Imagine a Japanese living room. What would you expect to see? Would it surprise you that Popeye, The Flinstones, or The Jetsons might be playing on TV? Currently, Japan is recognized as a nation of anime, but its development wouldn’t have existed without the US. The US and Japan share a unique cultural relationship when it comes to anime.

Both the United States and Japan receive economic benefits from the explosion of Japanese anime. First, as for Japan, anime is spread out in all over Japanese society. For example, most convenience stores in Japan collaborate with anime industries to increase the sale of their products, and it is beneficial for the anime industries to advertise their anime as well. Also, there are many TV or portable games which are based on anime sold in Japan, and there are lots of singers singing only anime songs. Anime is rooted in Japanese society very deeply and widely, and it sustains Japanese economy. Additionally, the influence of Japanese anime has extended to the United States. Nissim Otmazgin, a senior lecturer in the Department of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, says in his article that Japanese anime had a huge impact on the economy in the United States as well, and it produced more than US $ 4.84 billion sales in 2003.[1] Although the revenue in export has dropped, anime is still a good market in the United States: programs of anime television are still made, products continue to be marketed and consumed, and anime-related events such as the Los Angeles Anime Expo and Baltimore’s Otakon attract hundreds of thousands of American fans.[2] Even though both countries benefit economically, the citizens of Japan and the United States view anime quite differently.

First, the hierarchic position of anime in Japan is very high. In Japan, there are a lot of professional schools of anime where students can learn everything related to anime, for example how to draw the anime characters, to assemble the story of anime, and so on. Japan puts the emphasis on anime industry, and grows animators who create high-quality anime all over Japan. Although American animation, cartoons, was an imported culture from overseas and was not main culture in Japan, anime has become an important culture for Japanese society. As a result, Japanese anime is enjoyed not only in Japan but also nationally. On the other hand, the perception of animation in the United States is different from Japan. Shinobu Price, a daughter of Joe Price who is a renowned Japanese art historian and collector, says that “Westerners often treat animation, or “cartoons,” with such hierarchical disdain that forces it to be labeled as an inferior art form… or “unrealistic” in its portrayal of the human condition.”[3] Western seems to see cartoons as just a trivial culture in their countries.

Also, the reason why the events related to Japanese anime is held in the US is Japanese anime has wide range of genre. Compared to American animation, Japanese anime has unlimited genre in it, and therefore attracts youngsters of a variety of ages. According to Shinobu Price, audiences can find the following stories in Japanese anime: “wrenching dramas, cheesy romances, storybook adventures, spooky thrillers, historical fantasies, robot shows, gothic fairy tales, slapstick parodies, futuristic dystopias, sports dramas, sci-fi series, gimmicky sci-fi series, sexy cyberpunk techno-mythologies, misogynistic violent pornography, sword and sorcery stories, spoofs of sword and sorcery stories, epic environmental cautionary tales, Norse Goddess romantic comedies, not to mention your normal, everyday life family soap opera.”[4] From these genres, audience can select whatever she/he wants to enjoy. On the other hand, she points out that Western animation, especially American animation, is made for kids (or at least stereotyped such as), and “cannot get out from the realm of fairly tales with manufactured happy endings and token animal sidekick.”[5] The wide range of genre helps Japanese anime penetrate into the society in the United States.

Additionally, according to her, manga (so-called comics in Western countries, such as DC comics) helps to expand the range of audience. Unlike US comic such as DC or Marvel comic which are mainly for boys and men, about one-thirds of manga are comprised by shojo manga which is made for mainly girls and women in Japan.[6] Matt Thorn, a cultural anthropologist, says “In 2000, more than 1.5 billion manga magazines and books were sold, with gross revenues totaling \ 523 billion. Many of those were shojo manga.”[7] Almost of all Japanese anime is based on Japanese manga, and it means that Japanese anime is made for both men and women. Although American animation has both genres as well, they are either for men or for women. On the contrary, Japanese anime is created to get both men and women to enjoy at the same time. In other words, Japanese anime doesn’t have a clear border for gender. This is the reason for Japanese anime to be loved by any gender and ages.

There are several differences between anime and cartoons themselves between Japan and United States, but it doesn’t means either one is superior to the other one. Both anime and animation in Japan and the United States are different culture, and therefore the perception of them is different. One certain thing is that anime and cartoon are the strong bond which connects Japan and the United States.