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Book Islands of Eight Million Smiles

Download or read book Islands of Eight Million Smiles written by Hiroshi Aoyagi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " Since the late 1960s a ubiquitous feature of popular culture in Japan has been the ""idol,"" an attractive young actor, male or female, packaged and promoted as an adolescent role model and exploited by the entertainment, fashion, cosmetic, and publishing industries to market trendy products. This book offers ethnographic case studies regarding the symbolic qualities of idols and how these qualities relate to the conceptualization of selfhood among adolescents in Japan and elsewhere in East Asia. The author explores how the idol-manufacturing industry absorbs young people into its system of production, molds them into marketable personalities, commercializes their images, and contributes to the construction of ideal images of the adolescent self. Since the relationship between the idols and their consumers is dynamic, the study focuses on the fans of idols as well. Ultimately, Aoyagi argues, idol performances substantiate capitalist values in the urban consumer society of contemporary Japan and East Asia. Regardless of how crude their performances may appear in the eyes of critics, the idols have helped establish the entertainment industry as an agent of public socialization by driving public desires toward the consumption of commoditized fantasies. "

Book Islands of Eight Million Smiles

Download or read book Islands of Eight Million Smiles written by Hiroshi Aoyagi and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the late 1960s a ubiquitous feature of popular culture in Japan has been the "idol," an attractive young actor packaged and promoted as an adolescent role model and exploited for marketing. This book offers ethnographic case studies on the symbolic qualities of idols and how they relate to the conceptualization of self among adolescents.

Book Perfume s GAME

    Book Details:
  • Author : Patrick St. Michel
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
  • Release : 2018-02-22
  • ISBN : 1501325892
  • Pages : 113 pages

Download or read book Perfume s GAME written by Patrick St. Michel and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Released in 2008, J-pop trio Perfume's GAME shot to the top of Japanese music charts and turned the Hiroshima trio into a household name across the country. It was also a high point for techno-pop, the genre's biggest album since the heyday of Yellow Magic Orchestra. This collection of maximalist but emotional electronic pop stands as one of the style's finest moments, with its influence still echoing from artists both in Japan and from beyond. This book examines Perfume's underdog story as a group long struggling for success, the making of GAME, and the history of techno-pop that shaped it. 33 1/3 Global, a series related to but independent from 33 1/3, takes the format of the original series of short, music-basedbooks and brings the focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing on Japanese and Brazilian music, the series will also include volumes on the popular music of Australia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and more.

Book Idology in Transcultural Perspective

Download or read book Idology in Transcultural Perspective written by Aoyagi Hiroshi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-10 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume expands on what Aoyagi Hiroshi intended in the first decade of the new millennium to establish as a subfield of symbolic anthropology called “idology.” It brings together case studies of popular idolatry in Japan, but goes further to provide a transcultural perspective to guide anthropological investigations in different places and times. In proposing an integrated paradigm for the growing body of literature on idols, the volume redirects recurrent questions to more fundamental points of sociocultural inquiry. Contributions from scholars conducting ethnographic fieldwork, as well as those engaged in theoretical and historical analyses, facilitate comparative reading and critical thought. Exceeding a narrow focus on human idols, the chapters shed new light on virtual idols and YouTubers, cartoon characters and voices, robot idols and cybernetic systems. Science and technology studies thus comes together with theories of animation and anthropological work on life in more-than-human worlds.

Book Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture

Download or read book Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture written by P. W. Galbraith and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the most complete and compelling account of idols and celebrity in Japanese media culture to date. Engaging with the study of media, gender and celebrity, and sensitive to history and the contemporary scene, these interdisciplinary essays cover male and female idols, production and consumption, industrial structures and fan movements.

Book Language and Gender

Download or read book Language and Gender written by Penelope Eckert and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language and Gender is an introduction to the study of the relation between gender and language use, written by two leading experts in the field. This new edition, thoroughly updated and restructured, brings out more strongly an emphasis on practice and change, while retaining the broad scope of its predecessor and its accessible introductions which explain the key concepts in a non-technical way. The authors integrate issues of sexuality more thoroughly into the discussion, exploring more diverse gendered and sexual identities and practices. The core emphasis is on change, both in linguistic resources and their use and in gender and sexual ideologies and personae. This book explores how change often involves conflict and competing norms, both social and linguistic. Drawing on their own extensive research, as well as other key literature, the authors argue that the connections between language and gender are deep yet fluid, and arise in social practice.

Book Hallyu 2 0

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sangjoon Lee
  • Publisher : University of Michigan Press
  • Release : 2015-06
  • ISBN : 0472052527
  • Pages : 277 pages

Download or read book Hallyu 2 0 written by Sangjoon Lee and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2015-06 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first scholarly volume to investigate the impact of social media and other communication technologies on the global dissemination of the Korean Wave

Book The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality written by Sheila Whiteley and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work, edited by Sheila Whiteley and Shara Rambarran, brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars who address issues such as artistic agency, the relationship between reality and illusion or simulation, and the construction of musical personae, subjectivities, and identities in a virtual world.

