Handbooks on Japanese Studies – serie

In mainstream assessments of Confucianism's modern genealogy there is a Sinocentric bias which is, in part, the result of a general neglect of modern Japanese Confucianism by political and moral philosophers and intellectual historians during the post-war era. This collection of essays joins a small group of other studies bringing modern Japanese Confucianism to international scholarly notice, largely covering the time period between the Bakumatsu era of the mid-19th century and the 21st century. The essays in this volume can be read for the insight they provide into the intellectual and ideological proclivities of reformers, educators and philosophers explicitly reconstructing Confucian thought, or more tacitly influenced by it, during critical phases in Japan's modernization, imperialist expansionism and post-1945 reconstitution as a liberal democratic polity. They can be read as introductions to the ideas of modern Japanese Confucian thinkers and reformers whose work is little known outside Japan—and sometimes barely remembered inside Japan. They can also be read as a needful corrective to the above-mentioned Sinocentric bias in the 20th century intellectual history of Confucianism. For those Confucian scholars currently exploring how Confucianism is, or can be made compatible with democracy, at least some of the studies in this volume serve as a warning. They enjoin readers to consider how Confucianism was also rendered compatible with the authoritarian ultranationalism and militarism that captured Japan's political system in the 1930s, and brought war to the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan: a land plagued by volcanoes, earthquakes and typhoons, yet blessed with a climate suitable for all manner of agriculture and forestry, and positioned where ocean currents collide and bring an abundance of the ocean's resources to its people; a country which moved quickly from an agrarian pre-industrial society to become one of the world's great economic powerhouses in only a few decades, spoiling water, air and land in the process, bringing misery to many of its people; a country with expansionist desires, colonizing neighboring lands, leading to war, defeat, destruction and, for the first time in history, nuclear devastation and its aftermath; a land and its people which share a remarkable resilience and ability to evaluate and correct their mistakes and renew their trajectory towards a better future. The sixteen chapters of the Handbook of Environmental History in Japan

Just as higher education (HE) in Europe had its beginnings in religious training for the priesthood, HE in feudal Japan, too, provided instruction for a religious life. But while the evolution to secular instruction was gradual in Europe, in Japan it came with a big bang: the opening of the country and consequent Westernization and all that that involved in the mid-19th century.,This first volume in the new Japan Documents Handbook series tells the story in 25 chapters of how Japan's HE system has become what it is now, ending with a very tentative glimpse into the rest of the 21st century. A variety of themes are covered by scholars: chapters that concentrate on governance look at the distinction between national, public, and private institutions; others consider important topics such as internationalization, student recruitment, and faculty mobility. More innovative topics include Women of Color Leading in Japanese Higher Education. All provide copious references to other authorities, but rather than just toe the conventional line they include opinions and proposals that may be contentious or even revolutionary. The editor provides an overview of the subject and its treatment in an Introduction.

Although a century and a half of Christian proselytizing has only led to the conversion of about one percent of the Japanese population, the proportion of writers who have either been baptized or significantly influenced in their work by Christian teachings is much higher. The seventeen authors examined in this volume have all employed themes and imagery in their writings influenced by Christian teachings. Those writing between the 1880s and the start of World War II were largely drawn to the Protestant emphasis on individual freedom, though many of them eventually rejected sectarian affiliation. Since 1945, on the other hand, Catholicism has produced a number of religiously committed authors, led by figures such as Endo Shusaku, the most popular and influential Christian writer in Japan to date. The authors discussed in these essays have contributed in a variety of ways to the indigenization of the imported religion.

The Handbook of Japanese Media and Popular Culture in Transition brings together new research and perspectives on popular media phenomena, as well as shining a spotlight on texts that are less well known or studied. Organized into five thematic sections, the chapters span a diverse range of cultural genres, including contemporary film and television, postwar cinema, advertising, popular fiction, men’s magazines, manga and anime, karaoke and digital media. They address issues critical to contemporary Japanese society: the politicization of history, authenticity and representation, constructions of identity, trauma and social disaffection, intersectionality and trans/nationalism. Drawing on methods and approaches from a range of disciplines, the chapters make explicit the interconnections between these areas of research and map out possible trajectories for future inquiry. As such, the handbook will be of value to both novice scholars and seasoned researchers, working within and/or beyond the Japanese media studies remit.

