Apocalyptic Imagination in Contemporary Japan

Apocalyptic Imagination in Contemporary Japan

Volume 3 Number 2, Autumn 2012 pp. 67-82(16)
Research Article
2012/9/1
Tanaka, Motoko
Apocalyptic themes can commonly be found in modern Japanese cultural works, such as animation, comic books, and “light novels.” ese themes are clearly inspired by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of the Second World War, a traumatic experience for the Japanese. This article focuses on apocalyptic themes in Japan since 1995—the fiftieth anniversary of the Japanese defeat in the war. The goal is to reveal how apocalyptic fiction has reflected and dealt with major sociopolitical changes in Japan since 1995. In particular, the article analyzes how contemporary apocalyptic fiction differs from its earlier more conventional counterparts, why some of this fiction lacks themes of personal growth and attaining maturity, and whether the contemporary Japanese apocalyptic imagination has the potential to cope with post-apocalyptic endlessness and still find room for maturity and growth.
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