FPCJ-Home > Media resources > Briefing Report
Go to "Search by News Category"

Briefing Report

Japan’s Anime Culture

Anime Critic
Mr. Ryusuke Hikawa

[Culture and Life] June 27 , 2006

Let me briefly introduce myself. I was born in 1958 and am 48 years old. When I entered university in 1977, I started to participate in media work relating to animation, and I have studied animation for nearly 30 years since then. When deciding the theme of my talk today, I was requested to address such questions as what is Japan’s anime culture as a culture, what is the reason for its international acclaim if there is any, and what are the cultural differences and uniquely Japanese values that can be seen in anime? So I would like to focus my talk on these issues.

What is anime?
In my introduction, I used both words anime and animation. Nowadays, internationally as well, animation and anime are seen as separate terms and are handled differently. In fact, I think that a uniquely Japanese characteristic is evident in this difference. People in Japan started to abbreviate animation and use the term anime more than 40 years ago, and actually the part that is missing because of this abbreviation, I think, represents the essence of Japanese anime. As you know, Japan is a country that has built up its economic strength through processing trade, and the Japanese people are very good at taking things from overseas and arranging them in their own way. Through abbreviation, the same thing happened with anime.

Digitization of anime
Before going into detail, as a premise I would like to explain about the present state of animation as a whole both in Japan and overseas. At present nearly 100 percent of animation is produced digitally, but there are two types of culture: 2D and 3D. (“D” stands for dimension.) Two-dimensional, or plane-level, technology refers to traditional celluloid animation culture, which began with Disney. You can think of this as handwritten culture. Today there is digital animation that is made entirely in 2D, but this means only that the processes of painting and photography have been computerized. Essentially it is still traditional celluloid animation. In contrast, 3D animation is made by the computer itself operating images based on three-dimensional models. As suggested by the abbreviation of CGI [computer generated image], 3D animation refers to images that are actually made by the computer itself.

Japan-US comparison
On this premise, I carried out a comparison of Japan and the United States. At present the majority of American full-length animation movies are produced in 3D, but they are almost all made on the basis of the traditional idea of full animation as represented by Disney. Their characteristics are smooth and detailed motion and continuous gradation in contrast. The bodies of the characters expand and shrink flexibly like rubber bands, and overall feelings are expressed through body language and action. In addition, a lot of the dialogue is explanatory.

In the case of Japan, meanwhile, in contrast to full animation, Japanese anime is called limited anime. It is centered on a culture that developed through the world of television anime, which focuses on expression that places limitations on movement. Even today, the emphasis is clearly on 2D. As a result, rather than putting a lot of information into a single picture and having plenty of movement, the tendency is to include both stillness and motion and to have striking contrast. Such 2D celluloid pictures have a very strong contrast between shade and light, and in many cases the picture itself has more meaning than the movement. As a result, Japanese anime are often more symbolic and stylistic, and compared with American animation there is more implied meaning outside of the spoken word or shown image.

As one issue even prior to animation, I think there is a difference in attitude between Japan and the United States toward images in general. Basically, the American way of making images, which is often described as the “Hollywood style,” consists of creating an affluent and fulfilling world that the producing side offers to the audience as a kind of dream. In contrast, in Japan, since both the producers of images and the receivers were originally poor, there are many works in which the producers and the viewers stand at an equal level. I think that various characteristics of Japanese anime came to fruit as an extension of the creativity that was applied because of this poverty.

As a result of this poverty, Japan was always lacking in something, and so in the field of images as well, there was room to put imagination into the missing places. As a result, a style of film emerged in which the work was only complete with the participation of the viewer.

Anime for teenagers: the characteristic of high-target works
Next, as a unique characteristic of Japan, there are anime directed toward teenage viewers. Unlike anime for children, such as Pokémon, these so-called high-target works are directed mainly toward adolescents in junior and senior high school and also young adults. I think this might be the reason why there are many Japanese anime aimed at students and young adults from their entry into society until just before marriage that somehow seem to fit the mental void of such people.

