Political Life In Japan

Author : Takako Kishima
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2014-07-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781400862429

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Political Life in Japan by Takako Kishima Pdf

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.

Author : Louis D. Hayes
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 405 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2016-09-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781315289434

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Introduction to Japanese Politics by Louis D. Hayes Pdf

This classic introduction to the Japanese political system has been revised and updated to take the account of a time of turmoil in the country's political life. It incorporates new coverage of the end of the Koizumi era, the brief and troubled premiership of Abe, and the selection of Fukuda as prime minister. This edition also includes expanded material on "bubble" and "post-bubble" economic developments, as well as all-new coverage of health care policy.The text opens with an overview of Japan's geographical setting and history. The next group of chapters covers political institutions, processes, and actors. Two sections then address the country's distinctive social order and economy, educational, healthcare, and public safety systems. Part five looks at the increasingly contentious realm of foreign relations and security issues, including China's expanding role and the issue of North Korea. A concluding section considers dynamics of change in Japanese politics.

Author : Aurelia George Mulgan
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2006-12-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781920942335

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Power and Pork by Aurelia George Mulgan Pdf

Aims to tell the 'inside story' of a Japanese politician - Matsuoka Toshikatsu - one of the more controversial members of Japan's national Diet, and who's behaviour has been the subject of much speculation and commentary in the media.

Author : Bradley M. Richardson
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0520020197

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The Political Culture of Japan by Bradley M. Richardson Pdf

Author : Susan Pharr,Ellis S. Krauss
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1996-03-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0824817613

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Media and Politics in Japan by Susan Pharr,Ellis S. Krauss Pdf

Japan is one of the most media-saturated societies in the world. The circulations of its "big five" national newspapers dwarf those of any major American newspaper. Its public service broadcasting agency, NHK, is second only to the BBC in size. And it has a full range of commercial television stations, high-brow and low-brow magazines, and a large anti-mainstream media and mini-media. Japanese elites rate the mass media as the most influential group in Japanese society. But what role do they play in political life? Whose interests do the media serve? Are the media mainly servants of the state, or are they watchdogs on behalf of the public? And what effects do the media have on the political beliefs and behavior of ordinary Japanese people? These questions are the focus of this collection of essays by leading political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, and journalists. Japan's unique kisha (press) club system, its powerful media business organizations, the uses of the media by Japan's wily bureaucrats, and the role of the media in everything from political scandals to shaping public opinion, are among the many subjects of this insightful and provocative book.

Author : Kent E. Calder
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 579 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2021-04-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691229478

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Crisis and Compensation by Kent E. Calder Pdf

Why does Japan, with its efficiency-oriented technocracy, periodically adopt welfare-oriented, economically inefficient domestic policies? In answering this question Kent Calder shows that Japanese policymakers respond to threats to the ruling party's preeminence by extending income compensation, entitlements, and subsidies, with market-oriented retrenchment coming as crisis subsides. "Quite simply the most ambitious and strongly argued interpretation of a key dimension of Japanese political life to appear in English this decade."--David Williams, Japan Times "Historically dense and conceptually rich.... [Forces] readers' attention to the domestic underpinnings of Japanese foreign policy."--Donald S. Zagoria, Foreign Affairs "Punctures the myth of Japan Inc. as a cool, rational monolith...."--Kathleen Newland, Millennium "A bold reinterpretation of Japanese politics that will force us to rethink many of our current assumptions and will influence our research agenda."--Steven R. Reed, Journal of Japanese Studies

Author : Susan J. Pharr
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2023-04-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520309975

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Political Women in Japan by Susan J. Pharr Pdf

Drawing on interviews with one hundred young Japanese women engaged in a spectrum of voluntary political groups, Susan J. Pharr explores how politically active women overcome the constraints that bar or limit the political participation of the average woman. The book treats political volunteers as agents of social change in a process of role redefinition by which prevailing concepts of women's roles gradually adjust to accommodate political behavior. Tracing developments that led to the grant of suffrage and other political rights to women during the Allied occupation, Pharr sets the stage for an analysis of that process as it unfolds in the experience of individual women. She uses women's images of self and society and issues of political and gender role socialization, career and life expectations, and political role and participation to develop a three-fold typology for looking at political women in Japan. She examines both the satisfactions of political volunteerism—from the exhilaration of addressing a crowd from a sound truck to the pleasure of speaking "men's language"—and the psychological and social costs associated with it. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

