A Nation of a Hundred Million Idiots?

In a comparatively short period, the television industry helped to reconstruct not only postwar Japanese popular culture, but also the Japanese social and political landscape. This book offers a history of Japanese television audiences and the popular media culture that television helped to spawn.

Jayson Makoto Chun, raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, is an assistant professor of history at the University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu.

Part 1: Introduction to Japanese Television Culture Introduction Part 2: The History of Japanese Television Culture 1. Prewar Roots of Japanese Television Culture: Imperial Culture, Media Culture, and Radio 2. Postwar Media Culture and Japanese Encounters with TV 3. Pro Wrestling and Body Slams: Early TV as a Mass Event 4. Transforming the Nation: TV Takes Root in Japan (1957-1963) Part 3: Japanese Interactions with Television 5. Television Spreads to the Countryside 6. Intellectuals Debate TV: Oya's "Hundred Million Idiots" and Kato's "Television Culture" 7. Protecting the Children and Cleaning Up TV 8. Politics as Spectacle: Parades, Pageantry and Protests 9. Anpo Redux: University Riots and a Hostage Crisis 10. America in Japanese Television: Family Dramas and Cowboys 11. After the American Boom: Japanese TV Gains its Independence Part 4: The Meaning of the Japanese Television Nation Epilogue: Fractured Television Nation