Sesame Street's place in Japan: marketing multicultural New York in cosmopolitan Tokyo

Abstract

Sesame Street, the longest running and most popular children's program in world television history, has failed to gain a large fan base in Japan because of notions of place. Since 1969, Sesame Street has taught socialization skills, pioneered programming formats, developed marketing strategies and spread American ideologies. Sesame Street has aired in English in 145 countries; over thirty countries have developed localized versions. Japan's NHK public television broadcast Sesame Street from 1971 to 2004 to teach English to secondary-school students. In 2004, Sesame Street was moved to the commercial TV Tokyo network and was localized. Muppets were added to appeal to younger children. Yet the program was cancelled in 2007. A key to Sesame Street's worldwide success has been teaching cognitive skills and promoting compassion for local cultural differences, while tapping consumer desires for idealized American childhood. When New York was erased and the English language removed, Sesame Street could not compete with Japan's already extensive children's television market. Sesame Street characters, however, became more successful when removed from their original context.I overview five aspects of Sesame Street in Japan and Japan in Sesame Street that best exemplify the program's cultural and consumerist politics, significance in television history and the image of urban society it represents. Namely, I analyze Sesame Street's place on children's television, the reasons for its importation and localization, depictions of Japan, broadcast history and legacy after cancellation. I argue that the kind of popularity Sesame Street has enjoyed in Japan is different than in other countries and provides insight into the Japanese television industry and marketing of American childhood. I explore a historical moment when television was particularly influential in international relations and in constructing notions of ‘home’.