Consumer goods and popular culture make up an important part of social life and identity in contemporary Japan. At the same time, cultural products such as manga (comics), anime (animation), television dramas, popular music and fashion are an increasingly vital element of twenty-first century global culture, making Japan a “cultural superpower” on the world stage. In this course we will critically examine the development of Japanese consumer society and popular culture and explore the ways in which they contribute to the meaning and organization of social life and identity. In addition, we will consider the ways in which Japanese popular culture is marketed and consumed in Asian countries. There are three overarching themes to the course: 1) the historical development of Japan’s consumer society and popular culture in relation to modernization and globalization; 2) the role of institutions, ideologies, and human action in the production and consumption of popular culture; and 3) critical analysis of consumer society and popular culture in terms of power, inequality, and resistance.