Asia Society Meets Matt Alt
Survival Society: Pure Invention Author Matt Alt on How our Pandemic Lives Were Made in Japan
22 February 2021– Few Asia Society Centers— Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia, and Switzerland, came together to host Matt Alt, author of Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World.
Matt Alt, co-founder of AltJapan Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based entertainment localization company, shared with the audience the impact of Japanese pop culture to the world. From gadgets like the karaoke machine and the Walkman to immersive virtual escapes of anime, video games and anonymous online imageboards that have come to play such a role in the COVID-19 era, "essential inessentials" made in Japan reprogrammed the way we spend time with each other and soothe ourselves.
He delved deeper on how these consumer products bewitched millions. They were well crafted products, but so too because advanced nations have come to resemble Japan demographically, politically, economically, and socially.
Watch the full talk on how Japan’s cultural clout soared and how it continues to today in an unprecedented time of instability, isolation, and pandemic.