Nobuko Kawashima

Audience development and social inclusion in Britain: tensions, contradictions and paradoxes in policy and their implications for cultural management.

This paper attempts to distinguish the different meanings of “audience development” and “social inclusion” – two areas receiving increasing attention in British cultural policy – by discussing their overlap and close relation to “access”. These policy areas are fraught with inherent contradictions when examined in the light of sociological theories on culture. Consumption skills, the level of which is determined socio‐economically, and the function of culture for distinction suggest problems and paradoxes for audience development and social inclusion. Discussion on representation in culture, which can work to institutionalise inequality, also leads to a call for a “target‐driven” approach to these areas. This would be fundamentally different from the dominant “product‐led” approach that tries to leave the core product intact whilst making changes in presentation. To become truly inclusive is a most formidable challenge for cultural organisations as it inevitably brings them into a wholesale review of their core products.

The rise of ‘user creativity’ – Web 2.0 and a new challenge for copyright law and cultural policy

This paper argues that cultural policy and copyright law have paid insufficient attention to the rise of mini‐creators, people who get inspiration from existing copyrighted works and add to them to create new expressions. With the various creative and distributive technologies available today, they attempt to recontextualize cultural products they consume and express themselves, but their activities tend to be on the borderline of copyright infringement. Examination of lawsuits related to video game modification in the USA and in Japan will show different judicial approaches to the spread of modification devices for users, but commonly reveal the failure of copyright law to come to terms with their activities. It is suggested that copyright law should recognize their creativity and contribution to the enrichment of culture.

Corporate support for the arts in Japan: beyond emulation of the Western models

It is generally understood that the arts and culture are supported mainly by government and its agencies in Europe and by private individuals in the USA. In Japan, business support for the arts at corporate level not aiming for commercial, immediate return has taken off since the early 1990s. Unlike public sector support for the arts in Japan, which tends to be centred around building cultural facilities while failing to provide sufficient financing to artists and arts organisations, businesses have been strategic and creative in policy formulation and programme planning in supporting the arts. The article will discuss some of the distinctive feature of Japanese companies, support of the arts and argue that businesses have helped shape a new form of cultural policy.

The emerging non-profit sector in Japan: Recent changes and prospects

This paper hopes to map out the historical, legal and political contexts of the non profit sector and explore some of the recent developments which have helped expand voluntary activities and promote the changes the NPO sector has been experiencing over the last five years or so. Then, the paper goes on to raise some of the issues which need to be addressed for the further development of the NPO sector.

Film policy in Japan – an isolated species on the verge of extinction?

This article examines changes of the place that film has occupied in the public policy of the Japanese government, including not only cultural policy per se, but also industrial and economic policy. After describing some of the distinctive features of the Japanese film market, this paper discusses the inadequate basis of the government’s cultural policy for film. Film in recent years has received some attention as an industry with export potential, particularly with the rise of ‘Cool Japan’, the policy of promoting Japanese culture abroad as a tool for economic and diplomatic aims. In the chequered history of economic growth strategies and nation branding of recent years, the film industry has had some good news but received no serious attention either as a sector with economic significance or as a form of national culture.

Are the global media and entertainment conglomerates having an impact on cultural diversity? A critical assessment of the argument in the case of the film industry

This paper critically examines the dominant discourse on the global media and its impact on cultural diversity. The term cultural diversity suffers from the lack of good definition and criteria to assess its degree and change over time in specific markets. The paper also argues from an economic perspective that the distinctive economic features of the film business has led to market concentration, which, however, is ‘natural’ and does not trigger the application of competition law to rectify it. A particular problem is the assumed link between the market structure and its performance, which is not definitively supported by theory or empirical research. It is argued that the discussion in the media and entertainment studies literature is sometimes based on flawed reasoning and insufficient evidence. It is suggested that we start with the important discussion on what state of cultural diversity cultural policy should strive to achieve.

Introduction: film policy in a globalised cultural economy

This special issue on ‘Film Policy in a Globalised Cultural Economy’ is devoted to the changing economic and technological context in which filmmaking occurs, the policy responses that these changes have generated and their consequences for the pursuit of cultural objectives. The issue offers discussions of the general economic, technological and political shifts shaping the global film industry as well as case-studies examining the specific policies adopted by different states. While these indicate how governments have been obliged to respond to the economic and technological changes wrought by globalisation they also highlight the variations in approach to film policy and the continuation of tensions between economic and cultural, and public and private, objectives.

Cultural Policies in East Asia

Cultural policy research is a relatively new, emerging discipline of academic studies, which has particularly suffered from the lack of literature in the English language in the Asian region. This article discusses some of the common or different trajectories of cultural policy development in East Asian countries, including China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, on a few selected issues that are relatively well documented in English. It pays attention to the influence of the economic development style commonly seen in the region on the development of cultural policy in each country. Differences in political histories have also had implications for cultural policy development, particularly at the initial stage. In recent years, the creative and cultural industries policies are similarly pursued across the countries. The transnational flow of popular and media culture in the region is also highlighted. Questions for more research are suggested for future research.

‘Cool Japan’ and Creative Industries: An Evaluation of Economic Policies for Popular Culture Industries in Japan

‘Cool Japan’ has been a cross-departmental policy agenda for Japanese government that has gained prominence over the last 10 years or so. Although the government has been reticent about cultural policy in general and particularly to East and Southeast Asia in post-war decades, attention has recently been given to the international popularity of Japanese popular culture such as manga and anime with policies aiming to cash in on what is named ‘Cool Japan’ phenomenon. Policy has been, however, patchy and disjointed. This paper will examine the background and emergence of this policy with industrial and economic aims, its recent transformation and impact on cultural flows in Asia. It will argue that whilst the government’s policy for popular culture industries may not have led to significant results, it has done what it could legitimately do without riding on the bandwagon of the creative industries discourse that has swept across the rest of the world. The chapter will also stress the importance of the industries to broaden their regional perspectives.

Do the Arts and Culture Have a Positive Impact on Happiness? Beyond Methodological Issues

This chapter aims to make a small, yet unusual and hopefully contribution to the growing area of happiness studies from the perspective of ‘cultural policy’ research. It will challenge an implicit assumption that culture and the arts make people happy by critically examining some of the inherent problems and dilemmas of cultural policy and its paradoxical nature, as these are in conflict with the happiness that cultural policy is supposed to promote. It will be suggested that, rather than devising various ways of measuring the value of culture on its own and in association with other policy purposes, culture should be seen as an integral part of the whole economic and social system and as indispensable infrastructure for economic development and social sustainability.