University of Minnesota Press¡°Reading the air¡± (judging the atmosphere of a situation) is considered a crucial social skill in Japan. Paul Roquet¡¯s dense work on ambient media invites the reader to analyze the air of the modern city and its media in a new way.
Roquet guides his reader to close readings of key works of ¡°ambient¡± (mood-regulating) media through sensual descriptions of experiences in contemporary spaces, often in urban Tokyo. Those analyses of the air Tokyoites move through and ¡°read¡± subconsciously are compelling, and gently usher in his more theory-heavy investigations. Roquet offers a concrete cultural and technological context for anyone curious about the dominance in contemporary Japan of ¡°ambient¡± creators like Haruki Murakami and Ryuichi Sakamoto, or of the ¡°brand-less¡± brand Muji.
Roquet does ask that the reader share certain assumptions about the social demands of neoliberal society, which might be a tall order for some. But he also demonstrates, across a dizzying range of media, how what he calls ¡°ambient subjectivation¡± has come to be a ¡°key technique of contemporary self-care¡± since the 1970s. That is to say, Roquet discusses the implications of a society in which consumption of ambient media has become a dominant aesthetic and product for those seeking relief from the stresses of modern urban life.
The open question is if mood-regulating media offers an opiate or a new way to embrace human and environmental vulnerability.
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