspiration

of Asian countries (66). In this case, however, rather than “Asia-yearning-for-Japan,” we have a

broader concept of all foreigners yearning for Japan. The second type of foreign escapism is due

more so to prevalent youth-related themes in anime, rather than Clean Japan alone. In other

words, instead of foreigners yearning for Japan, we have foreigners yearning for their youth

(through a Japanese lens).

Clean Japan and Anime

As previously stated, Clean Japan exists on a spectrum that consists of varied levels of

overtness. I will call less overt displays “soft” Clean Japan and more overt displays “hard” Clean

Japan. Soft Clean Japan is generally more subtle in its depiction of positive Japanese stereotypes,

whereas hard Clean Japan is much more transparent and biased in its representation of Japanese

characters. In this section, I will examine instances of Clean Japan in anime and attempt to

identify the reasoning and motivations behind their presence. Later, I will expand how foreigners

factor into Clean Japan and the effects of Clean Japan on the Cool Japan Initiative.

Asobi Asobase (2018) is a gag comedy anime based on Suzukawa Rin’s manga of the

same name. Asobi Asobase centers on three eighth grade classmates, Hanako, Olivia, and

Kasumi, as they search for fun games and activities to play afterschool in the “Pastimers Club”.

There are different degrees of Japaneseness present in Asobi Asobase where out of the three girls,

Kasumi is the “most Japanese” (or exhibits the most traits of Clean Japan) and Olivia is the least.

In the series, Kasumi is shown to be the most hygienic, polite, and sensible of the three (although

most of this is due to her role as the tsukkomi

of the group). As the main boke

, Hanako can be

categorized as a “deviant Japanese” character. She does retain aspects of Clean Japan (for

example, she excels in academic and physical performance), but is also shown to be more rash

and outspoken than Kasumi. Presumably due to her being white, Olivia is oftentimes more naive,

less studious, and less clean than both Hanako and Kasumi. Not unlike the cute, eye-catching

mascot characters found in genres such as mahō shōjo and kodomomuke (aimed at young

children), Olivia's name is simply “Olivia”—written in katakana

with no surname or indication

of her origins. Despite being a main character and some of the Japanese side characters having

full names, Olivia does not, which reinforces her foreignness and solidifies her place as the “least

Japanese” of the three.

There is a recurring gag in which various characters comment on the body odor of Olivia.

In one scene, Hanako has to sniff her clubmates’ underarms as a punishment game. When she

sniffs Kasumi, who is embarrassed and hesitant to raise her arms, Hanako reassures her that she

does not smell at all. However, when Olivia energetically lifts her arms for Hanako to smell,

Hanako recoils and screams “Apocrine sweat glands!” before falling to the ground and making

exaggerated faces and motions to express her disgust. In a later scene, when Olivia is horrified to

learn that all of her classmates are aware of her body odor, Hanako and Kasumi attempt to

comfort her by telling her that her smell “fall[s] under the action threshold in the Ministry of the

Environment’s odor index” and that they have already grown used to her odor (“Phantom

Thieves: Pass Club” 10:17). Other examples of this gag include a bacteria-detecting game on

The straight man in Japanese stand-up comedy routines (manzai); derived from the verb tsukkomu, meaning ‘to

thrust into’ or ‘to butt in’, the tsukkomi normally points out the boke’s ridiculous behavior.

The funny man in Japanese stand-up comedy routines (manzai); derived from the verb bokeru, meaning ‘to grow

senile’ or ‘to be mentally slow’, the boke normally engages in ridiculous behavior.

Japanese writing system used to write foreign words and onomatopoeia

Olivia’s phone that flashes red and blares alarms when pointed at her underarms and a baby who

yells “Spicy!” after catching a whiff of Olivia’s shirt.

This gag is based on a common gene allele in East Asians that causes the apocrine sweat

glands to not produce an odor, meaning they often have little to no body odor due to sweat

(Martin, et. al 529). Because Olivia is white, it’s insinuated she has the odor-producing allele

which makes her body odor stronger than her Japanese classmates’. To make matters worse,

Olivia initially seems oblivious to her body odor, although it is later shown that she suspected

that she smelled, but did not want to tell anyone. Because this gag is based on a biological fact, I

would label it as soft Clean Japan. Aspects of Olivia’s foreignness are also used in other gags

and jokes, but never maliciously or to solely make the J

apanese characters look better.

There are even moments when the concept of Olivia being “foreign” is turned on its head

in the anime. For example, although Olivia has blonde hair and blue eyes, she was born and

raised in Japan and knows little about the English language or Western culture. However, one of

her classmates, Fujiwara, has a face that looks exactly like a female Noh mask, but is not from

Japan and speaks in a mix of English and accented Japanese. When the two interact, the irony of

having a white character who is more Japanese than the girl who looks like a 19th century

Japanese woodblock print is made extremely clear. There are certainly issues with Olivia’s

Figure 7: Hanako's reactions to smelling Kasumi (left) and Olivia (right).

character, but they are not as severe as they could be. Overall, Asobi Asobase displays Clean

Japan that caters more to its Japanese characters by making them look better in certain aspects,

but does not completely disparage its foreign characters either.

A step-up from the Clean Japan found in Asobi Asobase, we have Bungou Stray Dogs

(2016). Bungou Stray Dogs (lit. Literary Stray Dogs) is an anime based on the 2012 manga by

Asagiri Kafka. The story follows the ADA (Armed Detective Agency), a government-run

organization in Yokohama that employs individuals who possess supernatural powers. Each

“gifted” character in the series is inspired by and shares a name with a famous literary author or

poet. The characters’ powers are also named after the most famous works by these literary

figures. For example, the characters Dazai Osamu and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke possess powers

called “No Longer Human” and “Rashōmon,” respectively. In the first season, viewers are

introduced to the main characters and the initial antagonists of the series, the Port Mafia. As an

underground criminal organization, Port Mafia members often find themselves engaged in battles

with the ADA. However, by the end of the first season, it is clear that both groups care about

Yokohama and strive to keep it safe, albeit for very different reasons. The consensus between the

organizations to protect Yokohama is important, because

it shapes their interactions in the next two seasons.

The second season focuses on the ADA battling

the Guild, an American secret society attempting to gain

complete control of Yokohama. The Guild consists of

numerous characters based on American authors like F.

Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Louisa May Alcott

(Little Women), and Mark Twain (The Adventures of

Figure 8: Members of The Guild from Bungou

Stray Dogs

Tom Sawyer). As the Guild wreaks havoc in Japan to fulfill their greedy, power-hungry goals,

the agency calls a ceasefire with the Port Mafia and teams up with them to defeat their Western

opponents. Throughout the season, we are shown how the Guild’s arrogance leads to them losing

battle after battle with the ADA and Port Mafia, who are eventually able to outsmart and whittle

down their forces.

Soon after the Guild is defeated, the ADA is faced with yet another threat—Fyodor

Dosteovsky (Crime and Punishment) and his organization of European authors who are

searching for a supernatural book that can alter reality. Although Dostoevsky hatches a plan to

have the ADA and Port Mafia destroy each other, ultimately they are able to band together and

stop the Russian’s plans. In seasons 2 and 3, there is a clear pattern of villains from the West

invading Japan. In order to stop them, the Japanese characters must put their differences aside to

save the city, country, and later, the world. While the Western antagonists are not always written

having the same character flaws, they are often shown to be more callous, prideful, and power-

hungry than the Japanese characters. Furthermore, if Dostoevsky is revealed to be the true villain

of the series, then a large portion of Bungou Stray Dogs’ plot will have involved the Japanese

protagonists being pitted against Western antagonists.

One specific example of Clean Japan in the series is the relationship between Edogawa

Ranpo (Black Lizard) and Edgar

Allen Poe (“The Raven”). The real

Edogawa Ranpo held a deep

admiration for Poe’s work and

based his pseudonym on Poe’s

Figure 9: Poe (left) speaking to Edogawa (right) in Bungou Stray Dogs

season 2, episode 10

name.

However, in Bungou Stray Dogs, the roles are reversed. Although his feelings are

initially framed as resentment, Edgar Allen Poe is the one who admires Edogawa and spends six

years planning a mystery to stump him, which is ultimately solved within a few minutes. While

Edogawa acknowledges that he enjoys solving Poe’s puzzles, there is a clear imbalance between

how the characters view each other. The series makes it clear that Edogawa is the superior

detective while Poe sees him as something of a rival and aspiration.

Although Bungou Stray Dogs has a tendency to depict Western authors as antagonists or

inferior to their Japanese counterparts, I do not believe that these displays are offensive enough

to categorize the series as hard Clean Japan. While the Japanese characters do enjoy more nuance

and flexibility regarding who is “bad” versus “good,” the Clean Japan present in the story does

not outright condemn or portray every foreign character as evil. On the other hand, because

Bungou Stray Dogs’ Clean Japan is more overt and clear-cut than what is found in Asobi

Asobase, I would place the series somewhere in-between soft and hard Clean Japan.

Clean Japan and Anime: Hetalia

Finally, we will be examining Clean Japan in Hetalia: Axis Powers (2006), a webcomic

that has spawned several manga, anime, film, and musical adaptations. The series is set in a

world where nations are personified and interact with each other according to historical events.

