Interview: Japanamerica author Roland Kelts
YM: Could you describe the state of the publishing market, specifically manga? Recent reports indicate that the manga market is still growing, albeit slowly. Do you find this to be the case, and if so, why would it fare better despite similar challenges (internet piracy, etc.)?
RK: This is the perfect paradox. The manga market in the US grew 10% last year, according to Publisher’s Weekly, and American publishers are rushing to release more titles now, hoping to add up to 400 to last year’s 1500 or so new titles.
The growth of the manga market more accurately reflects the Japanamerica phenomenon, because books have not yet been replaced by an attractive digital format. You can find scanlations on the Internet—but they’re not much fun to read—so kids still buy manga books. This is proof that the content is selling.
For profits, though, it’s the format and delivery that matter. This is why Japanese publishers are pushing manga via cell phone downloads, which is the medium’s growth market in Japan, and why people like Jeremy Ross at TokyoPop will show you his company’s efforts to make this form of manga delivery the future in America, too.
YM: What will be the long-term effect of the recent Disney-anime alliance?
RK: Excellent question. Afro Samurai is one of the very first joint US-Japan anime productions, created, drawn and finished by Japanese artists and producers; starring Samuel L. Jackson, scored by the RZA of Wu Tan Clan, and shown on Spike TV.
While it was being made, folks in Tokyo and LA said the creative split would be even: 50/50. When it aired, folks in LA admitted that the resulting product was 80/20–80% Japanese because, as one executive conceded, “the Japanese artists don’t do 50/50.”
Will Disney stand for that? We’ll soon see. But I’m guessing that they’ll take the back seat.
YM: US / Japanese animation crossovers aren’t exactly new: Animatrix strikes me as the first such large-scale release, and a similarly-produced ‘Batman’ film looms just over the horizon. Heck, even Britney Spears recently launched an anime music video. How does Disney’s Japanese deal differ from these?
RK: Because it’s Disney, pure and simple. The mighty American animator who inspired Japan’s godfather of anime, Osamu Tezuka, built a global empire based on Disney’s version of the American gestalt. His empire has never deigned to work with ‘foreigners’ of any stripe, despite shifts in global power, prestige and aesthetic values.
Now Disney has–for the first time in its more than 80 year history–admitted that foreign artists–the Japanese–might be worth a partnership. And they’re putting money where their mouse is.
I use the Mobius Strip, the 19th Century mathematical concept, as a metaphor in Japanamerica, to show how the two nations’ aesthetic visions have become increasingly intertwined and indiscernible. Disney’s investment in anime is yet another twist in the strip.
YM: In your article ‘SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTH / Does pop Japan think its admirers wrong? ‘, published a few weeks ago in the Daily Yomiuri, you describe Japan’s ‘crisis of confidence’. To what do you ascribe Japan’s lack of confidence in its’ own culture?
RK: A decades’ long and economically pathological reliance upon exports to the US, an unwillingness to accept Asian neighbors as the next and most relevant trading partners in the 21st century, and a long-standing reluctance to take center stage. “The nail that sticks out must get hammered down” is a storied Japanese saying, often used to explain the culture’s emphasis on group harmony over individualism.
But it’s hard to be confident in yourself if you’ll be hammered down for acting confident.
Still, younger Japanese are almost uber-confident in their own culture–so much so that they are nearly indifferent to the rest of the world. They don’t care if you or I think they’re cool. They also don’t care that much about their own culture. They’re so hip, they don’t seem to care much about anything.
YM: Does this aloofness mean the love of culture is becoming one-sided? Do the Japanese still harbor a fascination with American culture?
RK: “American culture” has almost ceased to exist for the young in Japan, which is apropos. The phrase is oxymoronic: America almost means the absence of culture for Japan’s younger generations, and the presence of so-called ‘scentless’ brands such as Starbucks, Nike, Gibson and so on. That’s not culture, it’s capitalism.
As an American, I find this truth sad, but honest. America in Japan is brand names, fast food, military bases and a kind of old-school arrogance that makes little sense and has even less impact in the face of a rising Asia and an oil crisis.
Brand names on the cheap. That’s America’s face in contemporary Japan.
YM: Going forward, what can anime studios in Japan and their US distributors do to shore up the industry?
RK: Embrace the Internet. Sell anime as part of an entire package, incorporating cosplay, yakitori, Marui fashion boutiques, live action, visual kei bands, Takashi and Haruki Murakami, Nigo and natto (hah!). All of these disparate parts of contemporary Japanese culture have little if nothing to do with one another domestically in Japan. But in the US, a connection drawn between them will make their presences far more marketable. If readers of H. Murakami, buyers of T. Murakami, gothic lolita girls in San Francisco, cosplayers in Anaheim, foodies in Manhattan and Miami understand that anime is part of the program, the industry will benefit.
YM: Finally - and this is a little off-the-subject, but - Pete Townshend gave you a blurb? I’m stunned - I didn’t even know he was into Japanese pop culture!
RK: I became a fan of Pete Townshend’s music and writing when I was twelve years old, and I remain a fan and admirer.
I met Pete ten years ago in London, when I was helping an American professor complete a book on Pete’s career. He spent a full day speaking to us with candor and grace.
Pete was incredibly kind and gracious when I first met him, and he has been the same in our subsequent meetings in New York.
He now has a seventeen year old son. Two years ago, he offered to read the galleys of Japanamerica, and he wrote a beautiful and voluminous endorsement–partly, I think, because it helped him understand his son’s enchantment with Japanese culture, and partly, he declared, because he actually dug the book.
I’ve had more than a few parents of Pete’s generation thank me very generously.Japanamerica seems to help them understand why their kids are in love with today’s Japan, and it seems to help their kids get it, too. It’s tough for a writer to ask for more.
Once again, we’d like to thank Mr. Kelts for taking the time to talk with us. You can find out more about Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. at http://www.japanamericabook.com/. Mr. Kelts also maintains a blog at http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/.
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