Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland (Harvard East Asian Monographs) [Hardcover]

Aviad E. Raz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999 | Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs (Book 173)

In 1996 over 16 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 shows that it is much more an example of successful importation, adaptation, and 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. It is an "America" with a Japanese meaning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Asia Center (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674768930
• ISBN-13: 978-0674768932
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,293,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Co-Opting Disney..., September 30, 2002

By 

Carl Malmstrom (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland (Harvard East Asian Monographs) (Paperback)

Like McDonald's, Coca-Cola and they other highly visible aspects of American culture, Disney has long been taken to be one of America's many types of "cultural imperialism" - a part of American culture forced on the rest of the world whether they like it or not that quickly gets absorbed like candy by most other countries. In "Riding the Black Ship", Aviad Raz makes a very compelling case for how Japan, in fact, reworks Disney to fit its own image in a very non-traditional way.

Drawing on visits to Tokyo Disneyland, interviews with current and former employees and comparisons with the American Disney parks and Japan's other theme parks, he looks at how Disney is presented, not only to Japan, but to the park's employees and to the country itself. He represents this as three aspects: "on-stage", "backstage" and "off-stage". He takes us through how employees are trained, how rides are conceptualized and how the people of Japan see the park - among other things.

From this he boils down his argument to essentially say that, while the illusion of being "just like America" is preserved at great lengths, Tokyo Disneyland subtly alters just about every aspect of the park to appeal to a more Japanese audience. More interestingly, this is mostly done by the Japanese management and can be used to show how Japan deals not only with cultural influences, but with the entire world.

I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in cultural anthropology, Japanese business practice or just a curiosity about Disney. In anthropology, arguments and perspectives like these are being used with greater frequency, but rarely are they exhibited as well as in Raz's book. It's very readable and it makes some fascinating - and important - arguments about how Japan sees and deals with the world today.