Abstract
This paper describes the background to the concept of "Japan-Brand" and ways of introducing the concept into media design education. The notion of national branding is a much discussed issue in the field of Japanese design policy as well as in art and culture movements. Through some university level education case studies, the author found that students could understand how corporations, designers and artists have learned from traditional cultural resources, and reconstructed or transformed them with new technologies, social issues and contemporary styles of expression. The keywords of this approach are: relating oneself to the traditional resources, interpreting them, and looking at one's works from an outsider's perspective.