The story begins during World War II, but eventually covers a wide range of historical and

sociopolitical topics from many regions in Asia, North America, and Europe. While Hetalia’s

initial audience consisted primarily of Japanese adults, licensing changes and increased access to

The name is derived from the katakana reading of Edgar Allan Poe ( ).

It is worth mentioning that Bungou Stray Dogs does feature other inverted relationships between its characters and

their real-life counterparts, such as Dazai being Akutagawa’s mentor and role model in the story, despite the real

Dazai Osamu being heavily influenced by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s work.

the series resulted in Hetalia gaining popularity among younger audiences. The first manga

series, Hetalia: Axis Powers, was published in the seinen manga magazine Comic Birz from

2006 to 2013. The 2009 anime adaptation of Axis Powers was initially planned to air on Kids

Station, a Japanese television network that, not unlike Cartoon Network and Adult Swim in the

U.S., broadcasts child-friendly anime during the daytime and adult-oriented anime at night (Loo

1). Due to controversy surrounding the series, Kids Station cancelled their plans to broadcast the

first season of Hetalia: Axis Powers, which was released as an Online Net Animation (ONA)

instead. When the anime was licensed by Funimation in 2010, it was given a TV-MA rating for

“some instances of profanity, crude humor and adult situations” (@FUNimation). At the time,

the entire series was available to watch on Funimation’s official YouTube channel. Although the

mature rating meant the videos were age-restricted, viewers could bypass this by uploading the

episodes to other websites or changing their profile age on YouTube.

In 2014, the series lowered its target demographic with the release of the second manga

series, Hetalia: World Stars, in Shōnen Jump+, an online magazine aimed at young boys.

Despite the series officially being marketed towards male audiences, the majority of Hetalia’s

fanbase has consisted of girls and young women since the late 2000s.

Since a large number of

teenagers and children now consume the series alongside adult viewers, it has become difficult to

ascertain which audience members are able to discern the nationalistic subtext within Hetalia.

Although some viewers believe that Hetalia is not nationalistic, the series’ self-flattering

depiction of Japan, distorted portrayal of foreign nations, and references to nationalistic trends

and terms firmly place Hetalia in the hard Clean Japan category.

Hetalia’s popularity with female consumers is most likely due to the series’ majority male cast. As Miyake Toshio

notes in his article on Occidentalism and sexualized parody in Hetalia: Axis Powers, if Himaruya wanted his works

to appeal to male audiences, he could have drawn majority of the nations in moe-kyara style as cute or sexy female

characters (5.8). Instead, the overwhelming majority of the cast are male and fit into various character tropes that

appeal to female audiences, especially fujoshi or female otaku who enjoy “parodies of male-male intimacy” (Miyake

0.1).

A Clean Japan

Sands, like many other fans of Hetalia, argues that the series is not nationalistic or racist

because it does not “[glorify] Japanese culture or ethos” and that Japan is often “humiliated” by

other characters when he is pulled into their shenanigans and made to look silly (129, 132).

However, glorifying Japan is not the approach Hetalia takes to demonstrate cultural superiority.

Instead, Himaruya writes scenarios in which Japan is often the sole voice of reason and maturity.

When the other nation-characters engage in ridiculous behavior (which they do often), their

strangeness juxtaposed with Japan’s “normal” reactions makes Japan look better by default. The

result is Japan literally being portrayed as the world’s tsukkomi.

Japan’s depiction in Hetalia is more or less the embodiment of Clean Japan. Two of

Japan’s most revealing character descriptions are from the third volume of Axis Powers and the

first of World Stars. Japan is described as a “quiet, serious, Oriental, warrior nation” and “a

serious samurai nation who values harmony” (“Japan” 4, 8 [Hetarchives]). His only glaring

character flaws are that he’s very shy, at times reclusive, and acts like an “old man” (“Japan”

[Kitawiki]). Hetalia’s characters are said to represent both the positive and negative stereotypes

associated with their respective countries, but in Japan’s case, even his “negative” stereotypes

are inoffensive, as they pose no threat of meiwaku.

The concept of meiwaku, meaning nuisance or inconvenience, is extremely important in

Japanese society. In terms of interpersonal interactions, meiwaku is used to describe actions and

behavior that impose on or inconvenience others. Similar to the “Golden Rule” in the West, the

concept of meiwaku and how to avoid it are ground into the consciousness of those living in

Japan from a young age. While Sands and others have pointed out that Japan is also mocked and

depicted with unflattering traits in Hetalia, the difference lies in how little meiwaku Japan’s

character flaws pose to others. Japan being old-fashioned or shy is not going to be interpreted as

negatively as China’s character flaw of violating copyright laws or America’s habit of “sticking

his nose everywhere” (“United States of America” 3). Because all the other characters do have

flaws that impose meiwaku while Japan does not (or has mild ones in comparison), Japan

maintains his image of looking better than the other nations.

Tsukkomi as Japaneseness

In my analysis of Asobi Asobase, I mentioned that Kasumi’s role as a tsukkomi

contributed to her Japaneseness and that Hanako’s role as a boke classified her as a “deviant

Japanese” character. Because similar patterns can be found in Hetalia and other anime with

Clean Japan, I would like to explain how Clean Japan affects the comedic roles of tsukkomi and

boke. Boke-tsukkomi roles in anime usually surface when the boke makes an outlandish or

foolish comment on their surroundings, the situation, or something they’ve done and the

tsukkomi points out the errors in their logic. These roles are very common in anime and manga,

especially in genres like slice-of-life and, naturally, comedy. However, because the attributes

Clean Japan associates with the Japanese are also found in tsukkomi characters, tsukkomi ends

up being aligned with Japaneseness. Essentially, the more a character’s personality or behavior

fits the tsukkomi role, the more Japanese they seem.

The role of tsukkomi is usually associated with level-headedness, common sense,

intelligence, and overall standard behavior. Although tsukkomi may have flashes of hot-

headedness or be quick to yell at and hit the boke (a direct throwback to traditional manzai

routines), this is primarily for comedic effect and does not undermine the delivery of the

tsukkomi’s rationale. On the other hand, boke are commonly associated with airheadedness,

stupidity, and ignorance. The boke role translates as deviant due to how often they ignore or are

unaware of behavioral standards. Both nihonjinron and Clean Japan operate under the

assumption that the Japanese are collectivist, which means that for the good of the group, they

should avoid standing out and imposing meiwaku on others. In order to do this, the characters

need to avoid engaging in deviant behavior, which translates to their actions aligning with

tsukkomi rather than boke.

Sometimes boke-tsukkomi manifest as more flexible roles, where even after a character is

given the official role of tsukkomi or boke within their circle, during gags or comedic situations,

there is still flexibility for the roles to reverse in such a way that the tsukkomi does something

silly and the boke becomes the straight man. When the boke interjects with logic, it heightens the

comedic effect by making the recipient look less intelligent than the boke. This method of

making people look foolish occurs fairly frequently when foreigners are involved.

Boke characters are commonly depicted as friendlier, more outspoken, or more energetic

than tsukkomi characters. Coincidentally, these are also traits that are often associated with

Westerners (with some exceptions)

, resulting in a high number of Western boke characters in

anime (if they are not already in another archetype). Furthermore, because these foreign

characters are more likely to commit cultural faux pas, it is easy to create a dynamic where you

have both the Japanese tsukkomi and boke correcting the outsider’s unintentional boke. Hetalia

contains examples of both, with most of the Eurocentric cast being boke and Japan (and

occasionally China) calling out their stupidity.

There is a trend in Japanese media of portraying Russians as very serious, intelligent, or stoic, the French as very

sophisticated or romantic, etc.

Despite, or perhaps due to, most of Hetalia’s characters being Western, there are a few

notable non-Asian tsukkomi. Of the Allied Forces and Axis Powers, England, occasionally

China, Germany, and Japan act as tsukkomi, while the remaining countries are usually boke.

England is portrayed as a more stereotypical anime tsukkomi (i.e. he’s a tsundere

and

somewhat hot-headed), usually to America or France’s boke. Like most tsukkomi, he often

interjects by yelling or hitting the boke. Germany, in a similar vein, is more of an intimidating

tsukkomi and will often correct the boke’s (normally Italy) behavior by yelling or threatening

violence. Japan, however, has a quieter, calmer tsukkomi style. Depending on which boke he is

confronted with, Japan will either begin by calmly addressing the boke’s error or reluctantly

stutter his way through a retort. If all else fails, Japan might yell or exclaim something briefly,

but by-and-large, he is portrayed as a very calm tsukkomi, which in turn continues to align his

character with Clean Japan.

