“Anime's atomic legacy: Takashi Murakami, Miyazaki, Anno, and the negotiation of Japanese war memory”, Manji 2020

2020-manji.pdf: “Anime's atomic legacy: Takashi Murakami, Miyazaki, Anno, and the negotiation of Japanese war memory”⁠, Rufus C. Manji (2020-07; anime⁠, eva; backlinks):

This thesis explores the cultural commentary by Japanese Neo-Pop artist Takashi Murakami in relation to Japan’s war memory and its legacy in popular culture, addressing in particular the essays accompanying his 2005 exhibition Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture⁠. Murakami constructs a genealogy of postwar otaku subculture— anime, manga, tokusatsu⁠, and video games—which he sees as reflecting anxieties repressed within mainstream culture: namely, memory of defeat, occupation, and ongoing military protection by the United States, epitomized by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These concerns become intertwined with the social malaise of Japan’s “Lost Decades”, in which postwar narratives of endless economic growth through scientific innovation give way to nihilism and social withdrawal. While anime of the “Economic Miracle” period show empowered heroes overcoming apocalyptic trauma through technology and righteous ideals, those of the 1990s frustrate such heroism: as scientific optimism deteriorates, protagonists are forced to question their beliefs, affiliations, and self-definition.

While Murakami offers a wealth of socio-historical insights, clear limitations emerge, particularly the immediate post-Occupation release of films and artworks depicting the war and the atomic bomb, which challenges the notion that these topics were repressed exclusively into subculture. Furthermore, critics have argued the emphasis on Japan’s defeat and the hardships faced by civilians downplays the broader history of the Japanese Empire and its wartime activities abroad, a tendency Carol Gluck terms “victim’s history”. This thesis proposes a revision of Murakami’s theory which argues that memory of Japan as perpetrator emerges subliminally in subcultural narratives alongside memory of victimhood. Drawing on Hashimoto’s, LaCapra’s, and Elsaesser’s insights on the transmission of perpetrator memory, I argue that many of anime’s most iconic Sci-Fi and fantasy narratives are rooted in ambivalence towards national history, with heroes forced to identify simultaneously with hero, victim, and perpetrator roles. I focus on directors Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno⁠, identifying the recurring motif of the “perpetrator fathers” whose legacy young heroes must overcome, while at the same time experiencing a traumatic identification with their father figures. These narratives complicate questions of national identity, reflecting a simultaneous desire to escape from, and redeem, historical memory.

1. Anime’s Atomic Legacy: Takashi Murakami, Miyazaki, Anno, and the Negotiation of Japanese War Memory

   1. Contents
   2. Abstract
   3. Acknowledgments

2. Introduction

3. Chapter 1: Superflat⁠, Subculture, and National Trauma

   1. Takashi Murakami and superflat

      1. A genealogy of superflat subculture
      2. Framing JNP: Japan’s Postmodern Condition
      3. The Database & Animalization
      4. Superflat and National Cinema
      5. Trauma Theory
      6. Atomic Trauma in Mainstream Japanese Cinema
      7. The Subcultural Split from Mainstream Cinema

4. Chapter 2: National Identity and Perpetrator Trauma in Anime Subculture

   1. National Identity & Perpetrator Trauma
   2. Miyazaki and Anno: Negotiating Historical Memory

5. Chapter 3: Hayao Miyazaki

   1. Hayao Miyazaki

      1. Murakami on Miyazaki
      2. Troubling Parental Figures: the Perpetrator Fathers and Earth Mothers

   2. The Economic Miracle: 1978–1989

      1. Miyazaki’s Early Apocalyptic Narratives
      2. Future Boy Conan: Trauma, Nature, and Industry
      3. The Return of the Repressed: Conan’s Trauma Narratives and the Perpetrator Fathers
      4. Becoming the Perpetrator: Monsley and Intergenerational Trauma
      5. The Grand Narrative Preserved

   3. The Lost Decade: Miyazaki’s Nihilism and the Decline of Grand Narratives

      1. Fragmented Identity and Survivor Guilt in Porco Rosso
      2. Complicity and Withdrawal in Howl’s Moving Castle

6. Chapter 4: Hideaki Anno

   1. Hideaki Anno

      1. Anno’s goals as artist
      2. Interior Perspective and Hyperlimited Animation

   2. The Economic Miracle: Gunbuster as Nationalist Fantasy

      1. The New Japanese Empire and Nationalist Nostalgia

         [see “Imperialism, Translation, Gunbuster”: 0⁠/​​​​​​​1⁠/​​​​​​​2⁠/​​​​​​​3⁠/​​​​​​​4⁠/​​​​​​​5⁠/​​​​​​​6]

