An Introduction to Japanese Society

Höfundur: Yoshio Sugimoto (Útgáfa: 6)
An Introduction to Japanese Society

Kaup valmöguleikar

An Introduction to Japanese Society┬áprovides an engaging introduction to Japanese society by internationally renowned scholar Yoshio Sugimoto. The text examines the diverse nature of contemporary Japanese society with chapters covering class, work, education, gender, ethnicity, religion, popular culture, and the establishment. This edition discusses the shifting landscape of the 'Cool Japan' project; the impact of the COVIDÔÇô19 pandemic; the significance of Okinawa as the land of ethnic identity; the escalation of foreign workers and residents; the casualization of the labor force; intersectionality in Japanese class culture; the continuous aging of Japanese society; geopolitical shifts in East Asia; and the outcomes of recent national elections.

Nánar um bókina

Útgefandi
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
9781009636247
Print ISBN
9781009636230
Format
ePub
Útgáfa
6
Höfundar
Yoshio Sugimoto
Tungumál
English
Útgefið
2026-08-27
Prent takmörkun á líftíma
10
Prent takmörkun
2
Afritunar takmörkun
2

Kaflar

  • Cover
  • Half title
  • Acknowledgement of Country
  • Title page
  • Imprints page
  • Contents
  • Figures, tables, and theme boxes
  • Preface to the sixth edition
  • Acknowledgements
  • 1 Historical backdrop: disintegration and restoration
  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Japan as a variable
  • 1.2.1 Japan’s external boundaries
  • 1.2.2 Internal rivalry
  • 1.3 Ancient times up to the Nara period
  • 1.4 Heian period: rise and fall of the nobility
  • 1.5 The ascent of the samurai class and the duality of power
  • 1.6 Disintegration: the Warring States period
  • 1.6.1 The ascendancy of daimyō
  • 1.6.2 Recentralization and external expansionism
  • 1.7 Tokugawa: sweeping centralization and national closure
  • 1.7.1 Centralization
  • 1.7.2 National seclusion
  • 1.7.3 Demography and status classification
  • 1.7.4 Commoners’ culture
  • 1.7.5 Modernity in late Tokugawa Japan
  • 1.8 The Meiji Restoration
  • 1.8.1 Alliance of strong peripheral domains in the west and the south
  • 1.8.2 The end of power duality: the establishment of Tokyo as the capital
  • 1.8.3 Rapid catch-up programs from above
  • 1.8.4 Land tax reform and the ‘parasite’ landlord class
  • 1.8.5 Expansionism and colonization
  • 1.9 Taishō democracy
  • 1.10 The Fifteen Years’ War
  • 1.10.1 The Manchurian Incident
  • 1.10.2 The Second Sino-Japanese War
  • 1.10.3 The Pacific War
  • 1.11 Looking ahead
  • 1.12 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • 2 The Japan phenomenon: analysis and understanding
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Sampling and visibility
  • 2.3 Four models for understanding Japan
  • 2.3.1 Monocultural model: group orientation and homogeneity
  • 2.3.2 Multiethnic model: minority issues
  • 2.3.3 Multiclass model: social stratification and inequality
  • 2.3.4 Multicultural model
  • 2.4 Control of ideological capital
  • 2.5 Seven phases of Japan analysis
  • 2.6 Three areas of deliberation
  • 2.6.1 Convergence debate
  • 2.6.2 Cultural relativism
  • Cultural relativism between societies
  • Cultural relativism within a society
  • Negative correlation
  • 2.6.3 Legitimation of dual codes
  • 2.7 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 3 Class: stratification and disparity
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 From middle-class society to disparity society
  • 3.3 Classification of classes and segments
  • 3.3.1 Hashimoto’s model
  • 3.3.2 Kikkawa’s model: eight-segment analysis
  • 3.3.3 Status inconsistency
  • 3.3.4 Postmodernity and upper goods
  • 3.4 Reproduction of inequality
  • 3.4.1 Inheritance of financial and property assets
