Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

Alisa Freedman is a Professor of Japanese Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender at the University of Oregon, USA. Her books include Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost (2021) and Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road (2010).

• 1. Introducing Japanese Popular Culture: Serious Approaches to Playful Trends Part 1: Characters 2. Kumamon: Japan’s Surprisingly Cheeky Mascot 3. ’Hello Kitty Is Not a Cat?!?’: Tracking Japanese Cute Culture at Home and Abroad Part 2: Television 4. The Grotesque Hero: Depictions of Justice in Tokusatsu Superhero Television Programs 5. Tokyo Love Story: Romance of the Working Woman in Japanese Television Dramas 6. The World Too Much with Us in Japanese Travel Television Part 3: Videogames 7. Nuclear Discourse in Final Fantasy VII: Embodied Experience and Social Critique 8. Policing Youth: Boy Detectives in Japanese Visual Novel Games 9. The Cute Shall Inherit the Earth: Postapocalyptic Posthumanity in Tokyo Jungle Part 4: Fan Media and Technology 10. Managing Manga Studies in the Convergent Classroom 11. Thumb Generation Literature: The Rise and Fall of Japanese Cellphone Novels 12. Purikura: Expressive Energy in Female Self-Photography 13. Cosplay Everywhere: Costume Diplomacy at the World Cosplay Summit 14. Hatsune Miku: Virtual Idol, Media Platform, and Crowd-Sourced Celebrity Part 5: Music 15. Electrifying the Japanese Teenager Across Generations: The Role of the Electric Guitar in Japan’s Popular Culture 16. The "Pop Pacific": Japanese American Sojourners and the Development of Japanese Popular Music 17. AKB Business: Idols and Affective Economies in Contemporary Japan 18. In Search of Japanoise: Globalizing Underground Music 19. Korean Pop Music in Japan: Understanding the Complex Relationship Between Japan and Korea in the Popular Culture Realm Part 6: Popular Cinema 20. The Prehistory of Soft Power: Godzilla, Cheese, and the American Consumption of Japan 21. The Rise of Japanese Horror Films: Yotsuya Ghost Story (Yotsuya Kaidan), Demonic Men, and Victimized Women 22. V-Cinema: How Home Video Revitalized Japanese Film and Mystified Film Historians Part 7: Anime 23. Apocalyptic Animation: In the Wake of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Godzilla, and Baudrillard 24. Toy Stories: Robots and Magical Girls in Anime Marketing 25. The World According to Ghibli, or How a Small Japanese Animation Studio Became a Global Phenomenon 26. Condensing the Media Mix: The Tatami Galaxy’s Multiple Possible Worlds Part 8: Manga 27. A Jew and a Nazi Walk into an Izakaya: Tezuka Osamu’s Holocaust Manga 28. Gekiga, or Japanese Alternative Comics: The Mediascape of Japanese Counterculture 29. The Beautiful Men of the Inner Chamber: Gender-Bending, Boys’ Love and Other Shōjo Manga Tropes in Ōoku for Yoshinaga Fumi 30. Cyborg Empiricism: The Ghost Is Not in the Shell Part 9: Spectacles and Competitions 31. Hanabi: The Cultural Significance of Fireworks in Japan 32. Kamishibai: The Fantasy Space of the Urban Street Corner 33. Making A Game of Their Own: Baseball as Japan’s National Sport 34. Pop Go the Games: Japanese Popular Culture and Politics at the Olympics Part 10: Sites 35. Shibuya: Reflective Identity in Transforming Urban Space 36. Akihabara: Promoting and Policing ‘Otaku’ in ‘Cool Japan’ 37. Japan Lost and Found: Modern Ruins as Debris of the Economic Miracle Part 11: Fashion 38. Cute Fashion: The Social Strategies and Aesthetics of Kawaii 39. Made in Japan: A New Generation Fashion Designers Part 12: Contemporary Art 40. Superflat Life 41. Aida Makoto: Notes from an Apathetic Continent 42. The Art of Upcycling in the Set Inland Sea