Hot Shakespeare, Cool Japan: Editorial introduction

Abstract

This issue is titled 'Hot Shakespeare, Cool Japan', something Atsuhiko Hirota explores in his foreword. I reached for this title partly to avoid confusion with around a dozen existing works partly or wholly named 'Shakespeare in Japan' or 'Shakespeare in Contemporary [or Modern] Japan'. I wanted to capture something of Shakespeare's continuing, if fraught, presence in Japan. 'Hot' can mean attractive and appealing ('Shakespeare looks hot in the Cobb portrait'), as well as something 'difficult or awkward to deal with' ('Shakespeare's absence from his young family is a hot potato for biographers') or 'controversial or contentious' ('Shakespeare's future in Japanese classrooms is hotly debated'). 1 I also liked the promise of 'fresh' or 'exciting' takes that 'hot Shakespeare' captures. 2 It succinctly captures my own experience of teaching, researching, and watching Shakespeare as a Megumi visiting professor in the English Department at Kobe College during the academic year 2022-23, on loan from Bangor University. This involved lively conversations about both Shakespeare and Japan with students and colleagues as well as some literally hot sonnet readings and Shakespeare scavenger hunts, under the bright sun, in the campus's beautiful Shakespeare Garden. This opportunity rounded out a decade of shorter stays, involving a range of Japanese universities in Kantōand Kansai.'Cool' Japan structurally suggests a contrast with 'hot Shakespeare', but it is not quite an antonym for 'hot'; indeed, it is often used as a synonym meaning 'hip', 'stylish', and attractive. 3 'Cool Japan' invokes flows of influence between the two countries since products and experiences considered part of the 'Cool Japan' phenomenon are enjoyed by British Japanophiles, while Shakespeare has travelled back and forth between Japan and the United Kingdom in the form of texts, productions, and academics. Additionally, the phrase 'Cool Japan' draws on 'Cool Britannia', as Hirota explains in his foreword. 'Cool Britannia' and 'Cool Japan' both purportedly originated with cultural and economic commentators: in Britain during the late 1990s and in Japan in the midnoughties. 'Cool Britannia' became synonymous with New Labour's campaigns to celebrate the resurgence of Britain's cultural industries (Britpop music, art, and fashion) but, as that government declined and the 2008 financial crisis took hold, the phrase soured and