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Session 8:

Local Reading of Images of Global Popular Culture

February 27th

11:00 am - 12:45 pm

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Paper prepared for the

International Conference on East-West Identities:

Globalisation, Localisation and Hybridisation

February 26th and 27th, 2004

Hong Kong Baptist University

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Todd Joseph Miles Holden

• Professor of Mediated Sociology

• Graduate School of International Cultural Studies (GSICS)

• Tohoku University

• Sendai, Japan

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　Global “Career” and National Identity:

developing theory, studying Japan

An Opening Vignette

• Not five years ago a commercial appeared on Japanese television depicting sumo rikishi Wakanohana with a swarm of young boys seeking to push him from the ring.

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An Opening Vignette

• Just this past year, ads have featured soccer star Shinji Ono and baseball sensation Ichiro Suzuki – similarly, with kids,– but set in foreign

locales or with foreign cultural themes.

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Applied to this PaperThis simple

comparison of advertisements captures a phenomenon at the heart of this research

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Applied to this Paper

Issues of:• Globality• Identity• Mediation• Societal Chan

ge

Related to the themes of this conference

• Ichiro and Ono reflect the flow of goods – between Japan and western countries – what I have referred to elsewhere as “sports

exports”

• these exports have provided the occasion for the “re-import” of information and practices back into Japan

• such activity provides the basis for potential if not actual melding of “east” and “west”

Related to the themes of this conference

• Reflexively, such flow has brought new awareness of and ways for discoursing about the concepts of “I”, “we” and “they”.

• Whereas Japanese may once have engaged in identity discourse by recourse to domestic symbols, this is now not exclusively or even primarily the case– Often, now, local identity is communicated by

reference to exogenous referents.

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Related to the themes of this Related to the themes of this conferenceconference

• This reflects a sea-change of sorts in the matter of Japanese identity– From: “gaijin complex”

(Christopher 1984) -- in which inferiority dogged nearly all contact with the west

– To Japanese who speak Dutch and conquer foreign leagues

– Becoming equal (or even superior) to westerners.

Related to the themes of this conference

• The concept of what a Japanese is (embodied in these ads as male, athlete, achiever) appears also to have undergone some change.

• How identity is presented is less in terms of indigenous and traditional terms– more in terms of exogenous and “popular” forms.

• Also, one sees the key role of popular cultural artifacts (such as soccer or baseball) and contemporary media (such as ads) in filtering (or mediating) these new senses of identity.

Related to the themes of this conference

• Finally, discourse about differences between east and west is often localized– often in recombinant

or hybridized form.

Related to the themes of this conference

• A major thread of domestic discussion: the cultural difference in the orientation of athletes and fans toward sports in America and Japan.– cultural differences now

make their way into news and ads

– foreign-based athletes are depicted smiling, relaxing, actually playing as they perform their sports abroad

• So, too, though are cultural similarities -- and areas of consonance and accord -- emphasized

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A Paper of Concepts

• Globalidentity• Global Career• Historical Stages• Exports and Imports

– By specifiable units of analysis

– Within identifiable “sectors”

• Resource Mix• Mediated Identity

Globalidentity

• Here I fuse the words “global” and “identity”– An indexical sign– A signification

• Indicating the way that ideas, practices and people associated with the global (and its doppelganger, the local) bear on discourse about identity

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Theorizing IdentityTheorizing Identity

• Globalidentity itself is the result of what I have elsewhere called “mediated identity” – Ways in which discourse

about self and nation are filtered through specific media products.

– A discursive formation increasingly engaged by and exerting influence over globalization.

