A History of Popular Culture in Japan
eBook - PDF

A History of Popular Culture in Japan

From the Seventeenth Century to the Present

  1. 289 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

A History of Popular Culture in Japan

From the Seventeenth Century to the Present

About this book

A 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

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.

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Information

Publisher
Bloomsbury Academic
Year
2017
Print ISBN
9781474258548
Edition
1
eBook ISBN
9781474258562
Topic
History
Subtopic
Japanese History
Index
History
A 
HISTORY 
OF 
POPULAR 
CULTURE 
IN JAPAN
32
32
through 
the 
consumption 
of 
the 
latest 
commodities 
or 
participation 
in 
the 
coolest 
activities;
5
a 
climate 
of 
celebrity 
worship, 
in 
which 
popular 
actors, 
writers, 
painters, 
and 
musicians 
had 
established 
fan 
bases, 
endorsed 
products, 
consorted 
with 
warrior 
aristocrats, 
and 
were 
objects 
of 
public 
scrutiny 
and 
gossip
—
all 
of 
which 
belied 
their 
ofcial 
status 
as 
outcastes 
or 
hinin
(nonpeople);
6
unprecedented 
access 
to 
information 
and 
material 
items 
from 
the 
outside 
world, 
which 
were 
incorporated 
in 
various 
ways 
into 
cultural 
life 
and 
fostered 
a 
sense 
of 
what 
might 
be 
called 
a 
“protonationalist” 
consciousness 
among 
Japanese.
Similar 
trends 
of 
urbanization, 
rising 
literacy 
rates, 
and 
mass-produced 
commercial 
culture 
were 
visible 
in 
parts 
of 
Ming 
China, 
Europe, 
and 
to 
a 
lesser 
degree 
in 
the 
Ottoman, 
Saffavid, 
and 
Mughal 
empires, 
but 
it 
may 
be 
that 
seventeenth-century 
Japan 
had 
a 
more 
rmly 
established 
commercial 
culture 
industry, 
and 
a 
fully 
conceptualized 
notion 
of 
popular 
culture 
as 
we 
understand 
it 
today, 
earlier 
than 
any 
other 
country 
on 
earth.
35

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Illustrations
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction
  10. Chapter 1 The worst which has been thought and said? Defining popular culture
  11. Chapter 2 Floating worlds—the birth of popular culture in Japan
  12. Chapter 3 Delicate dancing—early modern Japan’s culture wars
  13. Chapter 4 Popular culture as subject and object of Meiji modernization
  14. Chapter 5 Cultural living—cosmopolitan modernism in imperial Japan
  15. Chapter 6 Entertaining empire—popular culture as a “technology of imperialism”
  16. Chapter 7 “Our spirit against their steel”—mobilizing culture for war
  17. Chapter 8 Democracy, monstrosity, and pensive prosperity—postwar pop
  18. Chapter 9 Millennial Japan as dream factory
  19. Afterword Contemplating cool
  20. Notes
  21. Index

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