CANCELLED: Professor Jean-Marie Bouissou: The soft power of “Cool Japan”: myth or reality ?
EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.
Please join us at a lecture by Professor Jean-Marie Bouissou on the appeal of Japanese manga to the global audience.
The success of the Japanese popular culture among the world’s youth since the beginning of the century has been a God-sent surprise for some Japanese leaders keen to enhance the international influence of the Archipelago. They embraced enthusiastically the image of “Cool Japan” – a slogan coined by an American journalist - and the concept of soft power, aka bunka (cultural) power. A well-known politician even promoted the so-called manga gaikô (manga diplomacy).
However, the soft power is a rather nebulous concept. It seems common sense to think that a country can get a measure of “power” through the multiple channels of cultural influence. Yet, to gauge this “power” and to understand how it operates is a challenge.
Why the Japanese popular culture enjoys such a success abroad since the middle of the 1990’s? Does this success create anything like “power”?
To answer these questions, the success of manga in Europe is our case-study. A lot of images will be shown, together with the results of a massive poll conducted during three years among the European manga fans by a multinational research team.
Since March, 2013 Professor Bouissou has been Tokyo representative of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies) frequently referred as Sciences Po. He is also in charge of teaching the EU’s training program for Europeans in Japan.
He has taught masters’ classes at Sciences Po, and most recently at Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). Among other institutions he has worked at are Universite Paris-10 (Master in Intercultural Management) and the Centre Franco-Japonais de Management (IGR-IAR – Universite de Rennes-1). Earlier he had teaching positions in the University of Tokyo and other various Japanese universities.
He also serves as editor in chief for the collection of “L’Asie Immediate”, under the publishing house Philippe Picquier since 2013 and editorial board member of “The Pacific Review”, “Pacific Affairs” and “Critique Internationale”.
He is a founding member of the Manga Network, a study group devoted to Japanese popular culture and Japanese soft power.
He was resident scholar at the Maison Franco-Japonaise (Tokyo, 1982-1984) and director of the Franco-Japanese Institute of Kyushu (Fukuoka, 1984-1989) and has continued his research and teaching at Sciences Po since 1990.
Date: Thursday evening April 24, 2014
Time: 7:00PM to 9:00PM (Doors open at 6:30PM)
Admission fee: 5,000 yen per person
Location: French Embassy, Minami-Azabu
Map: http://www.ambafrance-jp.org/article288
!!!! Please note that you are REQUIRED to bring a picture ID with you for the entrance.
To register please use the form on right side of this web page.
Please register by April 20th. Cancellations after that date and no-shows will be invoiced after the event. Your understanding of this policy, which allows us to offer excellent events at lowest possible cost, is appreciated.
Professor Bouissou’s major publications:
Manga, Histoire et univers de la bande dessinee japnoaise (Manga, History and World of Japanese comics) Arles, Philippe Picquier, 2010, 2012
Quand les sumos apprennent a danser. La fin du modele japonais (When sumo learns to dance. The end of Japanese model) Paris, Fayard, 2003
Le Japon depuis 1945 (Japan. The Burden of Success) Armand Colin, 1992, 1997
For cancellation or any problems with registration for this event please email:
veritas@fa.catv-yokohama.ne.jp