Taiwan: Asia-yearning-for-Japan

Hetalia contains a series of gags and stories with literal depictions of Asian countries

yearning for Japan and aspects of Japanese culture. Taiwan is the Asian nation-character most

outspoken about her infatuation with Japan. Historically, although Taiwan was occupied by

Imperial Japan, the Taiwanese were not subjected to the same level of brutality and aggression

that colonies such as Korea and areas of Northeastern China faced. Due in part to this, anti-

Japanese sentiment was much lower in post-war Taiwan and in the 1990s, a change in

Taiwainese copyright laws brought Japanese anime, manga, and TV dramas to the country,

resulting in a “Japanophile phenomenon” (Chang 179-180). In Hetalia, this phenomenon is

A Japanese term used to describe characters who are initially portrayed as standoffish or temperamental before

showing a caring, friendlier side of their personality; derived from the onomatopoeic words tsuntsun, meaning ‘aloof’

or ‘standoffish’, and deredere, meaning ‘lovestruck’ or ‘fawning’.

reflected in Taiwan’s love of the Japanese kawaii (cute) aesthetic and her enthusiasm when

speaking with Japan. Many Japanophiles in Taiwan are teenage girls and, coincidentally, the

character of Taiwan reflects that as well, with her physical

appearance being that of a teenager. Within the series, Taiwan

and Hong Kong are often seen joking about China’s age and

outdatedness, but despite Japan also canonically being

thousands of years older than them, he is never made fun of,

presumably due to his pop culture being seen as more trendy

and original than China’s.

In Hetalia’s 2013 Halloween comic, Taiwan is shown wearing a kimono, fake horns, and

a demon mask. When the other characters assume that she is dressed as a ghost, Taiwan happily

corrects them that she is dressed as Hinomoto Oniko. During the late 2000s, a trend arose in

Japan of creating anthropomorphized girls, called moe-kyara, based on current social and

political issues. One such moe-kyara is Hinomoto Oniko whose name is a transliteral reading of

the ethnic slur “riben guizi” ( ) from Chinese, meaning “Japanese devils.” Origins of

the slur date back to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and while it was used most

frequently during WWII, “riben guizi” can still be seen today on signs at anti-Japanese protests

and online on ultra-nationalist message boards. Although being called a devil has heavy

implications in Chinese culture, demons appear frequently in Japanese folklore and are not

always depicted as evil or scary. As a result, Japanese people did not always understand the

purpose of the term being directed at them (Searchina). Hinomoto was created in 2010 by 2-chan

Figure 10: Official art of Taiwan,

drawn in super-deformed style

users

with the intention of jokingly subverting the insult’s meaning and highlighting the

connotational differences of demons between the two cultures (NicoNicoPedia).

However, Taiwan dressing up as a character based on a term that was born out of

Japanese war atrocities towards the Chinese is a loaded visual, to say the least.

The costume

itself politically aligns her with Japan, but there is also the issue of Taiwan being oblivious to the

irony and implications of her, as a Chinese person, wearing a Hinomoto Oniko costume. It is

implied that the character Macau is aware of Hinomoto’s origins as he briefly attempts to inform

Taiwan before dropping the issue when she reassures him that because the character for “demon”

is in Hinomoto’s name, it will fit the Halloween theme. Overall, Taiwan’s blind enthusiasm for

Japanese pop culture in this scene leaves the impression that she is very naive and ignorant of

Chinese history and culture.

Taiwan’s yearning for Japan is also reflected linguistically. Hetalia is known for many of

its characters having distinct verbal tics or styles of speech that are meant to reflect some aspect

of their culture. Although I could not find any instances of characters within the series addressing

this, Taiwan uses Japanese words and ending particles in her speech. With a few exceptions, all

character dialogue in Hetalia is written in Japanese, but the text conveys that they are either

speaking in their native language or a universal language (UL). For example, when Taiwan’s

speech is written in kanji

or hiragana

, she is speaking Chinese or the UL. When her speech is

written in katakana, it is implied that she’s using Japanese. This is best illustrated in figure 11

when Taiwan sees Vietnam in the costume she gave her and remarks that it is cute, once in

katakana ( ) and then again in hiragana with a katakana ending particle (

2channel, also known as 2-chan or 2ch, is an anonymous Japanese internet forum that was founded in 1999 by

Nishimura Hiroyuki.

This is exacerbated by the fact that Taiwan is recognized as Chinese territory in the series.

Japanese writing system that consists of Chinese characters

Basic Japanese writing system that consists of all phonetic characters in Japanese; used to write native words

). If she were only speaking in Chinese or the UL, there would be no need to write the

word “cute” in two different forms. In other scenes from the Halloween comic, she also uses the

Japanese words for “thing” ( ) and “it’s okay” ( ).

Taiwan often ends her sentences with yo and ne ( ), which are often used to add

emphasis or seek confirmation from the listener. If these particles were only being used to make

her speech sound more like a teenage girl’s, Himaruya would have written them in hiragana to

designate them as a part of her natural speech, which he does with the rest of the cast. Because

the particles are written in katakana, similar to the other Japanese words she uses, I am led to

believe that the particles are also

meant to be understood as spoken

Japanese. Whether Taiwan’s use of

Japanese is in reference to the

popularity of Japanese culture

among Taiwanese teenagers or a

throwback to mandatory Japanese

language education during Taiwan’s

colonial period, it is difficult to view

this as anything other than a display

of linguistic superiority. Himaruya’s

self-flattering depiction of a formerly colonized nation as a Japanese fangirl who unnecessarily

incorporates Japanese into her speech is incredibly demeaning. While Japanese pop culture is

popular in Taiwan, Himaruya writes Taiwan’s character as if Japanese language and culture are

dominant in her nation’s society.

Figure 11: Taiwan commenting on Vietnam's outfit in the 2013

Halloween event

The character of China is also portrayed yearning after Japanese culture through gags

involving China and his bootleg version of Hello Kitty, Shinatty-chan. Although China views

himself as an older-brother figure to the East Asian nations, the younger countries in question

seem to delegate that role to Japan. Linguistically, China is one of the only characters with a

stereotypical accent (indicated with the sentence ending “-aru”) in Hetalia. While it has been

stated that “-aru” is meant to capture how Chinese-accented Japanese sounds to native speakers,

“-aru” might have been derived from Kyowa-go, the pidgin used in Japanese-occupied

Manchuria during the 1930s and 1940s. One major feature of Kyowa-go was a reduced

grammatical structure in which sentences often ended in “aruyo,” “aruna,” or “aruka” (Kelly 2).

Given the importance of historical and political events in Hetalia, it is possible that China uses “-

aru” in reference to this pidgin. Although China’s heavy accent in the anime and drama CDs is

meant to be humorous, his language use ultimately reflects his derisive portrayal in the series as

a whole.

It is also worth noting that Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan do not use the sentence

ending “-aru,” despite all three characters being acknowledged as Chinese territory with the

series. This could be due to the three characters being younger than China within the series

(which would frame the use of “-aru” as a jab towards China’s age) or due to the influence of

their foreign colonizers and lack of proximity to Manchuria during its Japanese occupation (i.e.

because Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan were respectively under the control of Britain, Portugal,

and Japan during the 1930s, the legacy of Kyowa-go and Manchuria’s occupation is not reflected

in their speech patterns).

Korea as a Foil

South Korea is arguably the most controversial character in Hetalia. His characterization

has generated so much controversy that in 2009, the South Korean National Assembly held a

discussion about Hetalia and its portrayal of Korea. The meeting was prompted by an online

petition calling for the South Korean government to ban the upcoming anime adaptation of

Hetalia: Axis Powers, which the character South Korea was set to appear in. During the

discussion, Hetalia was labeled “a crime against Koreans”

and just a few days following the assembly meeting, the

anime’s television broadcast was cancelled (“Korea

Controversy”). When the ONA was released in Japan, Korea

had been removed from the anime and was subsequently cut

from official volumes of the manga. Within the context of

Clean Japan, Korea’s immaturity, perversion, and brazen

behavior serve to make Japan look better as an Asian country.

In one webcomic from 2006, after seeing Korea with a

stack of Japanese flags, Japan asks Korea why he constantly

copies him and sells Japanese food in other countries if he

hates Japan so much. Korea becomes flustered and replies

that “tsundere originated in Korea,” implying that Koreans

put on airs about disliking Japan, but secretly love Japanese

culture. Here, Korea is both yearning for Japanese culture and

demonstrating Japan’s cultural superiority, as it is implied

that Koreans are more likely to sell Japanese food in foreign

countries, rather than their own. In a follow-up comic, Korea

Figure 12: 4-panel

comic featuring Korea

(top right) and Japan (top left)

is distressed after finding out he has run out of Japanese flags (which he is shown using as a

headscarf, t-shirt, sauna towel, and play-thing) and attempts to order more. When he is

accidentally sent a set of Bengali flags, Japan remarks in the background that it’s rare to see

Korea with a flag that isn’t Japan’s, suggesting that Korea has some obsession or preoccupation

with him.

In an early 2007 webcomic, South Korea visits China, demanding to be given Christmas

presents as he is “China’s big brother.” While China is searching for some tea to give him, Korea

takes a large knapsack that contains Confucius, feng shui, kanji, tofu, traditional Chinese

medicine, and horuhoru

, remarking that he will help himself to the gifts before running off.

The joke of Korea gaining many

cultural assets from China is

apparent, but when compared with

scenes of Japan receiving items and

concepts from China, the contrast

further highlights Korea’s

obnoxious behavior. In the first

season of Axis Powers, there is an episode that shows Japan meeting China as a child. China

shares his writing system and culture with Japan, while Japan silently accepts. Although China

becomes upset when Japan begins developing his own writing system from the Chinese

characters and is reluctant to agree that he is China’s “little brother,” the two remain amicable

throughout the scene. Whereas Japan is shown improving on what he has been given from China,

Horuhoru ( ) is a Japanese slang term dating back to 2003 that is derived from the Korean word hul (

헐

an expression used to express shock or surprise.