   3. Anno’s Turning Point: Fascism and Technological Ambivalence in Nadia

      1. Nemo and Gargoyle: Reconciliation with the Perpetrator Fathers

   4. The Lost Decade: Evangelion⁠, Withdrawal, and the Decline of Grand Narratives

      1. The Decline of Scientific Optimism

7. Conclusion

   1. Works Cited

      1. Reference Texts
      2. Films & Artistic Works

“How Japan Copied American Culture and Made it Better: If you’re looking for some of America’s best bourbon, denim and burgers, go to Japan, where designers are re-engineering our culture in loving detail”, Downey 2014

“How Japan Copied American Culture and Made it Better: If you’re looking for some of America’s best bourbon, denim and burgers, go to Japan, where designers are re-engineering our culture in loving detail”⁠, Tom Downey (2014-04; backlinks):

[Account of specialty retailers and craftsmen in Japan, who love Americana, focusing on: old bourbon, jazz, workwear (“railroad jackets, canvas dusters, flannel shirts, double-kneed pants”; especially denim), hamburgers, and preppy “Ivy Style” fashion.]

In Japan, the ability to perfectly imitate—and even improve upon—the cocktails, cuisine and couture of foreign cultures isn’t limited to American products; there are spectacular French chefs and masterful Neapolitan pizzaioli who are actually Japanese. There’s something about the perspective of the Japanese that allows them to home in on the essential elements of foreign cultures and then perfectly recreate them at home. “What we see in Japan, in a wide range of pursuits, is a focus on mastery”, says Sarah Kovner, who teaches Japanese history at the University of Florida. “It’s true in traditional arts, it’s true of young people who dress up in Harajuku, it’s true of restaurateurs all over Japan.”

“Murakami's 'little boy' syndrome: victim or aggressor in contemporary Japanese and American arts?”, Koh 2010

2010-koh.pdf: “Murakami's 'little boy' syndrome: victim or aggressor in contemporary Japanese and American arts?”⁠, Dong-Yeon Koh (2010; anime⁠, eva; backlinks):

This paper examines the ambiguous nature of Murakami’s criticism toward the postwar Japanese condition—as the artist most effectively captured in his phrase ‘A Little Boy’, which was also the title of his curated exhibition at the Japan Society of New York in 2005.

As Murakami wrote in his introduction to the catalogue, demilitarized Japan after the Second World War underwent a collective sense of helplessness, and the metaphor of a little boy is intended to describe Japan’s supposedly unavoidable reliance on its big brother, America. The name ‘Little Boy’, in fact, originates from the code name used by the American military for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

The proliferation of ‘cuteness’ in Japanese contemporary art, which draws upon youth culture, especially otaku culture, evinces a common urge among the postwar generation in Japan to escape from their horrible memories and sense of powerlessness.

Murakami’s rhetorical analysis of Japan’s self-image seems, however, contradictory, given his extremely aggressive business tactics, which can find no counterpart in the Western art world—not even in the efforts of Murakami’s predecessor, Andy Warhol⁠. Like My Lonesome Cowboy (1998), whose hyper sexuality defies its pubescent and immature appearance, his art, theory, and art marketing indicate the paradoxical nature of his theory of impotence.

By focusing on his manifesto and writings published on the occasion of his 2005 exhibition and his style of managing Kaikai Kiki Ltd., this paper delves into the dual nature of Murakami’s interpretation of postwar Japanese art and culture, particularly in relation to those of America.

