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Matt Alt

@Matt_Alt

13 Jul 20

In writing "Pure Invention," I stuck as much as possible to Japanese-language sources, because I wanted to give the creators and consumers of Japan a direct say. But I also relied on (or was inspired by) many English-language resources, and I'd like to highlight a few. (1/?)

“The Influence of Japanese Art on Design,” by Hannah Sigur, is a richly illustrated tome that explains how profoundly Japanese sensibilities came to inflect Western design at the turn of the 20th century. Many surprises in here. amazon.com/gp/product/158…

John Dower’s “Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II” (2000) is THE book on immediate postwar history. It’s a deftly written exploration of how a motley mix of pardoned war criminals and American military advisors rebuilt Japan. wwnorton.com/books/Embracin…

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Matt Alt

@Matt_Alt

13 Apr 20

Now that the #FinalFantasy VII remake #FF7R is here, it makes me think about what a literal game-changer the 1997 original was. Not just in terms of sales, but for the game industry, for Japan as a nation, and for global culture. (1/14)

Final Fantasy VII injected a megadose of Japanese sensibilities into the minds of young Westerners. Anime/manga style melodrama. Visual-kei & Amano goth. Androgynous heroes. Alternatives to Western style. But how did that happen? (2/14)

First off, jump back to 1953. That’s when Masaru Ibuka (below) and Akio Morita decided to rename their tongue-twister of an electronics company, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, into a more pronounceable “Sony.” Why Sony? (3/14)

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Matt Alt

@Matt_Alt

8 Apr 20

Today, April 7, marks an epoch-making moment in pop cultural history: the debut of Mobile Suit Gundam. It wasn’t the first anime to find an older audience, but it was the first anime to trigger a full-fledged societal phenomenon. (1/9)

Gundam didn’t do well at first. In fact it was a ratings disaster. Written for teens, it was marketed towards kids, as nearly all anime was at the time. The sponsor, a toy company named Clover, pulled the plug as piles of its silly-looking merchandise sat on shelves. BUT! (2/9)

Older fans, teens and young adults, weren’t ready to give up. They poured out their souls in impassioned missives to what was then the best method of connecting to other fans: the pages of anime magazines like Animec, The Anime, and OUT. (3/9)

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Matt Alt

@Matt_Alt

28 Feb 20

With Tokyoites panic-buying paper products across the city, this seems like a relevant time to revisit a similar moment from 40+ years ago: the 1973 Toilet Paper Riots. I write about this in “Pure Invention,” but here’s the scoop. 1/5

The Toilet Paper Riots weren’t caused by viral fears, but economic ones. The world was reeling from an Arab oil embargo. It led to price hikes on all sorts of goods — what Japanese call kyoran bukka, “out of control prices.” Fears of shortages gripped the nation. 2/5

In Nov. 1973, a badly worded ad led residents of an Osaka suburb to believe toilet paper was next. It wasn’t, but local housewives battled to snap up 500 packages in an hour. News coverage of the spectacle sparked runs in other cities. Stampedes sent many to the hospital. 3/5

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