Figure 13: A panel from “ ” showing Korea (right)

taking various items from China (left)

Korea is depicted stealing and later refusing to acknowledge the origins of what he has taken

from China and incorporated into his culture.

Himaruya also takes jabs at China in these scenes by implying that the Chinese are eager

to take credit for their role in Japan’s development and that Koreans inherited horuhoru from the

Chinese. The Japanese term horuhoru is onomatopoeia for “clearing one’s throat haughtily” and

the subsequent phrase “horuhoru suru” roughly means “to

shamelessly pat yourself on the back” (NicoNicoPedia).

These terms were frequently used during the 2000s to mock

Koreans and in this webcomic it is used to imply that the

Chinese are equally as shameless and smug.

However, the most controversial webcomic

featuring Korea is titled, “Breasts are forever” (

). In this webcomic, Korea approaches Japan,

asking if he can touch Japan’s chest. Japan refuses, but

when Korea threatens to make a movie about Japan

rejecting him and show the film to America, Japan

reluctantly accepts. When South Korea begins groping

Japan under his robe, Japan is disturbed and yells at him to

stop, until Korea runs away stating his catchphrase “Hooray

for our land!” (written ‘uri nara mansee’ in katakana). The

comic ends with Japan being very confused and the final

text reading “there was no reason for touching them.”

Figure 14: Comic strip taken from “

”

. Japan pictured top left

and Korea top right.

This comic has been interpreted as an allegory for the Liancourt Rocks dispute, as Japan

and Korea have quarreled since the 17th century regarding which nation has sovereignty over the

small islets in the Sea of Japan. Japan’s chest represents the islets which Korea is touching for

seemingly no reason other than to bother Japan (“Korea Controversy”). Korea’s catchphrase

contains the word mansee ( ) which means “hooray” but is used mockingly towards

Koreans in Japan. The entire phrase itself is a reference to a 2002 viral video in which the

uploader’s grandfather sings mockingly about Korean “accomplishments,” such as once having

dominion over Japan, Russia, and China, having a 5000 year old culture, and creating kendo,

bonsai trees, sushi, and soccer (NicoNicoPedia). Korea’s threat to create a movie to show to

America also reflects anti-Korean sentiment in Japan after a string of Korean documentaries on

comfort women were released during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some Japanese people felt

that if Koreans did not get their way politically, they would attempt to seek sympathy from the

U.S. or “punish” the Japanese by stirring up foreign outrage through the film releases.

Ironically, when news of the Korean petition and assembly meeting against the anime

release for Axis Powers reached the West, fans within the anime community overwhelmingly

sided with Himaruya. Similar to Japanese fans, Western readers felt that Koreans were being too

sensitive and blowing things out of proportion. 11 years after the cancellation of the anime’s

broadcast and removal of Korea’s character, there are still international fans who feel as though

the Korean citizens who opposed the anime’s release robbed them of the opportunity to see

Korea’s character animated. And to this day, there are still fans that defend Himaruya’s

characterization of South Korea and dismiss the controversy and accusations of racism as the

overreactions of those who cannot take a joke.

However, given the number of negative stereotypes, dirty jokes, and references to

popular anti-Korean terms that appear when South Korea is on screen, it is difficult to pass off

Himaruya’s depiction of Korea as light-hearted humor. Even if that were the case, the history of

colonialism and human rights violations between the two nations leaves virtually no leeway for

derisive or suggestive jokes. Both displays of a literally clean Japan and the differences between

Japan’s character and the remaining cast firmly place Hetalia in the hard Clean Japan category.

The constant juxtaposition of Japan’s normalcy and the outlandish behavior of the foreign

countries make Hetalia’s favoritism and depictions of hard Clean Japan very clear.

Conclusion

The juxtaposition of foreigners is not necessary for all depictions of Clean Japan, but is

often used regardless. Within the context of the Initiative, one might begin to wonder if it is

counterintuitive to promote foreigners to consume media that mocks them. However,

controversy surrounding the depiction of (non-marginalized) foreigners in anime, manga, and

webcomics comes few and far in between, especially in the West. While it has been clear that

Asian audiences, especially Chinese and Korean, tend to be very vocal when they are portrayed

unfavorably, Western fans may excuse less flattering representations of foreigners by passing

them off as simple jokes, engaging in self-depreciative agreement, or by arguing that there is

some level of equity in the derisiveness. This is especially true when there are shared stereotypes

between Japan and the West towards particular groups (e.g. black people, riajuu

, immigrants,

etc.). Most people who watch anime in the West are not members of the groups being targeted,

( ) Internet slang designating someone who is not otaku; someone who enjoys a fulfilling social life.

or at least believe that they aren’t, so they are less inclined to become upset when they see Clean

Japan that belittles foreigners.

That being said: Clean Japan does not automatically deter foreign audiences from

wanting to visit Japan or engage with Japanese culture. When executed skillfully, Clean Japan

can have a reverse effect and prompt foreigners to continue seeking opportunities to connect with

Japan. This point is important considering that the media promoted by the Initiative features

Clean Japan. However, the more Clean Japan edges towards the hard end of the spectrum, the

more it strays into genres with messages that are very different from other manifestations of

Clean Japan in popular media. In Chapter 3, we will discuss anime adaptations that have taken

the plunge into Controversial Japan, or overt displays of Japanese hard nationalism.

Controversial Japan assumes that because Japan is a culturally superior nation or because the

Japanese possess innate abilities that other races do not, Japan has a right to a military and global

positions of power.

Chapter 3: Controversial Japan

Clean Japan serves as the backbone and underlying justification for the third framework,

Controversial Japan, which describes seemingly justified displays of Japanese imperialism and

militarization in Japanese media. Creators justify these displays by writing stories in which the

Japanese are fighting back against their oppressors, defending themselves from a foreign enemy,

or exhibiting admirable behavior and virtues that enable them to assume positions of power.

These displays may lead to depictions of Japan as a world leader or empire possessing superior

morals, intelligence, technology, and weapons. Out of the three frameworks, Controversial Japan

is the most similar to “hard nationalism” and falls closely in line with the goals of present-day

Japanese ultranationalists. In this chapter, I will discuss Japanese neonationalism

and its

relationship with Controversial Japan before examining two anime, Code Geass: Lelouch of the

Rebellion (2006) and GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There (2015).

Controversial Japan and Nationalism

Before beginning my discussion of Controversial Japan and neonationalism, I would like

to discuss the current state of Japan’s military, as this explains why militarization is so important

in Controversial Japan. Almost two years after the unconditional surrender of Japan and the

beginning of the American Occupation, the Constitution of Japan was rewritten mainly by

American lawyers and military officials who received input from a handful of Japanese officials

prior to ratification (National Diet Library). One of the most contentious sections of the

constitution for Japanese nationalists is Article 9, which states:

Here I use the term neonationalism to simply describe the latest rise of nationalism in Japan that has become

popular among youth groups affected by the economic bubble burst.

“Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese

people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of

force as a means of settling international disputes...In order to accomplish the aim of the

preceding paragraph, land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be

maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized”

(Law Library of Congress 2).

Because Japan is not allowed to have an army, navy, or air force, the United States is obligated

to defend Japan if the country ever falls under attack. However, using constitutional loopholes

that would technically qualify the

military forces as extensions of the

National Police Reserve, Japan

created the JSDF, or Japan Self-

Defense Forces, in 1954 (Kazuhara

96). The forces are made up of three

branches: Ground, Maritime, and Air.

Since their inception, the Japanese

public has had mixed opinions

regarding the JSDF. Some citizens and politicians believe that the existence of the JSDF violates

Article 9, while others, especially nationalists, believe that the JSDF is not enough and that the

constitution should be revised so that Japan can have a full-fledged army. While stances on the

JSDF vary, the forces have remained Japan’s closest thing to a military since WWII. Because the

JSDF and Article 9 have been controversial political topics in Japan for so long, it is almost

impossible to broach the subject of Japanese militarization without invoking strong reactions

from both sides of the political spectrum in Japan. Coupled with the history of Japan’s imperial

army, this explains why depictions of militarization in Controversial Japan often generate so

Figure 15: Members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in 1957

much controversy inside and outside of the country. While Controversial Japan’s potential to

anger or appeal to politically engaged audiences might seem obvious, reasons for it generating

interest among politically unengaged otaku may appear unclear until one considers the role of

youth nationalism in Japan.