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Theorizing Globalization:

Global Career

Every country possesses its own unique global “signature” (or “profile”)

-based on its individualized history of local/global encounters

-across a range of analytic units and societal sectors

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Terms

• “units” -- globalization may touch a geographic region differently than it does only one nation or any particular social group

• “sectors” -- globalization manifests itself differently depending on which of the traditional domains of sociological analysis it touches– political, economic, social,

cultural and moral

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Factors Influencing “Career”

• Every nation’s career differs depending on an array of factors present in the context.– Including:

• ethnic composition• cultural history• religious practices• technological development• political structure• economic system• resource mix

A Simple ComparisonAmerica Japan

• Political:– The American political tradition was born

nearly 250 years ago– Decidedly liberal and democratic – Created by Americans for themselves

• Economic:– stages of agrarian, industrial and

postindustrial

• Ethnic Composition:– Great diversity of population based on

various waves of immigration, from Africa; Western and Eastern Europe; East, Southeast and South Asia

• Religion:– A core cultural component with visible

manifestations in society – influencing law, education, and morality.

• Resource Mix:– Plentiful natural resources– Ever-expanding population– Self-sufficient

• Political:– The (current) Japanese political tradition

was initiated only about 60 years ago– Less democratic, with aspects of

monarchy and authoritarianism– Imposed from external forces

• Economic:– stages of agrarian, industrial and

postindustrial

• Ethnic Composition:– Very little influx of different ethnicities

over the years.

• Religion:– A silent, largely unheeded aspect of

Japanese culture; not present in society.

• Resource Mix:– Few natural resources– Declining population– Not self-sufficient; dependent

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Globalization Footprints

Differ based on the various mix of these factors

– As between 2 countries– Also as between 2

epochs for the same country

A Simple Comparison

America Japan• Earliest memories were of the global:

it was a colony before a country– The result (and index) of another

nation’s global reach • It was a country only because a

group of colonies banded together to wrest themselves from foreign rule

• This all transpired in the late 18th century

• Since then America has never been occupied

• Japan has been occupied– though not in its earliest

years. • Its earliest memories were of rival

clans• After numerous internal

conflagrations, first the regions, then the entire country, became unified under one ruler.

• Japan has never fought a war of revolution,

• Unlike America, there have been no efforts at secession

• Unlike America, single rulers have held sway for more than twelve years

– in Japan’s case, unified under one “house” or family

Footprints by EpochFootprints by Epoch

Thus, for instance, America and Japan have both manifested “career stagescareer stages” in which they were quiescent (or isolated) and active (expansionist).

Japan was (locally) quiescent pre-Meiji, then (globally) active between 1865 and 1945

America has gone through numerous bouts

with local quiescence and global activity.

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Flow

Career stages are also marked (and dictated) by “export” and “import”

The “goods” or services (or engagements) entering or leaving the context are variously identifiable as:

• Economic• Political• Social• Cultural• Environmental

Flow by Epoch

Thus, for instance:

1. Japan may have evinced a politically-influenced “career stage” in the 1930s and 1940s

• Defined by militarism and economic gain through aggrandizement

2. The “career stage” of the 1960s and 1970s was almost purely economic

• Exported manufactured goods• Propped up by favorable political/administrative policies

3. The 1990s and 2000s reflect a very different “career stage”

• One based on cultural exports (films, animation, books, movies, sports)

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Applications to Japan:Information Flow

• Japan’s current stage of globalization can be called: “sport export/media re-import”– domestic athletes are global economic/c

ultural exports– But in the hands of news and entertainm

ent media, they are reimported

This text serves various purposes…

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Applications to Japan:Cultural Knowledge

Re-imports work as vehicles for the transmission of foreign cultural beliefs and practices into Japan

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Applications to Japan:Nihon-centrism

Indigenous media treat these fruits of globalization as moral and political text.

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Applications to Japan:Identity Discourse

The result of Japan’s current stage in its global career is a disquisition on identity.

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Applications to Japan:Identity Discourse

Nearly all media accounts of Japan’s athletic exports work to place Japan in the world of nations

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East meets West

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East Centered in the West

Nihonjinron

So, too, do they elaborate the “true nature” of Japan and the “hidden meaning” of “Japaneseness”– the result of implicit

clashes (and contrasts) between Japan and the West

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Past Approaches (to Globalization)

The Sectoral Approach– Wallerstein (1976): highly influential view of globa

lization as a world economic system– Giddens (1990): viewed globalization primarily in t

erms of four “institutional dimensions”• generally reduced to the political• and economic, as well

– Eades (2000): saw social and cultural elements• followed Hannerz (1992) and Watson (1997)• globalization should be viewed as the movement of peop

le, practices and cultural products across space

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The Recognition of Context

• Appadurai (1992): served to move discussion from macro conceptions to micro scale.

