Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture is the companion catalogue to the exhibition "Little Boy" curated by artist Takashi Murakami. The book is about the aesthetics of postwar culture in Japan.
Little Boy examines the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media. Focusing on the youth-driven phenomenon of otaku (roughly translated as 'geek culture' or 'pop cult fanaticism'), Takashi Murakami and a notable group of contributors explore the complex historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic languages. The book's title, Little Boy, is a reference to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, thus clearly locating the birth of these new cultural forms in the trauma and generational aftershock of the atomic bomb. This generously illustrated book showcases the work of key otaku artists and designers, many of whom are cult celebrities in Japan, and discusses their feature film and video animations, video games and internet sites, music, toys, fashion and more. In the process, the following questions are posed: What is otaku? How is it related to the pervasive and curious fixation on 'cuteness' evident in Japanese popular culture? What impact did the atomic devastation of World War II have on the development of Japanese art and culture? This brilliantly designed, bilingual (English and Japanese) publication examines these themes to explore how contemporary Japanese art has become inseparable from the subcultural realms of manga and anime (Japanese animation), a world where meticulous technique, apocalyptic imagery and high and low cultures meet

This volume accompanies the exhibition 'Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture'. presented at Japan Society Gallery, New York, and various venues in New York City, from April 8 - July 24, 2005.

'Little Boy' examines the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media. Focusing on the youth-driven phenomenon of otaku (roughly translated as “geek culture” or “pop cult fanaticism”), Takashi Murakami and a notable group of contributors explore the complex historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic languages.

The book’s title, Little Boy, is a reference to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, thus clearly locating the birth of these new cultural forms in the trauma and generational aftershock of the atomic bomb.

This generously illustrated book showcases the work of key otaku artists and designers, many of whom are cult celebrities in Japan, and discusses their feature film and video animations, video games and internet sites, music, toys, fashion, and more. In the process, the following questions are posed: What is otaku, and what does it tell us about contemporary social, economic, and cultural life in Japan and throughout the world? How is it related to the pervasive and curious fixation on “cuteness” evident in Japanese popular culture? What impact did the atomic devastation of World War II have on the development of Japanese art and culture?

This brilliantly designed, bilingual (English and Japanese) publication examines these themes to explore how contemporary Japanese art has become inseparable from the subcultural realms of manga and animé (Japanese animation)--a world where meticulous technique, apocalyptic imagery, and high and low cultures meet.

Little Boy concludes Murakami’s “Superflat” trilogy, a project conceived in 2000 to introduce a new wave of Japanese artists and to place their work in the historical context of traditional styles and concepts.

(3) Copies in TBC Office

This catalog accompanied the 2005 exhibition of the same name shown at the Japan Society in New York. This is a very rare instance -- for me anyway -- of finding the art in an exhibition (and in this volume) completely unappealing, but being totally fascinated by the authors' interpretation of the work.

The catalog makes the case that the Japanese fascination with "kawaii," or cuteness (as the Booklist review puts it, "think Hello Kitty") and nerdy, obsessive "otaku" fixation on manga comics anime, all spring from an attempt to deal with the horrors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan and the subsequent submission of that country to the US after the war was over. That may seem a stretch, until you read Little Boy.

Whether you like the work of artist Takashi Murakami or not, and even if you've never heard of Murakami, Little Boy is worth reading for its insights on modern Japanese culture. ( )