“Petit nationalism syndrome” is defined by Japanese psychologist, Kamaya Rika, as a

form of “make-believe patriotism” that Japanese youth engage in to assuage their own personal

anxieties (Honda 281). Unlike other nationalist groups, petit nationalists engage in a passive

form of nationalism, as they often demonstrate no interest in addressing historical and political

issues of the state. Petit nationalists are usually middle-class men who matured with their futures

hanging in the balance after the 1990s collapse of the bubble economy. Anxious about rampant

unemployment and oncoming shifts in Japanese society, many of these men chose to adopt new

self-identities and forms of masculinity in order to cope (Kumagai 159). Kumagai argues that

three new masculinities emerged during the Lost Decade in Japan: herbivore men

, otaku

, and

petit neonationalists (157). Although these groups present themselves in radically different ways,

they are bound by the shared societal and personal anxieties that prompted their emergence. In

order to understand why Controversial Japan has gained such a strong foothold in anime, we

must first examine the link between petit nationalism, hard nationalism, and those who watch

anime.

Kayama states that petit nationalists cope with their anxiety by attempting to “maintain

one’s personal identity by taking another person to be one’s own ‘other self’ or ‘self-mirror’”

(Honda 282). In response to Kayama, sociologist Kitada Akihiro goes further to say that

Soushokukei-danshi, or herbivore men, is a term coined by sociologist Fukusawa Maki used to describe males

who have little to no interest in pursuing relationships with women (romantic or sexual) or marriage (Kumagai 159).

Otaku is a term used to generally describe avid fans (usually male) of forms of media such as anime, idols, and

video games. Otaku stereotypically have unkempt appearances and a narrow-minded, near obsession with their

media of choice (Kumagai 160).

Japanese youth project “the identity anxieties of ‘me’ onto ‘nation’ as ‘existentialist

romanticism,’” not unlike the concept of using Althusser’s imaginary universe to superimpose

oneself onto the image of the nation (Honda 283). In other words, nationalism functions as a

coping mechanism in order to avoid confronting the personal anxieties these youth groups

struggle with. Kitada goes on to state that because this kind of nationalism is being used to fulfill

personal needs, “nationalism too ends up being nothing more than simply ‘source material’

selected to suit the needs of the moment” and furthermore that it is “a nationalism supported not

by thought, but by a grassroots feeling that guides devotion” (Honda 283). That is to say, these

groups have presented themselves as nationalists simply because nationalism just so happened to

be a convenient form of escapism for them. Because petit nationalists are not actually concerned

with right-wing politics (or at least, not consciously), this “grassroots feeling” that Kitada

describes does not originate from nationalism, but instead is produced from within the group

which provides a strong sense of community to its members.

Kayama and others have argued that the trend of youth petit nationalism has the potential

to turn into hard nationalism if and when petit nationalists are faced with further life or societal

changes or when the apolitical youth become older and shift to actively engaging in nationalism

(Honda 283). Brain McVeigh describes “hard nationalists” as the “usual suspects of Japanese

nationalism,” such as the gaudy ultranationalists who take to the streets to parade the imperial

flag and spout revisionist, xenophobic rhetoric (4). Hard nationalism aligns more with what one

may think of when they hear the word “nationalism” because it is the more sensationalized,

outlandish version that is often shown in the media.

When compared to the cultural nationalism examined in the previous chapters, displays

of hard nationalism within Controversial Japan are more contentious, flashy, and overt. Unlike

most anime that contain examples of Cool Japan or Clean Japan, anime that feature

Controversial Japan tend to show more action scenes, violence, and death. When the drama and

stakes are heightened in this way, the audience is led to feel more sympathetic towards the

characters as they struggle to reach their goals. Oftentimes within nationalistic anime, the

underlying goals of the characters align with the current ambitions of Japanese nationalists,

which is to reinstate Japan’s defunct military and regain its lost status as a world power. The

difference, however, is in how these shared goals are depicted.

Despite the conspicuousness of nationalism within Controversial Japan, to a certain

degree it is hidden by virtue of the medium being fictional and featuring animated characters

rather than real people. While audiences may be turned off or bored by the footage of an

ultranationalist protest or speech, watching anime characters do the same thing may not generate

the same response. The anime’s fictional setting provides a sense of distance or source of interest

that may prompt viewers to watch without questioning exactly what they are being shown. Some

viewers may justify their decision to watch by acknowledging the fictitious nature of the media,

but depending on their age and capacity for self-reflection, not all are able to apply the same

logic.

Returning to Kumagai, petit nationalists, who use nationalism as a coping mechanism,

are similar to otaku, who use various forms of media entertainment to avoid addressing their

anxieties. With this similarity between the two groups in mind, I would argue that otaku are more

susceptible to engage in nationalism or be swayed by nationalist thought when watching anime

that contain Controversial Japan. Kumagai notes how online otaku communities in Japan already

use exclusionary or extreme language to express their discontent towards those who contribute to

their anxiety and do not fit their ideals, such as immigrants and foreigners (160). He also

mentions how “the otaku style of expression, entangled with narcissism, has fostered an

animated ideal of the cultural distinctiveness of Japan and a fantasy of Japan as a world leading

nation” (160). In other words, (male) otaku can be characterized as a group of anxious young

men who are predisposed to agree with nationalist themes in anime because: a) they are already

in a vulnerable state, b) may be longing for a source of self-pride (even more so than other

groups like petit nationalists and herbivores due to otaku often struggling to make successful

social connections and romantic relationships), and c) are consuming the themes within a

medium they already enjoy.

While otaku are more vulnerable to nationalism, there is the added factor of the

popularization of in-group content dependent on nationalistic phenomena as “source material”

(Honda 283). By this I mean that there are nationalist otaku who go on to create manga, light

novels

, and anime heavily imbued with nationalistic themes. Once these creators are able to

write stories that strike a chord with their in-group, they may go on to start careers built around

their nationalistic works that spread their messages to audiences that exist outside of their in-

group. As seen with mangaka like Himaruya Hidekaz and Shingeki no Kyojin’s Isayama Hajime,

many creators of nationalistic anime were heavily influenced by the environment they grew up

in.

After nihonjinron’s popularity peaked in the 1970s, much of Japan’s political identity in

the 1980s was shaped by its widespread consumer culture and booming economy. However,

Japan’s economic growth and high hopes for the future abruptly ended when the economic

Light novels are a Japanese style novel targeted at young adults that are relatively short in page length and feature

manga-style illustrations.

Shingeki no Kyojin, or Attack on Titan, is a 2013 anime set in an apocalyptic universe where humans have

regressed to a medieval style of living, residing within the boundaries of three stone walls in order to stay safe from

man-eating giants, called titans, that have taken over the outside world. The story focuses on the journey of Eren

Yeager, a 16 year old boy, who joins the army in order to take revenge on the titans that attacked his town and killed

his mother.

bubble burst in the 90s. It was also during this period that youth nationalism saw a sharp increase

in Japan. Youth during the Lost Decade arguably suffered the most, as they had the highest

unemployment rates and the greatest lack of financial stability (Wu 35). Wu notes that because

Japanese youth lost the opportunity to identify Japan with economic development, they have

“tried to identify Japan with various other social institutions,” such as nationalism (31). Wu also

mentions that certain scholars have refuted claims that youth are becoming more nationalistic by

arguing that “Japanese youth are increasingly attracted to peaceful pursuits such as arts and

culture” (33). However, this is not necessarily a contradiction when concerning anime and

manga because nationalists are fully capable of channeling their ideologies into creative works.

Both born in the mid-1980s, Japan was still struggling with economic stagnation and high

unemployment rates by the time Himaruya and Isayama had graduated from high school. While

Himaruya went to the U.S. to attend Parsons School of Design before dropping out to work on

Hetalia full-time, Isayama attended Kyushu Designer Gakuin and worked in a manga cafe before

launching his career as a mangaka (“Hidekaz Himaruya”, Borris 2). Both creators have been

accused of releasing anti-Korean content and using nationalist rhetoric in their works. Even prior

to the release of Hetalia and the creation of South Korea’s character, Himaruya posted and later

deleted a series of short, anti-Korean comic strips to his website, Kitayume, in 2006. In

Isayama’s case, in the early 2010s, many fans, especially those from South Korea and Western

countries, were outraged to discover official blog posts and private twitter replies that indicated

Isayama was a nationalist who believed that colonial Korea benefitted greatly from Japanese

imperial rule (Seldomusings). Takahara argues that the “unease and dissatisfaction” of youth

nationalists is often expressed “not toward their own country, but instead as hatred toward

countries like Korea and China” (Honda 285). Considering the state of Japan’s economy and the

pressure to find a stable job, it would not be farfetched to assume that Himaruya and Isayama

were part of the Japanese youth who chose to channel their anxiety into petit nationalism in order

to cope. However, at some point, their petit nationalism transformed into real, hard nationalism

which they imbued into their works in various ways.

All this to say: domestic audiences (especially those in psychologically vulnerable groups)

are more likely to embrace nationalism portrayed in anime. However, Controversial Japan can be

harder to sell to foreign audiences because the nationalism shown is usually explicit, does not

appeal to their sentiments, and may portray foreigners in a negative light. Nevertheless, devices

such as emotional storytelling and detailed world-building are able to attract international

audiences to nationalistic anime. Mukokuseki, is another device that can be used to lower the

resistance of foreign audiences to nationalistic anime.

When visual mukokuseki is present in Controversial Japan, despite the characters being

clearly stated as Japanese, they do not physically appear that way. Foreign enemies may not look

very different from the Japanese characters either, which further denationalizes the anime for

international viewers. For Japanese audiences,

the knowledge that the characters are

Japanese supersedes their physical appearance

within the anime. However, if foreign viewers

see the characters as raceless or their own race,

Japanese nationalism may not bother

audiences very much because they do not

associate the characters with real Japanese

people.

