ABSTRACT

Specifically designed for use on a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, Introducing Japanese Popular Culture is a comprehensive textbook offering an up-to-date overview of a wide variety of media forms. It uses particular case studies as a way into examining the broader themes in Japanese culture and provides a thorough analysis of the historical and contemporary trends that have shaped artistic production, as well as, politics, society, and economics. As a result, more than being a time capsule of influential trends, this book teaches enduring lessons about how popular culture reflects the societies that produce and consume it.

With contributions from an international team of scholars, representing a range of disciplines from history and anthropology to art history and media studies, the book’s sections include:

  • Television
  • Videogames
  • Music
  • Popular Cinema
  • Anime
  • Manga
  • Popular Literature
  • Fashion
  • Contemporary Art

Written in an accessible style by a stellar line-up of international contributors, this textbook will be essential reading for students of Japanese culture and society, Asian media and popular culture, and Asian Studies in general.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

Serious Approaches to Playful Delights

part I|24 pages

Characters

chapter 2|13 pages

Kumamon

Japan’s Surprisingly Cheeky Mascot

chapter 3|11 pages

Hello Kitty Is Not a Cat?!?

Tracking Japanese Cute Culture at Home and Abroad 1

part II|34 pages

Television

chapter 4|13 pages

The Grotesque Hero

Depictions of Justice in Tokusatsu Superhero Television Programs

chapter 5|11 pages

Tokyo Love Story

Romance of the Working Woman in Japanese Television Dramas 1

part III|22 pages

Videogames

chapter 7|12 pages

Nuclear Discourse in Final Fantasy VII

Embodied Experience and Social Critique

chapter 8|10 pages

The Cute Shall Inherit the Earth

Post-Apocalyptic Posthumanity in Tokyo Jungle

part IV|43 pages

Fan Media and Technology

chapter 10|10 pages

Purikura

Expressive Energy in Female Self-Photography

chapter 11|9 pages

Studio Ghibli Media Tourism

chapter 12|11 pages

Hatsune Miku

Virtual Idol, Media Platform, and Crowd-Sourced Celebrity 1

part V|56 pages

Music

chapter 13|13 pages

Electrifying the Japanese Teenager Across Generations

The Role of the Electric Guitar in Japan’s Popular Culture 1

chapter 14|10 pages

The “Pop Pacific”

Japanese-American Sojourners and the Development of Japanese Popular Music

chapter 15|10 pages

AKB Business

Idols and Affective Economics in Contemporary Japan

chapter 16|12 pages

In Search of Japanoise

Globalizing Underground Music

chapter 17|11 pages

Korean Pop Music in Japan

Understanding the Complex Relationship Between Japan and Korea in the Popular Culture Realm 1

part VI|36 pages

Popular Cinema

chapter 18|13 pages

The Prehistory of Soft Power

Godzilla, Cheese, and the American Consumption of Japan

chapter 19|12 pages

The Rise of Japanese Horror Films

Yotsuya Ghost Story (Yotsuya Kaidan), Demonic Men, and Victimized Women

chapter 20|11 pages

V-Cinema

How Home Video Revitalized Japanese Film and Mystified Film Historians

part VII|36 pages

Anime

chapter 21|14 pages

Apocalyptic Animation

In the Wake of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Godzilla, and Baudrillard 1

chapter 22|11 pages

Toy Stories

Robots and Magical Girls in Anime Marketing

chapter 23|11 pages

Condensing the Media Mix

The Tatami Galaxy’s Multiple Possible Worlds 1

part VIII|48 pages

Manga

chapter 24|14 pages

Gekiga, or Japanese Alternative Comics

The Mediascape of Japanese Counterculture

chapter 25|10 pages

Sampling Girls’ Culture

An Analysis of Shōjo Manga Magazines

chapter 26|13 pages

The Beautiful Men of the Inner Chamber

Gender-Bending, Boys’ Love, and Other Shōjo Manga Tropes in Ōoku

chapter 27|11 pages

Cyborg Empiricism

The Ghost Is Not in the Shell

part IX|23 pages

Popular Literature

chapter 29|11 pages

Thumb-Generation Literature

The Rise and Fall of Japanese Cellphone Novels 1

part X|63 pages

Sites and Spectacles

chapter 30|13 pages

Hanabi

The Cultural Significance of Fireworks in Japan

chapter 31|13 pages

Kamishibai

The Fantasy Space of the Urban Street Corner

chapter 32|12 pages

Shibuya

Reflective Identity in Transforming Urban Space 1

chapter 33|13 pages

Akihabara

Promoting and Policing “Otaku” in “Cool Japan”

chapter 34|12 pages

Japan Lost and Found

Modern Ruins as Debris of the Economic Miracle

part XI|33 pages

Fashion

chapter 35|13 pages

Cute Fashion

The Social Strategies and Aesthetics of Kawaii

chapter 36|12 pages

Made in Japan

A New Generation of Fashion Designers

chapter 37|8 pages

Clean-Cut

Men’s Fashion Magazines, Male Aesthetic Ideals, and Social Affinity in Japan

part XII|36 pages

Contemporary Art

chapter 38|13 pages

Superflat Life

chapter 39|11 pages

Aida Makoto

Notes from an Apathetic Continent