Global Circulation and Japanese Popular Music During the Cold War

The language conventionally used to describe the Cold War era—metaphors like "iron curtain" or "bamboo curtain"—suggest a world divided up into clearly distinct ideological realms. But when we trace the multidirectional flows of popular music during this period, we find songs, styles, and musicians constantly crossing back and forth over the supposedly impermeable barriers that separated the various ideological blocs and presenting us with a much more fluid and interactive model of cultural exchanges. This presentation focuses on the transnational circulation through which mainstream Japanese popular music in the 1950s and 60s engaged in lively interaction with all "Three Worlds" of the Cold War global imaginary and suggests a new roadmap for understanding Japanese cultural activities during the last half of the twentieth century.

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