Abstract:

First there was American-style "coca-colonization," now it's Soft Power: Japan's talent for infusing items from its modern popular culture into countries and lifestyles around the glove.    A conference hosted by the American Studies program at Doshisha University in Kyoto explored recent trend in the spread of things Japanese into everyday life in the United States.  Highlighting the conference were three detailed case studies presented by noted anthropologists Theodore Bestor (Harvard University) on sushi, William Kelly (Yale University) on baseball, and Christine Yano (University of Hawai'i, Manoa) on Hello Kitty.  Each presentation lasts about 30 minutes.