Contents

I INTRODUCTION; Gender, shifting boundaries and global cultures, D.P. Martinez;

1 Sumo in the popular culture of contemporary Japan, Yamaguchi Masao;

II THE MALE DOMAIN;

2 Transformational magic: Some Japanese super-heroes and monsters, Tom Gill;

3 Akira, postmodernism and resistance, Isolde Standish; 4 JapanÂ’s empty orchestras: Echoes of Japanese culture in the performance of karaoke, Bill Kelly;

III THE FEMALE DOMAIN;

5 Vampries, psychic girls, flying women and sailor scouts: Four faces of the young female in Japanese popular culture, Susan Napier;

6 Japanese womenÂ’s magazines: The language of aspiration, Keiko Tanaka;

7 NonchanÂ’s dream: NHK morning serialised television novels in the 1980s, Paul Harvey;

IV SHIFTING BOUNDARIES;

8 Media stories of bliss and mixed blessings in marriages, HalldÃ3r Stefánsson;

9 The cult of Oguricap: Or, how women changed the social value of Japanese horse-racing, Nagashima Nobuhiro;

10 Soccer shinhatsubai: what are Japanese consumers making of the J League?, Jonathan Watts.