• Milieu – or locality – was seen as often important in how globalization was expressed and experienced

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The Invention of Scapes

Five “scapes” could serve as analytic axes around which globalization could be better viewed.

These included:– Ethnicity– Finance– Ideology– Technology– Media

Employing Scapes as Analytic Tools

Scapes provide researchers with a comparative device– A convenient, immediately fathomable tool– Which can demonstrate the great differenc

es (and similarities) engendered in various countries by globalization

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A concrete example:A concrete example: finanscapefinanscape, Japan , Japan and U.S.and U.S.

Country

Year Japan U.S.

1930s Sunk money into its military

Seeking to retrench domestically and pull itself out of depression

Mid-1940s Physically ravaged; destitute

Rebuilding Europe and Japan

1970s Reaches economic zenith, mainly via export

Domestic disarray; its companies often subject to Japanese take-over

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A concrete example: A concrete example: TechnoscapeTechnoscape, Japa, Japan and U.S.n and U.S.

TV in TV in

JapanJapan

TV inTV in

U.S.U.S.

Formatic SiFormatic Similaritiesmilarities

• Ownership rates of nearly 100%• TV set plays 7 to 8 hours a day

in each dwelling• Personal viewing per day

approaches 225 minutes

• Ownership rates of nearly 100%• TV set plays 6 hours, 47 minutes

a day in each dwelling• Personal viewing per day

approaches 240 minutes

Content Content DifferencesDifferences

• repartee written as sub-titles• shows constructed around grou

ps• revolving carousel of “talento”• Attempt to create “quasi-intimac

y” (Painter 1996)• Cultural binding/nationalism thr

ough the ubiquitous presentation of food on TV

• No subtitle convention• No (necessary) group

experience/organization• Larger talent pool; more diffuse• Quasi-intimacy not as

pronounced, if at all• Food not ubiquitous as a

national symbol

It is not the case that these countries are always in a synergistic, inverse relationship

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Synthesizing (theoretical) Approaches Globalization may touch a geographic region

differently than it does only one nation or any particular social group – Example: soccer World Cup 2002

• The first World Cup held in Asia• Not all Asian nations experienced the same effects on

identity• Viet Nam (a non-participant) certainly experienced less

interest than Japan (a host)• Japan (a host) less fervor than South Korea (a host AND

semi-finalist).• Another semi-finalist (U.S.) was far less interested than

South Korea.

Synthesizing Approaches Globalization may touch various sectors (in any

one society) differently – Example: TV in Japan

• The Crown Prince’s wedding in 1959 spurred domestic TV sales

• It led to the creation of complicated nation-wide commercial networks

• As a system of communication it binds a nation:– often through overt identity discourse– or by providing the substance for a uniform national

conversation• Removed in time from the initial political-cultural

stimulus, the “globalization” of TV as a form of domestic communication has experienced more benign cultural outcomes:

– It has served to produce an “empire of leisure”: a society devoted to entertainment, relaxation and play.

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The Importance of Time

• A subtlety in Appadurai’s work– generally only implied in his provocative examples

• If we conceive of the 5 scapes as akin to roads or vessels that cut across and feed a lived context, then we should ask: – Are each of these roads traversed in equal measur

e?– Are they probed to the same degree?– Are they explored identically from context to contex

t?– Or are they expressed within any one context from

historical moment to historical moment?

The Implications of Time

The answer is obvious:Japan’s profile of globalization regarding fin

ance looks very different than its ethnic profile, which is different still from its media profile

Example:Cultural globalization: Oshin (1983) to Poke

mon and Sailor Moon (1990s)Ethnic globalization: migration to the U.S, fr

om 1886 to 1924

Historical Conclusions

• Globalization “footprints” for any one country will often differ from epoch to epoch.

