diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb940a1d1..ce2658934 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 **User improvements:**
 
+- Thanks to PEP 562, you can now `import js` from Python and use it to access
+  anything in the global Javascript namespace.
+
 - Passing a Python object to Javascript always creates the same object in
   Javascript. This makes APIs like `removeEventListener` usable.
 
diff --git a/docs/type_conversions.md b/docs/type_conversions.md
index a8a997662..bc30d8d43 100644
--- a/docs/type_conversions.md
+++ b/docs/type_conversions.md
@@ -154,10 +154,42 @@ var sys = pyodide.pyimport('sys');
 
 ## Using Javascript objects from Python
 
-Javascript objects can be accessed from Python using the `from js import ...`
-syntax. The object must be in the global (`window`) namespace.
+Javascript objects can be accessed from Python using the special `js` module.
+This module looks up attributes of the global (`window`) namespace on the
+Javascript side.
 
 ```python
-from js import document
-document.title = 'New window title'
+import js
+js.document.title = 'New window title'
+```
+
+### Performance considerations
+
+Looking up and converting attributes of the `js` module happens dynamically. In
+most cases, where the value is small or results in a proxy, this is not an
+issue. However, if the value takes a long time to convert from Javascript to
+Python, you may want to store it in a Python variable or use the `from js import
+...` syntax.
+
+For example, given this large Javascript variable:
+
+```javascript
+var x = new Array(1000).fill(0)
+```
+
+Use it from Python as follows:
+
+```python
+import js
+x = js.x  # conversion happens once here
+for i in range(len(x)):
+    item = x[i]  # we don't pay the conversion price each time here
+```
+
+Or alternatively:
+
+```python
+from js import x  # conversion happens once here
+for i in range(len(x)):
+    item = x[i]  # we don't pay the conversion price each time here
 ```
diff --git a/packages/matplotlib/src/wasm_backend.py b/packages/matplotlib/src/wasm_backend.py
index a16ab91c0..f60ffe774 100644
--- a/packages/matplotlib/src/wasm_backend.py
+++ b/packages/matplotlib/src/wasm_backend.py
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@ class FigureCanvasWasm(backend_agg.FigureCanvasAgg):
     def create_root_element(self):
         # Designed to be overridden by subclasses for use in contexts other
         # than iodide.
-        from js import iodide
-        if iodide is not None:
+        try:
+            from js import iodide
             return iodide.output.element('div')
-        else:
+        except ImportError:
             return document.createElement('div')
 
     def show(self):
diff --git a/src/hiwire.c b/src/hiwire.c
index 73ad7be2d..3922f4e05 100644
--- a/src/hiwire.c
+++ b/src/hiwire.c
@@ -183,7 +183,11 @@ EM_JS(void, hiwire_push_object_pair, (int idobj, int idkey, int idval), {
 
 EM_JS(int, hiwire_get_global, (int idname), {
   var jsname = UTF8ToString(idname);
-  return Module.hiwire_new_value(self[jsname]);
+  if (jsname in self) {
+    return Module.hiwire_new_value(self[jsname]);
+  } else {
+    return -1;
+  }
 });
 
 EM_JS(int, hiwire_get_member_string, (int idobj, int idkey), {
diff --git a/src/jsimport.c b/src/jsimport.c
index a55201b4f..60dfd0cca 100644
--- a/src/jsimport.c
+++ b/src/jsimport.c
@@ -5,128 +5,71 @@
 #include "hiwire.h"
 #include "js2python.h"
 
-static PyObject* original__import__;
-PyObject* globals = NULL;
-PyObject* original_globals = NULL;
-
-typedef struct
-{
-  PyObject_HEAD
-} JsImport;
+static PyObject* js_module = NULL;
 
 static PyObject*
-JsImport_Call(PyObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject* kwargs)
+JsImport_GetAttr(PyObject* self, PyObject* attr)
 {
-  PyObject* name = PyTuple_GET_ITEM(args, 0);
-  if (PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(name, "js") == 0) {
-    PyObject* locals = PyTuple_GET_ITEM(args, 2);
-    PyObject* fromlist = PyTuple_GET_ITEM(args, 3);
-    Py_ssize_t n = PySequence_Size(fromlist);
-    PyObject* jsmod = PyModule_New("js");
-    PyObject* d = PyModule_GetDict(jsmod);
-
-    int is_star = 0;
-    if (n == 1) {
-      PyObject* firstfromlist = PySequence_GetItem(fromlist, 0);
-      if (PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(firstfromlist, "*") == 0) {
-        is_star = 1;
-      }
-      Py_DECREF(firstfromlist);
-    }
-
-    if (is_star) {
-      PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, "'import *' not supported for js");
-      return NULL;
-    } else {
-      for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
-        PyObject* key = PySequence_GetItem(fromlist, i);
-        if (key == NULL) {
-          return NULL;
-        }
-        const char* c = PyUnicode_AsUTF8(key);
-        if (c == NULL) {
-          Py_DECREF(key);
-          return NULL;
-        }
-        int jsval = hiwire_get_global((int)c);
-        PyObject* pyval = js2python(jsval);
-        hiwire_decref(jsval);
-        if (PyDict_SetItem(d, key, pyval)) {
-          Py_DECREF(key);
-          Py_DECREF(pyval);
-          return NULL;
-        }
-        Py_DECREF(key);
-        Py_DECREF(pyval);
-      }
-    }
-
-    return jsmod;
-  } else {
-    // Fallback to the standard Python import
-    return PyObject_Call(original__import__, args, kwargs);
+  const char* c = PyUnicode_AsUTF8(attr);
+  if (c == NULL) {
+    return NULL;
   }
+  int idval = hiwire_get_global((int)c);
+  if (idval == -1) {
+    PyErr_Format(PyExc_AttributeError, "Unknown attribute '%s'", attr);
+    return NULL;
+  }
+  PyObject* result = js2python(idval);
+  hiwire_decref(idval);
+  return result;
 }
 