Author : Yukio Ozaki
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0691050953

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The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio by Yukio Ozaki Pdf

His autobiography, available in English for the first time, gives an insider's account of key episodes and leaders over seven decades of Japanese history."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : Ozaki Yukio
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2023-11-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691258904

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The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio by Ozaki Yukio Pdf

Ozaki Yukio, who was returned to his seat in the Japanese Diet twenty-five times, served in that body from its inception in 1890 to 1953. He was several times a cabinet member and, for ten years, mayor of Tokyo. A strong advocate of representative government, he both witnessed and propelled Japan's transformation from a late feudal society to a modern state. His autobiography, available in English for the first time, gives an insider's account of key episodes and leaders over seven decades of Japanese history. Ozaki's political life spanned the Meiji rise to power and Japan's defeat in World War II, and he played a significant role in each phase of that epic. As a young reporter, he gained preeminence with incisive calls for supremacy in East Asia. A European trip that showed him the devastation of World War I converted him to advocacy of arms reduction and international cooperation. He watched with dismay as Japan encountered isolation and military disaster. Known for the courage of his convictions, he became a marked man, carrying a death poem in his pocket. His sturdy independence survived the American Occupation, as he deplored his associates' readiness to heed occupation dictates. Ozaki's story reverberates with the immediacy of his personal knowledge of every major Japanese political figure for three-quarters of a century. It is the account of a man who made history as well as writing it. His story is the story of modern Japan. Through it, readers will gain first-hand knowledge of Japanese constitutional history, one with rich relevance for contemporary Japanese politics.

Author : Ian Neary
Publisher : Polity
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2002-09-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0745621341

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The State and Politics in Japan by Ian Neary Pdf

This book provides a comprehensive guide to the state and politics in Japan at the start of the twenty-first century. In it, Ian Neary asks if the state in Japan is in any important sense different from states in western societies. He seeks to answer this question through an examination of the historical process that created the modern state, a description of the main institutions and actors in contemporary political life and an analysis of four important areas of policy-making. In Japan, as elsewhere in East Asia where the ‘developmental state' has played a key political and economic role, civil society has been the product of, not the precondition to, the development of capitalist society and the modern state. Neary explores the formation of the modern Japanese state and shows that, though it established the foundations of industrial growth, it left little or no room for the formation of groups that make up civil society elsewhere. The book then focuses on the political parties of both left and right, characteristics of the electoral systems and the political and bureaucratic structures at national and local levels. Individual chapters on foreign and defence policy, industrial policy, welfare provision and human rights consider the interaction between state and non-state actors in specific policy contexts. Assuming no prior knowledge of Japan or politics, this textbook will be essential reading for students of political science and international relations as well as anyone seeking an introduction to government in Japan today.

Author : William E. Steslicke,Columbia University. East Asian Institute
Publisher : New York : Praeger
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 1973
Category : Medical
ISBN : UCSD:31822018849950

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Doctors in Politics by William E. Steslicke,Columbia University. East Asian Institute Pdf

Author : David Leheny
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2018-11-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781501729089

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Empire of Hope by David Leheny Pdf

Empire of Hope asks how emotions become meaningful in political life. In a diverse array of cases from recent Japanese history, David Leheny shows how sentimental portrayals of the nation and its global role reflect a durable story of hopefulness about the country's postwar path. From the medical treatment of conjoined Vietnamese children, victims of Agent Orange, the global promotion of Japanese popular culture, a tragic maritime accident involving a US Navy submarine, to the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, this story has shaped the way in which political figures, writers, officials, and observers have depicted what the nation feels. Expressions of national emotion do several things: they construct the boundaries of the national body, they inform and discipline appropriate expression, and they depoliticize messy problems that threaten to produce divisive questions about winners and losers. Most important, they work because they appear to be natural, simple and expected expressions of how the nation shares feeling, even when they paper over the extraordinary divergence in how the nation's citizens experience each incident. In making its arguments, Empire of Hope challenges how we read the relations between emotion and politics by arguing—unlike those who build from the neuroscientific turn in the social sciences or those developing affect theory in the humanities—that the focus should be on emotional representation rather than on emotion itself.