A characteristic of these high-target works is that many of them build an imaginary world and place emphasis on a world view. There are an extremely large number of dramas that consciously depict the gaps between people and the world or people and society. This is very much a characteristic of Japanese anime.

The history of anime: 1963–79
Next I would like to briefly explain about the history of Japanese anime that has developed in this way.

Tetsuwan Atomu (1963)
In 1963, 43 years ago, Tetsuwan Atomu [Astro Boy], an anime by Osamu Tezuka, was broadcast for the first time on television and became a hit. At that time, as a means of reducing costs and labor, the Japanese-style limited anime appeared. And at the same time the merchandise business of selling related products with pictures of Astro Boy on them was also established.

Uchu senkan Yamato (1974): attraction of a world view
In the 40 or so years since the appearance of Tetsuwan Atomu, anime achieved spectacular development especially in the first decade. Uchu senkan Yamato [Star Blazers] was released in 1974, at a time when the children who had watched Tetsuwan Atomu had grown and reached adolescence. (This is an example of what I described just now as a high-target work.) The elaborate pictures and dynamic art for the first time reached and awed not children but teenagers. This TV series was made into a film in 1977 and caused such a boom that for the first time anime came to be recognized as the culture of young people. For 30 years since then anime have continuously progressed and advanced.

The elaborate and artistic images of Uchu senkan Yamato make it clear at a glance that this is not an anime for children. One of the key visual images in the anime is the red Earth. Earth is burning after being invaded from another planet, and the world is being destroyed. In this way, this anime for the first time created an entirely separate world and suggested a kind of world view. I think it was epoch-making in that sense.

Kido senshi Gandamu (1979): attraction of drama
Following on from this, Kido senshi Gandamu [Mobile Suit Gundam], an anime featuring a robot in the main role, appeared in 1979. Gandamu had two characteristics. First, like Yamato, it established the world view as the main actor in anime. And second, against the backdrop of that world view, a realistic human drama was depicted. As a specific proposal of a world view, it suggested that in the not too distant future humans would build a colony in space and migrate there, and it offered images of this colony on a grand scale. In a struggle over local autonomy, the inhabitants of the space colony wage a war against the federal government on Earth that is exploiting them. The terrorist-like acts in this war between states include a scene where a space colony measuring six kilometers in diameter is sent crashing into a cluster of buildings on Earth. Anyone seeing this scene today would be reminded of the 9/11 incidents, but this work was released back in 1979. This is one manifestation of the fact that in the first decade or so after its creation, Japanese-style limited anime evolved to such an extent that it was depicting major issues and predicting that such a war could take place near at hand.

The hero of Gandamu is a youth called Amuro Ray. He is what we might describe today as a little otaku-like [nerd-like] and introverted. What I would like you to notice in the film is, for example, his eyes. He is so frightened of the war that he sleeps in his bed like a fetus. He has trouble with human relations, talking to his girlfriend without looking at her and looking up as someone says bad things about him a long way away. Such is his behavior. In other words, it is the depiction of a character who has many complex mental problems. In Gandamu, there are many characters who are depicted as being frightened and anxious in the state of war. It was Gandamu that gave us characters who could act profoundly. Almost 30 years on, Gandamu is still popular today. I’m sure that you have often seen related robot character goods in Tokyo. I want you to understand that behind this popularity lies a drama and world view that greatly moved people. It is this aspect of Japanese anime that we find to be most attractive.

Celluloid pictures change the world
For your reference, I would like you to look at the difference between a celluloid picture and a screen picture actually used in shooting. An anime screen involves placing characters drawn on celluloid on top of drawing paper as the background. When a frame is attached, this approaches the actual screen. Within the environment of the spaceship there are people, and somehow you get the feeling that there also people outside the frame even though they are not drawn. Viewers can also imagine the background outside the frame. In other words, you get the feeling that a whole world definitely exists and now only this part is being cut out and shown. Making a screen so as to make viewers imagine the undrawn world outside the frame means stimulating the imagination relating to the missing part. The same is true for the acting of the characters and the development of the story. This attitude of creating works so as to arouse the imagination is perhaps one reason why Japanese anime have become so popular overseas. The world and society and other people always exist outside the screen. This feeling, I think, is imprinted in the films.

