Glocalization: A Cultural Dilemma

One month ago, a question was posted on Quora – a question and answer site popular among Silicon Valley circles and technology start-up communities – asking for the reasons for AKB48’s success in gaining an international audience. This question was posted by one of my acquaintances who sought to learn a bit more about AKB48 and its Indonesian counterpart after catching snippets of my Twitter activity and discussions about JKT48.

Before I had the opportunity to contribute my own opinion, another Quora user submitted an answer featuring a term I had heard before but whose origins I never really examined. Glocalization – a portmanteau of globalization and localization – is the adaptation of a business or service tailored to the culture and locality of its target market. Ironically, this marketing concept was first adopted by Japanese businesses in the 1980s as a translation of the practice of dochakuka (土着化) – adapting farming techniques to local conditions. It was eventually popularized after use in publications such as the Harvard Business Review. The English term was popularized about a decade later through the work of British and Canadian sociologists.

JKT48, the epitome of the localization of a global brand, is undoubtedly a glocalization project by the culture who knows how to do it best. It should be noted that this is different from the Hallyu (Korean Wave) phenomenon which is also growing in Indonesia. Hallyu seeks to proliferate South Korean pop culture as a prepackaged product, while Japanese glocalization seeks to present the product as culturally bred at home. The result is that the strategy for each approach is different because one involves generating interest toward the country of the product’s origin, while the other focuses on generating interest within the target market.

Glocalization as a concept should not be alien to Indonesia because at least 90 percent of its population already experience it. Although Islam is the overwhelmingly predominant religion in the country, it is often different from Islam practiced in the Middle East and other parts of the world. For centuries, blending traditional Quranic teachings with local customs have resulted in facilitating the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia. Despite this history, however, Indonesia today is culturally different from centuries ago, and glocalization becomes a difficult task when the local culture is already so diverse.

In Japan, 98.5 percent of the population belong to one ethnic group. In Indonesia, Javanese people make up more than 40 percent of the population, but other ethnic cultures have also penetrated the mainstream Indonesian culture. What Indonesians know as Indonesian culture is really the conglomeration of dozens of cultures that exist within the borders of the country. Here lies the problem of glocalization: Does one localize to a single mainstream culture or try to incorporate the many conglomerated local cultures?

One particular example is the ethnic identity of the Chinese Indonesian members of JKT48. Those who are not familiar with the history of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia – which some figures say is the world’s second largest overseas Chinese population – are welcome to peruse through the English Wikipedia article (whose content was mostly written by this author, as full disclaimer). Chinese Indonesian identity has remained an issue in Indonesia because of decades of government policy enforcing assimilation and acculturation. The use of adopted surnames to mask and also preserve a family’s ethnic Chinese identity was popularized in the 1960s amid growing suspicion of the loyalty of Chinese Indonesians. The family names of several JKT48 members exhibit this cultural heritage.

A second example is the use of the hijab (head veil) by members during the Islamic month of Ramadan, which has raised questions among some observers whether such practice is appropriate for non-Muslim members. While one can often see non-Muslims to wear them out of respect for Muslims, one has to take into consideration whether respect can lead to overzealousness. This has become a problem in Malaysia, whereby some Malay Muslim circles have come to believe that they have greater rights over non-Malays and non-Muslims after decades of racial-centric policies propped up by the government.

If JKT48 is truly a localized group, its members should reflect the diversity of the Indonesian culture and not be solely focused on a mainstream one. One issue that management must attempt to address is how to leverage members’ ethnic and cultural identities to attract audiences of various backgrounds. Anecdotally, it is common to hear Chinese Indonesians reluctant to visit places frequented by seemingly unruly native Indonesians, which is undoubtedly the image that some have of JKT48 Theater. From a faith-based standpoint, I have also found it encouraging that Christian members are brave enough to post Bible verses on Twitter. Although there are many fans who choose their oshimen regardless of cultural identity, there will always be some who choose them based on these traits.

Furthermore, how does JKT48 management aim to reconcile this dilemma of cultural localization with the fact that the group is promoting Japanese culture which is much more homogeneous than Indonesia’s? Management must assess whether it wants JKT48 to be the flag bearer of Japan’s idol culture using local faces or the pioneer of an idol culture that is uniquely Indonesian.