Discusses the phenomenon of Pokemon in a transnational and multidisciplinary perspective. In analyzing the popularity of Pokemon, this volume addresses core debates about the globalization of popular culture and about children's consumption of mass-produced culture.

Topics explored include the origins of Pokemon in Japanese cultural traditions of cuteness, insect collecting, and anime; the efforts of Japanese producers and American marketers to localize it for foreign markets by muting its sex, violence, moral ambiguity, and general feeling of Japaneseness; debates about children's vulnerability versus agency as consumers; and the contentious question of Pokemon's educational value and place in school. The contributors include teachers as well as scholars from the fields of anthropology, media studies, sociology, and education. Tracking the reception of Pokemon in Japan, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Israel, they emphasize its significance as the first Japanese cultural product to enjoy substantial worldwide success and challenge western dominance in the global production and circulation of cultural goods. The contributors are: Anne Allison; Linda-Renee Bloch; Helen Bromley; Gilles Brougere; David Buckingham; Koichi Iwabuchi; Hirofumi Katsuno; Dafna Lemish; Jeffrey Maret; Julian Sefton-Green; Joseph Tobin; Samuel Tobin; Rebekah Willett; and, Christine Yano.

Contexts and Issues Introduction
Structure, agency and pedagogy in children's media culture
Cuteness as Japan's millennial product Global Circulation How Japanese is Pokemon?
Localizing the Pokemon TV series for the American market
Panic attacks: Anti-Pokemon voices in global markets Places and Practices Initiation rites: A small boy in a Poke-world
Pokemon in Israel
How much is a Pokemon worth? Pokemon in France
Pokemon goes to school Localizing Pokemon through narrative play
The multiple identities of Pokemon fans
Masculinity, maturity and the end of Pokemon Conclusion The rise and fall of the Pokemon empire