Contents

Introduction: Japanese Studies into Cultural Studies / John Whittier Treat 1

1 Race and Relexivity: The Black Other in Contemporary Japanese Mass Culture / John G. Russell 17

2 In Pursuit of Perfection: The Discourse of Cars and Transposition of Signs in Two Advertising Campaigns / Brian Moeran 41

3 'Finally, I Reach to Africa': Ryuichi Sakamoto and Sounding Japan(ese) / Brian Currid 69

4 Mournful Tears and Sake: The Postwar Myth of Misora Hibari / Alan M. Tansman 103

5 Fashion Trends, Japonisme and Postmodernism / Lise Skov 137

6 Imaginings in the Empires of the Sun: Japanese Mass Culture in Asia / Leo Ching 169

7 Japanese Daytime Television, Popular Culture and Ideology / Andrew A. Painter 197

8 Panic Sites: The Japanese Imagination of Disaster from Godzilla to Akira / Susan J. Napier 235

9 Murakami Haruki and Japan Today / Aoki Tamotsu 265

10 Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: The Shojo in Japanese Popular Culture / John Whittier Treat 275

Contributors 309

Index 311