-static PyTypeObject JsImportType = {
-  .tp_name = "JsImport",
-  .tp_basicsize = sizeof(JsImport),
-  .tp_flags = Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT,
-  .tp_call = JsImport_Call,
-  .tp_doc = "An import hook that imports things from Javascript."
+static PyObject*
+JsImport_Dir()
+{
+  int idwindow = hiwire_get_global((int)"self");
+  int iddir = hiwire_dir(idwindow);
+  hiwire_decref(idwindow);
+  PyObject* pydir = js2python(iddir);
+  hiwire_decref(iddir);
+  return pydir;
+}
+
+static PyMethodDef JsModule_Methods[] = {
+  { "__getattr__",
+    (PyCFunction)JsImport_GetAttr,
+    METH_O,
+    "Get an object from the global Javascript namespace" },
+  { "__dir__",
+    (PyCFunction)JsImport_Dir,
+    METH_NOARGS,
+    "Returns a list of object name in the global Javascript namespace" },
+  { NULL }
 };
 
-static PyObject*
-JsImport_New()
-{
-  JsImport* self;
-  self = (JsImport*)JsImportType.tp_alloc(&JsImportType, 0);
-  return (PyObject*)self;
-}
+static struct PyModuleDef JsModule = {
+  PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
+  "js",
+  "Provides access to Javascript global variables from Python",
+  0,
+  JsModule_Methods
+};
 
 int
 JsImport_init()
 {
-  if (PyType_Ready(&JsImportType)) {
+  PyObject* module_dict = PyImport_GetModuleDict();
+  if (module_dict == NULL) {
     return 1;
   }
 
-  PyObject* m = PyImport_AddModule("builtins");
-  if (m == NULL) {
+  js_module = PyModule_Create(&JsModule);
+  if (js_module == NULL) {
     return 1;
   }
 
-  PyObject* d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
-  if (d == NULL) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  original__import__ = PyDict_GetItemString(d, "__import__");
-  if (original__import__ == NULL) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-  Py_INCREF(original__import__);
-
-  PyObject* importer = JsImport_New();
-  if (importer == NULL) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  if (PyDict_SetItemString(d, "__import__", importer)) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  m = PyImport_AddModule("__main__");
-  if (m == NULL) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  globals = PyModule_GetDict(m);
-  if (globals == NULL) {
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  if (PyDict_Update(globals, d)) {
+  if (PyDict_SetItemString(module_dict, "js", js_module)) {
+    Py_DECREF(js_module);
     return 1;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/jsimport.h b/src/jsimport.h
index 04be34127..4b086668c 100644
--- a/src/jsimport.h
+++ b/src/jsimport.h
@@ -9,6 +9,4 @@
 int
 JsImport_init();
 
-extern PyObject* globals;
-
 #endif /* JSIMPORT_H */
diff --git a/src/runpython.c b/src/runpython.c
index 605a60cc0..0fddcafb9 100644
--- a/src/runpython.c
+++ b/src/runpython.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #include "hiwire.h"
 #include "python2js.h"
 
-extern PyObject* globals;
+PyObject* globals;
 
 PyObject* eval_code;
 PyObject* find_imports;
@@ -111,6 +111,30 @@ EM_JS(int, runpython_init_js, (), {
 int
 runpython_init_py()
 {
+  PyObject* builtins = PyImport_AddModule("builtins");
+  if (builtins == NULL) {
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  PyObject* builtins_dict = PyModule_GetDict(builtins);
+  if (builtins_dict == NULL) {
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  PyObject* __main__ = PyImport_AddModule("__main__");
+  if (__main__ == NULL) {
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  globals = PyModule_GetDict(__main__);
+  if (globals == NULL) {
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  if (PyDict_Update(globals, builtins_dict)) {
+    return 1;
+  }
+
   PyObject* m = PyImport_ImportModule("pyodide");
   if (m == NULL) {
     return 1;
@@ -131,8 +155,6 @@ runpython_init_py()
     return 1;
   }
 
-  Py_DECREF(m);
-  Py_DECREF(d);
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/test_python.py b/test/test_python.py
index a0df59a4c..152f13b40 100644
--- a/test/test_python.py
+++ b/test/test_python.py
@@ -303,11 +303,18 @@ def test_typed_arrays(selenium, wasm_heap, jstype, pytype):
 def test_import_js(selenium):
     result = selenium.run(
         """
-        from js import window
-        window.title = 'Foo'
-        window.title
+        import js
+        js.window.title = 'Foo'
+        js.window.title
         """)
     assert result == 'Foo'
+    result = selenium.run(
+        """
+        dir(js)
+        """)
+    assert len(result) > 100
+    assert 'document' in result
+    assert 'window' in result
 
 
 def test_pyimport_multiple(selenium):