New Books on Japanese Visual Culture Available
Humberto Saabedra3 new academic books related to otaku, anime, and manga have been published with one being a translation of a Japanese book originally published in 2001.
The first is OTAKU: Japan’s Database Animals written by the scholar and media critic Hiroki Azuma which deals with the emergence of otaku and otaku culture in Japan, and links it to the way Japan has developed since its defeat in World War II.
Reading Japan Cool: Patterns of Manga Literacy and Discourse written by John Ingulsrud and Kate Allen who both live in Japan and teach at Tokyo’s Meisei University and Meiji University respectively.
The book covers the different types of manga that are being produced, the medium’s history and the major differences from Western comics, and shifts to a discussion on how audiences both in Japan and in the West actually read and understand manga.
The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki written by University of North Carolina English professor Mark I. West consists of a collection of essays, with the chapters examining topics such as how anime has been censored for American television, the initial reception of the Pokémon television series, and the reasons for the impact that Japanese videogame companies have made on the U.S. market.
