The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture [Anglais] [Broché]

In the West, Japanese culture comes in the form of Power Rangers, Godzilla movies, and Sanrio products, but of course the indigenous pop culture is much richer. Rather than focus on what the rest of the world has already encountered, Mark Schilling provides an encyclopedic compendium of books, movies, music, comedians, and cultural scandals that have had the greatest impact in Japan. Thus, for the outsider, The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture is an insider's guide to post-war Japan. Not content to simply catalog his entries, Schilling provides real depth and analysis in his articles, opening up Japan's rich pop heritage to the world at large.

Over seventy entries cover Japanese popular culture from 1945 to the present, covering music, comedy, fads, popular media, and all aspects which have fueled Japanese popular concerns over the decades. This does more than create listings of movements: it provides the historical references and connections essential to understanding how these interests developed.

Sony and Nissan are household names, instant ramen lines the shelves of many an American supermarket, and Japanese animated cartoons have packs of U.S. fansbut that's just the tip of the rice ball when it comes to Japan's incredibly vigorous and exciting pop culture. In over seventy witty and informationpacked entries, author Mark Schilling covers the years from 1945 to the present, casting a wide net that pulls in film, cartoons, every genre of pop music, comedians, matinee idols, sumo wrestlers, gourmet fads, best sellers, baseball stars, quiz shows, discos, song contests, and (yes) much, much more.

Schilling has a truly encyclopedic grasp of his subject, which allows him to trace the interconnections between one pop phenomenon and another (singers who become actresses who marry writers who become game show hosts who become journalists covering politicians who were once standup comics) and an ear to the ground that picks up on the latest latest. He shares the inside dope entertainingly, while still tracing the complicated genealogies of popmusic dynasties and quoting boxoffice receipts. Heavily illustrated, this completely original book is a reallife introduction to contemporary Japan that shows it as something other than the land of Genji, cherry blossoms, and samurai: a funny, funky world where Hello Kitty reigns alongside Godzilla.

Japanese pop culture is the beta version of twenty-first-century American pop culture. Mark Schilling's encyclopedia is an invaluable guide to a rich but labyrinthine subject. I use it not to look up what I don't know, but to find out what I should know. Roger Ebert A cornucopia turned upside-down, this fascinating book defines New Japan through its pop culture -everything from pachinko to Tora-san, from instant ramen to Godzilla. -Donald Richie

A resident of Tokyo since 1975, Mark Schilling reviews Japanese films for The Japan Times and covers the Japanese film and television industry for Screen International. He has written about aspects of Japanese popular culture for dozens of magazines and newspapers, in both Japanese and English, including Newsweek, USA Today, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Japan Quarterly, Mangajin, and Kinema Jumpo. He has also authored books on sumo and Tokyo night life and has contributed chapters to books on Japanese business manga, animation, and television co-production.