Book History of Popular Culture in Japan

Download or read book History of Popular Culture in Japan written by E. Taylor Atkins and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-08 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 and meaning in Japanese history. E. Taylor Atkins shows how Japan was one of the earliest sites for the development of mass-produced, market-oriented cultural products consumed by urban middle and working classes. From traditional monochrome ink painting, court literature and poetry to anime, manga and J-Pop, popular culture was pivotal in the rise of Japanese nationalism, imperialism, militarism and economic development, and to the present day plays a central role in Japanese identity. With updated historiography throughout, this fully revised second edition features: - A new chapter on popular culture in the Edo period - An expanded section on pre-Tokugawa culture - More discussion on recent pop culture phenomena such as TV game shows, cuteness and J-Pop - 10 new images - A new glossary of terms including kanji This improved edition is a vital resource for students of Japanese cultural history wishing to gain a deeper understanding of Japan's contributions to global cultural heritage.

Book Supercell s Supercell Featuring Hatsune Miku

Download or read book Supercell s Supercell Featuring Hatsune Miku written by Keisuke Yamada and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-08-10 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lead singer on Supercell's eponymous first album is Hatsune Miku-a Vocaloid character created by Crypton Future Media with voice synthesizers. A virtual superstar, over 100,000 songs, uploaded mostly by fans, are attributed to her. Supercell is a Japanese creator music group with the composer Ryo leading ten artists, who design album illustrations and make music videos. These videos are uploaded onto Niconico and other video-sharing sites. By the time Supercell was released in March 2009, the group's Vocaloid works were already well-known to Niconico users and fans. This book explores the Vocaloid and DTM (desktop music) phenomena through the lenses of media and fan studies, looking closely at online social media platforms, the new technology for composing, avid fans of the Vocaloid character, and these fans' performative practices. It provides a sense of how interactive new media and an empowered fan base combine to engage in the creation processes and enhance the circulation of DTM works. 33 1/3 Global, a series related to but independent from 33 1/3, takes the format of the original series of short, music-basedbooks and brings the focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing on Japanese and Brazilian music, the series will also include volumes on the popular music of Australia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and more.

Book Making Jazz in Contemporary Japan

Download or read book Making Jazz in Contemporary Japan written by Marie Buscatto and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-10-30 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making Jazz in Contemporary Japan: A Passionate Search for Self-Expression explores the ways in which Japanese jazz musicians express themselves through their art—not to “japanize” jazz, but to assert one’s creativity, passion, and capacity for self-expression—establishing it as an art form with its own sense of musicality and cultural, social, and economic concerns. This ethnographic survey contextualizes a shift in the Japanese jazz world over the last 30 years: What once was a culture dependent on the American influence is now a thriving local scene creating a wide variety of original, transnational compositions. Based on digital and physical observations and extensive interviews with nearly three dozen Japanese professional jazz musicians while featuring portraits of well-known artists, this empirical investigation into how, where, and why jazz is performed, opens doors to touch on culturally sensitive and taboo topics such as gender, sexuality, and indigenization. Suited for readers in global jazz studies and cultural study programs alike, this book is a timely sociological consideration of the Japanese jazz diaspora, a necessary update to break free of established tropes and clichés envisioning Japanese artists as mere imitators.

Book Pink Globalization

    Book Details:
  • Author : Christine R. Yano
  • Publisher : Duke University Press
  • Release : 2013-04-29
  • ISBN : 0822353636
  • Pages : 337 pages

Download or read book Pink Globalization written by Christine R. Yano and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-29 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Pink Globalization, Christine R. Yano examines the creation and rise of Hello Kitty as a part of Japanese Cute-Cool culture. Yano argues that the international popularity of Hello Kitty is one aspect of what she calls pink globalization—the spread of goods and images labeled cute (kawaii) from Japan to other parts of the industrial world. The concept of pink globalization connects the expansion of Japanese companies to overseas markets, the enhanced distribution of Japanese products, and the rise of Japan's national cool as suggested by the spread of manga and anime. Yano analyzes the changing complex of relations and identities surrounding the global reach of Hello Kitty's cute culture, discussing the responses of both ardent fans and virulent detractors. Through interviews, Yano shows how consumers use this iconic cat to negotiate gender, nostalgia, and national identity. She demonstrates that pink globalization allows the foreign to become familiar as it brings together the intimacy of cute and the distance of cool. Hello Kitty and her entourage of marketers and consumers wink, giddily suggesting innocence, sexuality, irony, sophistication, and even sheer happiness. Yano reveals the edgy power in this wink and the ways it can overturn, or at least challenge, power structures.

