The readings below are provided for those who would like additional information on the topics listed.
Theories of Gender and Popular Culture
Benkler, Yochai. "Introduction: A Moment of Opportunity and Challenge." Chapter 1 in The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780300125771.
Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. Little Brown and Company, 2008.
Murakami, Takashi. "Superflat Manisfesto." In Superflat. Madora Shuppan, 2000. ISBN: 9784944079209.
International Japanese Pop Culture: Characters and Networks
Kelts, Roland. Selections from Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Invaded the US. St. Martin's Griffin, 2007. ISBN: 9781403984760.
Matsui, Takeshi. 
"The Diffusion of Foreign Cultural Products: The Case Analysis of Japanese Comics (Manga) in the US." (PDF) Working Paper 37, Spring 2009. Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.
Mori, Yoshitaka. "Subcultural Unconsciousness in Japan: The War and Japanese Contemporary Artists." Chapter 9 in Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. Edited by Matthew Allen and Rumi Sakamoto. Routledge, 2006. ISBN: 9780415447959.
Napier, Susan. "Anime Nation: Cons, Cosplay, and (Sub) Cultural Capital." Chapter 6 in From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ISBN: 9781403962140.
———. "Differing Destinations: Cultural Identification, Orientalism, and ?Soft Power?" In 21st Century Anime Fandom." Chapter 7 in From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ISBN: 9781403962140.
Otsuka, Eiji. "Disarming Atom: Tezuka Osamu's Manga at War and Peace." In Mechademia 3: Limits of the Human. Edited by Frenchy Lunning. University of Minnesota Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780816654826.
Steinberg, Marc. "Anytime, Anywhere: Tetsuwan Atomu Stickers and the Emergence of Character Merchandising." Theory, Culture & Society 26 (2009): 113–38.
Fans & Cultural Studies: Television, Manga, Internet and Beyond
Azuma, Hiroki. Otaku: Japan's Database Animals. Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. University of Minnesota Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780816653515. [Preview with Google Books]
Lukács, Gabriella. Scripted Affects, Branded Selves: Television, Subjectivity, and Capitalism in 1990s Japan. Duke University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780822348245. [Preview with Google Books]
McLelland, Mark. "No Climax, No Point, No Meaning? Japanese Women's Boy-Love Sites in the Internet." Journal of Communication Inquiry 24, no. 3 (2000): 274–91.
Questions of Value, Identity and Media Culture
Condry, Ian. "Genba Globalization and Locations of Power." Chapter 3 in Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780822338925. [Preview with Google Books]
Darling-Wolf, Fabienne. "SMAP, Sex, and Masculinity: Constructing the Perfect Female Fantasy in Japanese Popular Music." Popular Music and Society 27, no. 3 (2004): 357–70.
Hosokawa, Shuhei. "Blacking Japanese: Experiencing Otherness From Afar." In Popular Music Studies. Edited by David Hesmondhalgh and Keith Negus. Bloomsbury Academic, 2002. ISBN: 9780340762486.
Lunning, Frenchy, ed. Mechademia 5: Fanthropologies. University of Minnesota Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780816673872.
Wezorek, Joe. "Japanese Dominance of the Video-Game Industry and the Future of Interactive Media." Chapter 8 in The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki. Edited by Mark I. West. Scarecrow Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780810851214. [Preview with Google Books]