ABSTRACT
The introduction suggests ways to study Japanese popular culture and offers reasons why it is important to do. It outlines the organizing principles behind the twelve parts of the book and the selection of forty-two contemporary and historical trends that have largely influenced artistic production and reveal much about society, politics, economics, history, globalization, gender, law, and other large concepts. It explains why each chapter focuses on a tangible object or phenomenon from which a whole body of work or a genre can be illuminated. This approach of building theory from data, and not attaching data to theory, makes for a useful teaching tool for beginners, encourages discussion among specialists, and destabilizes some of the more orientalist or fanciful theories. In doing so, the book challenges readers to consider what defines Japanese popular culture and the contradictions underlying the term.
