Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland

by Aviad E. Raz

Overview

In 1997, over 17 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland, making it the most popular of the many theme parks in Japan. Since it opened in 1983, Tokyo Disneyland has been analyzed mainly as an example of the globalization of the American leisure industry and its organizational culture, particularly the “company manual.” By looking at how Tokyo Disneyland is experienced by employees, management, and visitors, Aviad Raz produces not only a cultural reading of the onstage show but also an ethnographic analysis of its production by those who work there and its reception by its customers. Previous studies have seen Disneyland as a “black ship”—an exported, hegemonic model of American leisure and pop culture—that “conquered” Japan. By concentrating on the Japanese point of view, Raz shows that it is much more an example of successful domestication and that it has succeeded precisely because it has become Japanese even while marketing itself as foreign. Rather than being an agent of Americanization, Tokyo Disneyland is a simulated “America” showcased by and for the Japanese.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674768949
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	05/01/1999
Series:	Harvard East Asian Monographs , #173
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Aviad E. Raz is Associate Professor of Sociology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Table of Contents

Maps, Tables, and Figures

Abbreviations

Introduction

Theoretical Considerations

Globalization: Cultural Imperialism or Local Adaptation?

Japan as a Consumerist Society

Methodological Considerations

Traveling with Disney

A Short History of OLC and the TDL Project

PART I: ONSTAGE

America in Tokyo: The Remaking of Disneyland in Japan

The Dubbed Spiel: Jungle Cruise

Domesticating Disney: Cinderella's Castle

Wishful History: Meet the World

The Exotic and the Familiar

"America" on Stage

"Japan" on Stage

PART II: BACKSTAGE

Working for TDL

Part-time Employees

Hiring and Training in TDL, Disney, and Kōrakuen

Regular Employees

Organizational Culture and Organizational Critique

Service Culture and the "Manual Society"

The Smile Factory

The Taylorist System

Putting the Heart Back in the Manual

Taylorism, Service Work, and the Dialectic of Form and Feeling

PART III: OFFSTAGE

The Theme Park Boom: Remaking the World in Japan

The Theme Park Boom

Japan's Themed Lands in Sociological Perspective

Receptions of TDL-Disney

Disneyland as Socialization: The Early Years

Office Ladies, Burikko, and Disney

TDL and Middle Age

The Problem with Leisure: Rejā/Asobi and Infantile Consumerism

Traveling Theories: Aboard the Black Ship

The Culture Industry Revisited

The Black Ships of Glocalzation

Reference Matter

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Editorial Reviews

Raz’s socio-anthropological study describes how a significant piece of American business, ideology, and fantasy has been remade in Japan. Raz challenges the popular idea of Tokyo Disneyland as being a cultural imperialism. Rather, he found that it has succeeded precisely because it has become Japanese while marketing itself as American… [A] fine ethnography.

Choice - M. Y. Rynn

Raz’s study of Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) is a well-grounded case of domestication. The central question of the study is to examine how Walt Disney World, as a globalizing and imperialistic operation, has been reworked into the localized cultural networks of Japan… This book is a strong case of glocalization, collapsing the global and local.

Journal of Communication - Eric K. W. Ma

Raz's study of Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) is a well-grounded case of domestication. The central question of the study is to examine how Walt Disney World, as a globalizing and imperialistic operation, has been reworked into the localized cultural networks of Japan…This book is a strong case of glocalization, collapsing the global and local.

— Eric K. W. Ma

Journal of Communication

Raz's socio-anthropological study describes how a significant piece of American business, ideology, and fantasy has been remade in Japan. Raz challenges the popular idea of Tokyo Disneyland as being a cultural imperialism. Rather, he found that it has succeeded precisely because it has become Japanese while marketing itself as American...[A] fine ethnography.
— M. Y. Rynn

Choice