The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki

by Mark I. West

Godzilla stomped his way into American movie theaters in 1956, and ever since then Japanese trends and cultural products have had a major impact on children's popular culture in America. This can be seen in the Hello Kitty paraphernalia phenomenon, the popularity of anime television programs like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z , computer games, and Hayao Miyazaki's award-winning films, such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke .

The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture brings together contributors from different backgrounds, each exploring a particular aspect of this phenomenon from different angles, from scholarly examinations to recounting personal experiences. The book explains the interconnections among the various aspects of Japanese influence and discusses American responses to anime and other forms of Japanese popular culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Laura Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

With the exception of three half-decent entries, this entire collection is an embarrassment to the analytical essay.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

A big collection of essays in a VERY overpriced book (something like fifty bucks). I bought it to do some reading for my class on Japan and World Cinema, but most of the essays were not very useful for my purpose, and many seemed pretty weak--weak writing, weak analysis, weak research. Writers can't even be bothered to look up basic information about the works they are writing about sometimes. One of the essays is just a non-stop snark-fest meant for humor, I guess.

Pretty lousy.