The Japan Multilateral COIL/VE Project (MCP) at Kansai University successfully concluded its Summer 2026 course, Globally Known J-Pop Culture. The program welcomed 48 students from Japan, the United States, Spain, Brazil, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Thailand.

 

The Globally Known J-Pop Culture course was facilitated by Prof. Don Bysouth (Kansai University). The program provided an engaging learning environment for students to explore Japanese popular culture—including J-pop music, idols, anime and manga, games, VTubers, and fashion—as a site of creativity, fandom, and soft power. Through interactive lectures and discussions, participants examined how Japanese popular culture circulates globally, how international fans engage with and reinterpret it, and how cultural industries and institutions promote Japan through initiatives such as “Cool Japan.” The course also introduced key concepts such as transnational fandom, “Gross National Cool,” cultural diplomacy, and comparisons between J-pop, K-pop, and other global cultural trends.

 

Through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), students worked in international teams to analyze artists, franchises, genres, digital platforms, and fan communities from multiple cultural perspectives. They explored topics such as anime and transmedia storytelling, global fandom, “otaku” identities, games and VTubers, digital platforms and algorithms, as well as issues related to gender, labor, representation, inclusion, and cultural localization. For their final projects, students examined how selected examples of Japanese pop culture circulate and are received across different regions, and collaboratively created digital products such as online exhibits, video essays, fan guides, and other media for global audiences. The final presentations highlighted both the opportunities and challenges surrounding J-pop culture as entertainment, business, global fandom, and a form of Japanese soft power.