Overview

Naraku (奈落) is a Japanese term that resonates with the current state of the world and its pervasive and seemingly insoluble problems. Originally a religious term, the word's meaning has evolved in recent times to refer to deeply flawed conditions more generally, becoming ""the worst of all possible worlds"" in its longer form of naraku no soko (奈落の底). This volume draws its inspiration from naraku, here interpreting it as describing states of discord, dysfunction, and dystopia. The essays contained within touch upon historical concerns with decline, systemic failure, and the betrayal of hopes; literary and other depictions of failed and failing societies and futures of death and destruction; religious prophecies of spiritual and worldly decay; and philosophical musings and lamentations concerning the multifold failings of humanity and the futility of human civilization.

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Author Information

Christopher Craig is Professor of Japanese Studies and Head of Research and International Development at the Center for Integrated Japanese Studies at Tohoku University. He published the monograph ""Middlemen of Modernity: Local Elites and Agricultural Development in Modern Japan"" with the University of Hawai'i Press in 2021 and has edited eight volumes in the Hasekura Intercultural Studies Series with Mimesis International. Olga Kopylova defended her PhD thesis on media mix and adaptations at the Graduate School of Manga Studies at Kyoto Seika University. She is currently employed as a translator and a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University (with courses on contemporary Japanese popular culture). Her research interests include comparative media studies, fandom studies, adaptation studies, and narratology of popular media texts.

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