• None of these signatures are necessarily – if ever – equally expressed– in the various sectors of society or scapes

• Nor are they identical in character• Or contemporaneous when they appear

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Inflow and OutflowInflow and Outflow::the concept of “directionalitydirectionality”

Globalization operates via flow: of goods, ideas, practices (and the like) INTO and OUT OF a given context

Inflow and OutflowInflow and Outflow::The example of JapanJapan and MalaysiaMalaysia

• Malaysia, a country rich in natural resources, was invaded and occupied by Japan during the war years

• Japan’s global career in the 1970s and ‘80s was marked by exogenous (economic) flow

• By contrast, until the 1990s, Malaysia’s global career was a local affair– local production and consumption of durables to stimulate local

growth– the reception of foreign industries whose goods could be assembled

locally

• This history of global (Japanese) outflow and local (Malaysian) inflow marks the respective global careers of these two countries

• Such global in- and out- flow, so distinct from each other, exerts differential, impacts on each nation’s global profile

Inflow and Outflow:The example of Japanese cultural appropriation

This process applies (in reverse) when studying Japan’s history of absorbing and adopting western style

– From Meiji to the Post-War era, there were cycles of avidly importing and consuming western manners, clothing, interiors, and popular culture (see Tobin et al., 1992)

– Caveat 1: considerable indigenization also occurred

– Caveat 2: by the 1980s a considerable outward flow of Japanese cultural products was making its way into Asia; followed by flow to the west in the 1990s

Concluding about flow:Concluding about flow:ImportImport, , ExportExport and “ and “EpisodesEpisodes””

• Flow manifests itself as economic, political, social, cultural, or environmental– sometimes in combination

• When flow enters from the outside, it can be thought of as “global importglobal import”

• When flow emanates from a country and enters another, foreign, context, it can be thought of as ”global exportglobal export”

• When incidents of flow occur they can be called “episodesepisodes”

• When episodes occur in great enough measure to suggest a trend, the apparent “phenomenon” can be thought of as constituting a stagestage in the focal country’s globalization careerglobalization career

In SumAn adequate conceptualization of globalization:• Foregrounds the concept of “career”

– An individual history– One that is comprised of distinct stages– These stages relate to episodes of global contact– Characterized, in the first instance, by directionality

• i.e. as phenomena associated with “inflow” or “outflow”– These phenomena are expressed (and the episodes best perceivable) by view

ing particular aspects of society:• Traditionally viewed in terms of sectors• More recently scapes • I suggest key factors, including:

– ethnic composition– cultural history– religious practices– technological development– political structure– economic system– resource mix

– Which one is adopted depends on the orientation of the researcher or else the nature of the particular phenomenon under investigation.

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What’s NextWhat’s Next

I seek to show the utility of this mode of I seek to show the utility of this mode of analysis by exploring the global career analysis by exploring the global career of one particular country, Japan.of one particular country, Japan.

I focus on ways that global career I focus on ways that global career connects with issues of identityconnects with issues of identity

– above all, national identity.above all, national identity.

Befu on Globalization

BefuBefu has argued that there are 3 distinct periods to Japan’s globalization:– pre-Tokugawa;– mid-19th century through 1945;– the period following the Pacific War

He terms this “NikkeiNikkei”– Defined as “those who moved away from Jap

an and resided or reside outside Japan and their descendants”

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Period 1: Pre-TokugawaPeriod 1: Pre-Tokugawa

From the 15th century to 17th centuries Japanese patrolled the coasts of China and Southeast Asia– as pirates and merchants– establishing "Japan towns" abroad– This era came to end by governmental fiat

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Period 2: Mid-19th Period 2: Mid-19th Century to WWIICentury to WWII

This era was marked by Japanese emigration by the millions to:– Hawaii– North and South Americ

a– East and Southeast Asia– Oceania

This period of diasporadiaspora was brought to a close with the conclusion of the Pacific War in 1945

