Personal, Portable, Pedestrian

Mobile Phones in Japanese Life
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-0-262-09039-1
Verlag: Penguin Random House LLC

Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 187 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 749 g

The Japanese term for mobile phone, keitai (roughly translated as "something you
carry with you"), evokes not technical capability or freedom of movement but intimacy and
portability, defining a personal accessory that allows constant social connection. Japan's
enthusiastic engagement with mobile technology has become -- along with anime, manga, and sushi --
part of its trendsetting popular culture. Personal, Portable, Pedestrian, the first book-length
English-language treatment of mobile communication use in Japan, covers the transformation of keitai
from business tool to personal device for communication and play.The essays in this groundbreaking
collection document the emergence, incorporation, and domestication of mobile communications in a
wide range of social practices and institutions. The book first considers the social, cultural, and
historical context of keitai development, including its beginnings in youth pager use in the early
1990s. It then discusses the virtually seamless integration of keitai use into everyday life,
contrasting it to the more escapist character of Internet use on the PC. Other essays suggest that
the use of mobile communication reinforces ties between close friends and family, producing
"tele-cocooning" by tight-knit social groups. The book also discusses mobile phone manners and
examines keitai use by copier technicians, multitasking housewives, and school children. Personal,
Portable, Pedestrian describes a mobile universe in which networked relations are a pervasive and
persistent fixture of everyday life.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ito, Mizuko

Okabe, Daisuke

Matsuda, Misa

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wissenssoziologie, Wissenschaftssoziologie, Techniksoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Interkulturelle Kommunikation & Interaktion
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft Theatersoziologie, Theaterpsychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie

Über Autor(innen)

Matsuda, Misa
Misa Matsuda is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Chuo University, Tokyo.

Okabe, Daisuke
Daisuke Okabe is Lecturer at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio
University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Japan.

Ito, Mizuko
Mizuko Ito is a cultural anthropologist who studies new media use, particularly
among young people, in Japan and the United States, and a Professor in Residence at
the University of California Humanities Research Institute.

Mizuko Ito is Research Scientist at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.