Figure 16: General Dot Pixis (left) from the Shingeki no

Kyojin manga and Akiyama Yoshifuru (right), the Japanese

Imperial Army general his character was based on

While Cool Japan makes certain aspects of Controversial Japan look cool, Clean Japan’s

function is to highlight how the positive traits of the Japanese justify or prove their capability to

maintain a military or hold high positions of power on the world stage. Within the Initiative, the

role of Controversial Japan depends on the motives of its sponsors. Audiences of Controversial

Japan who are desensitized or vulnerable to supporting the nationalistic themes in anime may

become sympathetic to the goals of nationalists in real life who push for constitutional revisions

and Japan’s militarization. An explicitly stated goal of the Initiative is to “win the world’s

sympathy,” but examining when and how Japan chooses to invoke that sympathy is key (Cool

Japan Proposal 2). At the heart of the Initiative is the hope that as time goes on and cultural

exports increase, more people will forget Japan’s imperial past. In other words, the more foreign

consumers of Japanese popular culture forget about imperial Japan, the better. However, rather

than forgetting, Controversial Japan’s goal is to make Japanese imperialism seem justified.

Controversial Japan and Anime: Code Geass

Code Geass: Lelouch of the

Rebellion is a 2006 original

anime

produced by Tokyo anime

studio, Sunrise. The extremely

popular series received a second

season in 2008 and several spinoffs

following the end of the main story.

Code Geass takes place in an

Original anime refers to anime series that are not based on outside source material and created entirely by anime

production studios.

Figure 17: A world map from C

ode Geass showing the Britannian Empire

in red, the United Republic of Europia in yellow, and the Chinese

Federation in green

alternate timeline in which the world is controlled by three empires: the Holy Britannian Empire

(formerly North America, South America, and parts of Asia), the Chinese Federation (China,

India, and Southeast Asia), and the United Republic of Europia (Europe and Africa). At the

series start, Japan has been under Britannian control for seven years after losing most of their

forces in the Second Pacific War. As the main exporter of Sakuradite, an extremely rare, fictional

mineral, Japan was able to ward off invaders using their economic leverage until the

development of Britannia’s newest technology, Knightmare Frames. The Knightmare Frames,

giant robots that wield guns and swords, were used by Britannia to defeat Japan and seize control

of their Sakuradite, which is needed to power the giant weapons.

Once Britannia conquered Japan, it stripped the nation of its language and culture,

renaming the island Area 11. During the first episode, we are shown Area 11’s new population

which consists of Britannian aristocrats, ethnic Japanese who work for the military as “honorary

Britannians,” and the ethnic Japanese lower class, who are now called “Elevens” and struggle to

survive in slums and ghettos around the country. The titular protagonist, Lelouch vi Britannia, is

secretly a Britannian prince who has been exiled to live in Japan with his sister, Nunnally, by

their father. One day, after getting caught up in an attack led by a Japanese resistance group,

Lelouch is suddenly given a Geass by a mysterious woman. The Geass, which forms as a red

cress in Lelouch’s eye, gives him the power to completely control the mind of whoever looks

directly at the Geass, but only once per person. Making quick use of this newfound power and

his high intelligence, Lelouch is able to fend off the attacking Britannian soldiers and begins

helping the Japanese rebels. Seeing an opportunity to finally take revenge on his father and end

the Britannian Empire’s tyranny, Lelouch adopts the pseudonym “Zero” and becomes the

masked leader of the Japanese Resistance, now called “The Order of the Black Knights.”

Soon after its release, Code Geass quickly became one of the most popular series in the

mecha genre. Receiving widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike, the first season was

licensed by Bandai Entertainment and released for English-speaking audiences in late 2007. Now

remembered for its rich plot, iconic characters, and memorable action scenes, Code Geass still

enjoys praise from anime fans across the globe. While the anime’s portrayal of the Japanese and

foreigners is not nationalistic in the extreme, it still serves as an example of Controversial Japan.

As mentioned previously, Controversial Japan’s main point of overlap with hard nationalism is

its depiction of a Japan regaining its lost power and military might. While the fictional residents

of Area 11 have lost much more than Japan did following WWII, by the end of the series, they

have gained much more than Japan has now. In this section, I will give examples of

Controversial Japan in Code Geass while examining

their role in the series and real-world correlations.

Lelouch’s main rival in the series is Kururugi

Suzaku, his childhood friend and an honorary

Britannian who is suddenly moved up the ranks in

order to pilot a new experimental Knightmare Frame.

There are a number of elements within the plot that

establish Lelouch and Suzaku as foils. The most

ironic one is that Lelouch, who is a Britannian prince,

fights with the Japanese, while Suzaku, who is the

former Japanese Prime Minister’s son, fights for the

Britannians. Although both characters share the

same ultimate goal of peace, their approaches are very different. Lelouch believes that the ends

Figure 18: Official art of Suzaku (left) and Lelouch

(right)

justify the means and is willing to commit crimes of murder and violence to achieve his goals.

This steely resolve is shown as soon as episode three when Lelouch murders his half-brother,

Prince Clovis, despite the Brittanian royal’s pleas to live. Suzaku, on the other hand, is a pacifist

who aims to achieve peace from within the system, without resorting to violence. However, as

the series goes on, Suzaku becomes much more willing to use brute force in order to bring about

peace. At the series end, it is ultimately Lelouch who sacrifices his life for the future of Japan

and the world, perhaps not unlike the ideal Japanese warrior.

The first displays of Controversial Japan in Code Geass are meant to invoke sympathy

from the audience. The opening lines in the first episode explain how Japan has been “stripped of

its freedom, its rights, and even its name” (“The Day a New Demon was Born”, 01:17). Viewers

are shown how under Britannian rule, Elevens are unable to find work unless they are lucky

enough to land jobs serving the ruling class. Of the Elevens who are not treated with total disdain,

their culture is still seen as incomprehensively strange or exotic. They virtually have no rights

and can be killed by Britannian forces at any time, for any reason—in other words, the Japanese

of Code Geass have hit rock bottom. However, the rebels serve as a sign that not every Eleven

has given up on their fate. After accepting Lelouch as their leader and becoming the Black

Knights, they quickly become formidable opponents of the Britannian Empire. With their

passion, Lelouch’s intelligence, and the power of the Geass, the Black Knights are eventually

able to overthrow the tyrannical Britannian emperor and usher in a new era of peace for Japan

and the world.

Although Britannia mainly consists of the Americas, it is worth noting that pureblood

Britannians are descendants of the British, not Americans. In Code Geass’ timeline, Britain was

conquered by the French in the early 1800s, which prompted the British royals to flee to America,

which they still occupied as a colony. While this is reflected in the name “Britannia,” because

Britain itself is not part of the empire, it is not uncommon for fans to assume that Britannia is

ruled by white Americans. So while Code Geass does not pit the Japanese against Americans

(which is a popular trope in Controversial Japan as it elicits anti-American sentiment, often

stemming from the American Occupation), it still shows the Japanese fighting a corrupt Western

power. Furthermore, the Black Knights are later able to forge alliances with leaders of the

Chinese Federation and use Britannia’s own technology against them.

Linguistic nationalism is also present in Code Geass. It is implied in the series that

Britannians, honorary Britannians, and educated Elevens speak English, as Japanese has become

obsolete in the wake of Britannian rule. However, all characters in the anime call Japan “Nippon”

and the Japanese “Nipponjin,” if they are not using the terms Area 11 and Elevens. There are two

ways to pronounce the word for Japan in Japanese: “Nihon” or “Nippon.” While “Nihon” is more

commonly used nowadays, “Nippon” has been widely regarded as the more patriotic

pronunciation of the Japanese word for Japan since the late 1930s due to the perception that

“Nippon” invokes “the national spirit of Japan” in a way that “Nihon” does not (Pletner 295).

Although the use of “Nippon” is favored by Japanese nationalists, the amount of nationalistic

intent present in the term varies widely depending on its context. In mundane settings like sports

competitions, Japanese audiences and announcers are more likely to use “Nippon” in order to

show support for their athletes and pride in their country. However, ultranationalists almost

always use “Nippon” in their group names and speeches, as if they are trying to invoke imagery

of the Japanese Empire (Dai Nippon Teikoku) itself. So while it does not come as a surprise that

the Japanese rebels in Code Geass use “Nippon,” it is somewhat unusual that their oppressors do

as well. It is possible that when Japan was being invaded by Britannia there was a shift to using

“Nippon” rather than “Nihon” and by the time Britannia took over, “Nippon” was the most

commonly used term for Japan. Or perhaps the Britannian’s use of “Nippon” is meant to be

ironic and show their ignorance of Japan’s language and culture. Either way, in episode one,

when one of the Japanese rebels proclaims “Long live Japan” (Nippon banzai) before

committing suicide by bombing Britannian forces, it sends a clear message of the Japanese

resistors’ nationalistic resolve.

