1990–2020: The Quiet Soft Power War Between Boston Feminism and Japanese Anime

From inside elite circles in the 1990s, Japan was already considered “finished.” The asset bubble had burst. GDP stagnated. Demographics turned negative. In high-culture and academic environments—from Paris to Boston—the consensus was simple: Japan peaked in 1989. And yet, between 1990 and 2020, Japan won one of the