Media idols and the regime of truth about national identity in post-3.11 Japan

Abstract

By discussing the evolution of the dominant narratives around an idol group selected by the government as ‘face of Japan’, this chapter argues that, after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of 2011, Japanese power elites have been relying on popular media idols – and their non-political images – to disseminate and establish as truth a discourse on the national identity that emulates the outdated nihonjinron, in the aim of nurturing a patriotic sentiment in society that supports the prompt recovery from diverse crises the country has been experiencing and, perhaps, to adopt otherwise controversial policies.