Anime culture in the twenty-first century
As I said just now, 30 years or so have passed since anime reached a major turning point at the end of the 1970s. Since we have entered the twenty-first century, from now on, as trends in anime over the last five years or so, I would like to talk about four examples that are representative of (1) an SF-type futuristic image, (2) an artistic image of the world, (3) the real image of Tokyo in the twenty-first century, and (4) the image of contemporary high school students. I have chosen works in which the uses of 2D and 3D anime, which I talked about earlier, are very evident.

Example 1: Innocence—SF-type futuristic image
As an example of an SF-type futuristic image I have selected Innocence, a 2004 anime directed by Mamoru Oshii. This anime depicts a future society in which almost all of the human body has been replaced by machines. It uses computer graphics in a manner that differs from recent worldwide trends, with the characters being shown in 2D and the background in 3D.

The cyber society has advanced, and a future society is depicted that could be Tokyo or it could be Hong Kong. We cannot be sure. Against this background, the characters are drawn using conventional celluloid. As the characters, drawn in 2D, begin to move, the complicated background drawn in 3D gains more and more depth. In other words, in this work, the background moves more animatedly than the characters in some parts. In the work Oshii has a character say that since cities are the result of human activity, cities themselves are like people. Also in the work, a character is made to say that when people think about coral, they do not imagine coral insects; rather, everyone thinks that coral is something that insects form outside of themselves. Furthermore, the cyborgs are linked directly to networks from the brain, so they are depicted as frequently quoting difficult passages from an information engine equivalent to the Google search machine and speaking pedantically to one another.

Regarding the fascination of Innocence, Oshii remarked that these things are already occurring in Japan today. For example, he said, sending out a text by cell phone is essentially no different from a situation in which cyborgs have constant access to a network. In other words, modern people are essentially no different from cyborgs in terms of their dependence on machines. In such a period and society, this anime asks what is the essence of human beings, posing this fundamental concern again as our problem. Moreover, anime itself has embraced 3D and become mechanized, and this work provides us with lots of food for thought at a very high level, including the question of where anime is going from here. I don’t think there are any works in such fields as literature or movies that express modern cyber worries in this way and in a contemporary manner. Anime have reached this stage by being continuously sensitive to the relationship between people and the world.

Example 2: Gankutsuou—artistic image of the world
The second example that I would like to introduce is Gankutsuou [The King of the Cave], a 2004 anime directed by Mahiro Maeda. This is a TV series of 24 anime that realizes an artistic world image. The work adapts the classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas to science fiction of the distant future. It aimed to artistically portray the corrupt and opulent world of the nobility. For example, there is a scene in which two nobles, when they are having a duel, put on giant robots like in Gandamu, which I mentioned earlier, in place of armor and fight. Since this work is a story of revenge, feelings of deep sorrow and anger at the death of a person are strongly depicted. A lot of expression is also left to implication. For example, a supportive woman is abandoned just like a chess piece; nothing is specifically said, but the action is implied in a game of chess. That is how the drama unfolds.

This work gives the characters and the background an opulent feeling, but the pictures are only 2D outlines. The texture of the characters’ hair and clothing is pasted on through digital technology to give a feel that is different from the plain painting previously seen in anime. The lack of shade allows the creators to concentrate on movement and expression. Furthermore, since the background is assembled in a 3D set, this is, I think, a valuable work that divides the relationship between the world and people. Unlike Innocence, however, the depth does not change or convey any presence more than necessary. In other words, the creators use 3D in the form of a setting for a play. This example shows that even with 3D, Japanese anime does not think simply in terms of movement.