[Keywords: Takashi Murakami, Japanese contemporary arts, otaku, art and subculture, atomic bomb (Little Boy), nationalism, globalization of art market, Asian masculinity]

“Book review of Steven D. Carter's _Householders: The Reizei Family in Japanese History.:Householders: The Reizei Family in Japanese History: (2007)”, Borgen 2008

2008-borgen.pdf: “Book review of Steven D. Carter's _Householders: The Reizei Family in Japanese History.:Householders: The Reizei Family in Japanese History: (2007)”⁠, Robert Borgen

“On The Battlefield of "Superflat": Subculture and Art in Postwar Japan”, Hoaglund 2005

2005-sawaragi.pdf: “On The Battlefield of "Superflat": Subculture and Art in Postwar Japan”⁠, Noi Sawaragi translated by Linda Hoaglund (backlinks)

“Earth In My Window”, Murakami 2005

2005-murakami.pdf: “Earth In My Window”⁠, Takashi Murakami (backlinks)

“Behind the Sensationalism: Images of a Decaying Corpse in Japanese Buddhist Art”, Kanda 2005

2005-kanda.pdf: “Behind the Sensationalism: Images of a Decaying Corpse in Japanese Buddhist Art”⁠, Fusae Kanda (2005):

The kusözu⁠, “painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse”, portrays the sequential decay of a female cadaver in graphic detail. The shocking subject, rooted in Buddhist devotional practices, was regularly painted and reinterpreted during half a millennium of Japanese art. The images of a decaying corpse were charged with contextualized functionalities that have gone unrecognized in current scholarship. Through an examination of four major exemplars of the genre, this study shows how new meanings of the image were catalyzed by religious and social transformations.

The kusozu, “painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse” (hereafter, painting of the nine stages), was executed in Japan from approximately the thirteenth through the nineteenth centuries in various formats, including handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and printed books. The subject itself is derived from a traditional Buddhist doctrine that urges contemplation on the nine stages of a decaying corpse (kusokan, hereafter, contemplation on the nine stages). The teaching dates to the early fifth century and promotes a systematic meditation on the impurity of a decaying corpse as an aid to ardent devotees who wish to liberate themselves from sensual desires and affections.

This paper explores unrecognized features of the paintings of the nine stages as they appear through almost half a millennium of Japanese art. We will see that these narrative paintings functioned as distinct visual agents for audiences in different eras. The functionality of the image shifted from a meditative focus for pietistic catharsis, to a didactic incentive for the pursuit of paradise, to an intercessory offering for the dead at merit transferal rites, to a popularized platform for politically manipulated precepts on feminine morality. After giving the textual and theological background for the nine stages of a decaying corpse, I will examine four images of the nine stages from different centuries, which I term the Nakamura, Raigoji, Dainenbutsuji, and Akagi versions. Finally, some remarks are offered on the enduring vitality of this sensational subject.

“Otaku Talk”, Okada & Morikawa 2004

2004-okada.pdf: “Otaku Talk”⁠, Toshio Okada, Kaichiro Morikawa (backlinks)

“Impotence Culture—Anime”, Murakami 2001

2001-murakami.pdf: “Impotence Culture—Anime”⁠, Takashi Murakami (backlinks)

“The Dark Side of Private Ordering: An Institutional and Empirical Analysis of Organized Crime”, Milhaupt & West 2000

2000-milhaupt.pdf: “The Dark Side of Private Ordering: An Institutional and Empirical Analysis of Organized Crime”⁠, Curtis J. Milhaupt, Mark D. West (2000-12-01; economics⁠, sociology):

This Article provides theoretical and empirical support for the claim that organized crime competes with the state to provide property rights enforcement and protection services. Drawing on extensive data from Japan, this Article shows that like firms in regulated environments everywhere, the structure and activities of organized criminal firms are substantially shaped by state-supplied institutions. Careful observation reveals that in Japan, the activities of organized criminal firms closely track inefficiencies in formal legal structures, including both inefficient substantive laws and a state-induced shortage of legal professionals and other rights-enforcement agents. Thus organized crime in Japan—and, by extension, in other countries where substantial gaps exist between formal property rights structures and state enforcement capacities—is the dark side of private ordering.

Regression analyses show negative correlations between membership in Japanese organized criminal firms and (a) civil cases, (b) bankruptcies (c) reported crimes, and (d) loans outstanding. Professors Milhaupt and West interpret these data to support considerable anecdotal evidence that members of organized criminal firms in Japan play an active entrepreneurial role in substituting for state-supplied enforcement mechanisms and other public services in such areas as dispute mediation, bankruptcy and debt collection, (unorganized) crime control, and finance They offer additional empirical evidence indicating that arrests of gang members do not curb the growth of organized criminal firm Their findings may have an important normative implication for transition economies: efforts to eradicate organized crime should focus on the alteration of institutional incentive structures and the stimulation of competing rights-enforcement agents rather than on traditional crime-control activities.

“Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century (Fujiwara no Teika excerpts)”, Keene 1999

1999-keene-seedsintheheart-teika.pdf: “Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century (Fujiwara no Teika excerpts)”⁠, Donald Keene (backlinks)

“Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century (Shotetsu excerpts)”, Keene 1999

1999-keene-seedsintheheart-shotetsu.pdf: “Seeds in the heart: Japanese literature from earliest times to the late sixteenth century (Shotetsu excerpts)”⁠, Donald Keene

“The Poet and the Politician: Teika and the Compilation of the Shinchokusenshū”, Smits 1998

1998-smits.pdf: “The Poet and the Politician: Teika and the Compilation of the Shinchokusenshū”⁠, Ivo Smits

“Tokyo: A Certain Style”, Tsuzuki 1997

1997-tsuzuki-tokyoacertainstyle.pdf: “Tokyo: A Certain Style”⁠, Kyoichi Tsuzuki (1997; anime; backlinks):

Writer-photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki visited a hundred apartments, condos, and houses, documenting what he saw in more than 400 color photos that show the real Tokyo style—a far cry from the serene gardens, shoji screens, and Zen minimalism usually associated with Japanese dwellings.

In this Tokyo, necessities such as beds, bathrooms, and kitchens vie for space with electronic gadgets, musical instruments, clothes, books, records, and kitschy collectibles. Candid photos vividly capture the dizzying “cockpit effect”of living in a snug space crammed floor to ceiling with stuff. And it’s not just bohemian types and students who must fit their lives and work into tight quarters, but professionals and families with children, too. In descriptive captions, the inhabitants discuss the ingenious ways they’ve adapted their home environments to suit their diverse lifestyles.

“Unforgotten Dreams: Poems by the Zen Monk Shōtetsu”, Shōtetsu & Carter 1997

1997-carter-shotetsu-unforgottendreams.pdf: “Unforgotten Dreams: Poems by the Zen Monk Shōtetsu”⁠, Shōtetsu, Steven D. Carter (1997; linkrot; backlinks):

[This volume presents translations of over 200 poems by Shōtetsu, who is generally considered to be the last great poet of the uta form. Includes an introduction, a glossary of important names and places and a list of sources of the poems.]

The Zen monk Shōtetsu (1381–1459) suffered several rather serious misfortunes in his life: he lost all the poems of his first thirty years—more than 30,000 of them—in a fire; his estate revenues were confiscated by an angry shogun; and rivals refused to allow his work to appear in the only imperially commissioned poetry anthology of his time. Undeterred by these obstacles, he still managed to make a living from his poetry and won recognition as a true master, widely considered to be the last great poet of the classical uta, or waka, tradition. Shōtetsu viewed his poetry as both a professional and religious calling, and his extraordinarily prolific corpus comprised more than 11,000 poems—the single largest body of work in the Japanese canon.

The first major collection of Shōtetsu’s work in English, Unforgotten Dreams presents beautifully rendered translations of more than two hundred poems. The book opens with Steven Carter’s generous introduction on Shōtetsu’s life and work and his importance in Japanese literature, and includes a glossary of important names and places and a list of sources of the poems. Revealing as never before the enduring creative spirit of one of Japan’s greatest poets, this fine collection fills a major gap in the English translations of medieval Japanese literature.

“Reviewed Work: 'String of Beads: Complete Poems of Princess Shikishi', by Princess Shikishi, Hiroaki Sato [book review]”, Bundy 1994

1994-bundy.pdf: “Reviewed Work: 'String of Beads: Complete Poems of Princess Shikishi', by Princess Shikishi, Hiroaki Sato [book review]”⁠, Roselee Bundy

“Reviewed Work: The Tale of Matsura: Fujiwara Teika's Experiment in Fiction. by Wayne P. Lammers [book review]”, Hulvey 1992

1992-hulvey-review:thetaleofmatsurafujiwarateikasexperimentinfiction.pdf: “Reviewed Work: The Tale of Matsura: Fujiwara Teika's Experiment in Fiction. by Wayne P. Lammers [book review]”⁠, S. Yumiko Hulvey