This Handbook focuses on Japan's public administration and bureaucracy at its national level, and the effects of national politics on administrative decision-making and outcomes. It also provides in-depth analysis and description of the Japanese politics-civil service relationship. As the Japanese government is relatively centralized, an understanding of its national-level public administration is vital to comprehending the nature of Japanese bureaucracy. This handbook is divided into four parts: the history of Japanese bureaucracy; the bureaucratic system and underlining laws, rules, and regulations; the relationship between politics and the legislative process; and bureaucracy in practice in the 12 major ministries. It will make an important contribution to studies on politics and governance in Japan, and will become essential reading for scholars in both their research and teaching.

Japan has risen in stature to become an important player not only in the Western Pacific, but the wider Indo-Pacific. From a defeated nation that adopted a pacifist constitution and demilitarization, Japan has been provoked by unwelcomed external events to ensure its security. It has faced a challenging security environment and specific threats that have transformed its domestic politics and given rise to debates about the relevance of its pacifist constitution. North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, and China’s pressure in the maritime Southwest and the South China Sea, as well as its belligerence over Taiwan, have raised Japanese fears of instability and conflict. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has alarmed Japan that China would similarly resort to force. This present volume includes chapters by experts, Japanese as well as non-Japanese, who examine these issues and how Japan responds to a more threatening security environment while managing its domestic politics. They discuss the debate about the pacifist constitution, the alliance with the US, Japan’s Quad partners, India and Australia and how Japan moves to maintain and protect a free and open regional and international order from which it has benefited.

The history of official relations between Russia and Japan encompasses a period of a little more than one hundred and fifty years, but stretch back unofficially for at least double that amount of time. But for both Russia and Japan, these relations have never been a key element of foreign policy, indispensable or intrinsically important for their diplomatic strategy. It is also noteworthy that for most of this time Russia and Japan were enemies, rivals, competitors. For both parties the significance of bilateral relations to a large extent was determined by their geographical proximity. This geographically predestined relationship can be characterized as “distant neighbors.” At the same time, at certain historical stages, this neighborhood was not so distant. The countries managed to establish relations in the economic sphere, while tourism, cultural, scientific and educational ties were actively developing. The complexity of the relations which developed for just over three centuries is worthy of study. This book analyzes these three centuries of Japan-Russia relations so as not to miss out any essential factors of the relationship.

The Handbook of Modern and Contemporary Japanese Women Writers offers a comprehensive overview of women writers in Japan, from the late 19th century to the early 21st. Featuring 24 newly written contributions from scholars in the field—representing expertise from North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia—the Handbook introduces and analyzes works by modern and contemporary women writers that coalesce loosely around common themes, tropes, and genres. Putting writers from different generations in conversation with one another reveals the diverse ways they have responded to similar subjects. Whereas women writers may have shared concerns—the pressure to conform to gendered expectation, the tension between family responsibility and individual interests, the quest for self-affirmation—each writer invents her own approach. As readers will see, we have writers who turn to memoir and autobiography, while others prefer to imagine fabulous fictional worlds. Some engage with the literary classics—whether Japanese, Chinese, or European—and invest their works with rich intertextual allusions. Other writers grapple with colonialism, militarism, nationalism, and industrialization. This Handbook builds a foundation which invites readers to launch their own investigations into women’s writing in Japan.

The Handbook of Sport and Japan presents a fascinating collection of established and new scholarship, a valuable text for readers who want to use sport as lens to look more closely into a nation. The handbook draws on a diversity of perspectives, disciplines and experiences all of which respond to the challenge of including sport in the study of Japan. The chapters in the handbook convey what taking part in sport feels and looks like, highlighting the sporting accomplishments of Japanese athletes and teams, while also reflecting how the sporting experience interacts with economics, diplomacy, media, culture, demographics, gender, ethnicity and identity. Contributions pose key questions about what conclusions can be made when sport is placed in the foreground of key events in Japanese history, including pre-war industrialisation and empire building, to the post-war economic boom, the 2011 Tohoku Disaster and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