Although Code Geass sends a very clear message that imperialism and tyranny are bad,

the show erases Japan’s own history of imperialism, choosing to focus on the victimization of the

Japanese in this alternate timeline in order to justify their armed attempt to regain Japan’s lost

nationhood. By the series end, Japan has not only regained its autonomy but also has a prime

position on the international stage. However, it is noteworthy that the creators of Code Geass

chose not to portray all Britannian characters as evil and by the end of the second season, Japan

has even become close allies with the Britannian Empire. While Code Geass offers many

examples of Controversial Japan through its Japanese militarism, the series’ displays are not as

offensive as those found in Yanai Takumi’s GATE.

Controversial Japan and Anime: GATE

GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There is an A-1 Pictures’ anime based on the 2006 web

novel of the same name. GATE’s author, Yanai Takumi, began writing the novel following his

service as an officer in the JSDF. The web novel generated enough popularity in the late 2000s to

prompt a light novel release in 2010, a manga adaptation in 2011, and finally an animated series

in 2015. Yanai’s status as a nationalist otaku is reflected in GATE’s attempts to combine otaku

fantasies with Japanese nationalism. Through the use of morally black-and-white storytelling, in-

group signaling, and egregious displays of nationalism, Yanai attempts to convince his otaku

audience that adventure, self-fulfillment, and a greater purpose can be found within the JSDF.

Within the first few minutes of GATE, otaku audiences are introduced to their self-insert

character and main protagonist, Itami Youji. Before any signaling is even used, viewers are

outright told by the narrator that Itami is an otaku. In his introductory scene, Itami is shown

daydreaming about a fantasy game on his cellphone as he heads into the city to attend the

summer Comiket

. His interest in mobile games and doujinshi (fan-made comics) confirm to the

audience that, exactly as the narrator stated, Itami is an otaku just like them. Before Itami is able

to reach the convention, however, an army of medieval soldiers resembling Romans invade

Tokyo through a huge gate that materializes in the center of Ginza. The soldiers and their legions

of magical creatures such as dragons, goblins, and ogres begin attacking the city. Despite his

initial shock and disbelief, Itami quickly jumps into action and begins helping people run to

safety. At one point, he even shows more bravery than a police officer by jumping in and killing

an enemy soldier who almost attacks a civilian. However, Itami is not helping people because he

wants to be a hero—he simply does not want the attack to cause Comiket’s cancellation. While

helping police officers respond to the attack, Itami is relieved to see the JSDF arrive and subdue

the strange invaders. Just when viewers might be wondering how Itami was able to stay so calm

and assist others throughout the attack, it is revealed that Itami is not just an otaku—he is an off-

duty JSDF officer. For his bravery during the Ginza Incident, Itami receives a medal of honor

and a rank promotion, both of which he is none too happy about since the attack did result in him

missing Comiket and the promotion may lead to less time for him to indulge in his otaku

pastimes.

Comic Market, or Comiket, is a biannual comic/doujinshi convention held in Japan during the winter and summer.

Attendees often come to sell and buy doujinshi, cosplay, and sell anime and manga-related merchandise over the 3-4

day span of the convention.

GATE takes a risky approach when introducing the character of Itami by having him

engage in non-otaku-like behavior during the Ginza Incident. Most male otaku within anime are

depicted as nerdy, unstylish, and socially awkward. Many of these characters are also shown to

be very cowardly and physically unfit, which is why Itami’s behavior during the attack would

strike audiences as very unusual for a self-proclaimed otaku. Itami’s frequent references to

Comiket and his otaku hobbies throughout the scene are there to remind the audience that Itami

is still an otaku at heart, even when he is not acting like one. This aspect of his character is

important because it serves as the justification for Itami’s actions throughout the series and

creates leeway for otaku viewers to continue self-identifying with him. To ensure that the

audience is aware of Itami’s true motivations as an otaku, he states twice within the first episode,

“I only work to support my hobby. So if you asked me which I’d choose, my job or my hobby,

I’d give my hobby priority, without question” (“The JSDF Goes to Another World”, 14:22).

Despite Itami’s self-professed apathy towards his job, he and his fellow soldiers are all

shown to be diligent, hard-workers. The JSDF officers maintain their high work ethic even when

they are sent to investigate the world that lies beyond the gate. In the months following the initial

attack, Japan has built a protective dome around the mysterious gate and declared the unknown

area beyond it an extension of Japanese territory. JSDF troops are ordered to enter the “Special

Region” to figure out why the gate appeared, what life is like on the other side, and who

authorized the attack on Tokyo.

Almost immediately after establishing Itami’s character, GATE jumps straight into

constructing a dichotomy between Japan and the rest of the world. In episode two, viewers are

introduced to the cruel, callous emperor of the Special Region, Molt Sol Augustus. It is Augustus

who ordered the Ginza attack in hopes that gaining new land and resources would strengthen his

expansive empire. Although not everyone in the Special Region is bad, many of the royals are

depicted as power-hungry tyrants with no regard for human life. Once the JSDF arrives in the

Special Region and begins setting up base, Augustus orders armies from neighboring countries to

launch an attack, despite knowing that the JSDF possess superior weapons and will likely kill

them all. The allies’ armies attempt to charge the JSDF base, but watch in horror as their spears

and swords are rendered useless against the JSDF’s guns and grenades. Once his allies’ forces

have been completely decimated, Augustus orders all the neighboring villages to be burned,

poisoned, and ransacked to ensure they will never pose a potential threat to his empire again.

Over the course of the next few episodes, the JSDF finds and saves numerous refugees

from the ravaged villages. Although the villagers do not understand the language and technology

of the JSDF members, they are fascinated with their culture. When the JSDF ends up sheltering a

small group of refugees, one human mage

named Lelei teaches herself Japanese so she can

communicate more with the troops and translate for her newfound friends. Although they have

no obligation to do so, the JSDF makes every effort to keep the residents of the Special Region

safe while they continue surveying the land. Meanwhile, back on Earth, international tensions

begin to run high.

Although America publicly pledged to support Japan in its defense efforts and

investigation of the Special Region, the president’s ulterior motives start to surface once weeks

have gone by with no word from Japan on what has been discovered. The president proposes to

his cabinet that America send its forces to Japan so they can pillage the Special Region’s natural

resources (figure 19). However, another official suggests that it would be better for them to wait

until Japan has been weakened by another attack. Then, they will be able to slip in, overpower

the Special Region forces, and take the entire area for themselves. Later in the series, America

Another term for magician or someone who practices magic

resorts to using black ops, blackmail, and attempted kidnapping to try gaining power over Japan

and the Special Region, but to no avail. America is not the only foreign country painted in a

negative fashion—China and Russia also attempt to use kidnapping and force to gain influence

over the Special Region. The Chinese president specifically complains how it is not fair that

Japan has access to the Special Region and states that he would like to send half of China’s

population there, presumably to colonize the area and reduce his country’s

overpopulation.

Despite knowing that they could have access to a surplus of valuable resources if they

subjugated the Special Region, Japanese diplomats and JSDF officials are hesitant to do so,

fearing scorn and retaliation from the international community. However, unlike the power-

hungry foreign nations, Japan is uninterested in using the resources selfishly. Instead, the

Japanese only consider taking enough resources to become economically independent from the

rest of the world. That way, Japan would be free to finally conduct its business and politics

without facing any outside pressure from foreign superpowers. Although the JSDF officers do

not have access to the same weapons and technology as America, China, and Russia’s forces,

their old model tanks and guns still

give them an overwhelming

advantage over the Special Region’s

swords and arrows. Even though

Japan is aware that they could

overpower the Special Forces and

take their raw materials at any time,

the nation chooses to maintain its

Figure 19: The U.S. president in GATE proposing to send troops to t

Special Region

focus on peace and establishing friendly relations with the people of the Special Region. To this

end, the JSDF only uses their weapons to fend off attacking monsters and enemy troops, which

wins them the trust and support of the refugees and other groups they assist throughout the story.

For every conflict within GATE’s story, there are corrupt antagonists pitted against the

righteous JSDF officers. From start to finish, with little to no variation, this is how Yanai creates

a dichotomy between the Japanese and non-Japanese within the series. Every display of Japan’s

commitment to peace and the JSDF’s capability comes at the expense of other nation’s

reputation. There is no such thing as grey morality or nuance in GATE—the JSDF are always the

good guys with no bad apples and no major internal conflicts, while almost every non-Japanese

character fulfills an antagonistic role within the story. While there are a few foreign characters

that begin as antagonists before redeeming themselves, redemption only comes in the form of

JSDF or Japanese allyship. If characters are not aligned with the JSDF, then the story seems to

have no purpose for them outside of antagonism. Beyond the actual imagery of the JSDF fighting

and defeating their opponents, this is how Controversial Japan manifests in GATE—Japan or

bust. Because the emperor of the Special Region and his son are tyrants who cause the deaths of

thousands throughout the story and nations like America and China scheme to seize control of

the Special Region to gain power, viewers are left with virtually no choice but to support Japan

and the JSDF. Knowing that Yanai served in the JSDF himself, one is left to wonder whether

GATE is simply fictionalized hard nationalism or a reflection of how he and other JSDF officers

truly view the world.

