The Author: Satomi Ishikawa studied Chinese Studies at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and Anthropology of Media at the School of Oriental African Studies in London. Later she worked as a freelance translator for international broadcasting services. Having lived abroad for many years, she became interested in her native culture and conducted her doctoral research in East Asian Studies at the University of Cologne, where she received her Ph.D.

This book is about the self in contemporary Japan. In contrast to Euro-American cultures, in which the self is considered to be the essence of personhood, in Japanese culture the self is constantly reconstructed in relation to others. This particular self is studied by examining the ways popular culture is consumed, with a special focus on manga, the Japanese word for comics and cartoons.

The first part of the book contains an ethnographic research in which the author investigates the relationship between popular media and the search for self-knowledge. In the second part a historical analysis traces the development of self-seeking in Japan since the country’s modernisation period.