Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World

Description

Today we take it for granted that Japan is a forge of the world's fantasies: the birthplace of Transformers and Pokemon, of food trends like ramen and artisanal whisky and cutting-edge manga and anime. But it wasn't always this way. The first Japanese products that trickled into the global marketplace after the Second World War inspired derision, not admiration. The three words 'Made in Japan' were a punchline, a synonym for cheap trinkets from a defeated nation. But when a steady drip of cheap novelties turned into a flood of high-quality consumer electronics and cars in the late 1970s and early 1980s, condescension turned into fury as Japan toppled cherished Western industries one after another. The nation then turned its attention to creating novel inessentials that we desperately coveted. From irresistible gadgets like the Walkman to Nintendo video games to adorable mascots, it produced products that possessed a unique, uncanny ability to grab our attention and nourish our dreams. Japan made itself rich after the Second World War by selling us the things we needed. But it conquered hearts by creating the things we wanted. A wild and nostalgic history of the creators behind the gadgets, stories and ideas the world learned to love and need, as well as an exploration of the ripple effects and influence their ideas would come to have, PURE INVENTION is a detective story about an unsung chapter of globalisation that has touched us all and obsessed millions.

Matthew Alt is a writer, translator and reporter. He is the author of several illustrated books about Japan. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Wired, Slate, the Independent and the Japan Times. He is the co-host of the TV show Japanology Plus on NHK World. He lives in Japan.

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 * 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 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 * All the Anime blog * A classic in the making * Post magazine *