Contemporary Sino-Japanese Relations on Screen: A History, 1989-2005

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Japan and China look back on a history of friendship as well as friction, particularly in recent decades. As the Peoples Republic of Chinas economy began to grow in the 1990s, so did its political weight within Asia and its economical relevance for Japan. Covering the years from 1989 to 2005, this book looks at Sino-Japanese relations through film and television drama in the crucial time of Chinas ascent to an economic superpower in opposition to Japans own ailing economy. It provides an overview of how Japan views China through its visual media, offers explanations as to how oppositions between the two countries came to exist, and how and why certain myths about China have been conveyed. Griseldis Kirsch argues that the influence of visual media within society cannot be underestimated, nor should their value be lessened by them being perceived as part of popular culture. Drawing on examples from a crucial 16 years in the history of post-war Japan and China, she explores to what extent these media were influenced by the political discourse of their time. In doing so, she adds another layer to the on-going debate on Sino-Japanese relations, bringing together disciplines such as media studies, history and area studies and thus filling a gap in existing research.

Reviews

This is a thought-provoking work that will raise many questions worthy of a readers careful consideration ... A rewarding read. * Monumenta Nipponica *
This is a long-awaited book that comprehensively examines Japans media representation of China. Griseldis Kirsch superbly elucidates the continuity and change of historically constituted Japans ambivalent desire for China through the analysis of TV and film representation in the post-cold-war context of Chinas rising economic power. It offers us a precious historical account of the current predicament of Japans relationship with China. * Koichi Iwabuchi, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and Director of Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Australia *
With clarity and erudition, Griseldis Kirsch provides us with a close reading of Japanese film and television productions since the late 1980s as they refer to Asia, and China in particular. Outlining surprising historical continuities in the entangled and fraught ways that characterise modern Japans relation to and imagination of Asia, Kirsch gives a fascinating account and a deep theoretical reading of the grand narrative that seems to underlie small and big screen productions: What evolves is an ever shape-shifting but tenaciously persistent nihonjinron. A must read for anyone interested not only in media, film and television studies in Japan but in the wider question of cultural and political relations in the changing economic landscape of East Asian nations. * Andrea Germer, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Japan *

Author Bio

Griseldis Kirsch is Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Culture at SOAS, University of London, UK.