Japanese Cinema and Otherness: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and the Problem of Japaneseness

241 Pages·2010·2.472 MB·English

by  Mika Ko

Japanese Cinema and Otherness
Over the last twenty years, ethnic minority groups have been increasingly
featuredinJapanesefilms.Thisstudyexaminestherepresentationofso-called
‘others’ – foreigners, ethnic minorities, and Okinawans – in Japanese cinema.
Bycombiningtextualandcontextualanalysis,thisbookanalysesthenarrative
and visual style of films in contemporary Japanese cinema in relation to their
social and historical context of production and reception.
Mika Ko considers the ways in which ‘multicultural’ sentiments have
emergedincontemporaryJapanesecinema.Inthisrespect,Japanesefilmsmay
be seen not simply to have ‘reflected’ more general trends within Japanese
society but to have played an active role in constructing and communicating
differentversionsofmulticulturalism.Inparticular,thebookisconcernedwith
how representations of ‘otherness’ in contemporary Japanese cinema may be
identified as reinforcing or subverting dominant discourses of ‘Japaneseness’.
The author of this book also illuminates the ways in which Japanese films
have engaged in the dramatisation and elaboration of ideas and attitudes
surroundingcontemporaryJapanesenationalismandmulticulturalism.
BylocatingcontemporaryJapanesecinemainasocialandpoliticalcontext,
JapaneseCinemaandOthernessmakesanoriginalcontributiontoscholarship
on Japanese film study, but also to bridging the gap between Japanese studies
and film studies.
Mika Ko is a lecturer at the School of East-Asian Studies, University of
Sheffield, in England. Her research interests are in Japanese cinema and east
Asian cinema more generally.
Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies / Routledge Series
Series Editor: Glenn D. Hook
Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield
This series, published by Routledge in association with the Centre for
Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield, both makes available original
research on a wide range of subjects dealing with Japan and provides
introductoryoverviews of key topics in Japanese Studies.
TheInternationalizationofJapan Japan’sEconomicPowerandSecurity
EditedbyGlennD.Hookand JapanandNorthKorea
MichaelWeiner ChristopherW.Hughes
RaceandMigrationinImperialJapan Japan’sContestedConstitution
MichaelWeiner Documentsandanalysis
GlennD.Hookand
JapanandthePacificFreeTradeArea GavanMcCormack
PekkaKorhonen
Japan’sInternationalRelations
GreaterChinaandJapan Politics,economicsandsecurity
Prospectsforaneconomicpartnership? GlennD.Hook,JulieGilson,
RobertTaylor ChristopherHughesand
HugoDobson
TheSteelIndustryinJapan
AcomparisonwiththeUK JapaneseEducationReform
HasegawaHarukiyo Nakasone’slegacy
ChristopherP.Hood
Race,ResistanceandtheAinuofJapan
RichardSiddle ThePoliticalEconomyofJapanese
Globalisation
Japan’sMinorities GlennD.Hookand
Theillusionofhomogeneity HasegawaHarukiyo
EditedbyMichaelWeiner
JapanandOkinawa
JapaneseBusinessManagement Structureandsubjectivity
Restructuringforlowgrowthand EditedbyGlennD.Hookand
globalization RichardSiddle
EditedbyHasegawaHarukiyoand
GlennD.Hook JapanandBritaininthe
ContemporaryWorld
JapanandAsiaPacificIntegration Responsestocommonissues
Pacificromances1968–96 EditedbyHugoDobsonand
PekkaKorhonen GlennD.Hook
JapanandUnitedNationsPeacekeeping JapanandEastAsianMonetary
Newpressures,newresponses Regionalism
HugoDobson Towardsaproactiveleadershiprole?
ShigekoHayashi
JapaneseCapitalismandModernity
inaGlobalEra Japan’sRelationswithChina
Re-fabricatinglifetimeemploymentrelations Facingarisingpower
PeterC.D.Matanle LamPeng-Er
NikkeirenandJapaneseCapitalism RepresentingtheOtherinModern
JohnCrump JapaneseLiterature
Acriticalapproach
ProductionNetworksinAsiaandEurope EditedbyRachaelHutchinsonand
Skillformationandtechnologytransferin MarkWilliams
theautomobileindustry
EditedbyRogierBusserandYuriSadoi Myth,ProtestandStruggle
inOkinawa
JapanandtheG7/8 MiyumeTanji
1975–2002
HugoDobson NationalismsinJapan
EditedbyNaokoShimazu
ThePoliticalEconomyof
ReproductioninJapan Japan’sSecurityPolicyandthe
Betweennation-stateandeverydaylife ASEANRegionalForum
TakedaHiroko Thesearchformultilateralsecurity
intheAsia-Pacific
GrassrootsPacifisminPost-WarJapan TakeshiYuzawa
Therebirthofanation
MariYamamoto GlobalGovernanceandJapan
Theinstitutionalarchitecture
InterfirmNetworksintheJapanese EditedbyGlennD.Hookand
ElectronicsIndustry HugoDobson
RalphPaprzycki
Japan’sMiddleEastSecurityPolicy
GlobalisationandWomeninthe InternationalRelationstheoryand
JapaneseWorkforce Japaneseforeignpolicy-making
BeverleyBishop YukikoMiyagi
ContestedGovernanceinJapan Japan’sMinorities2ndEdition
Sitesandissues Theillusionofhomogeneity
EditedbyGlennD.Hook EditedbyMichaelWeiner
Japan’sInternationalRelations JapanandBritainatWarandPeace
Politics,economicsandsecurity EditedbyNobukoKosugeand
Secondedition HugoDobson
GlennD.Hook,JulieGilson,
ChristopherHughesandHugoDobson Japan’sNationalIdentityand
ForeignPolicy
Japan’sChangingRolein RussiaasJapan’s‘other’
HumanitarianCrises AlexanderBukh
YukikoNishikawa
JapaneseCinemaandOtherness
Japan’sSubnationalGovernmentsin Nationalism,multiculturalismand
InternationalAffairs theproblemofJapanesenesss
PurnendraJain MikaKo

Japanese Cinema and
Otherness
Nationalism, multiculturalism and the
problem of Japanesenesss
Mika Ko
First published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
First issued in paperback 2011
© 2010 Mika Ko
Typeset in Times New Roman by
Taylor & Francis Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ko, Mika.
Japanese cinema and otherness : nationalism, multiculturalism and the
problem of Japanesenesss I Mika Ko.
p. em. -(Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge series)
I. National characteristics, Japanese, in motion pictures. 2. Motion
pictures-Japan. 3. Minorities in motion pictures. 4. Multiculturalism in
motion pictures. I. Title.
PN1995.9.N355K6 2009
791.430952--dc22
2009018027
ISBN13: 978-0-415-49301-7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-68957-1 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-86671-9 (ebk)
To my parents

Contents
List of figures x
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: Defining the period: Japanese cinema and society at
the turn of the millennium 1
PART I
Nationalism, multiculturalism and the problem of Japaneseness 9
1 Nihonjinron: The ideology of Japaneseness 11
2 Cosmetic multiculturalism and contemporary Japanese cinema 32
PARTII
Okinawa 63
3 Okinawa: Modern history and issues of identity 65
4 Representing Okinawa: Contesting images in Japanese cinema 77
PARTIII
Zainichi 115
5 Zainichi: History, identities and politics 117
6 Representing the Zainichi: Victim, clown and super-cool hero 136
Conclusion 171
Notes 173
Bibliography and Filmography 206
Index 222