Congratulations to PAMLA Member Iris-Aya Laemmerhirt for Her Recent Publication

Congratulations to PAMLA member, Iris-Aya Laemmerhirt, for her publication of Embracing Differences: Transnational Cultural Flows between Japan and the United States (2013, Transcript and Columbia UP).

The omnipresence and popularity of American consumer products in Japan have triggered an avalanche of writing shedding light on different aspects of this cross-cultural relationship. Cultural interactions are often accompanied by the term cultural imperialism, a concept that on close scrutiny turns out to be a hasty oversimplification given the contemporary cultural interaction between the U.S. and Japan. Embracing Differences shows that this assumption of a one-sided transfer is no longer valid. Closely investigating Disney theme parks, sushi, as well as movies, Iris-Aya Laemmerhirt reveals a dialogical exchange between these two nations that has changed the image of Japan in the United States.