Administering Affect: Pop-Culture Japan and the Politics of Anxiety

Administering Affect explores the connection between state administration and public sentiment in Japan, documenting the rise of Pop-Culture Japan as a response to Japan's economic decline. Daniel White argues that state bureaucrats targeted political anxiety as a national problem and built a new national image based on pop-culture branding. The book examines the creative policy figures of Pop-Culture Japan, such as anime diplomats and Cool Japan branding campaigns, and illustrates how anxiety becomes a bureaucratic target, technique, and unintended consequence of promoting Japan's national popular culture.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 24 June 2022
Publisher: Stanford University Press

In his book "Administering Affect," Daniel White delves into the intriguing relationship between state administration and public sentiment. Emerging in the aftermath of Japan's significant economic decline in the early 1990s, Pop-Culture Japan served as a reflection of the aspirations of Japanese state bureaucrats and political elites aimed at restoring Japan's international reputation. White contends that in the face of increasing regional competitiveness and geopolitical tensions in East Asia, Japan's state bureaucrats recognized political anxiety as a national concern and constructed a new national image centered around pop-culture branding as a solution.

Through sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork among rarely accessible government bureaucrats, "Administering Affect" offers a comprehensive examination of the interplay between state administration and public sentiment. White analyzes various creative policy figures of Pop-Culture Japan, including anime diplomats, Cool Japan branding campaigns, and the so-called Ambassadors of Cute, to illustrate the profound connection between practices of managing national culture and the circulation of anxiety among Japanese publics. By employing the term "administering affect," White highlights how anxiety becomes a bureaucratic target, technique, and unintended consequence of promoting Japan's national popular culture. The book presents an ethnographic portrait of the emotional lives of Japan's state bureaucrats, highlighting the at-times surprising emotional dimensions of their work.

In exploring how anxious feelings shape policymaking, White provides an intimate anthropological analysis of the interconnections between state governance, popular culture, and national identity. Through his meticulous research and insightful observations, White offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex dynamics between government, society, and the emotional experiences of individuals. "Administering Affect" is a must-read for scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in exploring the intersection of power, culture, and the management of public sentiment in contemporary societies.

Weight: 402g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503632196