Idol economics: Television, affective and virtual models in Japan

Abstract

This chapter sketches the commercial dimensions of idols. Positioned in contemporary Japan, the author identifies three major paradigms since the 1970s, namely the integrated media-commodity system or television model, the direct experience or affective model and the virtual model. In the wake of a deteriorating television model, dominated by male idols such as SMAP and Arashi since the 2000s, there is tension today between the competing affective and virtual models, specifically concerning the demand for bodies and authenticity, but both are proving enormously successful. This chapter presents the contrasting examples of AKB48 and Hatsune Miku, as well as their historical predecessors Onyanko Club and "two-dimensional idols." Importantly, Japan is not unique-even something as seemingly novel as "virtual reality characters" can be traced back to England in the late 1800s-but rather serves as a well-developed case study of pop idolatry for comparative analysis.