Pure Invention Audiobook By Matt Alt cover art

Pure Invention

How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World

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Pure Invention

By: Matt Alt
Narrated by: Matt Alt
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Buy for $20.25

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The untold story of how Japan became a cultural superpower through the fantastic inventions that captured—and transformed—the world’s imagination.

“A masterful book driven by deep research, new insights, and powerful storytelling.”—W. David Marx, author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style

Japan is the forge of the world’s fantasies: karaoke and the Walkman, manga and anime, Pac-Man and Pokémon, online imageboards and emojis. But as Japan media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation, these novelties did more than entertain. They paved the way for our perplexing modern lives.

In the 1970s and ’80s, Japan seemed to exist in some near future, gliding on the superior technology of Sony and Toyota. Then a catastrophic 1990 stock-market crash ushered in the “lost decades” of deep recession and social dysfunction. The end of the boom should have plunged Japan into irrelevance, but that’s precisely when its cultural clout soared—when, once again, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the rest of us.

Hello Kitty, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and multimedia empires like Dragon Ball Z were more than marketing hits. Artfully packaged, dangerously cute, and dizzyingly fun, these products gave us new tools for coping with trying times. They also transformed us as we consumed them—connecting as well as isolating us in new ways, opening vistas of imagination and pathways to revolution. Through the stories of an indelible group of artists, geniuses, and oddballs, Pure Invention reveals how Japan’s pop-media complex remade global culture. Popular Culture Japan Asia Social Sciences Globalization International Japanese Culture
Comprehensive Research • Fascinating History • Clear Narration • Informative Connections • Cultural Insights

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Solid book. Lots of interesting tidbits. The last chapter felt out of place with the rest of the book.

Solid read

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I've seen Matt Alt as sometimes goofy co-host of Japanology Plus series with Peter Barakan. Was not sure what to expect from Matt, however I was very positively surprised. Great insights into Japanese culture from a person who lived in Japan from many years and clearly in love with the culture of the country, its people and someone to wants to share his passion and interest with the world.

Great book for people interested in Japan

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The author’s knowledge of and passion for the subject matter in this book was evident in his narration, and his delivery was clear and concise, which helped weave all of the different timelines and histories together into a larger story. Each chapter could almost be the subject of its own book, and could run the risk of becoming too convoluted when crammed into the same piece of writing, but Matt Alt ties everything together constantly throughout the book so thorougly that it never feels like you’re jumping around in history erratically. Very interesting and enlightening for anyone curious about Japanese history and pop culture, and just how influential and instrumental the country has been in creating so many of the things we experience every day. Highly recommended!

A well researched and carefully organized glimpse into Japan’s culture and its amazing achievements.

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This guy dove pretty deep into Japan’s history in order into explain how it gained its international pop culture clout, despite its lost decades and general stagnation (economic, demographic, etc). Very much an interesting read for anyone into tech, sci fi, anime, manga, etc.

Great narration, excellent research.

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Learning this much in such an entertaining manner was a unique experience!
The storytelling made the book even more fascinating as it went progressing and connecting stories from the past to the present, and, not just that, it kept the pace by also talking about possible future impacts; even contemporary tales of western parts of the world were told without losing the focus of Japan.
I recommend it fully to those interested in the Land of the Rising Sun!

Awesome and engaging.

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