Author: Scarlett Cornelissen
Japanese popular cultural goods and content have gained global prominence and influence over the past decades. Japanese animation films (anime) and video games were the first to develop an international following in the 1980s. Since then, the popularity of manga has also grown and it is now consumed on a significant scale by diverse audiences across the world. Cultural exports like anime and manga have been part of Japan’s internationalization, generating not only global fandoms of these media, but also shaping world popular culture in noteworthy ways.
The reach and popularity of anime and manga in South Africa – as well as in other African countries – is also significant, although under-researched. In South Africa growing demand for manga and anime and related goods (such as artefacts based on popular characters) has seen the expansion of physical and virtual retail outlets. Fandom is expressed through virtual networks, and cosplay competitions, exhibitions and festivals are held annually in the major cities.
To explore the history, nature and further potential of the Japan popular culture market in South Africa, Stellenbosch University Japan Centre (SUJC) hosted an online seminar on the topic in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Pretoria. The webinar, held on 22 February 2023, featured popular culture experts from both South Africa and Japan. In a keynote address, Takahiro Morio, researcher and professor at Tsukuba University, spoke about the factors that influence the contemporary global expansion of Japanese cultural goods, this in a context where technology and innovation see both rapid adoption and adaptation to classical Japanese content across the world. He noted that there are some quintessential features to Japanese produced manga, anime and video games that lead to the successful localisation of content in diverse settings, including in Africa. Changing consumer values and the desire to express identities through consumption behaviour also play a role in the success of the Japanese popular culture industry today.
Nizar Abrahams, co-owner of specialist comic bookstore, Readers Den, described the significant growth in the consumption of manga in South Africa over the past three decades and the rising fandom. He attributed the popularity of manga in this country to the distinctive nature of its offering, noting that manga differs from other international comic series in that it caters to every taste. ‘Manga culture was made for consumption’ he stated. Notable shifts in the market, according to Abrahams, include the rise in the popularity of manga as collectors’ item and increased retail of manga and anime related merchandise.
The appeal of Japanese popular culture is also evident in the popularity of cosplay festivals. A prominent figure in the South African cosplay community, Maggie Coetzee, described how cosplay fandom has grown over the past decade and a half and of the success of local cosplay creators in international championships. A cosplay creator herself, Coetzee recounted the factors that drive this fandom as well as the challenges the community experiences in procuring goods (also see Maggie Coetzee’s article here). As creator of the highly popular and locally set comic book, Kwezi, Loyiso Mkize offered a perspective on the production of popular culture and the factors that uniquely play into this art form in a setting like South Africa. He noted that as art, manga has a highly distinctive style which explains why in terms of its fandom it is not a subculture but indeed a dominant culture.
In his remarks, the Ambassador of Japan to South Africa, Mr. Shigeru Ushio, commented on the cultural as well as economic significance of Japanese popular cultural goods in relations between South Africa and Japan and the need to explore ways of further growth.