Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book on the fantasies of toys and the global heat of Japanese “cool” today has been a foray into unusual (dare I say alien?) territory for an an- thropologist. Yet my travels have hardly been solitary, and many people have supported this project and generously assisted me along the way. I am fortunate to have had the research for Millennial Monsters amply funded. For financing one year of fieldwork in Japan (1999–2000), I thank the Fulbright Program at the Japan–U.S. Educational Commission (which also provided assistance in a myriad of other ways) as well as the Social Sci- ence Research Council. My home institution, Duke University, was generous in not only funding shorter trips to Japan and all the United States–based research, but also in granting me a one-semester leave to write the book; I am grateful to the Asian Pacific Studies Institute, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Arts & Sciences Council at Duke University. In Japan, people graciously took time out of busy schedules to answer my questions about toys, character merchandise, Japanese youth, and monster traditions. From scholars in research institutions to executives in toy and publishing companies, and from children and their parents to toy designers and cultural critics, many people greatly assisted my research. For their gen- erosity in interviews, I thank Fujita Akira at Sho¯gakukan Production; Stephen Alpert at Studio Ghibli; Ron Foster, Hori Takahiro, and Bill Ireton at Warner Brothers; Iwata Keisuke at TV Tokyo; Kamio Shunji and Sano Shinji at Tomy Company; Kondo¯ Sumio and Takayama Eiji at Kodomo Cho¯sa Kenkyu¯jo; Tim Larimer at Time; Stuart Levy at Mixx Entertainment (now TokyoPop); Steven Murawski at Grey Daiko Advertising; Sengoku Ta- motsu at Nihon Seisho¯nen Kenkyu¯jo; Shimamoto Tatsuhi at Hakuho¯do¯ (Seikatsu So¯go¯ Kenkyu¯jo); Takashi Shintaro¯ at Media Factory, Takei Reiko at Dentsu¯ Inc.; Bruce Weber at Mattel Japan; and Takeda Masanobu. In ad- xix xx / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS dition, I am grateful to the countless children who assembled for group ses- sions or individual interviews. Kubo Masakazu at Sho¯gakukan Inc., Profes- sor Nakazawa Shin’ichi, and Okamoto Keiichi at Dentsu¯ were particularly helpful in the interviews they gave me; I learned immeasurably from them all. I am also indebted to Yoshimi Shunya for the good chats we had about global youth trends, nomadic technology, and Pokémon and for the affilia- tion he facilitated for me the year I was in Japan at the Shakai Jo¯ho¯ Kenkyu¯jo, Tokyo University. I greatly appreciate the help of fellow Ful- brighters and other scholars during my time in Japan, including Frank Bald- win, Jason Cremerius, Michael Foster, Jonathan Hall, Peter Kirby, Iwabuchi Koichi, John McCreery,Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Mark Abe Noynes, Numazaki Ichiro¯, Neil Rae, Kerry Ross, Shiraishi Saya, Hosokawa Shu¯hei, David Slater, Ueno Chizuko, and Fujimoto Yukari. I also thank Ito¯ Rena, who was endlessly resourceful as my Japan-based research assistant even when I re- turned to the States. To Nick Bestor I owe my introduction to the intricate world of Pokémon. And I appreciate the friendship of Kuse Keiko. In the United States, I was fortunate in both the time and access that people in the (children’s) entertainment industry accorded me. This was particularly true in my research on Pokémon, where virtually all the main players responsible for the marketing of the property in the United States generously granted me interviews: Rick Arons at Wizards of the Coast; Nancy Carson, Nancy Kirkpatrick, and Massey Rafoni at Warner Brothers; Paul Drosos at Hasbro; Norman Grossfeld at 4Kids Entertainment; Jessica Pinto at Kids WB; and Gail Tilden at Nintendo of America. I am particularly thankful to Al Kahn at 4Kids Entertainment, who met with me three times and was endlessly helpful in laying out the marketing history of Pokémon and other Japanese imported properties in the United States. I am also grateful for other interviews on Power Rangers and Sailor Moon with Barry Stag at Bandai America, Paul Kurnit at Griffin/Bacal, and Mark McClellan and Jean Morra at Saban Entertainment. Prior to my yearlong fieldwork in Japan, I was given a wonderful introduction to the world of toy marketing and advertising when I participated in the visiting professor program spon- sored by the Advertising Educational Foundation. For my assignment to the Hasbro crew working on Pokémon at Grey Advertising, I thank Sharon Hudson at AEF, Mack O’Barr for arranging this, and particularly David Biebelberg and all those at Grey who so generously gave their time to me. As in Japan, I learned much about the toys/cartoons/games in my study from children. I am thankful to all those who enlightened me through interviews or by allowing me to play with them. In particular, I thank the kids in my Greeley, Colorado, study, and