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Democracy in Contemporary Japan by Gavan McCormack,Yoshio Sugimoto Pdf
This title was first published in 1986: This is a study of "karayuki-san", impoverished Japanese women sent abroad to work as prostitutes from the 1860s to the 1920s. It follows the life of one prostitute, Osaki, who is persuaded as a child of ten to accept cleaning work in Borneo and then forced to work as a prostitute in a brothel.
Democracy in Occupied Japan by Mark E. Caprio,Yoneyuki Sugita Pdf
With expert contributions from both the US and Japan, this book examines the legacies of the US Occupation on Japanese politics and society, and discusses the long-term impact of the Occupation on contemporary Japan. Focusing on two central themes – democracy and the interplay of US-initiated reforms and Japan's endogenous drive for democratization and social justice – the contributors address key questions: How did the US authorities and the Japanese people define democracy? To what extent did America impose their notions of democracy on Japan? How far did the Japanese pursue impulses toward reform, rooted in their own history and values? Which reforms were readily accepted and internalized, and which were ultimately subverted by the Japanese as impositions from outside? These questions are tackled by exploring the dynamics of the reform process from the three perspectives of innovation, continuity and compromise, specifically determining the effect that this period made to Japanese social, economic, and political understanding. Critically examines previously unexplored issues that influenced postwar Japan such as the effect of labour and healthcare legislation, textbook revision, and minority policy. Illuminating contemporary Japan, its achievements, its potential and its quandaries, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese-US relations, Japanese history and Japanese politics.
This book discusses Japanese conceptions of power and presents a complex, nuanced look at how power operates in society and in politics. It rejects stereotypes that describe Japanese citizens as passive and apolitical, cemented into a vertically structured, group-oriented society and shows how citizens learn about power in the contexts of the family, the workplace, and politics. As Japan grapples with the consequences of having one of the oldest and most rapidly ageing populations in the world, it is important for social scientists and policy makers worldwide to understand the choices it makes. Particularly as policy-makers have once again turned their attention to workers, the roles of women, families, and to immigrants as potential ‘solutions’ to the perceived problem of maintaining or increasing the working population. These studies show the ebb and flow of power over time and also note that power is context-dependent — actors can have power in one context, but not another.
Building Democracy in Japan by Mary Alice Haddad Pdf
"This book explains how Japan became a democracy. It offers a grassroots perspective and holistic understanding of Japan's democratization process and what it means for the nation today"--
To understand how change occurs in politics, we should turn from concentrating on intentional political actions to exploring everyday life, especially marginal frames of mind in which people are open to questioning existing ideas and institutions. In so contending, Takako Kishima offers fresh understandings of contemporary Japanese politicians and the Japanese political process, while she also proposes an innovative method of looking at politics in general. Kishima points out that taken-for-granted values and beliefs are revealed as arbitrary when people experience intrusions of the marginal, or "liminal." Social marginals, such as outcastes or so-called misfits, are the most likely people to invoke these intrusions, but more ordinary folk are also subjected to them under special conditions ranging from the seemingly trivial--daydreaming, dancing, or getting drunk--to the more profound--war, natural disaster, or ecstatic ritual. During an intrusion the flow of ordinary time seems to stop, and the utilitarian principles of commonplace existence are invalidated--as described by the chapter on Nakasone, "Shedding Tears: Suspension of Politics." Drawing on insights from phenomenology, symbolic anthropology, and post-structuralism, as well as from political science, Kishima shows that the prevalence of liminal experiences in society prevents the reification of authority, allows the transcendence of formal political differences, and permits political change over time. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
The Policy-Making Process in Contemporary Japan by M. Nakano Pdf
This book deals with the public policy-making process in contemporary Japan testifying a new dictum: 'The various phases of the policy process cause politics'. The analytical focus is threefold: encompassing the policy-making process on the national level; elections and the policy-making process; and the regional policy and decision-making. These analyses offer a number of original and comparative data on Japanese politics. This book also tries to interpret the basic pattern of Japanese politics, which contributes to a clear understanding of the dynamic aspects of the political process and political economy after the Second World War.
Japan's aggressive economic development has led many Americans to fear that it will lead to an equally aggressive nationalism reminiscent of the pre-World War II period. Beyond the Rising Sun demonstrates that such fears are unfounded. Although cultural nationalism is strong, Japan today is a stable and peaceful democracy. Professionals, academics, government officials, business people, and the general public will find this challenge to many current views about Japanese politics, people, and U.S.-Japanese relations provocative. There has long been concern that Japan's aggressive economic development might be a harbinger of an equally aggressive nationalism, reminiscent of the dark era leading up to World War II. The media has fueled the image of a newly aggressive Japan by using martial metaphors such as Samurai capitalism that is invading American markets. Moreover, the Japanese are also portrayed as subservient members of a conformist society manipulated by political authority. However, a long-time resident in Japan and scholar on U.S.-Japanese relations argues that contemporary Japanese nationalism has no connection to its prewar embodiment and fears of an authoritarian and aggressive Japan have no basis in reality. Of the many changes in Japan since the end of the war, the most significant has been the development of a deeply ingrained democratic political culture. Although a strong force in Japan today, nationalism is manifested by a strong ethnic, cultural, and racial identification and not by citizen identification with the state. By examining the wide varieties of nationalism in contemporary Japan and by explaining the role that they play in society and politics, academics, professionals, government officials, business people, and the general public will find this analysis invaluable for understanding contemporary Japan. This short text is designed also for use in courses in Japanese politics, contemporary Japanese society and culture, and U.S.-Japanese relations.
