“Japanese pop culture is the beta version of twenty-first-century American pop culture. Mark Schilling's encyclopedia is an invaluable guide to a rich but labyrinthine subject. I use it not to look up what I don't know, but to find out what I should know.”

“Over seventy entries cover Japanese popular culture from 1945 to the present, covering music, comedy, fads, popular media, and all aspects which have fueled Japanese popular concerns over the decades. This does more than create listings of movements: it provides the historical references and connections essential to understanding how these interests developed.”