History of Popular Culture in Japan - 2nd Edition by E Taylor Atkins (Hardcover)

About the Book

" ... 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 and meaning in Japanese history."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

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 Japanprovides 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 and meaning in Japanese history.

E. Taylor Atkins shows how Japan was one of the earliest sites for the development of mass-produced, market-oriented cultural products consumed by urban middle and working classes. From traditional monochrome ink painting, court literature and poetry to anime, manga and J-Pop, popular culture was pivotal in the rise of Japanese nationalism, imperialism, militarism and economic development, and to the present day plays a central role in Japanese identity.

With updated historiography throughout, this fully revised second edition features:
- A new chapter on popular culture in the Edo period
- An expanded section on pre-Tokugawa culture
- More discussion on recent pop culture phenomena such as TV game shows, cuteness and J-Pop
- 10 new images
- A new glossary of terms including kanji

This improved edition is a vital resource for students of Japanese cultural history wishing to gain a deeper understanding of Japan's contributions to global cultural heritage.

Review Quotes

"[The] book provides, as well as an excellent narrative of historical popular culture, an articular and well-elaborated theoretical structure to understand it. It would be a valuable tool to teach theory as well as history and to sharpen the knowledge and wits of students and professors alike."
Journal of Japanese Studies

"The result is certainly suitable for undergraduate teaching but in many ways goes so far beyond as to repay close reading by scholars, graduate students, and the public. What Atkins achieves is a dense, multilayered history, not simply of Japanese pop but of Japan itself as seen through the lens of its highly consumable cultural products ... Immensely readable, Atkins's prose is as full of humor and idiosyncratic character as his subject matter. The book's strength lies in the author's ability to capture the very vibrancy of popular culture in Japan while untangling its knotty threads (pun intended). Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries."
CHOICE

1st edition reviews:

"[It] brings to the fore themes such as cultural power, political conflict, and social identity (importantly, including gender, class, and race) against the backdrop of Japan's cultural history."
H-Japan

About the Author

E. Taylor Atkins is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at Northern Illinois University, USA. He is the author of Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan (2001), Primitive Selves: Koreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945 (2010), and editor of Jazz Planet (2003).