ABSTRACT

This chapter provides some examples of how fiction subtextually comments on the role of neo-shamanism, neo-animism, and techno-mysticism in Japanese society. An analysis of science fiction offers a glimpse into the fears and fantasies of postmodern society. In the modern/postmodern world, massive mechanical reproduction and the copies-of-copies culture have produced what is called the mechanical uncanny. As technologies have improved, computer-generated simulation has created electronic presences that immerse us in a wired world of super-complex entities that seem somehow self-aware, autonomous, and smarter than us. An example from popular culture concerning how electronic otherworlds bring to us a new dimension is the 2001 film Kairo. An examination of popular culture offers examples of how animism and related beliefs have been updated and technologized: techno-animism, techno-shamanism, and techno-vitalism. Electricity may be thought of as the vitalistic lifeblood of modernity/postmodernity, animating machines and equipment.