We Heart Japan: Fan Citizenship and the Role of Institutions in the Response to Japanese Earthquakes

摘要

The 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated the nation created a situation that, through the global flows of media content, necessitated a response from the international anime fan community. This response was shaped by the ethical framework of caring for the community. Performances of fan citizenship reflected this existing community value and the community's identification with other fans and the people of Japan. Reflecting these identifications, fans took civic action in the form of the ethical modalities of donating money to relief efforts and critiquing community discourse that diverted attention from the disaster. Institutions, like the streaming service Crunchyroll, served to rhetorically define the ethical modalities at play in this context through their institutional role of amplifying performances of fan citizenship.