JAPANESE POP CULTURE
Japan very likely has the most influential
pop culture of any nation. Anime, manga, video games, music, film, and cell phone culture are all part of Japanese pop culture. Japanese animation ( or anime ) may be the most widely influential aspect of Japanese pop culture. It has become more and more influential worldwide over the past twenty years or so. Japan's popular music is known as J-pop. Japan has the second largest music market in the world. Japan's fashion is very unique to them, and many consider Tokyo to be the fashion epicenter of the world, over Paris even. Japanese video games were the first part of Japanese popular culture to expand across the globe. From Mario to Pokemon, the influence of Japanese video games has had a major worldwide impact. |
Anime & MangaManga and anime were mainstays in Japanese pop culture long before the art form made its way West. The term manga dates to the late 18th century in Japan, but this type of comic did not begin to gain in popularity in the United States until the 1960s, when the popular Japanese anime series Astro Boy was imported to the U.S.
Manga is the Japanese term for comics. The word was first used in 1798 to describe the picture book Shiji no yukikai. The popularity of anime and manga has helped westerners gain a broader understanding of Japanese culture. Fans now collect their favorite anime series on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as watching on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. |
FASHIONJapanese fashion has made significant progress in a subtle manner. Most fans of Japanese fashion are teenagers or young women, who like to move away from standard fashion.
American and European designers now say that watching trends in fashion in Japan is critical. Often, trends start in Japan before going to Europe and the US. As the whole world knows, Japanese are also very creative in mixing and matching items, and these ideas find their way to other countries. It is often believed that Japanese women are among the most creative when it comes to combining colors in good taste and style. It is well documented how product designers around the world look closely at what's hot in Tokyo. Most global fashion houses specifically run focus groups with young Japanese girls for products launched around the world. |
VIDEO GAMESPerhaps no other aspect of Japanese pop culture had a more immediate impact across the world than the video games that originated in Japan. The games Nintendo, Sony, and other lesser known companies have
sold in Japan and across the world, have had a major impact on Japan's economy over the last thirty years or so. No other game has had as much universal appeal as Pokemon. Over half of Nintendo's top ten bestselling games of all time are Pokemon titles. |