Japanamerica

分類：other's creation
2007/12/17 08:26

A few months ago I finished reading Japanamerica by Roland Kelts.
I actually bought this book earlier, but never found the time to read it until a while later.What the author talks about is as stated on the book: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the U.S.
As a permanent resident in Canada, the first sign of Japanese pop material appeared on television in 1999~2000, right when I was 10 years old. If I remembered it correctly, it was the anime Pokémon. Asian friends like Melody were crazy with this anime, same with my asian cousin. I myself did not bother to watch it, I was unconfident to watch animes becuase I find most of them to have complex plots. To my native Canadian classmates, Pokémon was just another typical anime.
Then came Digimon, Card Captors, Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh, Inuyasha, etc etc. More and more Japanese animes appeared on kids' networks. Once in grade 9 I visited my old elementary school. As I walked past by a group of caucasian kids on the play ground, I noticed that each of them had a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh game cards on their hands. A while later I went into Chapter's bookstore where I haven't visited for a few years, there was not a "manga" section, all the mangas were translated into English.
By the time I noticed this, Japanese pop culture HAS indeed invaded the western nations...
Anyone who's a J-pop fan (especially an anime/manga-fan), this book is a must-read. It not only introduce the current Japanese pop culture as well the possible and predicted direction it would most likely be led to in the future. I learnt so many details from this: The origin of manga arts, the marketing system of animes, the invasion of the west, the problems involved, as well as "otakuism".