Archive for September 2007
Foreign Celebrities in Japan: The Thesis
When I was studying at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan, I wrote a thesis on Foreign Celebrities in Japan. It was great getting in touch with former celebrities and agencies promoting foreigners in Japan. I decided to research and write about this topic, because I always wondered why certain artists never make it in their own country, but become BIG IN JAPAN. Of course, some of the stories I had heard in Switzerland about certain artists being popstars in Japan were–and still are–just myths or even lies. But real success stories such as K1-fighter Andy Hug’s popularity as a national hero in the land of the rising sun show the potential for people who do not have a platform in their own country to succeed in Japan.
If you would like to read the whole thesis you will find it on my website www.sebastianmereu.com under What I Share.
This post has been edited by the author on November 20, 2008.