Period 3: Post-War Period 3: Post-War DiasporaDiaspora

The third period started soon after the end of the war and continues to the present

According to Befu, it is characterized by 8 distinct categories of diasporadiaspora

8 Diasporic Types

(1) Pre-war emigrants(1) Pre-war emigrants (5) Multinational business (5) Multinational business expatriates and their expatriates and their familiesfamilies

(2) "War brides"(2) "War brides" (6) Those providing service (6) Those providing service infrastructure for the infrastructure for the business expert communitybusiness expert community

(3) Postwar emigrants(3) Postwar emigrants (7) Those who abandoned (7) Those who abandoned Japan (out of Japan (out of discontentment with their discontentment with their life situation in Japan)life situation in Japan)

(4) International marriage (not (4) International marriage (not involving foreign servicemen)involving foreign servicemen)

(8) Social dropouts(8) Social dropouts

Alternate Alternate ConceptualizationsConceptualizations

As considered earlier, a fuller accounting of any country’s globalization would consider inwardinward, as well as outwardoutward, flow.

We can think in terms of cultural, political, social and economic processes.

A global signature will include: goods and services political structures and ideas social groups cultural ideas and practices

Japan’s Global Outflow• Japan has experienced moments of export as far back as the early third centuJapan has experienced moments of export as far back as the early third centu

ry, when diplomats ventured to China.ry, when diplomats ventured to China.– export was (political and cultural) informationexport was (political and cultural) information

• Militarizers ventured to what is now the Korean peninsula in the late fourth ceMilitarizers ventured to what is now the Korean peninsula in the late fourth century, seeking to exert dominionntury, seeking to exert dominion

• More diplomacy ensued, with missions to China in the seventh century and thMore diplomacy ensued, with missions to China in the seventh century and then to Europe in 1613en to Europe in 1613

• During the Meiji period (1867-1912) the government sent numerous scholars aDuring the Meiji period (1867-1912) the government sent numerous scholars and leaders to foreign countries on fact-finding missions.nd leaders to foreign countries on fact-finding missions.– This period of hyper-consumption of the West resulted in the appropriatioThis period of hyper-consumption of the West resulted in the appropriatio

n of everything from postal systems and irrigation projects to goods and cn of everything from postal systems and irrigation projects to goods and culture, both high and lowulture, both high and low

• Then the militarists fought with China in 1894 and Russia in 1904the militarists fought with China in 1894 and Russia in 1904– They moved to occupied China in the 1920sThey moved to occupied China in the 1920s

• The next bout of outward-reach was in the mass-production export-driven era, The next bout of outward-reach was in the mass-production export-driven era, running from the mid 1950s to mid-1980srunning from the mid 1950s to mid-1980s

• During the 1970s Japanese fashion designers joined international haute coutuDuring the 1970s Japanese fashion designers joined international haute couturere

• Beginning in the 1980s cultural exports in music, film, animation and books bBeginning in the 1980s cultural exports in music, film, animation and books beganegan

Japan and Inflow

Historically, inflowinflow has been more extensive than outflowoutflow Buddhism came in the 6th century The gun and then Christianity in the middle of

the 16th century Business from Holland came in the early 17th

century and Russia in the later stages of the 17th century

The forced opening of Japan by the United States transpired in the mid-19th century

Once again, the enforced reconstruction by the United States following armed conflict between the nations

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The Sports Stage of Japan’s Globalization Career

Generally:– athletic inflow has also been

more extensive than outflow– until establishment of Japan as

a global economic power, sports outflow was scant.