Example 3: Tokyo Godfathers—real image of Tokyo in the twenty-first century
The third example, titled Tokyo Godfathers, is a 2003 anime directed by Satoshi Kon that depicts the real image of Tokyo in the twenty-first century. Unlike the two works that I have introduced so far, this anime takes present-day Tokyo as the stage and is a realistic human drama about how three homeless people, weak members of society, search for the parents of an abandoned baby. Detailed scenes of Tokyo appear, but these are not photographs. The background pictures are drawn by hand using photographs as a reference. Through the mediation of the human hand, the relationship between light and darkness is well arranged, and the artistic images are almost the same as the Tokyo that you usually see around you. Since this is also a story about homeless people, dirty scenes with garbage are depicted in detail and realistically. But these three homeless people are not miserable, and the story is told brightly and with a comic touch. I think it is unlikely that such a topic would be taken up as a theme for a Hollywood movie.

In this work there are many scenes of buildings. There is a scene where a realistically drawn building, which is watching the drama of the three characters from behind, sees the tragedy and seems to cry. The windows on the left and right are like eyes and the door is like a mouth to give the suggestion of a face, and tears can be seen flowing from the eyes. It is a method close to surrealism. There are many scenes in which the world of buildings is conversely watching the characters.

This method is most apparent in the opening. The names of the staff, which are usually superimposed, are inserted in signposts and so on. Kon has explained that this film shows a kind of animism. The staff are like gods for a film, so this work has gods residing in the background and watching the characters in front of them.

Another interesting point about this anime is that it shows a wedding ceremony, a festival, a cemetery, a shrine among the buildings, and so on. In other words, it depicts all kinds of ceremonial occasions and various religions, such as Shinto and Christianity; they are all included. Indeed, I realized with amazement from the words of Kon that this mixture of various ceremonies and religions from around the world is indeed the reality of Tokyo today. In this way, this film is a kind of packaging on the stage of present-day Tokyo that shows us living together with the world. In addition, there is a scene in this film in which one of the main characters becomes friendly with a foreigner. One of the main characters enters a district inhabited by many foreigners in Tokyo, and initially the atmosphere is a little scary. But eventually there is mutual understanding. This work examines through anime-like realism the fact that we are living in this world of Tokyo. The picture of a snowy scene at New Year’s conveys the message that the world is beautiful and the people living in that beautiful world are interesting. It is a film that includes this primordial interest of anime.

Example 4: Toki o kakeru shojo—contemporary high school students
So far I have introduced three anime that have been released in the last few years. The fourth example, Toki o kakeru shojo [The Girl Who Leapt Through Time], directed by Mamoru Hosoda, will be released in July of this year. In the advertising posters for this film as well, it is the scenery of a slope in Tokyo rather than the characters that are depicted in detail. In the process of anime production, the blueprint for the stage is called the layout, and the layout in this film is extremely elaborate. It has the same view as the audience and shows that the world in which we are living is actually surrounded by detail. But nevertheless the story itself is not so serious. The drama depicted in this work is a fusion of universal school life and science fiction.

The main characters, one high school girl and two high school boys, are involved in a love triangle, and the wavering feelings unique to teenagers, the high-target group that I mentioned earlier, are depicted in fine detail. That is the main attraction of this anime. In addition, the characters move very energetically. So it is a film depicting young and vibrant emotions amid the rhythm of a fast-moving and ordinary high school life and the still pictures of the scenery, including the characters. Within the story, there are moments that make you feel sad and moments that make you laugh, but overall the film leaves quite a heartbreaking impression. It has significance as an anime in the sense that these details have been drawn as pictures through the eyes of the creator in order to imprint these feelings. Among the anime films to be released this summer, the media no doubt will rave about Gedo senki [Tales of Earthsea] and Brave Story, but in my opinion this Toki o kakeru shojo is much more of an embodiment of the essence of anime today.

As I stated earlier, such feelings are inseparably combined with the world, and, moreover, this world is expressed in great detail. I think depicting such details in live-action movies would be difficult. In the case of live-action movies, they show things that exist in reality. The best example of this is actors. Because actors have their private lives, in live-action movies they are not so good at portraying purified emotions to the extreme. For example, someone you think is your friend is actually the person who you love most. The purified expression of such a detailed emotion is suited to anime, I think. That was my impression when I saw a preview of this film. In this sense, I think that this film takes anime to another stage.