“Reviewed Work: Conversations with Shōtetsu. by Robert H. Brower, Steven D. Carter [book review]”, Bundy 1992

1992-bundy-review-conversationswithshotetsu.pdf: “Reviewed Work: Conversations with Shōtetsu. by Robert H. Brower, Steven D. Carter [book review]”⁠, Roselee Bundy

“Poetic Apprenticeship. Fujiwara Teika's Shogaku Hyakushu”, Bundy 1990

1990-bundy-poeticapprenticeship:fujiwarateikasshogakuhyakushu.pdf: “Poetic Apprenticeship. Fujiwara Teika's Shogaku Hyakushu”⁠, Roselee Bundy

“Kyōgoku Tamekane: Poetry and Politics in Late Kamakura Japan”, Huey 1989

1989-huey-kyogokutamekane.pdf: “Kyōgoku Tamekane: Poetry and Politics in Late Kamakura Japan”⁠, Robert N. Huey

“Waiting for the Wind: Thirty-Six Poets of Japan's Late Medieval Age”, Carter 1989

1989-carter-waitingforthewind.pdf: “Waiting for the Wind: Thirty-Six Poets of Japan's Late Medieval Age”⁠, Steven D. Carter

“Robert H. Brower, 1923-1988 [obituary]”, Editor 1988

1988-brower-obituary.pdf: “Robert H. Brower, 1923-1988 [obituary]”⁠, Editor

“Fujiwara Teika's Maigetsushō”, Brower 1985

1985-brower-fujiwarateikasmaigetsusho.pdf: “Fujiwara Teika's Maigetsushō”⁠, Robert H. Brower

“Genji Days”, Archive 1983

1983-seidensticker-genji.pdf: “Genji Days”⁠, Digitized by the Internet Archive

“Fujiwara Teika's Hundred-Poem Sequence of the Shōji Era, 1200: A Complete Translation, with Introduction and Commentary. By Robert H. Brower. Tokyo: Sophia University (Monumenta Nipponica Monograph No. 55), 1978. 120 pp. Illustrations, Footnotes, Appendix, Works Cited or Quoted in the Text, Index. share_history1.00. [book review]”, Morrell 1979

1979-morrell-review:fujiwarateikashundredpoemsequenceoftheshojiera.pdf: “Fujiwara Teika's Hundred-Poem Sequence of the Shōji Era, 1200: A Complete Translation, with Introduction and Commentary. By Robert H. Brower. Tokyo: Sophia University (Monumenta Nipponica Monograph No. 55), 1978. 120 pp. Illustrations, Footnotes, Appendix, Works Cited or Quoted in the Text, Index. share_history1.00. [book review]”⁠, Robert E. Morrell (backlinks)

“Fujiwara Teika's Hundred-Poem Sequence of the Shōji Era [Continued]”, Brower 1976

1976-brower-fujiwarateikashundredpoemsequenceoftheshojiera-part2.pdf: “Fujiwara Teika's Hundred-Poem Sequence of the Shōji Era [Continued]”⁠, Robert H. Brower (backlinks)

“Reviewed Work: _Fujiwara Teika's Supreme Poems of Our Times. A Thirteenth-Century Poetic Treatise and Sequence_, by Robert H. Brower, Earl Miner [book review]”, Kato 1969

1969-kato-review:fujiwarateikassupremepoemsofourtimes.pdf: “Reviewed Work: _Fujiwara Teika's Supreme Poems of Our Times. A Thirteenth-Century Poetic Treatise and Sequence_, by Robert H. Brower, Earl Miner [book review]”⁠, Hilda Kato

“Fujiwara Teika's Superior Poems of Our Time [book review]”, O'Neill 1968 {#o’neill-1968-section}

1968-oneill-review:fujiwarateikassupremepoemsofourtimes.pdf: “Fujiwara Teika's Superior Poems of Our Time [book review]”⁠, P. G. O'Neill

“Japanese Court Poetry”, Brower & Miner 1961

1961-brower-japanesecourtpoetry.pdf: “Japanese Court Poetry”⁠, Robert H. Brower, Earl Miner

“The Manyoshu: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems with the Texts in Romaji”, Shinkokai & Keene 1940

1940-nippongakujutsushinkokai-manyoshu.pdf: “The Manyoshu: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems with the Texts in Romaji”⁠, Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai, Donald Keene