The Sports Stage of Japan’s The Sports Stage of Japan’s Global OutflowGlobal Outflow

• Waseda University’s baseball team traveled to America’s west coast in 1905– Compiled a 7-win 19-loss record against schools like Stanf

ord, USC and Washington• Participation in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912• Took part in the First Far Eastern Championship Games h

eld in Manila, in 1913• The government first subsidized an international sports e

vent at the Fifth Far Eastern Games, held in Shanghai, in 1921

• Japan participated in the Davis Cup in 1921• Otherwise, episodes of athletic outflow prior to the Pacifi

c War were limited to individual efforts:– American professional baseball in 1914-15– Wimbledon in 1934

Athletic Globalization: Athletic Globalization: now a now a steadily accreting streamsteadily accreting stream

• Number of Japanese currently on MLB rosters: 11» 1995: 1» 2000: 7» 2002: 15» 2004: 11 (but with the most position players ever: four)

• Number of Japanese currently on European soccer rosters: 8

» 1995: 0» 2000: 1» 2001: 4» 2002: 7» 2004: 8

The Sports Stage of Japan’s The Sports Stage of Japan’s Global InflowGlobal Inflow

Since about the turn of the (twentieth) century, Japan has served as a visitation ground for foreign athletic imports:

– In 1908 a team of major league reserves visited and won all seventeen games they played against Japanese teams

– A 1931 all-star team featured Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane and Frankie Frisch.

– Another visit featured Babe Ruth who drew 75,000 fans to one game, 65,000 to another; he hit 14 homers in 17 games

– Two Negro League visits were staged in 1927 and 1932. Their collective record was 46 wins against one loss.

– In the pre-war years at least 4 foreigners played for Japanese teams:• a Russian won over 300 games in a nineteen year career • a Hawaiian American won 240 games• a Taiwanese became the first foreigner to win a batting title in 1942

– Following the war, Hawaiian Wally Yonamine, a nikei, was recruited to help pave the way for regular foreign involvement in Japanese baseball.

– Nearly every year for the past forty years foreigners have been featured on Japanese rosters

The Sports Stage of Japan’s Global Inflow

Over the years, Japan has also served as a site for athletic competitions, facilitating the entry into Japan of people and practices from beyond national borders

– Tokyo hosted the Third Asian Games in 1958 and the Summer Olympics in 1965

• This was the first Olympics held in Asia – rightfully a point of pride for Japanese

• Also the first “TV Olympics” – Subsequent (winter) Olympiads were staged in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano

in 1998. • The former was the first winter games held outside of Europe or North

America – Japan was the site of the World Cup (in 2002)– Also numerous international competitions:

• The First Winter Asian Games were convened in Sapporo in 1986• The Second Winter Games, held in Sapporo, in 1990• The Fifth Winter Games, staged in Aomori in 2003• The Ninth World Swimming Championships, held in Fukuoka in 2001• The World Wheelchair Basketball championships, in Kitakyushu in 2002• The World Cup of Volleyball, in various Japanese cities in late 2003• Since 2000, ten Japanese cities have hosted sixteen international marathons• Japan has become a venue for other nation’s professional leagues:

– The National Basketball Association– Major League Baseball– The National Football Association– The former two have even held official regular season games on

Japanese soil in the past five years

The Import/Export Nexus

Certainly, Japan’s status as an economic power has been central in facilitating this import phenomenon– An example of the crucial role of “resource mix” in

a country’s global career.

However, the embrace of exogenous content has always been a hallmark of Japan’s global signature– A habituated response for a society too often

isolated from the rest of the world, only to learn belatedly that it has fallen behind

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DiscussionDiscussion

The impacts of this export/re-import chain bear on Japanese identity

To a great extent this is the result of media

In the next section I wish to consider these connections

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Domestic Media, Global Content, Domestic Media, Global Content, Local EffectsLocal Effects

In this stage of globalization, Japanese media appear to be serving as a filter– conveying and centering the many episodes of J

apan’s global involvement

To appreciate this, let me resurrect two concepts that Giddens (1990) contributed to globalization analysis: 1.“disembedding mechanisms”

2.“the reflexive appropriation of knowledge”

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Disembedding MechanismsDisembedding Mechanisms

Defined: those mechanisms that “lift out” social activity from local contexts, reorganizing social relations across large spans of time-space (1990:21)

Clearly, Giddens didn’t have baseball or soccer in mind, but certainly the phenomenon I have been discussing – embodied in the earlier ads of Ichiro and Ono – apply.

