This book provides a rich picture of the ways in which the study of popular culture speaks to diverse national identities, how commercial culture can effectively transform a nation's identity on the international stage, and how embedded and interdisciplinary popular culture has become as a topic for study. * Journal of Design History * [It] brings to the fore themes such as cultural power, political conflict, and social identity (importantly, including gender, class, and race) against the backdrop of Japan's cultural history. * H-Japan * The result is certainly suitable for undergraduate teaching but in many ways goes so far beyond as to repay close reading by scholars, graduate students, and the public. What Atkins achieves is a dense, multilayered history, not simply of Japanese pop but of Japan itself as seen through the lens of its highly consumable cultural products ... Immensely readable, Atkins's prose is as full of humor and idiosyncratic character as his subject matter. The book's strength lies in the author's ability to capture the very vibrancy of popular culture in Japan while untangling its knotty threads (pun intended). Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries. * CHOICE * [The] book provides, as well as an excellent narrative of historical popular culture, an articular and well-elaborated theoretical structure to understand it. It would be a valuable tool to teach theory as well as history and to sharpen the knowledge and wits of students and professors alike. * Journal of Japanese Studies * At last, a concise volume that places Japanese popular culture-from the 17th-century origins of kabuki to Babe Ruth barnstorming Tokyo ballparks to Godzilla movies and Hello Kitty slippers-in a broader historical context. Students and instructors alike will welcome this book for its richness of detail, nuanced analysis, crisp writing, and flashes of humor. * William M. Tsutsui, President and Professor of History, Hendrix College * This book surveys popular culture with a close eye on the socio-political workings that have shaped Japanese art, music, film, animation and sport through the years. Though expressly written as an undergraduate textbook, the detail of the research and the inclusion of sophisticated theory means that Atkins' book can also be used as a resource for writers working on contemporary Japanese culture. * Carolyn Stevens, Professor of Japanese Studies, Monash University, Australia *