ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides to bring Japanese-language scholarship about the Beatles, their music and their fandom to an English-speaking audience. It focuses on the collective engagement of the Japanese people with the Beatles phenomenon in the early and mid-1960s and examines the aftermath of the Japanese tour. The book presents some of the behind-the-scenes work that would come to define the Japan experience as the 'successful' leg of the Asian tour, in comparison to disastrous concerts that came immediately after the Tokyo dates. It deals with a discussion of fictional representations in contemporary Japanese culture, focusing on how the Beatles as a trope are used to express complex ideas about Japan's role in twentieth-century global history. The chapter examines the aspects of Lennon's legacy that feature Japanese cultural elements, a result of his partnership with Ono.
