Asahi Shimbun news in Japan reports that the Japanese foreign ministry intends to allocate a budget to promote Japanese animation in China. Supposedly, this move is meant to shrink an ever-increasing political rift between the two nations. Can Anime really serve as an effective ambassador?

From the Asahi Shimbun website:

“Under the plan, the Foreign Ministry will financially support distribution of selected animated series and songs to provincial broadcasters in China.”

Now, this may seem odd as hell to some Americans. Better diplomacy through anime? Why the hell would you try that? Well, allow me try to provide a little cultural background for this story.

Japan has had some bad relations with South Korea and China recently, mainly over Japanese Prime Minister’s Koizumi’s visits to a war shrine in Tokyo called Yasukani Shrine.

This shrine was built years ago to honor Japan’s fallen soldiers in World War II. But many in South Korea and China, two countries invaded by Japan during the war, felt that the shrine was totally inappropriate as it honors 14 Class-A war criminals. Some of those war criminals didn’t die in the war, but were instead executed for war crimes. So you can see why South Korea and China might get pissed if the Japanese leader frequently visited this shrine.

Prime minister Koizumi sees it differently of course. He sees the visits as honoring the lost soldiers and their families. He doesn’t seem to care much if it angers his nation’s neighbors. In addition to this problem, Japan has also published a history textbook that has some sketchy coverage on the war.

So what’s the logical solution to this problem? ANIME of course!! Anime heals all wounds!. :icon_rolleyes:

It does make some degree of sense, though. Anime is fairly big in China, but they don’t have many official releases there. As a result, there’s a large amount of Chinese fansubbing going on (fansubs are subtitled anime done and released by fans for download). There’s really no large equivalent of Adult Swim or Toonami in China, but the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s plan could help spread Japanese culture just as much as cable stations have here. Some anime like Houshin Engi are even based on Chinese mythology, so there’s a base for the two cultures to share common ground.

Maybe the Bush administration should promote the release of The Simpsons in the Middle East?

Here’s the link to the Asahi Shimbun article

Tags for this posts: Anime, Manga, Japan, China

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