Introduction

Today, Japanese entertainment is more diverse than ever, with a wide range of genres and formats. The country's gaming industry, for example, has become a major player globally, with companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Capcom producing hit games like Pokémon, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil.

Yet the true revolution began in the 1960s and 70s. Sony’s transistor radios and Trinitron TVs made entertainment personal and mobile. Karaoke—invented by a drummer named Daisuke Inoue in 1971—transformed passive listening into participatory performance, a quintessentially Japanese twist: technology enabling social bonding through scripted self-expression. Karaoke bars became the after-hours offices of salarymen, a ritual of catharsis and hierarchy negotiation.