Cover image: © tbc VISIONS OF PRECARITY IN JAPANESE POPULAR CULTURE AND LITERATURE Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature Edited by Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt and Roman Rosenbaum Edited by Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt and Roman Rosenbaum VISIONS OF PRECARITY IN JAPANESE POPULAR CULTURE AND LITERATURE Recent natural as well as man-made cataclysmic events have dramatically changed the status quo of contemporary Japanese society, and following the Asia- Paciic war’s never-ending ‘postwar’ period, Japan has been dramatically forced into a zeitgeist of saigo or ‘post- disaster’. This radically new worldview has signiicantly altered the sociopolitical as well as literary perception of one of the world’s potential superpowers, and in this book the contributors closely examine how Japan’s new paradigm of precarious existence is expressed through a variety of pop cultural as well as literary media. Addressing the transition from postwar to post-disaster literature, this book examines the rise of precarity consciousness in Japanese sociocultural discourse. The chapters investigate the extent to which we can talk about the emergence of a new literary paradigm of precarity in the world of Japanese popular culture. Through careful examination of a variety of contemporary texts ranging from literature, manga, anime, television drama and ilm, this study offers an interpretation of the many dissonant voices in Japanese society. The contributors also outline the related social issues in Japanese society and culture, providing a comprehensive overview of the global trends that link Japan with the rest of the world. Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature will be of great interest to students and scholars of contemporary Japan, Japanese culture and society, popular culture, and social and cultural history. Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University, Japan. Roman Rosenbaum is Honorary Associate in Japanese Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. ROUTLEDGE CONTEMPORARY JAPAN SERIES JAPANESE CULTURE / ASIAN CULTURE / POPULAR CULTURE www.routledge.com Routledge titles are available as eBook editions in a range of digital formats