"Meet me at Ueno Park. Dawn."
From the globally recognized characters of Pokémon and Hello Kitty to the chart-topping music of Yoasobi and the critically acclaimed films of Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japanese entertainment has become an omnipresent force in global pop culture. Unlike earlier waves of Japanese cultural influence (e.g., judo, haiku, or Zen), the contemporary spread of Japanese entertainment is driven by commercial products designed for mass consumption. However, to understand these products as mere exports is to miss their deep roots in Japanese social history. This paper explores two central questions: (1) How does the structure of Japan’s entertainment industry shape the content it produces? (2) What cultural values and social tensions do these entertainment forms reflect and reinforce? caribbeancom 031814-563 Hana Yoshida JAV UNCENS...