Popular Democracy in Japan by Sherry L. Martin Pdf
Popular Democracy in Japan examines a puzzle in Japanese politics: Why do Japanese women turn out to vote at rates higher than men? On the basis of in-depth fieldwork in various parts of the country, Sherry L. Martin argues that the exclusion of women from a full range of opportunities in public life provokes many of them to seek alternative outlets for self-expression. They have options that include a wide variety of study, hobby, and lifelong learning groups—a feature of Japanese civic life that the Ministry of Education encourages. Women who participate in these alternative spaces for learning tend, Martin finds, to examine the political conditions that have pushed them there. Her research suggests that study group participation increases women’s confidence in using various types of political participation (including voting) to pressure political elites for a more inclusive form of democracy. Considerable overlap between the narratives that emerge from women’s groups and a survey of national public opinion identifies these groups as crucial sites for crafting and circulating public discourses about politics. Martin shows how the interplay between public opinion and institutional change has given rise to bottom-up changes in electoral politics that culminated in the 2009 Democratic Party of Japan victory in the House of Representatives election.
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan by Hiroko Takeda,Mark Williams Pdf
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan presents a synthesized, interdisciplinary study of contemporary Japan based on up-to-date theoretical models designed to provide readers with a comprehensive and full understanding of the dynamics of contemporary Japan. In order to achieve this, the Handbook is organized into two parts. Part I, ‘Foundations’, clarifies the state of contemporary Japan topic by topic by referring to the latest theoretical developments in the relevant disciplinary fields of politics, international relations, economy, society, culture and the personal. Part II, ‘Issues’, then offers a series of concrete analyses building upon the theoretical discussions introduced in Part I to help undergraduate and postgraduate students learn how to conduct independent analysis. Locating Japan in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, this Handbook is an essential resource for students and scholars interested in Japanese studies, Asian studies and global studies.
Author : J. Victor Koschmann Publisher : University of Chicago Press Page : 318 pages File Size : 42,5 Mb Release : 1996-12 Category : History ISBN : 0226451216
Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan by J. Victor Koschmann Pdf
After World War II, Japanese intellectuals believed that world history was moving inexorably toward bourgeois democracy and then socialism. But who would be the agents—the active "subjects"—of that revolution in Japan? Intensely debated at the time, this question of active subjectivity influenced popular ideas about nationalism and social change that still affect Japanese political culture today. In a major contribution to modern Japanese intellectual history, J. Victor Koschmann analyzes the debate over subjectivity. He traces the arguments of intellectuals from various disciplines and political viewpoints, and finds that despite their stress on individual autonomy, they all came to define subjectivity in terms of deterministic historical structures, thus ultimately deferring the possibility of radical change in Japan. Establishing a basis for historical dialogue about democratic revolution, this book will interest anyone concerned with issues of nationalism, postcolonialism, and the formation of identities.
Japan's Competing Modernities by Sharon Minichiello Pdf
Scholars, Japanese and non-Japanese alike, have studied the greater Taisho era (1900-1930) within the framework of Taisho demokurashii (democracy). While this concept has proved useful, students of the period in more recent years have sought alternative ways of understanding the late Meiji-Taisho period. This collection of essays, each based on new research, offers original insights into various aspects of modern Japanese cultural history from "modernist" architecture to women as cultural symbols, popular songs to the rhetoric of empire-building, and more. The volume is organized around three general topics: geographical and cultural space; cosmopolitanism and national identity; and diversity, autonomy, and integration. Within these the authors have identified a number of thematic tensions that link the essays: high and low culture in cultural production and dissemination; national and ethnic identities; empire and ethnicity; the center and the periphery; naichi (homeland) and gaichi (overseas); urban and rural; public and private; migration and barriers. The volume opens up new avenues of exploration for the study of modern Japanese history and culture. If, as one of the authors contends, the imperative is " to understand more fully the historical forces that made Japan what it is today," these studies of Japan's "competing modernities" point the way to answers to some of the country's most challenging historical questions in this century. Contributors: Gail L. Bernstein, Barbara Brooks, Lonny E. Carlile, Kevin M. Doak, Joshua A. Fogel, Sheldon Garon, Elaine Gerbert, Jeffrey E. Hanes, Helen Hardacre, Sharon A. Minichiello, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Jonathan M. Reynolds, Michael Robinson, Roy Starrs, Mariko Asano Tamanoi, Julia Adeney Thomas, E. Patricia Tsurumi, Christine R. Yano.
Party Politics in Japan by Ronald J. Hrebenar,Akira Nakamura Pdf
The Japanese political system is a parliamentary democracy and was the first western style government in Asia when the parliamentary system was adopted in the 1880s. It has a multiparty system, free elections, and a parliament that functions much the same way that any other democratic parliament functions, however for much of its existence the Japanese party system has been dominated by one party. This fact is crucial to understanding contemporary politics in Japan, especially since the long term ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is once again back in power. This book presents an up-to-date analysis of the political parties that make up the Japanese party system and their impact on Japanese politics and government. Given that the executive branch is selected as a result of the pattern of party numbers in the parliament, to understand Japanese politics and policy, one must first know the nature of the ruling and opposition parties and their leaders. Indeed, in the past decade the quality of Japan’s government has been closely associated with the strengths and weaknesses of Japan’s prime ministers and the dominant party in the system. This book focuses on a central question: why Japanese politics and government has been so dysfunctional in the past two decades? With this question in mind, the chapters provide key background information on Japanese politics and political parties; discuss each of the major political parties that have governed Japan since 1955; and finally, examine the December 2012 House of Representatives elections that returned the LDP to power, and the differences between the First (1955-1993) and the Second Post War Party Systems (1993- ). Party Politics in Japan provides a comprehensive analysis of the past sixty years of Japanese party politics. As such, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese politics and Asian politics, as well as to those interested in political parties and political systems more broadly.
