'Cool Japan' - culture as a global export

The idea that Japan could be ‘cool’ first gained traction in 2002 with the publication of an article by California-based writer Douglas McGray, arguing that despite a decade-long recession, an end to full employment and a decline in GDP, by 2001 Japan had found a way to reinvent itself as a superpower.

While Bhutan has tried to measure progress through the concept of Gross National Happiness, Japan has been banking on its Gross National Cool index. Vaughan Yarwood takes a look at how Japan has gained in global cultural status despite a continued decline in its economic indicators.

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