Outlook
Now, as my conclusion, let me talk about the outlook for anime. The way of looking at and the way of accepting Japanese anime around the world is centered on moe [adoration] and sex and violence. What I wanted to say today is that there is another attraction lying at the root of Japanese anime. That is to say, while carrying on the patterns of Japanese traditional culture, Japanese anime also depict the Japan of today through state-of-the-art technology, the place where we are now, and the feelings that we have now. The manifestation of this comes out in the approach of portraying people and the world and their relationship. I think that the affirmation of their own foothold leads to such expressions.

Regarding the outlook for the next few years, at present the number of Japanese anime works is increasing rapidly. Although it depends of course on how you count, the situation is that TV anime are being broadcast at the rate of around 100 works a week. For a long time now people have been saying that this is a large number, yet it shows no signs of declining. In this situation, I think that definite results are being achieved. The directors of the works that I introduced just now are generally aged around 40. Whether these directors can be described as young or not I don’t know, but Hayao Miyazaki, I think, is aged 64 or 65, so clearly we have entered the post–Hayao Miyazaki era.

In addition, the digital image technology that I have introduced has rapidly entered a period of maturity over the last two or three years. As well as bringing about the greater sophistication and upgrading of images, this has made it easier to produce indies (that is, independent anime works that are produced by one or a small number of persons), and the number of such works has increased sharply over the past two or three years. From now on, therefore, there will be a polarization of extremely high-tech anime and extremely low-tech anime, and I forecast that interesting works in both categories will appear one after another over the next three to five years.

From another viewpoint, compared with things like novels, image culture like anime is a culture that easily transcends national borders. I have introduced works from the two extremes of anime that pursue the distant future or statelessness and anime that depict a self-portrait of Japan, but in both cases I think we can see in the anime something like the Japanese character or the spirit of Japan. So I hope that through these anime a kind of real image of Japan can be conveyed.

Looking back at my experience of studying anime over the past four decades, on calm consideration, I think that putting feelings into abstract pictures is essentially unusual. However, conversely speaking, it is also true that a certain type of emotion does exist there. And if that is so, then that emotion is really precious. Moreover, anime make it possible to engage in exchange with other people around the world. In this way, I have come to think more positively recently. In the past few years especially, I have started to think carefully myself about what Japanese anime really is, and the conclusion has come into view in the sense that I have come to notice the importance of what is left out. The missing part means that what is drawn and visible in the frame is not everything, and it is important to turn our attention to the world outside, which, I think, leads to the importance of thoughtfulness and imagination. I said that putting feelings into pictures is not usual, but I have begun to notice that, conversely speaking, what makes this possible are extremely human abilities, such as our imagination. So I think that by studying such problems as the insertion of feelings into anime, we can draw near one of the essences of humanity.

At the same time, another thing that I have been thinking about is the fact that the vocabulary for thinking and talking about anime has not yet been established. I would like myself to somehow make a start toward establishing it. Today I have given an example, but if it is possible, for example, to engage in cultural exchange to consider the essence of humans from a variety of perspectives through the medium of anime, then we will be able to deepen mutual understanding transcending national borders and, although I may be exaggerating a little here, contribute toward world peace. I hope that people talk about anime with that aspect in mind as well.

Even under the single term “Japanese anime,” there are various kinds of works, and I have not been able to discuss them all today. Rather, I have taken up some aspects that are not usually discussed in the media. By doing so, I hope that I have been able to give you some understanding of the attractions of anime. Thank you for your kind attention.


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: I have a question about cost. How much does it cost to make a typical single anime work? Is there much difference if it is made with digital images?

A: I have not brought any data with me today, so I cannot give an exact answer. But in the case of a TV anime, a work of about 22 minutes probably costs from \10 million to around \15 million. However, I think there is no upper limit. In the case of a movie, the cost differs considerably depending on the topic, so I can’t make an overall generalization. But I think many movies cost in the range of \1 billion to \2 billion.

