Roger Goodman – författare

The Japanese have long regarded themselves as a homogenous nation, clearly separate from other nations. However, this long-standing view is being undermined by the present international reality of increased global population movement. This has resulted in the establishment both of significant Japanese communities outside Japan, and of large non-Japanese minorities within Japan, and has forced the Japanese to re-conceptualise their nationality in new and more flexible ways.This work provides a comprehensive overview of these issues and examines the context of immigration to and emigration from Japan. It considers the development of important Japanese overseas communities in six major cities worldwide, the experiences of immigrant communities in Japan, as well as assessing the consequences for the Japanese people''s view of themselves as a nation.

The Japanese have long regarded themselves as a homogenous nation, clearly separate from other nations. However, this long-standing view is being undermined by the present international reality of increased global population movement. This has resulted in the establishment both of significant Japanese communities outside Japan, and of large non-Japanese minorities within Japan, and has forced the Japanese to re-conceptualise their nationality in new and more flexible ways.This work provides a comprehensive overview of these issues and examines the context of immigration to and emigration from Japan. It considers the development of important Japanese overseas communities in six major cities worldwide, the experiences of immigrant communities in Japan, as well as assessing the consequences for the Japanese people''s view of themselves as a nation.

The issue of how Japanese society operates, and in particular why it has `succeeded'', has generated a wide variety of explanatory models, including the Confucian ethic, classlessness, group consciousness, and `uniqueness'' in areas as diverse as body images and language patterns.In Ideology and Practice in Modern Japan the contributors examine these models and the ways in which they have sometimes been used to create a sense of `Japaneseness'', that obscures the fact that Japan is actually an extremely complex and heterogenous society. In particular, `practice'' at the micro-level of society is explored to illuminate or express a broader ideology. The contributors investigate a wide variety of subjects - from attitudes to death to the role of education, from film making to gender segregation - to see what can be said about the phenomenon in particular, what it tells us about Japan in general, and what conclusions can be drawn for our understanding of society in the broadest sense.

The issue of how Japanese society operates, and in particular why it has `succeeded'', has generated a wide variety of explanatory models, including the Confucian ethic, classlessness, group consciousness, and `uniqueness'' in areas as diverse as body images and language patterns.In Ideology and Practice in Modern Japan the contributors examine these models and the ways in which they have sometimes been used to create a sense of `Japaneseness'', that obscures the fact that Japan is actually an extremely complex and heterogenous society. In particular, `practice'' at the micro-level of society is explored to illuminate or express a broader ideology. The contributors investigate a wide variety of subjects - from attitudes to death to the role of education, from film making to gender segregation - to see what can be said about the phenomenon in particular, what it tells us about Japan in general, and what conclusions can be drawn for our understanding of society in the broadest sense.

Over the past thirty years, whilst Japan has produced a diverse set of youth cultures which have had a major impact on popular culture across the globe, it has also developed a succession of youth problems which have led to major concerns within the country itself. Drawing on detailed empirical fieldwork, the authors of this volume set these issues in a clearly articulated ‘social constructionist’ framework, and put forth a sociology of Japanese youth problems which argues that there is a certain predictability about the way in which these problems are discovered, defined and dealt with.

The chapters include case studies covering issues such as:

Returnee children (kikokushijo)

Compensated dating (enjo kōsai)

Corporal punishment (taibatsu)

Bullying (ijime)

Child abuse (jidō gyakutai)

The withdrawn youth (hikikomori) and

NEETs (not in education, employment or training)

By examining these various social problems collectively, A Sociology of Japanese Youth explains why particular youth problems appeared when they did and what lessons they can provide for the study of youth problems in other societies.

This book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, the sociology of Japan, Japanese anthropology and the comparative sociology of youth studies.

Over the past thirty years, whilst Japan has produced a diverse set of youth cultures which have had a major impact on popular culture across the globe, it has also developed a succession of youth problems which have led to major concerns within the country itself. Drawing on detailed empirical fieldwork, the authors of this volume set these issues in a clearly articulated ‘social constructionist’ framework, and put forth a sociology of Japanese youth problems which argues that there is a certain predictability about the way in which these problems are discovered, defined and dealt with.

The chapters include case studies covering issues such as:

Returnee children (kikokushijo)

Compensated dating (enjo kōsai)

Corporal punishment (taibatsu)

Bullying (ijime)

Child abuse (jidō gyakutai)

The withdrawn youth (hikikomori) and

NEETs (not in education, employment or training)

By examining these various social problems collectively, A Sociology of Japanese Youth explains why particular youth problems appeared when they did and what lessons they can provide for the study of youth problems in other societies.

This book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, the sociology of Japan, Japanese anthropology and the comparative sociology of youth studies.

The volume takes four key themes related to ageing – the experience of old age; intergenerational relations; economics of and social policy for ageing; longevity and the culture of ageing - and examines how these issues are emerging in different regions of Asia, specifically, the former Soviet Union, South Asia, China, Japan and South-East Asia. In placing these Asian cases studies in the broader context of debates about, and policies on, ageing more generally, it brings them into the mainstream of comparative research on ageing from which they have been too often excluded. As the studies show, the relationship between ageing and poverty is a complex one and often reflects policy towards the aged rather than that the aged themselves are unproductive and dependent. Ageing, moreover, can no longer be considered as simply a national question; we also need to consider the implications of its global dimension in terms of issues such as human rights and quality of life.

The volume takes four key themes related to ageing – the experience of old age; intergenerational relations; economics of and social policy for ageing; longevity and the culture of ageing - and examines how these issues are emerging in different regions of Asia, specifically, the former Soviet Union, South Asia, China, Japan and South-East Asia. In placing these Asian cases studies in the broader context of debates about, and policies on, ageing more generally, it brings them into the mainstream of comparative research on ageing from which they have been too often excluded. As the studies show, the relationship between ageing and poverty is a complex one and often reflects policy towards the aged rather than that the aged themselves are unproductive and dependent. Ageing, moreover, can no longer be considered as simply a national question; we also need to consider the implications of its global dimension in terms of issues such as human rights and quality of life.