Book The Race of Sound

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nina Sun Eidsheim
  • Publisher : Duke University Press
  • Release : 2018-12-06
  • ISBN : 0822372649
  • Pages : 203 pages

Download or read book The Race of Sound written by Nina Sun Eidsheim and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Race of Sound Nina Sun Eidsheim traces the ways in which sonic attributes that might seem natural, such as the voice and its qualities, are socially produced. Eidsheim illustrates how listeners measure race through sound and locate racial subjectivities in vocal timbre—the color or tone of a voice. Eidsheim examines singers Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, and Jimmy Scott as well as the vocal synthesis technology Vocaloid to show how listeners carry a series of assumptions about the nature of the voice and to whom it belongs. Outlining how the voice is linked to ideas of racial essentialism and authenticity, Eidsheim untangles the relationship between race, gender, vocal technique, and timbre while addressing an undertheorized space of racial and ethnic performance. In so doing, she advances our knowledge of the cultural-historical formation of the timbral politics of difference and the ways that comprehending voice remains central to understanding human experience, all the while advocating for a form of listening that would allow us to hear singers in a self-reflexive, denaturalized way.

Book Wretched Rebels

    Book Details:
  • Author : Lucien Bianco
  • Publisher : BRILL
  • Release : 2020-03-17
  • ISBN : 1684174961
  • Pages : 302 pages

Download or read book Wretched Rebels written by Lucien Bianco and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book, a condensed translation of the prize-winning Jacqueries et révolution dans la Chine du XXe siècle, focuses on “spontaneous” rural unrest, uninfluenced by revolutionary intellectuals. Yet it raises issues inspired by the perennial concerns of revolutionary leaders, such as peasant “class consciousness” and China’s modernization. The author shows that the predominant forms of protest were directed not against the landowning class but against agents of the state. Foremost among them, resistance to taxation had little to do with class struggle. By contrast, protest by poor agricultural laborers and heavily indebted households was extremely rare. Other forms of social protest were reactions less to social exploitation than to oppression by local powerholders. Peasant resistance to the late Qing “new policy” reforms did indeed impede China’s modernization. Decades later, peasant efforts to evade conscription, while motivated by abuses and inequities, weakened the anti-Japanese resistance. The concluding chapter stresses persistent features of rural protest. It suggests that twentieth-century Chinese peasants were less different from seventeenth- or eighteenth-century French peasants than might be imagined and points to continuities between pre- and post-1949 rural protest."

Book Love After The Tale of Genji

Download or read book Love After The Tale of Genji written by Charo B. D’Etcheverry and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The eleventh-century masterpiece The Tale of Genji casts a long shadow across the literary terrain of the Heian period (794–1185). It has dominated critical and popular reception of Heian literary production and become the definitive expression of the aesthetics, poetics, and politics of life in the Heian court.But the brilliance of Genji has eclipsed the works of later Heian authors, who have since been displaced from the canon and relegated to critical obscurity.Charo B. D’Etcheverry calls for a reevaluation of late Heian fiction by shedding new light upon this undervalued body of work. D’Etcheverry examines three representative texts—The Tale of Sagoromo, The Tale of the Hamamatsu Middle Counselor, and Nezame at Night—as legitimate heirs to the literary legacy of Genji and as valuable indexes to the literary tastes and readerly expectations that evolved over the Heian period.Balancing careful analyses of plot, character, and motif with keen insights into the cultural and political milieu of the late Heian period, D’Etcheverry argues that we should read such works not as mere derivatives of a canonical text, but as dynamic fictional commentaries and variations upon the tropes and subplots that continue to resonate with readers of Genji."

Book Knowing the Amorous Man

Download or read book Knowing the Amorous Man written by Jamie L. Newhard and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari) is traditionally identified as one of the most important Japanese literary texts of the Heian period (794–1185). Since its enshrinement in the classical literary canon as early as the eleventh century, the work has also been the object of intensive study and extensive commentary. Its idiosyncratic form—125 loosely connected episodes recounting the life and loves of an anonymous courtier—and mysterious authorship have provoked centuries of explication.Jamie Newhard’s study skillfully combines primary-source research with a theoretically framed analysis, exploring commentaries from the medieval period into the early twentieth century, and situating the text’s critical reception within an evolving historical and social context. By giving a more comprehensive picture of the social networks and scholastic institutions within which literary scholarship developed and circulated, Newhard identifies the ideological, methodological, and literary issues that shaped the commentators’ agendas as the audience for classical literature expanded beyond aristocratic circles to include other social groups. Her approach illuminates how exegesis of Tales of Ise ultimately reflects shifting historical and social assessments that construct, transform, and transmit the literary and cultural value of the work over time."