Silvio, Teri. Puppets, Gods, and Brands: Theorizing the Age of Animation from Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2019. I-lin Liu How do people animate inanimate objects? And what does it mean when we treat objects like they are humans? Anthropologist Teri Silvio’s new book Puppets, Gods, and Brands: Theorizing […]
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Galbraith, Patrick W. Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019. Caitlin Casiello Since the emergence of anime as the vanguard for Japan’s battle for cultural relevancy through “Cool Japan” soft power, the “otaku” has loomed large as a figure of mystery, infamy, and […]
Yasar, Kerim. Electrified Voices: How the Telephone, Phonograph, and Radio Shaped Modern Japan, 1868-1945. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018. Patrick Carland-Echavarria Kerim Yasar’s Electrified Voices is a fascinating study of how soundscapes in Japan were transformed by the introduction of audio technologies including the telephone, telegraph, phonograph, and radio […]