- Home
- A-Z Publications
- East Asian Journal of Popular Culture
- Previous Issues
- Volume 5, Issue 1, 2019
East Asian Journal of Popular Culture - Volume 5, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 5, Issue 1, 2019
-
-
The voices of adult anime/‘manga’ fans in Australia: Motivations, consumption patterns and intentions to learn the Japanese language
Authors: Sumiko Iida and William S. ArmourThis article extends previous quantitative work done regarding the attitudes that self-identified fans of Japanese popular culture (JPC) have to learning the Japanese language. Following standard qualitative methods, four focus group interviews were conducted in which seven informants were asked a series of questions concerned with their initial contact with JPC, their views about JPC, their consumption habits, and interest in and experiences of learning the Japanese language. While a definitive conclusion is elusive, results point to rather complex associations between the selfidentified fans of JPC, in particular anime and ‘manga’, and how they consume these two media and learning the Japanese language. We foreground the three modes of learning – formal, non-formal and informal – to locate possible sites where fans are able to learn Japanese and about Japan in a broader sense. We offer a preliminary conceptualization of a trajectory that a fan of JPC might take when considering to learn Japanese.
-
-
-
The Olympic decathlete who became a shaman: C. K. Yang and the masculine body in modern Taiwan
More LessC. K. Yang (楊傳廣) was a famous decathlete from Taiwan who broke the world decathlon record and competed in three Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in 1960. He was known worldwide as one of the finest athletes of the twentieth century and was beloved in Taiwan as ‘The Asian Iron Man’. After acting in Hollywood movies, coaching Taiwan’s national track and field team and holding political office, Yang found a new career in the unlikely capacity of Daoist shaman (tâng-ki 童乩, jitong 乩童) in a temple in Hualian. Media reports of this turn in 2001 created a national and cultural crisis, as many wondered how Yang could fall so far and what this revealed about Taiwan. Examination of Yang’s two main endeavours, athletics and shamanism, reveals connections in how both relate to modern notions of masculinity, nationalism, local identity and community spectacle, and also Yang’s own critique of the nature of the Republic of China in the late twentieth century.
-
-
-
The controversial flag dress: Collective memory, cyberspace and civil society in a rising China
By En LiA 2001 magazine photo in China turned into a political drama on the Internet: Zhao Wei, one of the country’s best-known actresses, posed in a dress imprinted with a Japanese navy flag. The image caused a furor among Chinese netizens, forcing Zhao to make a public apology. By analysing Zhao’s online responses and the public discourse surrounding her lack of historical sensitivity, this article investigates the relations between state-sanctioned education and individual responses, the expanding Internet as a new way for people to hear different voices and form opinions, and the state’s behind-the-scenes manipulation. Furthermore, an investigation of the dynamic relationship between civic engagement and the manipulative state explains how nationalism is represented and perceived in the context of China’s rise.
-
-
-
Does the democratic West ‘learn’ from the authoritarian East? Juxtaposing German and Chinese Internet censorship and filter bubbles
By Maria FaustThis article compares Internet censorship and filter bubbles in Germany and China both theoretically and how to investigate it methodologically. It challenges the dichotomy between the free West and the regulated East. Drawing on definitions, the key actors of both phenomena and specific juristic measures, the author then develops a visual intersecting circle model for comparative purposes. Key findings at this stage suggest the following: both phenomena contain pre-selected Internet content through digital means, algorithms serve as technical infrastructure to shape such pre-selections and finally, users face awareness issues when attempting to grasp the extent of these phenomena. Methodological recommendations follow to research this novel approach of juxtaposition. The findings suggest that German Internet developments are a possible democracy threat and are shifting towards analogue developments known from the authoritarian Chinese state. This implies that German Internet corporations adhere to new state regulations, and yet fulfilling these for the sake of their own monetary benefits. Thus, notions of public opinion formation are diluted to biased, regulated and business-driven information processes in Germany and censored, marginalized community informative actions in China.
-
-
-
Book Reviews
Authors: Nick Poulakis, Kosuke Fujiki, Thomas E. McAuley, John A. Riley and Ting GuoSupercell’s Supercell Featuring Hatsune Miku, Keisuke Yamada (2017) London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 128 pp., ISBN 978-1-50132-597-7, p/bk, $20.66
Perfume’s Game, Patrick St. Michel (2018) London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 112 pp., ISBN 978-1-50132-590-8, p/bk, $20.66
Yōko Kanno’s Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack, Rose Bridges (2016) 1st ed., New York: Bloomsbury Academic, vii + 134 pp., ISBN 978-1-50132-584-7, h/bk, $80.00; ISBN 978-1-50132-585-4, p/bk, $22.95; ISBN 978-1-50132-587-8, Electronic, $20.65
Interpreting Anime, Christopher Bolton (2018) Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 328 pp., ISBN 978-1-51790-403-6, p/bk, $24.00; ISBN 978-1-51790-402-9, h/bk, $96.00
The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation and Game Media, Thomas Lamarre (2018) Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 448 pp., ISBN 978-1-51790-450-0, p/bk, $27.00; ISBN 978-1-51790-449-4, h/bk, $108.00
The Global Road Movie: Alternative Journeys around the World, Jose Duarte and Timothy Corrigan (eds) (2018) Bristol and Chicago: Intellect, 265 pp., ISBN: 978-1-78320-877-7, h/bk, $93.00
Queer Comrades: Gay Identity and Tongzhi Activism in Postsocialist China, Hongwei Bao (2018) Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press, 277 pp., ISBN 978-8-77694-234-2, h/bk, £65.00; ISBN 978-8-77694-236-6, p/bk, £22.50
Queer/Tongzhi China: New Perspectives on Research, Activism, and Media Cultures, Elisabeth L. Engebretsen, William F. Schroeder and Hongwei Bao (eds) (2015) Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press, 320 pp., ISBN 978-8-77694-153-6, h/bk, £60; ISBN 978-8-77694-155-0, p/bk, £22.50
-