Regarding cost reduction through digitization, again I do not have any specific data on this matter. But basically I have not heard of any cases in which costs have been reduced tremendously by digitization. The cost reduction for TV anime must be something like 10 to 15 percent, but this reduction is offset by shifting the saving to other processes, for example by increasing the number of pictures by that amount.

Q: In the case of a work that costs billions of yen, how long does it take until the work is completed?

A: In the case of Studio Ghibli it takes about two years. Usually it takes a year, and shorter anime might take half a year, but generally I think it is from one to two years.

Q: I would like to ask about the possibility of exporting anime and related cultural factors to foreign countries. Anime are especially popular overseas. In my country, for example, there are Japanese language classes. Ten or 15 years ago people studied Japanese language in order to learn Japanese traditional culture or to do business in Japan. Nowadays, however, the number of people studying Japanese in order to read manga in the original language or to watch and understand Japanese anime is increasing. What do you think about the fact that anime and manga and the related culture are being successful overseas in this way?

A: Forgive me if I state my personal opinion here, but your question reminds me of something. Earlier I explained that TV anime have a history of about 40 years. I think that one of the reasons why Japanese anime have been successful overseas is the fact that only the best of the best of those anime produced over 40 years have been exported in a short period of about five years. The reason I think so is that there are many SF works in Japanese anime. In the 1960s and 1970s SF culture flourished in Japan as well after we imported in bulk the “best of the best” of American SF culture produced over 30 to 40 years. At that time, I myself had the experience of eagerly studying English so that I could read paperbacks that were not getting translated in the original. I think that story is very similar to your question. This might be called “cultural compression.” Just now I introduced a few examples of SF works, and they all use American SF novels as reference to an extent. American SF novel culture was compressed and imported to Japan, and 30 or 40 years on, this time it is being further compressed within Japanese anime culture. So there is a possibility that a kind of double compression is taking place. It is possible that Japanese anime are being accepted overseas precisely because of this mutual spread of compressed culture.

In the spread of culture, in biological terms, I think that a kind of osmotic pressure is at work, so a phenomenon probably occurs in which the permeation goes from strong to weak. If I were asked to give a reason, I would probably point to this interactiveness.

Q: The anime industry is achieving immense success overseas. I think that for Japan, generally speaking, the anime industry is a large business chance. However, when I attended the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Anime Center, I was surprised to hear that the working environment is extremely severe for anime creators and that, because of the limited budget, their incomes are extremely low. What do you think about this environment and the working conditions in the anime industry?

A: That question includes some extremely difficult issues. In fact, once in the early 1970s several leading companies in the anime industry went bankrupt or laid off workers, and there was a shift to a setup that promoted outsourcing. To be exact, this was a problem not only of anime but of the Japanese film industry as a whole. Because of the impact of the diffusion of television, there was a major policy change, and the main film companies all halted the internal production of films and switched to outsourcing. Therefore, today as well, almost all Japanese film companies, including anime companies, are extremely cautious about internal production, and in many cases their creative staff are outsiders. Or, if they are employees, they are hired as contract workers. This is because they still remember the terrible experience of 30 or so years ago.

I myself am also worried about this problem. As one solution, without going so far as the indies that I spoke about earlier, I think it might be possible to have somewhat fewer people make works of appropriate size. This is a personal theme that I have been pursuing for the past few years. I didn’t have time to speak about this development today, but recently works have started to appear that use a technology called motion capture to identify human movements and then insert these movements onto a 3D operational model, resulting in an image that looks very like an anime. There are fundamental doubts about whether this can really be called anime, but nevertheless it might be one solution. As long as the industry exists, I think it is only a matter of time before someone changes course. In terms of cost and compensation, I think that over the next few years the form of anime is going to change through a process of trial and error toward the next stage.

Incidentally, I heard that the major animation studios in America have dismissed all their 2D staff. I suppose that is aimed at reducing personnel costs. I hope that such a thing does not happen in Japan, where much importance is placed on 2D pictures. The lively attempts over the past few years to match 2D and 3D are probably a manifestation of efforts to prevent such an extreme situation.

