Japan Unbound

Japan Unbound PDF

Author: John Nathan

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 9780618138944

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Explores the cultural changes that have taken place in Japan throughout the last decade as demonstrated by various economic groups and institutions, predicting what Japan's changing world role will mean for the future.

Japan in World History

Japan in World History PDF

Author: James L. Huffman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-02-04

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0199709742

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Japan in World History ranges from Japan's prehistoric interactions with Korea and China, to the Western challenge of the late 1500s, the partial isolation under the Tokugawa family (1600-1868), and the tumultuous interactions of more recent times, when Japan modernized ferociously, turned imperialist, lost a world war, then became the world's second largest economy--and its greatest foreign aid donor. Writing in a lively fashion, Huffman makes rich use of primary sources, illustrating events with comments by the people who lived through them: tellers of ancient myths, court women who dominated the early literary world, cynical priests who damned medieval materialism, travelers who marveled at "indecent" Western ballroom dancers in the mid-1800s, and the emperor who justified Pearl Harbor. Without ignoring standard political and military events, the book illuminates economic, social, and cultural factors; it also examines issues of gender as well as the roles of commoners, samurai, business leaders, novelists, and priests.

Fandom Unbound

Fandom Unbound PDF

Author: Mizuko Ito

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-02-28

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0300158645

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In recent years, otaku culture has emerged as one of Japan's major cultural exports and as a genuinely transnational phenomenon. This timely volume investigates how this once marginalized popular culture has come to play a major role in Japan's identity at home and abroad. In the American context, the word otaku is best translated as “geek'—an ardent fan with highly specialized knowledge and interests. But it is associated especially with fans of specific Japan-based cultural genres, including anime, manga, and video games. Most important of all, as this collection shows, is the way otaku culture represents a newly participatory fan culture in which fans not only organize around niche interests but produce and distribute their own media content. In this collection of essays, Japanese and American scholars offer richly detailed descriptions of how this once stigmatized Japanese youth culture created its own alternative markets and cultural products such as fan fiction, comics, costumes, and remixes, becoming a major international force that can challenge the dominance of commercial media. By exploring the rich variety of otaku culture from multiple perspectives, this groundbreaking collection provides fascinating insights into the present and future of cultural production and distribution in the digital age.

Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945

Japan's Foreign Policy Since 1945 PDF

Author: Kevin J. Cooney

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-26

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 131746690X

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This student-friendly text provides a detailed and up-to-date assessment of Japan's foreign policy since 1945, including policy options and choices that Japan faces in the twenty-first century. Using information based on interviews with policymakers in Japan, the author provides new insight into Japan's foreign policy options and analyzes the nation's evolving role in international affairs. The book begins with a brief overview of major issues related to Japan's foreign policy since the mid-nineteenth century, and then focuses on the direction of Japanese foreign policy from 1945 to the present. It examines issues such as Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, national security needs, the way Japan views the world around it, the role of nationalism in setting policy, and the influence of big industry. It also includes material on Japan's response to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. Designed for both undergraduate and graduate level courses, the text includes Discussion Questions, maps, a detailed bibliography with suggestions for further reading, and an Appendix with the Japanese Constitution for easy reference.

Disasters and Social Crisis in Contemporary Japan

Disasters and Social Crisis in Contemporary Japan PDF

Author: Mark R. Mullins

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-01-26

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1137521325

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Japan was shaken by the 'double disaster' of earthquake and sarin gas attack in 1995, and in 2011 it was hit once again by the 'triple disaster' of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. This international, multi-disciplinary group of scholars examines the state and societal responses to the disasters and social crisis.

Intercultural Communication in Japan

Intercultural Communication in Japan PDF

Author: Satoshi Toyosaki

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-02-24

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1315516918

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Japan is heterogeneous and culturally diverse, both historically through ancient waves of immigration and in recent years due to its foreign relations and internationalization. However, Japan has socially, culturally, politically, and intellectually constructed a distinct and homogeneous identity. More recently, this identity construction has been rightfully questioned and challenged by Japan’s culturally diverse groups. This book explores the discursive systems of cultural identities that regenerate the illusion of Japan as a homogeneous nation. Contributors from a variety of disciplines and methodological approaches investigate the ways in which Japan’s homogenizing discourses are challenged and modified by counter-homogeneous message systems. They examine the discursive push-and-pull between homogenizing and heterogenizing vectors, found in domestic and transnational contexts and mobilized by various identity politics, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, foreign status, nationality, multiculturalism, and internationalization. After offering a careful and critical analysis, the book calls for a complicating of Japan’s homogenizing discourses in nuanced and contextual ways, with an explicit goal of working towards a culturally diverse Japan. Taking a critical intercultural communication perspective, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Japanese Studies, Japanese Culture and Japanese Society.

The Organisational Dynamics of University Reform in Japan

The Organisational Dynamics of University Reform in Japan PDF

Author: Jeremy Breaden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0415528798

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This book offers a new approach to Japan's internationalisation conundrum by proceeding from the 'inside out'. It presents an extended case study one university organisation that has been changed through its adoption of a radical program of internationalisation. Through this case study Jeremy Breaden identifies patterns by which internationalisation is situated in administrative discourse and individual action, and determines how these patterns in turn shape organisational practice. The result is a multi-dimensional narrative of organisational change that advances our understanding of both the dynamics of university reform and the concept of internationalisation, one of the most durable yet contentious themes in the study of contemporary Japanese society.

Politics and Religion in Modern Japan

Politics and Religion in Modern Japan PDF

Author: R. Starrs

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-08-09

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 023033668X

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Written by leading scholars in the field, this book provides new insights, based on original research, into the full spectrum of modern Japanese political-religious activity: from the prewar uses of Shinto in shaping the modern imperial nation-state to the postwar 'new religions' that have challenged the power of the political establishment.

Norms, Interests, and Power in Japanese Foreign Policy

Norms, Interests, and Power in Japanese Foreign Policy PDF

Author: Y. Sato

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2008-10-13

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0230615805

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This edited volume puts forth a theoretically and empirically rigorous analysis of Japanese foreign policy. Nine case studies on Japan's security, economic, and environmental policies in this volume examine how norms do or do not guide Japanese foreign policy and how they interact with interests and power.