By Bruce Rutledge

What started a quarter century ago as a quirky Japanese subculture that featured otaku collectors, a couple of classic animated films and some well-drawn comic books has swelled into a global pop phenomenon that no longer belongs to Japan alone. Americans have embraced Japanese film and manga and created their own unique subcultures to indulge in them. American businesses have stoked the trend by releasing manga in translation ands subtitled films. Asian economies are getting in on the trend too, with more anime created in South Korea and Taiwan.
While J-pop spreads across borders and seeps into other cultures, it retains a certain exotic otherness that appeals to North Americans looking for something besides the typical Hollywood fare. Parents push Hayao Miyazaki DVDs on their kids like a lit professor pushes Shakespeare. Teenagers look to Tokyo as a fashion mecca. Haruki Murakami sells books to Americans at an unprecedented pace for a Japanese novelist. At a certain level, Japan fascinates Americans.
“Due to the conditions of their development in postwar Japan, anime and manga offer a unique entertainment experience,” says Patrick W. Galbraith, 27, author of The Otaku Encyclopedia. “Part of the appeal for fans outside of Japan is to explore and enjoy these different entertainment worlds.”
While 20th Century Japanese powerhouses such as Toyota Motor Co. and Japan Airlines Co. falter, 21st Century companies such as Studio Ghibli, producer of Miyazaki’s films, Nintendo Co. and video-game maker Square Enix Co. are reaching their peak. When these companies release new movies or games, there is a frenzy in the marketplace, chatter on the Internet and long lines in front of stores and theaters.
On the first weekend of April, as many as 18,000 people — most of them in costume — will descend on downtown Seattle to celebrate their love for Japanese pop culture at Sakura-Con, a festival that has been growing at a rapid rate since its inception in the late 1990s. Sakura-Con is one of many J-pop festivals held in cities across the US.
“Fans of anime and manga outside of Japan tend to get very involved and serious about their hobbies, which inspire and excite them,” Galbraith says. “That anime and manga originated in a different cultural context reinforces intense feelings of subcultural belonging. The convention is where fans can get together among like-minded individuals and indulge in subcultural identity and interactions. They tend to be very creative and expressive because this is where they can openly show their interests and expect affirmation from others. There is a real sense of community, which supports a participatory culture.”
These communities of J-pop fans in North America are something the Japanese producers of anime and manga never envisioned. It has taken a layer of cultural interpreters in the American business community — Viz Media LLC and FUNimation Productions Ltd. are two of the most influential — to figure out how to turn the American J-pop obsession into a moneymaking venture. Viz Media launched the English version of Shonen Jump (see "J-POP sampler") and its affiliate company, Viz Pictures, was behind the opening of a J-Pop center called New People in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown last year. FUNimation is responsible for bringing anime hits such as the Dragon Ball series (page 8) and Full Metal Alchemist to US shores. These companies have become the bridges between American fans and Japanese studios and publishers.
Seattle is deeply connected to this J-pop phenomenon because of its role as a hub of video-game development and its growing legions of J-pop fans, as seen by the ever-increasing turnstile totals at Sakura-Con. As the J-pop phenomenon continues to grow and mix with other cultures, expect Seattle to be very involved.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The New Wave of J-POP