E-Book Overview
Japanese popular culture is constantly evolving in the face of internal and external influence. Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan examines this evolution from a new and challenging perspective by focusing on the movements of popular culture into and out of Japan. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book argues that a key factor behind the changing nature of Japanese popular culture lies in its engagement with globalization. Essays from a team of leading international scholars illustrate this crucial interaction between the flows of Japanese popular culture and the constant development of globalization. Drawing on rich empirical content, this book looks at Japanese popular culture as it traverses international borders flowing out through such forms as manga consumption in New Zealand and flowing in through such forms as foreigners writing about Japan in Japanese and how American influences affected the formation of Japan’s gay identity. Presenting current, confronting and sometimes controversial insights into the many forms of Japanese popular culture emerging within this global context, Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan will make essential reading for those working in Japanese studies, cultural studies and international relations.
E-Book Content
Popular culture, globalization and Japan Japanese popular culture is constantly evolving in the face of internal and external influence. Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan examines this evolution from a new and challenging perspective by focusing on the movements of Japanese popular culture into and out of Japan. The book argues that a key factor behind the changing nature of Japanese popular culture lies in its engagement with globalization. Essays from a team of leading international scholars illustrate this crucial interaction. Drawing on rich empirical content from a series of interdisciplinary perspectives, this book looks at the complex movement of Japanese popular culture as it traverses international borders. Chapters on music, manga, media studies, and a range of contemporary popular cultural artifacts illustrate the problematic and complex relations between flows of ideas into and out of Japan. Presenting current, confronting and sometimes controversial insights into the many forms of Japanese popular culture emerging within this global context, Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan will make essential reading for those working in Japanese studies, cultural studies and international relations. Matthew Allen is Associate Professor of Japanese History at the University of Auckland. He has published widely in Asian Studies, anthropology, psychiatry and history journals. Rumi Sakamoto is Senior Lecturer in Japanese in the School of Asian Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has published on a variety of topics, including Meiji enlightenment discourse, the ‘comfort women’ issue and Japan’s perception of ‘Asia’. Asia’s Transformations Edited by Mark Selden, Binghamton and Cornell Universities, USA The books in this series explore the political, social, economic and cultural consequences of Asia’s transformations in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The series emphasizes the tumultuous interplay of local, national, regional and global forces as Asia bids to become the hub of the world economy. While focusing on the contemporary, it also looks back to analyse the antecedents of Asia’s contested rise. This series comprises several strands: Asia’s Transformations aims to address the needs of students and teachers, and the titles will be published in hardback and paperback. Titles include: Debating Human Rights Critical essays from the United States and Asia Edited by Peter Van Ness Mao’s Children in the New China Voices from the Red Guard generation Yarong Jiang and David Ashley H