Last year was all about looking back. Between the end of the Heisei Era (1989-2019) and the decade coming to a close, people appeared to go to extra lengths to reflect on the recent and not-so-recent past (this column included). Now that we’ve entered 2020, though, it’s time to leave the highlights packages and best-of lists in the past. No more nostalgia … it’s time for predictions on where everything is heading.
The previous decade saw social media and internet culture in Japan go through major mutations en route to becoming a central part of daily life rather than a bizarre alternative world. It feels safe to predict the next 10 years will see just as many changes, for better or for worse. Here are a few major predictions of what we can expect:
Social media will redefine what a celebrity is: Few corners of Japanese society have been as resistant to the internet as the entertainment industry. However, this finally appeared to change toward the end of the 2010s, with once web-phobic artists such as Arashi and L’Arc-en-Ciel launching YouTube channels. Celebrities have started to use the video-sharing platform and other social media sites to connect directly with fans, offering new perspectives on who they are in the process. Entertainment personalities used to be expected to sing, dance, host TV shows and do a variety of other activities. In the 2020s, however, a celebrity will resemble something akin to what YouTubers Hikakin and Seikin have become — they’re best known as online figures, but now appear on TV and produce music, among other things. Online experience will just be another skill to check off on one’s resume, which will also result in the novelty of YouTubers and influencers losing their shine as they become expected to master myriad old-school skills.