Popular Culture Export

In the old days, many people used to associate the term of exports with commodities like steel, oil or manufactured goods. But in recent few decades, there is rise of a new sort export. That export is a country’s culture and none have been as big as recent years as Japanese anime.

With the rise of the Internet, more and more people are exposed to anime. As children, many of the current generation of anime viewers saw their anime on the television screen, be it Neon Genesis Evangelion or Gundam Wing. This generation was also the same generation that experienced first hand the birth of the Internet as a mass media.

Neon Genesis Evangelion Opening

Gundam Wing Opening

Back in their home countries, many of these fans in this point, thanks to licensing companies, enjoy the import of certain popular series like Love Hina, on both print and video form. Many of these fans were content with they had but it was not until 2002 when Bandai announced the latest series in the hugely popular Gundam franchise, Gundam SEED, before anime really took off outside of Japan, thanks to a new Internet distribution technology know as bit torrent.

Gundam SEED Opening

Since then the growth of Japanese culture has grown quite tremendously around the world. Across the United States, anime conventions are held quite often around the country, the biggest Anime Expo (AX) in Los Angeles. So important is AX to the Japanese market, that companies send over their biggest and brightest stars to promote their wares. To promote the US release of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Bandai Visual collaborated with Kadokawa to invite over the three main female voice actresses, Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto and Minori Chihara, to hold a panel and perform the signature dance from the show’s ending theme, Hare Hare Yukai, at last year’s event. Another notable attendee to the event was Momoi Haruko, a big music star amongst anime Otaku in Japan.

Hare Hare Yukai full dance edition

Momoi Halko’s performance at AX (filmed without the organiser’s knowledge )

Another notable indicator is the rise of cosplaying. Cosplay (short for costume play) is the simple act of dressing as an character from popluar media. Cosplay is by not any means a Japanese invention. But the fact that many fans are starting to move into this sub-culture is an indicator of the anime culture’s diffusion. Cosplay events are mostly held concurrently with anime conventions. Right here in Singapore, there are two major cosplay events every year, Cosfest in July and EOY in December. Cosplayers choose to make their own costumes or rarely, buy from official licensed manufacturer’s like Cospa. Popular cosplay subjects that are cosplayed are characters from popular shows and games like Bleach, Final Fantasy VII and Gundam SEED. However, cosplaying is not limited to Japanese subjects. Commonly seen cosplays in Singapore include Star Wars, Star Trek and military subjects.