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.

Postwar Japanese pop culture has been extraordinarily fertile, vibrant, and commercially successful. ¿Manga,¿ Japan¿s unique contribution to comic art, became a major force in the nation¿s cultural life, as did Japanese music and movies. This book has more articles about people than products because the author wanted to bring the individual faces of Japanese pop culture into sharp focus. In choosing subjects, he used objective criteria -- most sales, longest run, highest ratings -- but often the choice to include a subject came down to his own feeling about what was important and what was not. Contains more than 70 in-depth entries covering Japanese pop culture since 1945 in the areas of music, movies, comedy, fads, popular media, and much more.

This encyclopedia covers culture from the end of the Imperialist period in 1945 right up to date to reflect the vibrant nature of contemporary Japanese society and culture.

Otaku: Nerd; geek or fanboy. Originates from a polite second-person pronoun meaning "your home" in Japanese. Since the 1980s it’s been used to refer to people who are really into Japanese pop-culture, such as anime, manga, and videogames. A whole generation, previously marginalized with labels such as "geek" and "nerd," are now calling themselves "otaku" with pride. The Otaku Encyclopedia offers fascinating insight into the subculture of Cool Japan. With over 600 entries, including common expressions, people, places, and moments of otaku history, this is the essential "A to Z" of facts every Japanese pop-culture fan needs to know. Author Patrick W. Galbraith has spent several years researching deep into the otaku heartland and his intimate knowledge of the subject gives the reader an insider’s guide to words such as moé, doujinshi, cospla y and maid cafés. In-depth interviews with such key players as Takashi Murakami, otaku expert Okada Toshio, and J-pop idol Shoko Nakagawa are interspersed with the entries, offering an even more penetrating look into the often misunderstood world of otaku. Dozens of lively, colorful images—from portraits of the interview subjects to manga illustrations, film stills and photos of places mentioned in the text—pop up throughout the book, making The Otaku Encyclopedia as entertaining to read as it is informative.

A fascinating illustrated look at various forms of Japanese popular culture: pop song, jazz, enka (a popular ballad genre of music), karaoke, comics, animated cartoons, video games, television dramas, films and "idols" -- teenage singers and actors. As pop culture not only entertains but is also a reflection of society, the book is also about Japan itself -- its similarities and differences with the rest of the world, and how Japan is changing. The book features 32 pages of manga plus 50 additional photos, illustrations, and shorter comic samples.

An encyclopedia describes all aspects of world culture, broken down into six regional categories, discussing the art, dance, fashion, food, pastimes, periodicals, recreation, and transportation of each region.