Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland

Description

In 1996 over 16 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland, making it the most popular of the many theme parks in Japan. Since it opened in 1983, Tokyo Disneyland has been analyzed mainly as an example of the globalization of the American leisure industry and its organizational culture, particularly the company manual. By looking at how Tokyo Disneyland is experienced by employees, management, and visitors, Aviad Raz shows that it is much more an example of successful importation, adaptation, and domestication and that it has succeeded precisely because it has become Japanese even while marketing itself as foreign. Rather than being an agent of Americanization, Tokyo Disneyland is a simulated America showcased by and for the Japanese. It is an America with a Japanese meaning. Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTENTS Maps, Tables, and Figures Abbreviations Introduction Theoretical Considerations Globalization: Cultural Imperialism or Local Adaptation? Japan as a Consumerist Society Methodological Considerations Traveling with Disney A Short History of OLC and the TDL Project Part I Onstage 1 America in Tokyo: The Remaking of Disneyland in Japan The Dubbed Spiel: Jungle Cruise Domesticating Disney: Cinderella's Castle Wishful History: Meet the World 2 The Exotic and the Familiar "America" on Stage "Japan" on Stage Part II Backstage 3 Working for TDL Part-time Employees Hiring and Training in TDL, Disney, and Korakuen Regular Employees 4 Organizational Culture and Organizational Critique Service Culture and the "Manual Society" The Smile Factory The Taylorist System Putting the Heart Back in the Manual Taylorism, Service Work, and the Dialectic of Form and Feeling Part III Offstage 5 The Theme Park Boom: Remaking the World in Japan The Theme Park Boom Japan's Themed Lands in Sociological Perspective 6 Receptions of TDL-Disney Disneyland as Socialization: The Early Years Office Ladies, Burikko, and Disney TDL and Middle Age The Problem with Leisure: Reja/ Asobi and Infantile Consumerism 7 Traveling Theories: Aboard the Black Ship The Culture Industry Revisited The Black Ships of Glocalization Reference Matter Notes Works Cited Index HARVARD EAST ASIAN MONOGRAPHS