Disembedding Mechanisms

In a word: the global flow of athletes (and their re-importation via mediation) brings activities from other spaces into our immediate context.– The ideas and practices that are normally remov

ed from our consciousness and everyday experience suddenly materialize for our contemplation• Examples include Ono shopping in Holland or footbal

ler Takahara riding the subways in Hamburg.

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The Reflexive Appropriation of Knowledge

It is the consumer of global flow who is It is the consumer of global flow who is challenged to examine his or her social challenged to examine his or her social practices in light of incoming practices in light of incoming information.information.

This new information has the ability to This new information has the ability to “constitutively alter the… character” “constitutively alter the… character” (1990:38) of local social practices and (1990:38) of local social practices and beliefs.beliefs.

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The Reflexive Appropriation of Knowledge: Media’s RoleMedia’s Role

None of this mental work can None of this mental work can transpire absent the mediatranspire absent the media.– Forms of communication must

engage in surveillance, then select, package and distribute information to users.

The production of systematic knowledge about social liThe production of systematic knowledge about social life becomes, in Giddens’ words: “integral to system repfe becomes, in Giddens’ words: “integral to system reproduction, rolling social life away from the fixities of traroduction, rolling social life away from the fixities of tradition.”dition.”

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Reflexivity in Japan

This production/distribution function is a daily media activity in Japan:– They present an array of redundant

mediations about domestic athletic exports or foreign athletic imports to information consumers

– The examples are far too numerous to cite• But in other work (Forthcoming, 2002, 2003d) I

have provided many.

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Mediated Identity

To date I have touched little on identity

However, the careful listener will apprehend the manifold ways that identity ripples through the present treatment – identity discourse surfaces in the “implicit we” in

discourse about Japanese athletes competing in foreign leagues

– Also in the “(not so) implicit other” in discourse about Japanese rivals in exogenous sporting cultures

The Ubiquity of Mediated Identity

This lack in discussing identity is not due to a poverty This lack in discussing identity is not due to a poverty of things to say about itof things to say about it– Past empirical work has studied the connections between idPast empirical work has studied the connections between id

entity discourse and:entity discourse and:• television advertising (Holden 2000)television advertising (Holden 2000)• cell phone use (Holden and Tsuruki 2003)cell phone use (Holden and Tsuruki 2003)• web pages (Holden 2003b)web pages (Holden 2003b)• fashion (Holden 2003a)fashion (Holden 2003a)

Clearly, it is Clearly, it is becausebecause of the presence and routines of m of the presence and routines of media that reflexive processes of globalized identity diedia that reflexive processes of globalized identity discourse is currently transpiring. scourse is currently transpiring.

Mediated Identity and the Mediated Identity and the Discourse of SelfDiscourse of Self

The discourse about Japan’s sports exports is ：– Ubiquitous– A saturating mode of discourse– Daily re/produced

• Particularly via news media, but also advertising, fan magazines, Internet home pages, and television entertainment programs.

• The cumulative effect of these “media re-imports” is to exert a powerful, transformative pressure in contemporary Japanese society

• By orienting information consumers to a globalizing world, contemporary sports mediations serve as conduit for communicating to Japanese their competence – even excellence – in the world beyond domestic borders

• Global sports discourse assists Japanese in interpreting themselves.

GlobalidentityGlobalidentity::“Successful Japan”“Successful Japan”

TThis emphasis on how his emphasis on how Japanese are Japanese are successfully successfully competing in the competing in the larger world of larger world of (western, global) (western, global) sport carries a sport carries a metaphoric power:metaphoric power:

It suggests Japan’s It suggests Japan’s place and efficacy in place and efficacy in the world of nations.the world of nations.