especially Amy and Paul Rotunno for ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / xxi setting it up; I also thank their two children, Mitch and Allison Rotunno. I also thank my next-door neighbors Jake and Emma Bogerd for our multiple Pokémon playdates and for all they taught me. Throughout the long years of researching and writing Millennial Mon- sters, I have been grateful for the support of many colleagues: Hideko Abe, Jonathan Allum, Harumi Befu, Ted Bestor, Elizabeth Chin, Leo Ching, Ian Condry, Dwayne Dixon, Mark Driscoll, Katherine Frank, Alessandro Go- marasca, Andy Gordon, Larry Grossberg, Mizuko Itoh, Sharon Kinsella, Ken Little, Ralph Litzinger, Gabriella Lukacs, William Matsui, Susan Napier, Diane Nelson, Jennifer Prough, Kathy Rudy, Miriam Silverberg, Steve Snyder, Laurie Spielvogel, Linda White, Kären Wigen, Ken Wissoker, Jane Woodman, Christine Yano, and Tomiko Yoda. Since its inception, I have been given many opportunities to speak about my research at various stages and in various iterations. I thank all those who extended these invitations and all the audiences who gave me such useful feedback at the Abe Fellow- ship Program, the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California, the College of the Atlantic, Dartmouth College, the Humanities Center at Wesleyan College, the Japan Society, Randolph Macon College, the Reischauer Institute at Harvard, Stanford University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Kansas, the Univer- sity of Oklahoma, the University of Virginia,Western Michigan University, and Yale University. I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to partic- ipate in a conference (held at the East West Center in 2001) devoted entirely to the global diffusion and glocalization of Pokémon. For a wonderful col- laboration, I thank my fellow participants and particularly Joe Tobin for overseeing both the conference and the edited volume that emerged from it (Pikachu’s Global Adventures). In 2004 I participated in another, differently stimulating seminar (at the School of American Research) on youth and globalization. For all I learned—about my own paper on Pokémon and that of others—I am thankful to the co-organizers, Debbie Durham and Jennifer Cole, and my coparticipants: Brad Weiss, Ann Annagnost, Barrie Thorne, Tobia Hecht, Paula Fass, and Connie Flanagan. And to the members of my writing group at Duke—Priscilla Wald, Maureen Quilligan, Laura Edwards, and Adrienne Davis—I am deeply indebted for their endlessly sharp advice and the gentleness with which they dispensed it. For a few more, I have very special thanks. The University of California Press has been wonderful in the production process, and I thank everyone who has worked on Millennial Monsters. In particular, I am grateful to my editor, Sheila Levine, for her long support and patience, and to Randy Hey- man for his help and expertise in managing permissions. I was fortunate in xxii / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the reviewers the press solicited; all were remarkably savvy and astute, and the book benefited enormously from them. I thank all three reviewers for their thoughtfulness: Takayuki Fujitani, Purnima Mankekar, and Bill Kelly. To Bill I owe even deeper thanks: for his multiple reads of my manuscript, for his unwavering support and advice, and for the invitation to Yale and into his graduate seminar. Over the years and mainly through email, Hyung Gu Lynn has fueled my imagination and knowledge of the Japanese pop cultural scene. Victoria Nelson came to my assistance when the writing was slogging to a standstill; her savviness in seeing me through was invalu- able. I am fortunate to have the friendship of Kuga Yoshiko, who, in all my trips to Japan, offers me bountiful resources, a generous spirit, and good drinks. Orin Starn has been the best friend and colleague I could hope to have. Always sharp, infinitely available, and steadfastly wise, he has my deepest thanks. My sons, David and Adam Platzer, have been in the skin of this project from the beginning. It was Adam’s passion for Japanese cyber- warriors that got me going on this and David’s willingness to help me with Game Boy technology that gave me an edge with Pokémon. For all we’ve been through, and for all their faith and encouragement along the way, I thank them both. I am fortunate in having a mother whose enthusiasm for this project kept me smiling on days I was blue. Last, it is my partner, Char- lie Piot, who has been my strongest supporter throughout. During all those times of doubt, struggles for clarity, and attempts to write the grant (in a “grantese” I owe, frankly, to him), he was there for me. It is Charlie who has shown me and taught me about the “gift”—from going to Japan and endlessly theorizing the capitalism of monsters to forging through difficulties together. To him, I give not thanks but the promise of a return gift..

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