Japanese Wave of Sub Cultures

The aim of the paper is to use methodological viewpoint of the visual turn of sociology to understand the field of Japanese Animation and Manga and the phase of their ‘globality.’ The data that will be dealt with is the one from the extended survey research on Manga and Anime conducted by Association of Japan Sub-Culture Studies at Kobe University (headed by the author).

      Comparing the research results that have already been conducted by European Manga Network in European countries a few years ago and that of conducted by the Association of Japan Sub–Culture Studies in Asian countries in the last year, paper will describe a view as to the similarities and differences in the process and phase of ‘accepting’ (and rejecting) Manga and Anime as cultural production in those areas.

      Empirical researches from which the data of the paper generated, have been conducted in the areas such as in Hangzhou (�Y�B)in China, Hong Kong, Taipei and the survey research has been done using questionnaires as well as interviews with the participants / fans in the events of Manga / Anime festival in those cities / areas.   

Observing those processes of acceptance/ rejections, and the ways of penetrating into people’s daily life paper suggests the transformed nature of our contemporary way of life in terms of the visual and the social are constructed simultaneously in localized ‘cosmopolitan’ consciousness from below.