Author : Terry Edward MacDougall
Publisher : U of M Center For Japanese Studies
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 1982-01-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780939512065

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Political Leadership in Contemporary Japan by Terry Edward MacDougall Pdf

Those who do not read Japanese seldom have access to analytic studies of the fascinating and surprisingly diverse world of contemporary Japanese political leadership. This volume constitutes a step toward bringing to the English reader some sense of the norms, beliefs, styles, and modes of exercising power of Japanese political leaders and the organizational and political contexts which are changing leadership role expectations. The second volume in this series concentrates more explicitly on leadership recruitment, although the subject is also addressed here. All of the essays in this volume highlight specific politicians, while attempting to develop analytic categories to understand the broader significance of these types of leaders. Included are the following: a Liberal Democratic Party prime minister and faction leader (Fukuda Takeo) who rose "almost effortlessly" to the pinnacle of power on the basis of an elitist educational and bureaucratic career background and another (Tanaka Kakuei) who took advantage of the chaotic wartime and immediate postwar period to overcome the limitations of his commoner background by developing an entrepreneurial style that makes him even today "the most powerful in Japan"; a younger conservative leader (Kono Yohei) who, with certain others of his generation, found life within the restrictive but predictable career paths of ruling Liberal Democrats less attractive than the risky option of forming his own New Liberal Club; an unconventional Socialist chairman (Asukata Ichio) who bucks the pull toward coalition making among the opposition parties in favor of his belief that this major but perpetual opposition party must first reconstruct itself and structure a new popular consensus that can legitimize a coalitional alternative to the Liberal Democrats; parliamentary leaders (like lower-house speaker Maeo Shigesaburo, directors of the House Management Committee, and heads of the Diet policy committees of the various parties) who are projected into increasingly influential roles by changing electoral trends and popular expectations; an innovative and dynamic mayor (Suzuki Heizaburo) who, taking advantage of the considerable authority afforded by Japan's "presidential" system of local chief executives, pursues his own priorities, mobilizing the requisite support despite the lack of national guidance and the oppositions of former backers; and the "power behind the throne" (Matsunaga Yasuzaemon and Komori Takeshi) whose visions move prime ministers and governors as well as their own followers in powerful public and private bureaucracies. [intro]

Author : Duncan McCargo
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2012-10-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781137284914

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Contemporary Japan by Duncan McCargo Pdf

Japan is one of the world's most important societies, yet remains one of the least understood. This book is designed to fill the gap for a concise but thought-provoking introduction to all aspects of the country's political, economic and social life set in a clear historical context. The author's starting-point is that the study of Japan is 'contested territory' where even such apparently simple questions such as 'Who is in charge?' spark considerable disagreement and controversy among experts. To understand contemporary Japan, Duncan McCargo argues, it is necessary to get to grips with a range of different perspectives on Japanese political and social structures. Integrating contrasting perspectives throughout, the core chapters of the book focus on the changing economy, government and politics, society and culture, and Japan's place in the wider world. The new third edition of this popular text has been fully revised and updated throughout to cover key developments such as the historic end of LDP rule in 2009. This accessible and lively book will be essential reading both for students and general readers who want to know more about this important country.

Author : Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2020-05-31
Category : History
ISBN : 1108490077

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Japan's Living Politics by Tessa Morris-Suzuki Pdf

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed a rise of populism and decline of public confidence in many of the formal institutions of democracy. This crisis of democracy has stimulated searches for alternative ways of understanding and enacting politics. Against this background, Tessa Morris-Suzuki explores the long history of informal everyday political action in the Japanese context. Despite its seemingly inflexible and monolithic formal political system, Japan has been the site of many fascinating small-scale experiments in 'informal life politics': grassroots do-it-yourself actions which seek not to lobby governments for change, but to change reality directly, from the bottom up. She explores this neglected history by examining an interlinked series of informal life politics experiments extending from the 1910s to the present day.