The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture

International team of authors explores Japanese popular culture, including sumo, manga and women's magazines.

An international team of authors, with an anthropological perspective, explore the many facets of Japanese popular culture. Topics include sumo, karaoke, manga, women's magazines, horse-racing, soccer and morning television. Deeper themes, such as globalisation, identity and the construction of gender, are also discussed.Dolores Martinez heads an international team of scholars in this lively discussion of Japanese popular culture. The book's contributors include Japanese as well as British, Icelandic and North American writers, offering a diversity of views of what Japanese popular culture is, and how it is best approached and understood. They bring an anthropological perspective to a broad range of topics, including sumo, karaoke, manga, vampires, women's magazines, soccer and morning television. Through these topics - many of which have never previously been addressed by scholars - the contributors also explore several deeper themes: the construction of gender in Japan; the impact of globalisation and modern consumerism; and the rapidly shifting boundaries of Japanese culture and identity. This innovative study will appeal to those interested in Japanese culture, sociology and cultural anthropology.