This book examines the imaginative narratives that have shaped the attitudes of Americans (and others) toward Japan. Focusing on cultural aspects of economic nationalism and US–Japan relations during the trade war, Marie Thorsten uses examples from public discourse, film, documentaries, novels, acts of racism, and a comparison of international education assessments to examine the way in which Japan has been constituted in a global political gaze as an economic hegemon.
In times of heightened rivalry, we often try to find superior “others” so that we can motivate ourselves against an imagined future of decline. During the Cold War, Americans and other nations in the West took advantage of being the under- dog against the perceived superiority of the Soviet Union, especially by turning the Sputnik launch of 1957 into a lodestone for an educational renaissance. As postwar Japanese power became increasingly threatening, American policymakers again tried to fashion Japan into another “Sputnik” to motivate American people. This book explores the 1980s’ “Bubble” Japan as a “superhuman other” in the consciousness of Americans, especially as reflected in popular culture and policy discourses.