Throughout the story, Yanai also takes the opportunity to complain about the political

and societal criticism the JSDF faces in real life. He does this by having the JSDF characters

constantly mention budget cuts and how they would be able to prevent more casualties if they

had access to better weapons and

supplies. However, within the

story, despite having to work with

limited weaponry and constant

scrutiny from government

officials and the press, the JSDF

still fulfills its mission with

dignity and honor, asking for

nothing in return. In one scene, a Japanese Diet member attempts to blame the JSDF for the

deaths of 150 refugees who were killed during a dragon attack. One of the characters from the

Special Region defends the JSDF by remarking that if not for them, there would be no one to

“protect people like [her] who do nothing but sit in comfort and complain” and that “the soldiers

of this country must have a very hard time” having to deal with domestic critics like her (“Japan,

Beyond the Gate”, 12:59-13:28). In another scene, the international press is allowed inside the

Special Region to report on the area. One character is having a conversation with a journalist

when she comments “what bewilders me is the fact that it’s the media team from Japan that’s

most skeptical of the JSDF’s activities” (“Deadline”, 07:17). After a brief exchange about the

media’s stance on the JSDF, the journalist eventually states that “there’s no such thing as

objective journalism” and that it’s not the media’s responsibility to show citizens the full,

unbiased truth (“Deadline”, 07:53). Both scenes reflect common nationalist complaints in Japan

that many Diet members are too eager to cut JSDF funding and that left-wing journalists and

newspapers are biased in their reporting of JSDF activities.

Figure 20: GATE JSDF members praying for villagers who died during a

dragon attack

Although GATE is a nationalist anime, its approach to hard nationalism and Controversial

Japan can, paradoxically, be described as peaceful. Perhaps aware that an overt depiction of

Japanese imperialism would generate too much criticism, Yanai chooses to only emphasize the

good aspects of the JSDF by placing them in two worlds that are full of corruption and greed.

GATE wants to convince audiences that its depiction of a selfless, morally just JSDF is a true

reflection of the real JSDF and that the real-life forces deserve better treatment, funding, and

weapons, just like the characters within the show. This same logic can be used to generate

audience support for the revision of Article 9, which would allow Japan to militarize, and might

encourage viewers to join the JSDF themselves, so they can help the country and enjoy a

fulfilling life, just like Itami and his fellow officers. The JSDF’s collaboration with GATE serves

as further evidence of Yanai using his story to push otaku audiences into real political

engagement.

When GATE began airing in July

2015, the JSDF launched an official

collaboration with the anime, creating

posters and advertisements with characters

from the series and slogans such as

“become someone who can protect others”

(figure 21). The GATE collaboration is not

the first time the JSDF has used anime-

themed advertisements to attract new

recruits. Since 2010, several provincial branches of the JSDF have featured anime-style

characters in their recruitment posters and flyers (Denny 1). In 2014, character designer Shimada

Figure 21: A recruitment poster from the JSDF's official

collaboration with GATE

Humikane was even commissioned to create moe-kyara mascots to represent the three branches

of the JSDF (Anime News Network 1). The mascot girls were printed on flyers and merchandise

which became very popular at local conventions and allegedly increased volunteer recruitment

by 20% (ANN 2-3).

Controversial Japan in GATE lurks in the underlying hints of cultural imperialism, but

shines center stage when Japan’s moral, technological, and political superiority is lorded over the

other nations within the series. Although Yanai has been quoted stating that GATE is “just simple

entertainment” with no political leanings, I believe that the series’ official endorsement from the

JSDF and the content within GATE itself answer the question of whether or not its story reads as

propaganda and what course of action Yanai is actually seeking from his audience (Frog-kun).

Conclusion

On the surface, GATE appears to be a series that attempts to deliver a similar message as

Code Geass, but fails to hit the mark due to its preoccupation with stroking Japan’s ego.

However, GATE’s true purpose is not to criticize imperialism and tyranny—its story only exists

to establish how virtuous the JSDF are and why viewers should support them and Japan’s

nationalistic endeavors. The entire series can be (and has been) framed as one, long

advertisement for the JSDF. While Code Geass does show extensive imagery of the Japanese

fighting and outsmarting their foreign oppressors, all characters within the story maintain a base

level of complexity and moral flexibility that leaves room for reconciliation and compromise

between the two groups by the end of the series. Because the peace at the end of Code Geass was

established through violence, deception, and sacrifice, viewers are left with the message that

although these means were necessary, they were not always the best option. GATE, on the other

hand, spends the entirety its plot establishing how extraordinarily righteous and benevolent the

Japanese are when compared to the rest of the world, meaning that there is no self-reflection or

deeper meaning written into the story. Both Code Geass and GATE exhibit Controversial Japan,

but at two vastly different levels, which ultimately affects the outcome of their stories and viewer

responses.

While I do not believe that watching anime that contain Controversial Japan

automatically results in viewers becoming nationalists, I do believe that the nationalistic displays

serve to normalize depictions of Japanese militarization and imperialism which might push those

who are already nationalists (or on the verge of becoming one; i.e. petit nationalists and otaku)

into engaging with other forms of hard nationalism. This is why it is imperative for audiences to

stay aware of what they are watching and consider the potential motives behind the ideas present

in the media they consume.

Conclusion

While there have been highs and lows each year, anime and manga have remained

popular overseas and are becoming more and more mainstream in the West. As their popularity

increases, so does the globalization of the industries themselves. Within the past few years,

America and China have produced their own popular anime-inspired or anime-style series,

Korean manhwa have received their own Japanese anime adaptations, and there are even Korean

anime directors like Park Seong Hu. Every year, the anime industry grows larger and larger and

although this has led to many benefits such as more people being able to pursue their dreams

within the industry and more anime for fans to enjoy, I also fear the threat of widespread

burnout.

As animation studios are pushed to release more anime each year, industry standards are

harsher and turnaround times are shorter than ever before. Unless there is a major shift in how

the industry operates and deals with consumer demand, I cannot help but think that we could be

on the verge of a major collapse in production. During the past year, the number of anime series

that have required breaks in production or experienced extreme dips in animation and writing

quality over the course of its run have increased greatly. In almost every case, these production

issues have been attributed to tight deadlines and overworked staff (Cirugeda 3). The manga

industry is also notorious for working mangaka and their assistants to the bone, with a growing

number of high profile mangaka needing to take health-related breaks and voicing their daily

struggles with their extremely short deadlines. While I have no way of knowing what will

happen in the future, I hope that the anime and manga industries find ways to value both their

staff and their viewers.

As of April 2021, the METI has given no indication of if or when the Cool Japan

Initiative will end. I have no speculations on whether or not the project will eventually cease to

receive funds from the government, but I do not believe that there will be a large turnaround in

the Initiative’s success. From the Initiative’s inception, it has been difficult to discern which

economic gains can be directly attributed to the project versus gains brought about through other

means. Nevertheless, since 2013, Japanese creative industries and cultural exports have

undoubtedly become more popular internationally. While I feel confident that Japan’s well-

known pop cultural exports, such as anime and video games, have established themselves as

more than passing trends around the world, I do not necessarily credit the Initiative for the

staying power those exports have amassed. The seeds of Japanese pop culture’s international

success were sown long before the term “Cool Japan” was coined and certainly long before the

Initiative was launched. Although the Initiative has given creative industries various forms of

support, I do believe that their popularity now can be attributed more to a natural progression of

interest that began over 30 years ago. Even so, I do believe that it is valuable for the Japanese

government to invest in their pop cultural assets and the Initiative does have its merits such as

the rekindling of domestic interest in struggling traditional industries and the provision of

monetary incentives for companies that provide foreigners with greater access to Japan’s creative

industries. Perhaps with proper management and more thorough investment choices, the

Initiative can begin proving its worth to the people of Japan and the world.

Although this thesis uses Cool Japan, Clean Japan, and Controversial Japan to

specifically examine nationalism in anime, I believe these frameworks can be applied to any

form of Japanese media as they follow the same patterns and feature the same central ideas,

regardless of the medium they are presented in. Cool Japan as a form of soft cultural nationalism

is very effective and captivating, when executed correctly. I would not have chosen to complete

a degree in Japanese if it were not for the effects of Cool Japan in the anime I watched as a child.

While Cool Japan can be used to guide audiences into harder forms of Japanese nationalism, the

concept itself is not bad. Taking pride in one’s culture and attempting to share its beauty and

positive qualities with others is not inherently harmful. However, issues arise when soft cultural

nationalism morphs into asserting that one’s own culture is better than another’s or has no faults,

as commonly seen in Clean Japan and Controversial Japan.

This is especially true when the media is used to spread these nationalistic ideas to larger

audiences both within and outside of the country. Regardless of how strongly viewers take to

heart the content they are watching, they are still engaging with nationalistic media and

supporting the nationalists who create them (either monetarily through the purchase of official

merchandise or through the attention they give to the creators’ works). As the anime and manga

industries continue to grow and nationalism continues to spread around the globe, more stories

are going to be told, including those that feature nationalism as a central theme. If the creators

and distributors of these nationalistic works fail to consider the impact of the messages they are

sending, it will be up to viewers to think critically about the content they are consuming and how

the ideas being imparted can affect them and how they see the world.

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