What is Japanese Pop Culture?

“Pop Culture” is a notoriously difficult word to define. In Popular Culture, Atkins states that “popular culture originated as a relational concept within a stratified social milieu: that is, the popular has meaning only in contrast to the high culture or fine art of social elites” (460). The definition of pop culture can change drastically with differing viewpoints. Viewpoints are also ever-evolving.

For most of Japan’s history, pop culture was a form of expression for the lower class. We can see this in the matsuri (Festivals), which Japanese citizens assembled themselves and celebrated (Atkins 463). However, with the advent of bigger towns and the dawn of the Edo period, this definition of pop culture would change. Challenging the traditional thought of fine art as popular culture. Now, it was what the masses found to be interesting.

In the early nineteenth century, rural folk began erecting their own kabuki and puppet theaters (Atkins 464). This was primarily done for entertainment but also for expression, both artistically and culturally. With the culture of the time being increasingly focused on the elegant and nonchalant, early pop culture served as a way of expression for the common folk. An inclusion that was made to be attainable for all.

We can see these definitions of pop culture through the lens of yōkai. Yōkai, as described by Foster in his article, Pandemonium, and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai, is “variously translated as monster, spirit, goblin, ghost, demon, phantom, specter, fantastic being, lower-order deity, or, more amorphously, as any unexplainable experience or numinous occurrence” (2). Yōkai are a fundamental part of Japanese culture. They started as rural tales and folk stories and were often local. Much like the matsuri, yōkai were the culture and pride of a village. In Yōkai Culture, Foster states, “local practice of yokai is characterized by a sense of tradition and history and community” (78). It was not until the Edo period that yōkai became widespread. Toriyama Sekien is often described as the person who brought yōkai culture to the mainstream. What once was a collection of stories spread amongst different towns and villages, Sekien organized all of the yōkai and their stories into an encyclopedia (Shamoon 277). yōkai began commodification at this time as well, serving as royalty-free characters that brought a lot of emotion from the average Japanese viewer. While yōkai today are more used for commodities, there is no doubt that their presence is more widespread now than ever before.

The purpose of this website is to answer the questions: What is the history of yōkai in Japanese culture, and what is their role in Japanese media in the past and present; how have yōkai been held in the minds of the Japanese people, both in the past and present; and how are yōkai portrayed differently now, and have their meanings and what they represent changed? Yōkai are prevalent everywhere in Japanese culture in both the past and present. Throughout time they have been classified and used to explain mysterious phenomena and unexplainable events. From the Edo period to COVID-19, new yōkai have come to light, and others have been modernized and reintroduced into current media. For example, there are older tales of female kitsune seducing men to kill them and newer tales where male kitsune serve as divine beasts to the gods. These representations of yōkai are inexplicitly tied to our culture, and as the times change, so will the way they are portrayed.