Some aspects of Japanese popular music

Extract

In 1959, the Conlon report, a presentation of United States government policies in relation to Asian cultures, stated the following about Japanese culture (in a section titled ‘Social change’):

Developments within and among the various Japanese social classes suggest the dynamic, changing quality of modern Japan … No area of Japan, moreover, is beyond the range of the national publications, radio, and even TV. New ideas can be quickly and thoroughly disseminated; it is in this sense that Japanese culture can become more standardised even as it is changing. Many of the changes look in the direction of the United States; in such diverse fields as gadgets, popular music, and fashions. American influence is widespread. And this is but one evidence of the general desire to move away from the spartan, austere past toward a more comfortable, convenient future.