A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present

Description

The phenomenon of ‘Cool Japan’ is one of the distinctive features of global popular culture of the millennial age. A History of Popular Culture in Japan provides the first historical and analytical overview of popular culture in Japan from its origins in the 17th century to the present day, using it to explore broader themes of conflict, power, identity and meaning in Japanese history. E. Taylor Atkins shows how Japan is one of the earliest sites for the development of mass-produced, market-oriented cultural products consumed by urban middle and working classes. The best-known traditional arts and culture of Japan— no theater, monochrome ink painting, court literature, poetry and indigenous music—inhabited a world distinct from that of urban commoners, who fashioned their own expressive forms and laid the groundwork for today’s ‘gross national cool.’ Popular culture was pivotal in the rise of Japanese nationalism, imperialism, militarism, postwar democracy and economic development. Offering historiographical and analytical frameworks for understanding its subject, A History of Popular Culture in Japan synthesizes the latest scholarship from a variety of disciplines. It is a vital resource for students of Japanese cultural history wishing to gain a deeper understanding of Japan’s contributions to global cultural heritage. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Japan 101 Location Governance Gender politics (De)Merits of meritocracy Chapter 1 The worst which has been thought and said? Defining popular culture As aesthetic category As sociological category Pop, politics, and power Getting to Japan Chapter 2 Floating worlds—the birth of popular culture in Japan Proper places From castle towns to cities Improper places Print culture Printed porn Puppets and players A whole new world Chapter 3 Delicate dancing—early modern Japan’s culture wars Navigating censorship Putting on airs Politics of pleasure Chapter 4 Popular culture as subject and object of Meiji modernization Continuities Changes Agit-pop Chapter 5 Cultural living—cosmopolitan modernism in imperial Japan Icons of modernity Documenting modernity The awakened “I” Cinematic modernity Musical modernity Sporting modernity Chapter 6 Entertaining empire—popular culture as a “technology of imperialism” Building an empire Popular culture and the colonial modern Colonial kitsch Imperialism as national service Imperialism as self-remonstrance Chapter 7 “Our spirit against their steel”—mobilizing culture for war Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) World War II (1937–45) Chapter 8 Democracy, monstrosity, and pensive prosperity—postwar pop Occupation High times, no nukes Identity crisis New toys Cartoon country Chapter 9 Millennial Japan as dream factory From imitator to creator Dream factory Wide(r) world of sport Tizzies Softer than the rest Shaken and stirred Afterword Contemplating cool Notes Index