Q: In your speech, you talked about the promotion of exchange and mutual understanding among different cultures, societies, and nations through animation. I think this point is similar to a statement made by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso, who said that it might be possible to promote the improvement of relations with Asian countries, and especially countries like South Korea and China, with which Japan’s diplomatic ties are not going very well at the moment, through the export of popular culture, including anime. Do you think that anime can fulfill this role of improving diplomatic relations? Also, in countries like China and South Korea, there are moves to produce their own original animation. In these circumstances, if the animation of these countries develops, will there be a two-way flow of exports and imports?

A: First of all I will reply to your question about diplomacy. Regarding diplomacy, I hope that anime can fulfill this role. However, as I stated earlier, animation is most popular among teenagers and people in their early twenties, so I rather doubt whether foreign ministers would watch anime and find them interesting. What I intended to say was that while diplomacy should be advanced at the formal diplomatic level, we should pay a little bit more attention to private-sector exchange centered on young people. Of course, it would be wonderful if there could be a happy coupling of the two in some way. I believe that there is hope, anyway.

I certainly do not intend to recommend something that is illegal, but today the Internet has developed tremendously, and I hear rumors that anime works broadcast in Japan are being given subtitles and transmitted overseas quite quickly. While not intending to approve of this behavior, I also think the fact that the enthusiasm for anime goes as far as this is very important. The fact that there are people who, even though it is not their job, are prepared to immediately add subtitles and make the works available on the Internet shows just how strong the cultural osmotic pressure is. At the present stage we are at the starting level, but there is reason for hope. I do believe in the potential, and we must think about the specific means from now on.

Regarding exchange with South Korea and China, I think this is something for the future, but I will cite one example that I know. Last year Gainax, which produced the Shinseiki Ebanjerian [Neon Genesis Evangelion] series, was the promoter for the South Korean anime Wonderful Days, importing it and showing it in Japan. This anime used a technique that is unthinkable in Japan, making miniature sets in place of the digital 3D technology that I explained earlier. This conversely struck a chord among cutting-edge Japanese creators and, I hear, has led to exchange. Such developments have only just begun, but I think they will gather momentum in the future. In such circumstances, if works appear that can be accepted by Japanese audiences as well, I hope that they will spread and promote further exchange.

One more thing is that, with the advance of the Internet, an environment might be created, for example in the form of a channel, in which anime produced in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are available side by side for selection by the viewer. There is a strong possibility that such an environment will be established in the next three to five years.

Q: The works of Studio Ghibli and such anime as Pokémon and Doraemon are highly evaluated, but I hear that, according to a DVD exporting business, nearly half of orders from overseas are for adult-type anime DVDs. I also hear that Japanese words like hentai [pervert] are becoming understood overseas. What is your opinion on this point?

A: I don’t think this is something that is only recent. I remember seeing a magazine advertisement for such anime when I was living in the United States in 1987, more than 20 years ago, so it is nothing new. If I remember correctly, that ad came in the context of Americans valuing things that are not domestic. Regarding the fact that anime are not very highly evaluated domestically but are highly acclaimed and attract much attention overseas, an analogy is often made with ukiyo-e [woodblock prints], and my personal feeling is that the situation is indeed very similar. Generally speaking, I am well aware that Japanese anime are produced under regulations on depictions of sex and violence that are more relaxed than those of the United States, so Americans tend to be rather fascinated by them. And maybe Japanese anime would not have spread without that factor. Since it involves my personal beliefs, and since I understand it to be a natural phenomenon, I do not have any particular views regarding adult anime or purely pornographic works. The question of whether the expression is extreme or not is something that can only be judged for each individual work.

(END)

* Given on June 27, 2006, at the Foreign Press Center/Japan (FPCJ). This paper is reserved for internal use; any reproduction or quotation is forbidden without prior permission from the FPCJ. 　 ©FPCJ 2006