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The Arc of Japan's Economic Development by
This core textbook is the definitive overview of the Japanese economy. It charts its history from the period before the Meiji restoration and its astonishing growth throughout the twentieth century before conducting a thorough analysis of the contemporary scene and the implications of the ongoing financial crisis. Written by a leading authority in the field, this is the only book to include substantive material on post-crisis Japan and it includes key material on international trade and foreign direct investment. Timely and topical, it gives a clear overview of the Japanese economy.
Beauty Up by
This engaging introduction to Japan's burgeoning beauty culture investigates a wide range of phenomenon--aesthetic salons, dieting products, male beauty activities, and beauty language--to find out why Japanese women and men are paying so much attention to their bodies. Laura Miller uses social science and popular culture sources to connect breast enhancements, eyelid surgery, body hair removal, nipple bleaching, and other beauty work to larger issues of gender ideology, the culturally-constructed nature of beauty ideals, and the globalization of beauty technologies and standards. Her sophisticated treatment of this timely topic suggests that new body aesthetics are not forms of "deracializiation" but rather innovative experimentation with identity management. While recognizing that these beauty activities are potentially a form of resistance, Miller also considers the commodification of beauty, exploring how new ideals and technologies are tying consumers even more firmly to an ever-expanding beauty industry. By considering beauty in a Japanese context, Miller challenges widespread assumptions about the universality and naturalness of beauty standards.
Bonds of Civility by
In this book, Eiko Ikegami uncovers a complex history of social life in which aesthetic images became central to Japan's cultural identities. The people of premodern Japan built on earlier aesthetic traditions in part for their own sake, but also to find space for self-expression in the increasingly rigid and tightly controlled Tokugawa political system. In so doing, they incorporated the world of the beautiful within their social life which led to new modes of civility. They explored horizontal and voluntary ways of associating while immersing themselves in aesthetic group activities. Combining sociological insights in organizations with prodigious scholarship on cultural history, this book explores such wide-ranging topics as networks of performing arts, tea ceremony and haiku, the politics of kimono aesthetics, the rise of commercial publishing, the popularization of etiquette and manners, the vogue for androgyny in kabuki performance, and the rise of tacit modes of communication.
Colonizing Sex by
A sweeping study of sex, power, and knowledge in modern Japan, this ambitious work provides the first full-scale, detailed history of the formation and application of a science of sex from Meiji through mid-twentieth century Japan. Tracing the different uses made of sexual knowledge, the book brings to light the complex and subtle interplay between sexuality, scientific expertise, social control, and empire building. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Fr#65533;hst#65533;ck analyzes the conflicts and negotiations that aimed at producing a normative sexuality. She shows how the "colonization" of sex was enacted through debates over several issues: the necessity of sex education; the prevention of venereal diseases; the problem of masturbation and its alleged consequences; the legalization of birth control; the fight against prostitution; the emergence of eugenics; and, eventually, the implementation of "racial hygiene" policies. In Colonizing Sex we see how these struggles were driven by rhetoric consisting of cries for defense, liberation, and truth--emphasizing in every historical moment how the sexual body has been, and is, part of much broader currents in political, cultural, and social life.
Japan in the 21st Century by
The ancient civilization of Japan, with its Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, is also closely associated with all that is new and modern. Looking outward, Japan sees what it has become since Hiroshima: the world's second-largest economy, a source of fury and wonder, a power without arms. Looking inward, Japan sees old ways shaken and new ones developing at a hectic pace. Japan in the Twenty-first Century offers compelling insights into the current realities of the country and investigates the crucial political, economic, demographic, and environmental challenges that face the nation. A combination of text, maps, and photographs provides an essential understanding of Japan's geography, cultural heritage, demography, economic and political development, and of many other important issues. Japan and affect the world community in the coming years. He highlights strategies and policies that will facilitate economic and political change and stimulate the development of effective institutions for long-term, sustainable prosperity and economic vitality. Unique field reports drawn from direct observations of events and places in Japan illuminate Japanese traditions and sensibilities. The first full-length English-language textbook on Japan's geography, culture, politics, and economy to appear in nearly four decades, Japan in the Twenty-first Century will be a vital resource for researchers, academics, general readers, and students of Japan.
Japan's Minorities by
Based on original research, Japan's Minorities provides a clear historical introduction to the formation of individual minorities, followed by an analysis of the contemporary situation. This second edition identifies and explores the six principal minority groups in Japan: the Ainu, the Burakumin, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Nikkeijin and the Okinawans. Examining the ways in which the Japanese have manipulated historical events, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the contributors reveal the presence of an underlying concept of 'Japaneseness' that excludes members of these minorities. The book addresses key themes including: the role of this ideology of 'race' in the construction of the Japanese identity historical memory and its suppression contemporary labour migration to Japan the three-hundred year existence of Chinese communities in Japan mixed-race children in Japan the feminization of contemporary migration to Japan. Still the only scholarly examination of issues of race, ethnicity and marginality in Japan from both a historical and comparative perspective, this new edition will be essential reading for scholars and students of Japanese studies, ethnic and racial studies, culture and society, anthropology and politics.
Modern Japan: a Very Short Introduction by
Japan is arguably today's most successful industrial economy, combining almost unprecedented affluence with social stability and apparent harmony. Japanese goods and cultural products are consumed all over the world, ranging from animated movies and computer games all the way through to cars,semiconductors, and management techniques. In many ways, Japan is an icon of the modern world, and yet it remains something of an enigma to many, who see it as a confusing montage of the alien and the familiar, the ancient and modern. The aim of this Very Short Introduction is to explode the mythsand explore the reality of modern Japan - by taking a concise look at its history, economy, politics, and culture.
Religion and National Identity in the Japanese Context by
This book focuses upon the relationship between religion and socio-cultural or socio-political aspects in the history of religions in Japan. Religious and ideological justifications in the course of forming a political and national identity, and the mutual relation between political, national and cultural issues can be noticed in every region of the world before the onset of secularization processes, but also in modern nation-states today. In Japan as well, just like in most modern societies, political, cultural and religious elements are closely interrelated. In a comparative approach the sixteen papers in this volume elucidate the intellectual undercurrent in Japanese history of putting positive perspectives on national achievements and cultural-religious uniqueness into service of establishing and refurbishing a national identity.
Understanding Modern Japan by
This text provides a wide-ranging overview of the development experience of Japan within Pacific Asia and the wider global political system. P W Preston maps Japan′s shift into the modern world through a series of breaks in which Japanese polity was embedded within the wider dynamics of political-cultural and geo-economic change in the developing global system. He then charts Japan′s particular development experience through four distinct historical phases before exploring the major issues in the study of modern Japan. The book examines the prospects for an increasingly integrated regional bloc in Pacific Asia in relation to the United States and the European Union. A number of underlying themes include the intellectually contested nature of Pacific Asia, the extent to which it is possible to speak of a distinctive model of development, and the implications of Japan′s rise to regional and global power for future political and policy analysis. Understanding Modern Japan will be essential reading for all students and researchers seeking a deeper understanding of the contemporary Japan, Pacific Asia and the dynamics of global politics more broadly.
