Designed for teaching undergraduates, Introducing Japanese Popular Culture is a comprehensive textbook providing up-to-date and in-depth insights into a wide range of topics, from manga and anime to cinema and fashion, magazines and novels to videogames, food, and contemporary art. Useful as an expansive and detailed overview for university courses on Japanese culture, this book will guide students through the key objects, the history, and the good, bad, and the ugly theories of contemporary Japanese popular culture.

1. "Introducing Japanese Popular Culture: Serious Approaches to Playful Delights," Alisa Freedman and Toby Slade I. Characters 2. "Kumamon: Japan¿s Surprisingly Cheeky Mascot," Debra J. Occhi 3. "¿Hello Kitty is Not a Cat?!?¿: Tracking Japanese Cute Culture at Home and Abroad," Christine R. Yano II. Television 4. "The Grotesque Hero: Depictions of Justice in Tokusatsu Superhero Television Programs," Hirofumi Katsuno 5. "Tokyo Love Story: Romance of the Workingwoman in Japanese Television Dramas," Alisa Freedman, 6. "The World Too Much with Us in Japanese Travel Television," Kendall Heitzman III. Videogames 7. "Nuclear Discourse in Final Fantasy VII: Embodied Experience and Social Critique," Rachael Hutchinson 8. "The Cute Shall Inherit the Earth: Postapocalyptic Posthumanity in Tokyo Jungle," Kathryn Hemmann IV. Fan Media and Technology 9. "Managing Manga Studies in the Convergent Classroom," Mark McLelland 10. "Purikura: Expressive Energy in Female Self-Photography," Laura Miller 11. "Studio Ghibli Media Tourism," Craig Norris 12. "Hatsune Miku: Virtual Idol, Media Platform, and Crowd-Sourced Celebrity," Ian Condry V. Music 13. "Electrifying the Japanese Teenager Across Generations: The Role of the Electric Guitar in Japan¿s Popular Culture," Michael Furmanovsky 14. "The Pop Pacific: Japanese-American Sojourners and the Development of Japanese Popular Music," Jayson Makoto Chun 15. "AKB Business: Idols and Affective Economies in Contemporary Japan," Patrick W. Galbraith 16. "In Search of Japanoise: Globalizing Underground Music," David Novak 17. "Korean Pop Music in Japan: Understanding the Complex Relationship Between Japan and Korea in the Popular Culture Realm," Eun-Young Jung VI. Popular Cinema 18. "The Prehistory of Soft Power: Godzilla, Cheese, and the American Consumption of Japan," William M. Tsutsui 19. "The Rise of Japanese Horror Films: Yotsuya Ghost Story (Yotsuya Kaidan), Demonic Men, and Victimized Women," Kyoko Hirano 20. "V-Cinema: How Home Video Revitalized Japanese Film and Mystified Film Historians," Tom Mes VII. Anime 21. "Apocalyptic Animation: In the Wake of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Godzilla, and Baudrillard," Alan Cholodenko 22. "Toy Stories: Robots and Magical Girls in Anime Marketing," Renato Rivera Rusca 23. "Condensing the Media Mix: The Tatami Galaxy¿s Multiple Possible Worlds," Marc Steinberg VIII. Manga 24. "Gekiga, or Japanese Alternative Comics: The Mediascape of Japanese Counterculture," Shige (CJ) Suzuki 25. "Sampling Girls¿ Culture: An Analysis of Sh¿jo Manga Magazines," Jennifer Prough 26. "The Beautiful Men of the Inner Chamber: Gender-Bending, Boys¿ Love and Other Sh¿jo Manga Tropes in ¿oku," Deborah Shamoon 27. "Cyborg Empiricism: The Ghost Is Not in the Shell," Thomas Lamarre IX. Popular Literature 28. "Murakami Haruki¿s Transnational Avant-Pop Literature," Rebecca Suter 29. "Thumb-Generation Literature: The Rise and Fall of Japanese Cellphone Novels," Alisa Freedman X. Sites and Spectacles 30. "Hanabi: The Cultural Significance of Fireworks in Japan," Damien Liu-Brennan 31. "Kamishibai: The Fantasy Space of the Urban Street Corner," Sharalyn Orbaugh 32. "Shibuya: Reflective Identity in Transforming Urban Space," Izumi Kuroishi 33. "Akihabara: Promoting and Policing `Otakü in `Cool Japan,¿" Patrick W. Galbraith 34. "Japan Lost and Found: Modern Ruins as Debris of the Economic Miracle," Tong Lam XI. Fashion 35. "Cute Fashion: The Social Strategies and Aesthetics of Kawaii," Toby Slade 36. "Made in Japan: A New Generation Fashion Designers," Narumi Hiroshi 37. "Clean-Cut: Men¿s Fashion Magazines, Male Aesthetic Ideals, and Social Affinity in Japan," Masafumi Monden XII. Contemporary Art 38. "Superflat Life," Tom Looser 39. "Aida Makoto: Notes from an Apathetic Continent," Adrian Favell 40. "Art from What is Already There on Naoshima and Other Islands in the Seto Inland Sea," James Jack