The I ntercultural Meanings of “Nikkei” in the E ra of Global Capitalism:
An E thnographic S tudy in S an F rancisco’s J apantown
S achiko K otani
小谷 幸子
kosachiko@mrh.biglobe.ne.jp
1. I ntroduction
In recent years, the term “Nikkei” has been used in association with the
identities, experiences, and perspectives of Japanese emigrants and their
descendants overseas. What is emphasized here is the elastic nature of this
symbolic term which acknowledges and responds to the shifting and fluid
contexts of social, political, and historical realities in which contemporary
ethnic communities are situated.
Based on the perspective gained through ethnographic fieldwork in an urban
neighborhood called San Francisco’s Japantown, this paper highlights how
such current emphasis on “Nikkei” as a symbolic construction links, at the
local arena, to the interethnic encounters and multicultural practices
associated with the growing popularity of Japanese cultural commodity and
capital in the current global market.
Here, I particularly focus on the episodes and life stories revolving around a
second-generation Chinese American teenage anime artist whom I met in
San Francisco’s Japantown. By tracing through her personal associations
with and memories of San Francisco’s Japantown, I’m hoping to explore the
multiple globalizing contexts in which Nikkei is being redefined.
２． Anime as a Transcultural Global Commodity
Anime has been increasingly recognized as a transnational commodity which
has created diverse fan cultures and communities worldwide beyond the
realm of Japanese national culture. In the case of the United States of
America, it is said that the first anime-specific fan groups were started in the
late 1970s (Anime USA 2003). With the introduction of series such as Sailor
Moon and Pokemon, the 1980s saw the beginning of the mainstreamization

of anime. A new wave of anime on American mainstream media started in
the 1990s, targeting late-teenage audiences and older adults rather than
young children. This contributed to a dramatic increase and a wide variety in
the audience, inducing a massive expansion and organization of anime fans
today.
Anime fans have formed various groups and networks through online and
offline meetings and conversations. They usually meet at local and regional
conventions and in local fan clubs, in Internet chat rooms and through
on-line anime games. Mailing lists, fanzines (amateur publications created
by fans), and websites are also used for communication among fans. Fans use
these networks to get their anime and exchange information while
developing a special bond stemming from their shared interest in anime.
It is reported that contemporary American anime fans are an extremely
diverse group of people, crossing every age, gender, ethnicity and
socioeconomic boundary. Nonetheless, the typical image of an anime fan in
the U.S. has been a male in his 20s or 30s. This image has been associated
with previous discussions on anime fandom in which anime fans are often
lumped into a single category. Particularly, while researchers and journalists
have frequently talked about gender and sexuality issues in anime, less
attention has been paid to the fact that anime fan communities are quite
racially and linguistically mixed as a group.
3. Anime as a Tool to P reserve and Revitalize J apantown
San Francisco's Japantown (Nihonmachi) is known as one of the three
existing Japantowns remaining in the United States. Since the late 1990’s,
community leaders in the area have been working toward preserving
Japantown as a unique cultural and economic district to symbolize an
appreciation of Nikkei heritage. The similar projects have been taking place
simultaneously in the other two remaining Japantowns in Los Angeles and
San Jose as well, under the California Japantown Preservation Pilot Project
(Senate Bill 307). This historic legislation passed in 2001 to recognize the
cultural significance of the Japantowns as ethnic neighborhoods to the
diversity of the state. It provided grants to Los Angeles, San Jose and San

Francisco to promote the preservation of their Japantown neighborhoods.
Subsequently, community representatives from California’s three remaining
Japantowns have worked together to secure funding from the state to
preserve the Japantown legacy.
As the Nikkei community leaders stress the importance of economic
development in this chain of Japantown preservation movements, it is
observed that contemporary Japanese pop culture like Anime receives
strategic attention as a potentially powerful tool to preserve and revitalize
Japantown. In the case of San Francisco’s Japantown, a variety of
Anime-related events such as Anime costume parade and video screening are
hosted or supported by local Japantown-based organizations, and Anime
fans of diverse cultural backgrounds visit, shop, and gather in Japantown all
year round.
4. A Teenage Anime Artist, Meow
Meow is one of such anime fans who are drawn to San Francisco’s Japantown.
On December 4th 2004, I met her at an anime screening event held as part of
San Francisco Japantown Year-End Festival. This screening event was
organized by a San Francisco-based local multimedia company called project
760 productions, and sponsored by a local college anime club and such
Japantown businesses as Kinokuniya Bookstore and Mikado Music & Laser.
In front of the screening room, there was a Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game
tournament going on. I have been doing fieldwork in San Francisco’s
Japantown for the past few years, and this was my first visit to an anime
screening. As I sheepishly entered the screening room, I saw a group of
teenage boys and girls chatting and playing with each other around an artist
booth set up in the back of the room. Among them, there was an Asian girl
with long black hair dressed in an anime costume. That was Meow.
Video, 5 minutes (In the presentation)
She was a high-school senior. Born in Torrance, California, she identified
herself as the first generation Chinese born in America. Her parents came
from Hong Kong, and she has U.S. citizenship. In addition to English and a

little bit of Spanish, she spoke Mandarin, Kantonese and some Japanese.
For this year’s annual Cherry Blossom festival held as one of the many
centennial events, she was invited to teach how to draw Anime at the booth
of the Japanese consulate. The local Chinese TV broadcasting company came
to interview her, and this eventually led to significant changes in her
parents’ perception about Anime and their daughter’s passion for it. Before
her parents got to see their daughter on TV, according to Meow, they were
not really interested or even sometimes ignorant about her dream to be a
Manga-ka, Anime artist. Particularly, her mother had the negative image of
Japan associated with the war-time imperial Japan. Meow was often told not
to date with any Japanese boy. But once her parents started receiving calls
from their Chinese speaking relatives about her appearance on TV, things
started to change. Her father told Meow that he would support her if she
wants to go to Japan to study to be a Mangaka after high school graduation.
Her mother now helps her make her costume for conventions.
４．E nding Remarks
As mentioned above, through the community effort to preserve San
Francisco’s Japantown as a vibrant symbolic locale for the Nikkei, Anime as
contemporary Japanese cultural industry has found its physical location to
provide San Francisco’s diverse anime fans a community established across
multiple borders. The dynamics of this new phenomenon provide an
interesting platform to view the symbolic construction of Nikkei in the era of
multicultural global capitalism.