
Millennial Monsters : Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination.
Title:
Millennial Monsters : Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination.
Author:
Allison, Anne.
ISBN:
9780520938991
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (305 pages)
Series:
Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes ; v.13
Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes
Contents:
Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Enchanted Commodities -- 2. From Ashes to Cyborgs: The Era of Reconstruction (1945-1960) -- 3. Millennial Japan: Intimate Alienation and New Age Intimacies -- 4. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The First Crossover Superheroes -- 5. Fierce Flesh: Sexy Schoolgirls in the Action Fantasy of Sailor Moon -- 6. Tamagotchi: The Prosthetics of Presence -- 7. Pokémon: Getting Monsters and Communicating Capitalism -- 8. "Gotta Catch 'Em All": The Pokémonization of America (and the World) -- Epilogue -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Abstract:
From sushi and karaoke to martial arts and technoware, the currency of made-in-Japan cultural goods has skyrocketed in the global marketplace during the past decade. The globalization of Japanese "cool" is led by youth products: video games, manga (comic books), anime (animation), and cute characters that have fostered kid crazes from Hong Kong to Canada. Examining the crossover traffic between Japan and the United States, Millennial Monsters explores the global popularity of Japanese youth goods today while it questions the make-up of the fantasies and the capitalistic conditions of the play involved. Arguing that part of the appeal of such dream worlds is the polymorphous perversity with which they scramble identity and character, the author traces the postindustrial milieux from which such fantasies have arisen in postwar Japan and been popularly received in the United States.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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