Places, Images, Times & Transformations

Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization

The rising international prominence of Japanese popular culture—from manga and anime to sushi and Hello Kitty—is something that has been hard to ignore over the past quarter century.  But why have global audiences responded so enthusiastically to Japanese entertainment products, and what cultural, social, and economic factors have contributed to the riotous creativity of Japanese pop since World War II? In this 60 minute presentation from 2015, William M. Tsutsui addresses these questions while illustrating his points with a variety of visual images and film clips.


William M. Tsutsui

A specialist in modern Japanese business and economic history, Dr. William M. Tsutsui’s published books examine topics ranging from banking policy to the film icon Godzilla. He has served as Associate Dean for International Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kansas where he was a history professor and director of the Kansas Consortium for Teaching About Asia in KU’s Center for East Asian Studies, and then as Dean and Professor of History at Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences at Southern Methodist University. He currently is President of Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.