A brand new future? Cool Japan and the social imaginary of the branded nation

AbstractThe Cool Japan slogan has been in circulation for ten years, and has been discussed from the points of view of popular culture and creative industries, as well as nationalism and nation-building. Studies focus mainly on Japan itself or the Japanese influence in Asia and elsewhere. This article adds another perspective by focusing on the Cool Japan project in relation to the transnationally circulating practice of nation branding.Keywords: Nation branding, Cool Japan, social imaginary, Creating a New Japan, transnational, circulation, Japan Brand AcknowledgementsThe writer wishes to thank Professor Nick Couldry from Goldsmiths college, University of London, senior lecturer Griseldis Kirsh at SOAS and colleagues at University of Tampere, Goldsmiths College and Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies (University of Oxford), as well as the anonymous reviewers of the article, for comments on earlier versions of this paper. The research has been supported by the Academy of Finland, grant number 133122. Thank you also to those who granted interviews for this study.Notes1Japan has been the focus of the Western imagination and admiration several times before. The Impressionists had a fascination with Japanese culture, in the 1960s the beatniks displayed their admiration for Zen, and the 1980s were a time in which Japanese marketing studies fascinated the world (see Napier Citation2007 for a detailed account of the changing relationship between Japan and 'the West'). Tentatively, it appears that 'Japan' has been either admired or feared and hated in 'the West' (cf. Valaskivi Citation2010).Additional informationNotes on contributorsKatja ValaskiviKatja Valaskivi, PhD, is Senior Research Fellow and Reader (Docent) at the University of Tampere, School of Communication, Media and Theatre. Her research interests include the social construction of knowledge and belief, media and popular culture. She is currently working on the circulating, transnational practice of nation branding and the concept of 'Cool'. She has worked as a visiting researcher at Goldsmiths College, University of London, as well as Sophia University, Tokyo and the National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo. In 2002–2005 she headed the Finnish Institute in Japan, Tokyo. Her recent publications in English include 'Dimensions of innovationism', in Peter Nynäs et al. (ed.) Post-secular society (Transaction Books, 2012) and ' "Everything is there": Internet in the lives of Japanese popular culture fans in Finland', in Sonja Kangas (ed.) Digital pioneers: tracing the cultural drivers of future media culture. Youth reserch network publications 49, 2011. Available from http://www.nuorisotutkimusseura.fi/julkaisuja/digitalpioneers.pdf. She may be contacted at: katja.valaskivi@uta.fi