Document Type
Article
Abstract
This article examines Billiken’s transcultural journey from American novelty mascot (1908) to cultural icon, illuminating early twentieth-century Pacific exchange networks and patterns of cultural adaptation. Drawing on American and Japanese archives, it demonstrates how this commercial figure, born from Progressive Era optimism and incorporating Japanese (and Orientalist) design elements, was transformed within Japanese religious and cultural frameworks. The study analyzes Billiken’s metamorphosis from “good luck” commodity to quasi-religious icon, particularly in Osaka’s Shinsekai district, where strategic marketing drove his its late twentieth-century revival after decades of obscurity. While largely forgotten in America and elsewhere, Billiken’s endurance in Osaka challenges narratives of cultural imperialism and simple glocalization, revealing instead how transcultural objects can undergo ontological transformation through local agency, independent of their origins.
Citation Information
Shores, M.W.. "Billiken as Transcultural Object from American Mascot to Japanese Pop Deity." Asia Pacific Perspectives 19, No. 1 (2025)
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