Read complete books and articles on: Japanese Popular Culture

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Japanese Popular Culture

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture » Read Now
by Mark Schilling. 344 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

In over seventy witty and informative entries, Schilling covers the years from 1945 to the present, casting a wide net that pulls in film, cartoons, every genre of pop music, comedians, matinee idols, gourmet fads, baseball stars, and quiz shows.
2.

Unmasking Japan Today: The Impact of Traditional Values on Modern Japanese Society (Chap. 2 "Popular Culture/Lifestyles of the Japanese Family") » Read Now
by Fumie Kumagai, Donna J. Keyser. 198 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Modern-day Japan has proven to be a complex nation struggling to combine traditional attitudes with the political and social demands of an advanced industrialized economy. This struggle to balance the past with the present has had a significant impact on the structure of human relations in...
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Modern-day Japan has proven to be a complex nation struggling to combine traditional attitudes with the political and social demands of an advanced industrialized economy. This struggle to balance the past with the present has had a significant impact on the structure of human relations in contemporary Japan, particularly in the areas of the family and family dynamics, lifestyles, the education of children, the socialization of youth, women in the workplace, and the elderly. In all cases, we find a dual structure where traditional values and modern practices coexist. Based on a dual perspective that incorporates modern Western capitalism into Japan's traditional agrarian society, this book reveals a complex of cultural assumptions that determines the manners and customs of the Japanese people.
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3.

Globalizing Japan: Ethnography of the Japanese Presence in Asia, Europe, and America (Includes discussion of Japanese popular culture in multiple chapters) » Read Now
by Harumi Befu, Sylvie Guichard-Anguis. 265 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

This book explores the social and cultural dimensions of Japan's global presence. Topics examined include Japanese multinational corporations, Japanese photography in America, and perceptions of Japan in France and Korea.
4.

Asian Popular Culture (Chap. 6 "Mr. Atomic, Mr. Mercury, and Chime Trooper: Japan's Answer to the American Dream" and Chap. 9 "Sexism in Japanese Weekly Comic Magazines for Men") » Read Now
by John A. Lent. 232 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
5.

Mahikari: New Religion and Japanese Popular Culture, in Journal of Popular Culture » Read Now
by William Sanborn Pfeiffer. 14 pgs.

...New Religion and Japanese Popular Culture. by William...themselves well to Japans popular culture. For example, Manga (Japanese comic boks) and other...Painter, Andrew A...
6.

A History of Manga in the Context of Japanese Culture and Society, in Journal of Popular Culture » Read Now
by Kinko Ito. 20 pgs.
7.

Manga Literacy: Popular Culture and the Reading Habits of Japanese College Students, in Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy » Read Now
by Kate Allen, John E. Ingulsrud. 10 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library

...Japan. In H. Kato (Ed.), Japanese popular culture (pp. 103-108). Tokyo: Tuttle...Stronach (Eds.), Handbook of Japanese popular culture (pp. 221-242). New York...electric...
8.

Female Subjectivity and Shoujo (Girls) Manga (Japanese Comics): Shoujo in Ladies' Comics and Young Ladies' Comics, in Journal of Popular Culture » Read Now
by Fusami Ogi. 24 pgs.

...Vampires, Psychic Girls, Flying Women and Sailor Scouts: Four faces of the young female in Japanese popular culture." The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender...
9.

Gender and Girls' Comics in Japan, in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars » Read Now
by Maia Tsurumi. 10 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...of popular culture. manga (comics...have used a popular Japanese manga to evaluate...become rooted in Japanese popular culture and have become...Patterns in Japanese Comic...
10.

Transactions, Transgressions, Transformations: American Culture in Western Europe and Japan » Read Now
by Heide Fehrenbach, Uta G. Poiger. 258 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This study focuses on what has been the U.S.'s most controversial export in the 20th century - American culture. It examines the reception of American culture, goods and symbols, in other countries and analyses the concept of Americanization.
11.

Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia (Chap. 5 "McDonald's in Japan: Changing Manners and Etiquette") » Read Now
by James L. Watson. 262 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

McDonald's restaurants are found in over 100 countries, serving tens of millions of people each day. What are the cultural implications of this phenomenal success? Does the introduction of American fast food undermine local cuisines, many of them celebrated for centuries? Does it, as some critics...
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McDonald's restaurants are found in over 100 countries, serving tens of millions of people each day. What are the cultural implications of this phenomenal success? Does the introduction of American fast food undermine local cuisines, many of them celebrated for centuries? Does it, as some critics fear, presage a homogeneous, global culture? These are but a few of the questions confronted in this engaging study that vividly demonstrates how the theories and techniques of anthropology can be used not only to examine obscure peoples and exotic practices, but to shed light on the motivations and behavior of people conducting their daily lives in some of the major population centers of the world.
Earlier studies of the fast food industry have emphasized production, focusing on labor or management. This book takes a fresh approach to the industry by concentrating on the perspective of the consumer. It analyzes consumers' reactions to McDonald's in five East Asian cities: Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, and Tokyo. What do they have to say about McDonald's? How is fast food perceived by those who pay to eat it? How do their preferences and biases affect the system of production?
The book argues that McDonald's has largely become divorced from its American roots and become a "local" institution for an entire generation of affluent consumers in Hong Kong, Taipei, and Tokyo. In Beijing, the process of localization has barely begun, with consumers more interested in the experience of eating at McDonald's than in the food itself. In Seoul, many nationalists treat the Big Mac as a symbol of Yankee imperialism; meanwhile, increasing numbers of Korean children are celebrating their birthdays atMcDonald's.
Localization is not, however, a one-way process; the corporation has also had to adapt in order to flourish in new settings. The book demonstrates how consumers, with the cooperation and encouragement of McDona
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12.

Marriage with the Proper Stranger: Arranged Marriage in Metropolitan Japan, in Ethnology » Read Now
by Kalman D. Applbaum. 15 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...tradition" as it is now marketed in Japanese popular culture (Robertson 1991; Tobin 1992...values begotten of both imported popular culture and higher education." The...the...
13.

Women in Asia: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation (Chap. 10 "Being Women in Japan, 1970-2000") » Read Now
by Louise P. Edwards, Mina Roces. 327 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

A comprehensive coverage of all the major Asian countries by experts in the field.
14.

Myth and Masculinity in the Japanese Cinema: Towards a Political Reading of the 'Tragic Hero' » Read Now
by Isolde Standish. 242 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

This study argues that in Japanese popular cinema the 'tragic hero' narrative is an archetypal plot-structure upon which male genres, such as the war-retro and yakuza films are based. Two central questions in relation to these post-war Japanese film genres and historical consciousness are addressed:...
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This study argues that in Japanese popular cinema the 'tragic hero' narrative is an archetypal plot-structure upon which male genres, such as the war-retro and yakuza films are based. Two central questions in relation to these post-war Japanese film genres and historical consciousness are addressed: What is the relationship between history, myth and memory? And how are individual subjectivities defined in relation to the past? The book examines the role of the 'tragic hero' narrative as a figurative structure through which the Japanese people could interpret the events of World War II and defeat, offering spectators an avenue of exculpation from a foreign-imposed sense of guilt. Also considered is the fantasy world of the nagare-mono (drifter) or yakuza film. It is suggested that one of the reasons for the great popularity of these films in the 1960s and 1970s lay in their ability to offer men meanings that could help them understand the contradictions between the reality of their everyday experiences and the ideological construction of masculinity.
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15.

Cultural Absorption of Ballroom Dancing in Japan, in Journal of Popular Culture » Read Now
by Rie Karatsu. 25 pgs.