After war defeat in 1945, Japan underwent historic political, economic and social transformations resulting in the country’s rebirth as an economic powerhouse and exemplar of liberal democracy in East Asia. This handbook expands and enriches our understanding of this tumultuous contemporary era in Japan’s modern history. Chapters in the volume ask novel theoretical questions and present fresh empirical perspectives on the era. How, for example, has the postwar era been chronologized to date and how might we rethink or enhance such interpretations? What can we learn by rethinking established moments and phases like the Allied Occupation, the period of high-speed economic growth, the 1970s, the Bubble Economy, and the “lost decades” of Heisei Japan (1989-2019)? What new issues might we introduce to subvert accepted understandings of the postwar era and its various sub-eras? Moreover, how might Japan’s internal postwar be expanded by rethinking the era through novel historical frameworks and regional imaginaries such as East Asian history, Cold War history, environmental history and transnational history? Contributors attempt to transcend temporal, geographical, intellectual and other boundaries inherent in our current understandings of Japan’s postwar experience to provide a compelling compilation of perspectives. Showcasing the work of historians and leading scholars from other disciplines, chapters cover thematic areas including the origins of the postwar era, postwar politics, society and popular culture, transnational and international interactions, and historical memory. The volume’s extensive chronological coverage, combined with the innovative perspectives of the contributors, make it essential reading for both researchers and learners interested in the multifaceted dynamics of Japan’s fascinating contemporary era.

This book aims to offer ideas and examples of pedagogy in the undergraduate classroom. The basic premise taken by the authors begins with a question: What if stereotypes surrounding Japan were not pushed to the margins in teaching but took center stage and were exposed for the multiple ways that they can be used to learn not only about “Japan” but of various scholarly disciplines? The task then becomes constructing ways to challenge essentialist notions that do not seek merely to deny, but to shift the conversation constructively by encouraging engagement with a theoretical field from which to acquire tools to critically and effectively evaluate stereotypes of Japan or other societies. The result is a collection of carefully crafted case studies of syllabi that showcase pedagogies aimed at the deconstruction of concepts such as “Japan,” “Japanese,” or “Japanese society” while at the same time offering skills of inquiry that transcend the topics being deconstructed. This handbook is a source of ideas from colleagues in a variety of disciplinary and institutional settings, who are tackling the same issues current or future teachers who plan to use case studies from Japan in their lectures.

The Annotated Constitution of Japan: A Handbook for the first time makes the entirety of Japan’s constitution accessible in English. The book consists of a historical and contextual overview of how the constitution came into being, followed by descriptions of each of its 103 articles; the meaning of the text, interpretive disputes, academic theories and leading cases arising under them. The book also points out the many subtle distinctions between the English version and the Japanese, some of which arose from the charter’s unique provenance. With contributors representing a broad range of expertise in various areas of Japanese law, the book is written to appeal to academics, students and general readers alike. It is intended to be the first port of call for anyone needing to understand the fundamentals of Japanese constitutional law, whether from the perspective of Japanese studies, comparative law, or political science, but unable to access the text and related literature available in Japanese. Key reference documents in English and Japanese are included as appendices for ease of reference.

This handbook explores the history, culture, social challenges of Japan’s Burakumin through the multifaceted scholarship of current Buraku studies.The handbook situates Buraku studies by examining the origins of the Burakumin, from Japan’s medieval outcaste groups and their connections and continuities into the early modern social class system of Tokugawa Japan. The chapters also explore the intersectionality of this group’s experiences across gender, class, and migration status, revealing how their voices were marginalized and their liberation efforts were entangled with colonial complicity. The post-war era experiences of the Buraku are examined, revealing the impacts of government-commissioned human rights surveys and anti-discrimination initiatives alongside stigmas present in the real estate market in Buraku areas and the impact of gentrification on these communities. Forging connections across scholarly fields and national borders the contributions creating meaningful and current collective research about Buraku studies.Engaging with ongoing scholarly conversations within the emerging field of Buraku Studies this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Japanese society, history and culture.

This handbook explores Japan's relationship with migration by reconceptualising the country from transnational perspectives.Through a critical reassessment of the traditional notion that Japan has an absence of immigration policy, this volume reveals the ways in which the Japanese state and society have, in practice, engaged with immigration issues. It explores incremental policy adaptations, intricate social realities, and scrutinizes the implications of policy failures. Through this analysis, it provides a nuanced understanding of immigration governance and the dynamics of coexistence with migrants in contemporary Japan. By offering a foundation for understanding the current landscape of immigration and refugee experiences in Japan, this book presents an environment of coexistence grounded in the principle of multiple realities.Providing a comprehensive understanding of Japan's relationship with migration and structured to allow readers to grasp this relationship both historically and thematically, this handbook will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Japanese society and migration studies.

