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Pure Invention

How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World

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Pure Invention

By: Matt Alt
Narrated by: Matt Alt
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'Amazingly well researched, fabulously informative and an awful lot of fun. If you love Japanese culture or are just curious to know more I can't recommend this book highly enough' Jonathan Ross

'A nerd- and generalist-friendly look at how Japan shaped the post-World War II world, from toys to Trump . . . A non-native's savvy study of Japan's wide influence in ways both subtle and profound' Kirkus

The Walkman. Karaoke. Pikachu. Pac-Man. Akira. Emoji. We've all fallen in love with one or another of Japan's pop-culture creations, from the techy to the wild to the super-kawaii. But as Japanese-media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation of Tokyo's pop-fantasy complex, we don't know the half of it.

Japan's toys, gadgets, and fantasy worlds didn't merely entertain. They profoundly transformed the way we live. In the 1970s and '80s, Japan seemed to exist in some near future, soaring on the superior technology of Sony and Toyota while the West struggled to catch up. Then a catastrophic 1990 stock-market crash ushered in the 'lost decades' of deep recession and social dysfunction.

The end of the boom times should have plunged Japan into irrelevance, but that's precisely when its cultural clout soared - when, once again, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the rest of us. Hello Kitty, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and multimedia empires like Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z were more than marketing hits. Artfully packaged, dangerously cute, and dizzyingly fun, these products made Japan the forge of the world's fantasies, and gave us new tools for coping with trying times. They also transformed us as we consumed them - connecting as well as isolating us in new ways, opening vistas of imagination and pathways to revolution.

Through the stories of an indelible group of artists, geniuses, and oddballs, Pure Invention reveals how Japanese ingenuity remade global culture and may have created modern life as we know it. It's Japan's world; we're just gaming, texting, singing, and dreaming in it.©2020 Matt Alt Asia History History & Culture Japan Social Sciences Technology Imperial Japan
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Critic reviews

A nerd- and generalist-friendly look at how Japan shaped the post-World War II world, from toys to Trump . . . A non-native's savvy study of Japan's wide influence in ways both subtle and profound
Amazingly well researched, fabulously informative and an awful lot of fun. If you love Japanese culture or are just curious to know more I can't recommend this book highly enough
A work of startling originality . . . This is a wonderful book, exuberant and joyful, full of love for Japan but a deep appreciation of the sorts of links that get left out of popular accounts - political economies, human-interest stories and technological determinism (Jonathan Clements)
A classic in the making
All stars
Most relevant
Being an appreciator of several aspects of Japan’s culture, this was a fascinating and well-structured account of how Otaku culture spread across the world. With one eye on post-WW2 retail / manufacturing history to place the development in some context, Alt sensitively outlines how and why the world developed a love of Hello Kitty, Manga, Pokémon and (one I had forgotten) Tamagotchis! Excellent.

Engaging and Illuminating

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An excellent book which looks at the cultural influence of Japan through a pop culture and social lens. Excellent and highly informative.

Excellent book for Japanophiles!

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The authors passion for Japanese culture with its relation to its history is like exploring a beautifully, woven carpet. Loving it.

This is so well researched.

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Recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about the origins of modern Japanese culture. Well researched, great reading performance and really fun. Will send you down many new rabbit holes of content to explore.

Fun and well researched insight into the global love of Japanese culture

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Matt Alt has crafted a wonderfully intricate experience that dishes up every flavour of Japanese pop culture, alongside historical context that's just as gripping. Funny, thoughtful and touching. This is an essential listen for anyone with an interest in Japan and its vibrant culture! I can't recommend it more!

More than lives up to its title!

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