Consumer Cosmopolitanism through Japanese products: The case of the Yakuza-series

Sammanfattning: Mukokuseki or borderless marketing has long been a topic within the marketing of Japanese cultural products. On the opposite end, there is the concept of ultra-cultural products and the Yakuza-series by Sega is one of the examples that takes advantage of both. The overarching question posed throughout this paper is: “How has SEGA employed a particular vision of Japan to successfully promote its Yakuza-series in the Western gaming-hubs?”. In order to answer this question, a constructivist and a Consumer Cosmopolitan point of reference is apt. The games themselves were analyzed as part of the Consumer Cosmopolitan trend within gaming, as a medium for virtual tourism. This series is mainly aimed towards an adult male domestic audience and it taps into many borderless concepts, but it places them in a domestic setting. Not many other products have managed this combination and it is interesting how the series illustrates how the promotion of highly cultural products has been changed from low-availability to high-availability products. While many other products possess the same traits, not many have moved away from a relatively niche audience in the Western gaming-hubs makes for an interesting case-study regarding how Consumer Cosmopolitanism has changed within Japanese gaming-products.