This volume functions as an applied reader for core concepts in Japanese aesthetics, each situated in relationship to specific cultural products or aesthetic approaches to the creation of art ranging from Japan’s classical age to the present day.Opening with seven chapters dedicated to foundational values associated with the traditional literary and performing arts (among them, mono no aware, miyabi, ma, wabi-sabi, hie, yūgen, basara, hana and the crucial theme of seasonality), the Handbook proceeds to frame aesthetic discourse through ongoing debates concerning Japan’s antiquity as well as what factors constitute modernity as interpreted through cultural practices (senshafuda), architecture (Ise Jingu), urban landscapes (neon signage and lettering), and major literary or visual art movements. In the latter half of the volume, contributors grapple with pervasive popular culture concepts such as kawaii “cuteness” that evolved from antecedents in the premodern visual arts as well as neoteric notions like itai that have emerged more recently out of modern anime and video game cultures. Accessible to lay readers and specialists alike, the Handbook of Japanese Aesthetics constitutes a crucial addition to the limited body of scholarship designed to synthesize and explain Japanese aesthetics in practice.

This Handbook explores Japanese architecture and the built environment from diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives, tracing the influences that have shaped modern Japanese architecture and urbanism.Divided into four thematic parts - translations, materializations, meditations and characterizations – the Handbook takes the reader on a stroll through developments of Japanese architecture and the transnational exchanges that have shaped conceptions and production of Japanese architecture. It examines translations of domestic and international ideas and evolving building cultures. The book also considers the media through which Japanese architecture is formulated and disseminated, and the discursive constructions that operate in dialogue with built constructions.This volume will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Japanese, Asian and Modern Architecture.

This volume examines the three pillars of Japanese management—lifetime employment, seniority-based wages and promotions, and enterprise unions—from the viewpoint of both Japanese and non-Japanese scholars. Multiple chapters revolve around the themes of labor practices found in Japan including unveiling the concept of internal sensitivity through gemba walks. The diversification of the Japanese salaryman stereotype is addressed by authors focusing on the issues faced by women, non-Japanese employees, and migrant workers in the Japanese labor market. Additional authors examine the challenges of globalization facing Japan in the 21st century including the need to understand work and social organization in Japan as an input-driven society. Five personal reflections interspersed throughout the book encourage the reader to put theory into practice and determine if and how perceptions are changing in regards to Japanese labor practices.

This Handbook explores the relationship between Japan and the European Union (EU).The book begins by outlining the political, cultural, and historical context for the relationship, from the first encounter by Portuguese traders in the mid-16th century to the post-Cold War era, highlighting how intellectual and cultural curiosity led to a genuine, mutual appreciation among Japanese and European societies. The contributions also explore the expansive areas of macroeconomics and trade relations between Japan and the EU, including larger developments such as the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), underscoring the significance of the Japanese-European trade relationship. In order to approach the broad topic of international relations between Japan and the EU, explorations of defence and foreign policy, as well as non-defence and security-related joint cooperation, such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, are featured.Examining the multi-faceted ways in which Europe and Japan have aligned on strategic interests resulting in dramatic changes to economic, environmental, energy, and foreign policy, this Handbook will be a valuable resource for students seeking an entry point into Japan-EU relations, as well as graduate students and scholars seeking a more intricate analysis of economics, trade, foreign policy, defence, environmental policy and areas of joint cooperation.

This Handbook examines relations between Japan and Korea from1850 to the present.Analysing almost 200 years of Japan and Korea relations uncovers a relationship that has been both congenial and confrontational. This Handbook examines these relations in this age of modernity by dividing it into four periods: precolonial relations (1850–1905); colonial rule; (1905–1945) postwar/post-liberation (1945–1965); and the modern period (1965–present). With contributions from an international team of experts, the themes of confrontation and cooperation run throughout the book, with chapters focusing on key aspects such as influences from international powers, the era of Japanese colonization, Japan’s relations with the two Koreas and nationalism and historical revisionism.As a comprehensive overview of diplomatic and cultural conflicts and co-operations between Japan and Korea in the modern era, this Handbook will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Korean and Japanese history, politics, culture and international relations.

