MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The past twenty years have seen a significant influx of Japanese popular culture into the American “mainstream”. Titles such as “Pokémon”, “Naruto” and “Yu Gi Oh” have captivated the nation’s youth since the late 90s and onward into the 2000s. With the growth of Japan’s soft economic power and policy in “cultural capitalism”, this exchange has had a lot of support, resulting in a seemingly endless flow of marketable Japan onto U.S. shelves. Yet, a necessary evil is exacted upon these titles: localization. Importing Japanese animation, comics, and games into the U.S. requires translating them from their original language into English. The issue arises when we consider the difficulties of such a task. To transcribe, word for word, the Japanese into its English equivalent would result in dry, meaningless, or even nonsensical dialogue and concepts. Localization takes those original “texts” and doesn’t simply translate, but molds and modifies them to fit the ideals and consciousness of the American culture.

The linguistic problem remains in that cultural nuances held within the Japanese language from centuries of history and experience are lost upon localization. Instead, they are replaced with nuances relatable to the English language, and more specifically, the American experience. Companies such as 4Kids Entertainment and FUNimation Productions, which bring these translations to the population, often modify names, titles, and even, in some instances, animation to better “fit” the American culture it is targeting. Such examples include the change of the protagonist’s name from Satoshi to Ash in “Pokémon” and Naruto’s untranslatable catch-phrase, “dattebayo” to “believe it”. Yet, while these works are modified to suit American culture, they retain the sense of “exotic” allure and create a problematic illusion of cultural understanding which gave rise to the American “otaku” sub-culture.