Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Asian Center Launches New Book on East Asian Popular Culture

Details
The Asian Center launched a new book, East Asian Popular Culture: Philippine Perspectives, on Saturday, 7 September 2013 at the Japan Hall, Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.  
 
Edited by Dr. Michiyo Yoneno-Reyes, Associate Professor at the Asian Center, the book compiles nine articles on Japanese, Korean and Chinese pop culture, offering interdisciplinary analyses of manga, films, TV dramas, and music and examining how these cultural forms are consumed and experienced in a Philippine context.
 
"This book," comments Dr. Yoneno-Reyes, "is a major academic publication of its kind in the Philippines. It provides a unique contribution to the lively debate about East Asian culture, especially in light of its diffusion to the rest of Asia, if not the world."
 
East Asian Popular Culture: Philippine Perspectives covers a variety of topics, including: 
  • Effeminated masculinity in a J-pop concert  
  • Gender (girlhood, womanhood, male homosexuality, etc.) in manga and films
  • South Korean telenovelas and fandom
  • Filipino cosplayers
  • Filipino fandom of Asian celebrities
"By looking at how Filipinos consume East Asian popular culture," says Dr. Yoneno-Reyes, "the book also offers comparative and cross-cultural studies of adaptation and hybridization. It has been interesting to see how new, even unintended meanings and interpretations of cultural forms can be generated outside the 'original' parameters of East Asian culture."
 
Funded by the Japan Foundation, East Asian Popular Culture: Philippine Perspectives is published by the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. The book costs PhP 250.

Guests at the book launch included Mr. Shuji Takatori, Director of the Japan Foundation; Eduardo Tadem, PhD, editor in chief of Asian Studies; Joefe Santarita, PhD, College Secretary; and Reuben Cañete, Associate Professor at the Asian Center.  

To order, please email the Publications Office of the Asian Center at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 63.2.981.8500 local 3586.