This handbook explores Buddhist women’s lives and agency from ancient times to the present in Japan.The book examines lives and representations of Buddhist women by utilizing a thematic approach, with each theme representing a network of interrelated gender roles, norms and hierarchies that determine the conditions under which women “lived” and “live” Buddhism. The contributions highlight what it meant and means to be Buddhist and a woman in the context of gendered power-structures as expressed in the realms of spatial organization, medicine and healthcare, music and sound, embodied gender and sexuality, and visual and material culture.Exploring a topic which has previously been under-represented in scholarship, this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of religious, Japanese and gender studies.

Although a century and a half of Christian proselytizing has only led to the conversion of about one percent of the Japanese population, the proportion of writers who have either been baptized or significantly influenced in their work by Christian teachings is much higher.

A 24-chapter review of major themes connecting Japanese women’s writing from the late 19th century to the early 21st century.

After war defeat in 1945, Japan underwent historic political, economic and social transformations resulting in the country’s rebirth as an economic powerhouse and exemplar of liberal democracy in East Asia. This handbook expands and enriches our understanding of this tumultuous contemporary era in Japan’s modern history. Chapters in the volume ask novel theoretical questions and present fresh empirical perspectives on the era. How, for example, has the postwar era been chronologized to date and how might we rethink or enhance such interpretations? What can we learn by rethinking established moments and phases like the Allied Occupation, the period of high-speed economic growth, the 1970s, the Bubble Economy, and the “lost decades” of Heisei Japan (1989-2019)? What new issues might we introduce to subvert accepted understandings of the postwar era and its various sub-eras? Moreover, how might Japan’s internal postwar be expanded by rethinking the era through novel historical frameworks and regional imaginaries such as East Asian history, Cold War history, environmental history and transnational history? Contributors attempt to transcend temporal, geographical, intellectual and other boundaries inherent in our current understandings of Japan’s postwar experience to provide a compelling compilation of perspectives. Showcasing the work of historians and leading scholars from other disciplines, chapters cover thematic areas including the origins of the postwar era, postwar politics, society and popular culture, transnational and international interactions, and historical memory. The volume’s extensive chronological coverage, combined with the innovative perspectives of the contributors, make it essential reading for both researchers and learners interested in the multifaceted dynamics of Japan’s fascinating contemporary era.

Japan: a land plagued by volcanoes, earthquakes and typhoons, yet blessed with a climate suitable for all manner of agriculture and forestry, and positioned where ocean currents collide and bring an abundance of the ocean’s resources to its people; a country which moved quickly from an agrarian pre-industrial society to become one of the world’s great economic powerhouses in only a few decades, spoiling water, air and land in the process, bringing misery to many of its people; a country with expansionist desires, colonizing neighboring lands, leading to war, defeat, destruction and, for the first time in history, nuclear devastation and its aftermath; a land and its people which share a remarkable resilience and ability to evaluate and correct their mistakes and renew their trajectory towards a better future. The sixteen chapters of the Handbook of Environmental History in Japan

The Handbook of Sport and Japan presents a fascinating collection of established and new scholarship, a valuable text for readers who want to use sport as lens to look more closely into a nation. The handbook draws on a diversity of perspectives, disciplines and experiences all of which respond to the challenge of including sport in the study of Japan.

This book provides the first comprehensive English access to Japan's entire constitution. It begins with historical context about the constitution's creation, followed by detailed explanations of all 103 articles, including their meaning, interpretive controversies, academic theories, and significant legal cases.

This volume is a critical interrogation of the concept, meaning and experience of disaster in 21st-century Japan. Throughout the chapters, a central theme and guiding theoretical perspective is the recognition of the human element in disasters. The evolution of disaster studies in Japan over the past three decades—and the contextual disaster policy changes and societal processes—shows that the empirical terrain for studying disasters is changing, animating the high interest in the sociology of disaster as an interdisciplinary field.

This book analyzes these three centuries of Japan-Russia relations so as not to miss out any essential factors of the relationship.