This ambitious work provides a comprehensive, empirically grounded study of the production, circulation, and reception of Japanese popular culture in Asia. While many studies typically employ an interactive approach that focuses on the “meaning” of popular culture from an anthropological or cultural studies point of view, Regionalizing Culture emphasizes that the consumption side and contextual meaning of popular culture are not the only salient factors in accounting for its proliferation. The production side and organizational aspects are also important. In addition to presenting individual case studies, the book offers a big-picture view of the dramatic changes that have taken place in popular culture production and circulation in Asia over the past two decades. The author has gleaned information from primary sources in Japanese, English, and other languages; research visits to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Seoul; as well as insights of people with firsthand knowledge from within the cultural industries. From this broad range of source, he develops an integrative political economic approach to popular culture. Regionalizing Culture offers a dialectical look at the organization of cultural production, primarily at the structure and control of cultural industries, interconnections between companies and production networks, and relations between the business sector and the state. It traces the rise of Japan as a popular culture powerhouse and the expansion of its cultural industries into Asian markets. It looks as well at the creation of markets for Japanese cultural commodities since the late 1980s, the industrial and normative impact that Japanese cultural industries have on the structure of the local cultural industries, and the wider implications these processes have for the Asian region. The growing popularity and importance of Japan’s popular culture will make this book a basic text for scholars and students of popular culture as well as for those interested in political economy, media and communication studies, Japanese-Asian relations, Asian studies, and international relations.

The political economy of popular culture -- Popular culture and the East Asian region -- Japan's popular culture powerhouse -- The creation of a regional market -- Japan's regional model -- Conclusion: Japanese popular culture and the making of East Asia.

From an interdisciplinary perspective based primarily on European ethnology and political economy, this book explores issues and concepts concerning the link between culture and economy. A historical introduction to key theoretical problems is followed by five empirical chapters discussing aspects of development in rural as well as urban locations. The author considers local leadership, looking in particular at part-time farming, counter-urban migration, and pluriactivity. The classification of informal economy is illustrated with examples drawn from fieldwork, and urban poverty and migration are each explored in detail. A discussion of heritage and identity as a resource for development questions whether the concern with the authenticity of culture(s) may be an inappropriate approach to take. The book concludes with a theoretical reflection on the problematic of culture and economy and a call for a return to the roots of European ethnology as an essentially political science.

In this new volume, 28 Scandinavian researchers and others who are active in arts and culture seek to answer the questions: What has been the effect of regional and local investment in arts and culture? And what positive and negative experiences have there been? This book describes and analyzes the extent to which cultural investments at local and regional levels have stimulated development and led to essential processes of change for the community in general. Of special interest is how different places manage to "turn the tide". What do their development processes involve? Which ways and means do they use to go forward in order to change their paths and start anew? These are just a few of the important questions addressed in this book. One of the most important findings is that while you can never transfer the successful renewal of one place to another like a blueprint, certain common patterns in the cultural processes are discernible. The contributors to this book show the breadth of theoretical tools that can be used to increase awareness of the significance of culture for regional development. Throughout the book readers will find a multitude of theoretical concepts, from entrepreneurship theory, organizational institutionalism and cultural economy, to cultural planning and art management. This book will appeal to scholars and practitioners of urban and regional studies, and cultural and creative economics.

This volume provides a unique open inter-disciplinary dialogue across the Humanities and Social Sciences to further our understanding of the phenomenon of regions and regionalism in a globalized world both at the theoretical and empirical levels. What comprises a region? What are the different regional dynamic processes that take place? What is the relationship between the regional and the global? What role does identity building play? Bringing together scholars from various disciplines within and across the Social Sciences and the Humanities to reflect on these questions, the book explores how regions are imagined, constructed, understood, and explained in different academic disciplines. Each chapter addresses these common questions and uses its own disciplinary lenses to answer them. In addition, the volume offers interesting reflections on the academic borders constructed in the study of regions, thus demonstrating the importance of obtaining insights from both social scientists and humanities scholars in order to better understand the relevance of regions in a complex and globalized world. An important work for scholars and postgraduate students in many fields, including political science, international relations, sociology, economics, geography, history and literature, as well as for those interested in regionalism and area studies.

This book urges the case for reinstating regional geography as a contemporary and relevant methodology. Much interest was shown in the 1980s in reviving, yet restructuring, the field of regional geography. The essays in this book both review that work and propose a way forward. The essays divide into three sections. The first assesses traditional regional geography and its relevance to the study of contemporary situations; the second, the alternative approaches of world-systems analysis, diffusion and structuration theory. The book concludes by considering the potential of regional geography to interpret the structures within which society operates and its claim to remain at the core of the discipline.

This book observes and analyzes transnational interactions of East Asian pop culture and current cultural practices, comparing them to the production and consumption of Western popular culture and providing a theoretical discussion regarding the specific paradigm of East Asian pop culture. Drawing on innovative theoretical perspectives and grounded empirical research, an international team of authors consider the history of transnational flows within pop culture and then systematically address pop culture,digital technologies, and the media industry. Chapters cover the Hallyu—or Korean Wave—phenomenon, as well as Japanese and Chinese cultural industries. Throughout the book, the authors address the convergence of the once-separated practical, industrial, and business aspects of popular culture under the influence of digital culture. They further coherently synthesize a vast collection of research to examine the specific realities and practices of consumers that exist beyond regional boundaries, shared cultural identities, and historical constructs. This book will be of interest to academic researchers, undergraduates, and graduate students of Asian media, media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, transcultural communication, or sociology.