David W. Edgington – författare

Japan today is at an important historical juncture. Buffeted in recent years by rapid economic, social, and political change, yet still very much steeped in custom and history, the nation has become an amalgam of the traditional and the modern. As a result, the country has become increasingly difficult to categorize: how are we to represent today's Japan effectively, and fairly predict its future? How can the opposing forces of "change" and "continuity" be reconciled in order to understand the nation as a cohesive whole?This critical, multi-disciplinary collection explores the convergence of past and future in contemporary Japan. Contributors comment on a wide range of economic, socio-cultural, and political trends – such as the mobilization of Japanese labour, the burgeoning Ainu identity movement, and the shifting place of the modern woman – and conclude that despite the rapid changes, many of the traditional facets of Japanese society have remained intact. Institutional change, they assert, is unlikely to occur quickly, and Japan must find alternate ways to adjust to 21st century pressures of global competition and interdependence. A pleasure to read, this broad volume will be welcomed by upper level undergraduates, graduates, and specialists in Japanese studies.

Six thousand people died and hundreds of thousands lost their homes when an earthquake hit Kobe in January 1995. The Hanshin Earthquake was the largest disaster to affect postwar Japan and one of the most destructive postwar natural disasters to strike a developed country. Although the media focused on the disaster's immediate effects, the long-term reconstruction efforts have gone largely unexplored.Based on fieldwork and interviews with planners, activists, and bureaucrats, Reconstructing Kobe records the first ten years of reconstruction and recovery and offers detailed descriptions of the geography of crisis and opportunity. Which districts were most vulnerable to the quake and why? Did planners successfully exploit opportunities to revitalize the city and make it more sustainable and disaster proof? David Edgington's intricate investigation of one of the largest redevelopments in recent history offers a compelling post-disaster case study for planners and policy makers and is essential reading for students and scholars of Japanese urban and planning history.

This book first published in 1998 containes the work of Six members of the Centre for Japanese Research (CJR), an area unit of the Institute for Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. They were motivated by the fact that after over a century of cultural, economic and political interaction between the two regions, mutual misunderstandings or perception gaps remain deep and wide and by the belief that highlighting these differences, as they manifest in diverse areas and manners, might potentially contribute to a better understanding, if not an immediate narrowing, of the gaps. The six essays that follow are the products of such group efforts. Three authors are Westerners and the remaining three are Japanese by origin. By speciality, they represent modern Japanese literature, cultural anthropology, art history, political science, economics and geography.

This book first published in 1998 containes the work of Six members of the Centre for Japanese Research (CJR), an area unit of the Institute for Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. They were motivated by the fact that after over a century of cultural, economic and political interaction between the two regions, mutual misunderstandings or perception gaps remain deep and wide and by the belief that highlighting these differences, as they manifest in diverse areas and manners, might potentially contribute to a better understanding, if not an immediate narrowing, of the gaps. The six essays that follow are the products of such group efforts. Three authors are Westerners and the remaining three are Japanese by origin. By speciality, they represent modern Japanese literature, cultural anthropology, art history, political science, economics and geography.

The first comprehensive study of post-war Japanese transnational corporations in Australia, this book, first published in 1990, gives valuable insights into the particular characteristics of Japanese overseas investment. It looks at how, where and why Japanese corporations have set up their business activities in Australia, focusing on the economic, political and geographic factors shaping their operations. It presents case studies of Japanese trading companies, manufacturing companies, banks, and financial institutions. As well as highlighting the essential differences that separate Japanese transnational companies from those of the UK and the USA, the study gives new theoretical insights into the complex behaviour of Japanese corporations in their host countries.