The Banality of Boundaries: Performance of the Nation in a Japanese Television Comedy

Abstract

Through the framework provided by what Billig terms “banal nationalism,” this article analyzes the performance of national identity in the Japanese media.The specific target for analysis is an episode of nodame cantabile, first broadcast on the Fuji Television Network in 2006. After a review of literature on Japanese nationalism, a number of bordering processes are identified, in particular: the presentation of a Japan—the West dichotomy, the re-presentation of social relationships and semiotic markers of Japaneseness, narrative devices that promote confidence in the Japanese mode of social organization, and the role of “trickster” played by a “foreign” conductor. The significance of these processes becomes clear when placed within the context of what, in the literature, has been termed the emergence of a diverse and multicultural “New Japan.” Although the observations contained in this article do not refute this thesis, they do add a cautionary note. As is shown, the representation of Otherness found in this episode, and the way in which “Japaneseness” is placed in relationships with the Other, highlights difference and instrumentalizes foreigners in a way that reinforces ideas of national and cultural boundedness. For a “New Japan” to emerge, it is argued, alternative forms of representation are needed; however, the possibility of this or any kind of neutral representation is called into question. The article concludes by considering avenues for further research as well as the limits and potential of this type of interpretive research.