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GlobalidentityGlobalidentity::“An Adventurous Japan”“An Adventurous Japan”

The global world is represented as accessible to Japanese; no longer impenetrable or daunting as it once was– The west is becoming

demystified, tamed, habituated

– For Japan, another reinvention – a new social transformation

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Conclusion:

In this paper I have sought to outline a theory of globalization that seeks to account for:

1. Its unevenness in diffusion2. Its differential expression in the contexts it

enters3. The widely diverging ways in which it is

experienced and treated by human agents and the structures they have created

From: From: Global CareerGlobal CareerTo: To: GlobalidentityGlobalidentity

To do that I argued that all countries possess their own global profileglobal profile -- what I have labeled a global global careercareer

Such careers are modified by any number of factorsfactors, including: ethnic composition, cultural history, religious practices, technological development, political structure, economic system, and resource mix

Global careersGlobal careers are also comprised of historical stagesstages, which means that the global footprintglobal footprint of any given analytic unit may differ from epoch to epoch

A major influence over the rhythm or character of stagesstages is the directionalitydirectionality of global flow – whether content is importedimported into or exportedexported by the analytic unit

Depending on its nature the material associated with that flow may be economic, political, social, cultural, or environmental

Concluding About Japan We have seen that:

1. the current stage of Japan’s globalization career is defined, above all, by sports exports and imports

2. it is a form of diaspora that links nations.3. Such trends in population movement, however, are conn

ected with cultural, social and economic imperatives that have transpired both inside and outside Japan

4. These include, most notably:• the advent of professional sport leagues• the proliferation of electronic forms of communication• the steady accretion of leisure time• the concomitant ascent of sport as a fixture in many nation

al cultures• the lessening difficulty of international travel• the increased connection between local clubs and foreign-

based media markets• the rise of a global pool of athletes.

Redounding to Identity

This contemporary diasporic flow is having very direct, integrative effects back home

In the hands of media, the return flow that comes in the form of information on television, in magazines, books, newspapers, and Internet webpages, works to nurture and solidify national, group and individual identity

In its various incarnations – export and re/import or import and re/export – we encounter a phenomenon with significant implications for the perception of Japan and Japaneseness, by Japanese, as well as by others throughout the global community.

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Thank You for your indulgence and

attention

GlobalidentityGlobalidentity::a new mode of discoursea new mode of discourse

The daily attention accorded to Japan’s athletes in “the west” appear (in/on):– Newspapers– T.V. morning and “wide shows”– Evening news programs– Advertising

Of course, “the west” is never mentioned, but the setting is an implicit venue in which Japan’s cultural representatives toil

GlobalidentityGlobalidentity::a new mode of discoursea new mode of discourse

These export/re-imports are regularized and repetitive communication vehicles– what Hall (1996) calls a “discursive formati

on”

As is common to much identity discourse, the exogenous (the west, the global) is used to refract, modify and/or solidify definitions of local (to attract or “buy” viewers)

It also re/produces Japanese identity

The fusion of numerous factors have been central to identity formation in contemporary Japan. These include:

– human movement– economic markets– technology in the form of transportation and media– institutions such as knowledge production and consumption

Combined they demarcate, clarify and assist localized understandings of self. So, too, do they enable the consumption, adoption, modification of and/or resistance to exogenous (global) elementsIn the process they communicate to Japanese their uniqueness, importance, commonality, unity and excellence in the world beyond personal, sub-group or national borders.

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References• Appadurai, A. 1992. • Befu, H. 2000.• --------. 2001. • Boddy, W. 1998. • Buruma, I. 2003. • Christopher, R.C. 1983. • Eades, J. 2000. • Giddens, A. 1990. • Gordon, B. 2000. • Hall, S. 1996.• Hannerz, U. 1992.

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References (continued)

• Holden, T.J.M. 1999. • -------------. 2000,• -------------. 2002.• -------------. 2003a.• -------------. 2003b.• -------------. 2003c.• -------------. Forthcoming. • Holden, T.J.M. and Tsuruki, T. 2003.

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References (continued)

• Lie, J. 2001.• Lull, J. 1995.• McLuhan, M. 1995 (1964). • McVeigh, B.J. 2002.• Nederveen Pieterse, J. 2002. • Painter, A.A. 1996. • Rosenberger, N. 1992.• Stanlaw, J. 1992.• Tobin, J.J. (ed.). 1992.• Wallerstein, I. 1976.