  • 3.4.2 Socialization and marriage
  • 3.5 Debate and caution about the kakusa shakai thesis
  • 3.6 Japanese emic concepts of class
  • 3.7 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 4 Generations and geography: variations in an aging society
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 A rapidly aging society
  • 4.2.1 Prolonged life expectancy
  • 4.2.2 Declining birth rate
  • 4.2.3 Pressure on the welfare structure
  • 4.3 Generational variations
  • 4.3.1 The recovery generation
  • 4.3.2 The prosperity generation
  • 4.3.3 The stagnation generation
  • 4.3.4 The digital generation
  • 4.4 Geographical variations
  • 4.4.1 Japan as a conglomerate of subnations
  • 4.4.2 Eastern versus western Japan
  • 4.4.3 Center versus periphery
  • 4.4.4 Ideological centralization
  • 4.5 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 5 Work: ‘Japanese-style’ management and cultural capitalism
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Small businesses: evolving bedrock of the economy
  • 5.2.1 Small businesses as the numerical majority
  • 5.2.2 Plurality of small businesses
  • Medium-sized subsidiaries in keiretsu networks
  • Low-level subcontractors under keiretsu control
  • Venture and maverick businesses
  • Independent small proprietors
  • 5.3 Large companies: ‘Japanese-style’ management in transition
  • 5.3.1 Firm-based internal labor markets
  • 5.3.2 Manipulative definition of employee ability
  • 5.3.3 The family metaphor as a socialization device
  • 5.4 Social costs of ‘Japanese’ work style
  • 5.4.1 Excessive hours of work
  • 5.4.2 Karoshi
  • 5.4.3 Tanshin funin
  • 5.5 Job market rationalization
  • 5.5.1 Casualization of labor
  • 5.5.2 Performance-based model
  • 5.6 Cultural capitalism: an emerging megatrend
  • 5.7 Enterprise unionism and labor movements
  • 5.7.1 Decline and skewing in union membership
  • 5.7.2 Capital–labor cooperation
  • 5.8 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 6 Education: diversity and unity
  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Demography and stratification
  • 6.2.1 Two paths of schooling: academic and vocational
  • 6.2.2 The ideology of educational credentialism
  • 6.2.3 The commercialization of education
  • 6.2.4 School–business interactions
  • 6.2.5 Articulation of class lines
  • Class ecology of schools
  • Family socialization
  • School culture
  • Patterns in prestigious universities
  • 6.3 State control of education
  • 6.3.1 Textbook authorization
  • 6.3.2 Curriculum guidelines
  • 6.3.3 Conformist patterns of socialization
  • Disciplinarian ethics
  • Psychological integration
  • Checkups and attitudinal correctness
  • Moral emphasis
  • 6.4 Regimentation and its costs
  • 6.4.1 Excessive teacher control
  • Corporal punishment
  • School regulations
  • 6.4.2 Costs of regulatory education
  • Ijime and school violence
  • Hikikomori
  • 6.5 Continuity and change in university life
  • 6.6 English-language education
  • 6.7 Competing educational orientations
  • 6.7.1 Market-oriented neoliberals
  • 6.7.2 Regulatory pluralists
  • 6.7.3 Anti-government democrats
  • 6.7.4 Developmental conservatives
  • 6.8 Non-formal education
  • 6.8.1 Numerous physical sites
  • 6.8.2 Correspondence courses
  • 6.8.3 Classes for marginalized populations
  • 6.9 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 7 Gender and family: challenges to ideology
  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 The family registration system and ie ideology
  • 7.2.1 Family head
  • 7.2.2 Children born out of wedlock
  • 7.2.3 Deterrence to divorce
  • 7.2.4 Surname after marriage
  • 7.2.5 Family tomb
  • 7.2.6 Seki and ie
  • 7.3 The labor market and women’s employment profiles
  • 7.3.1 The flattening M-curve and the emerging L-curve
  • 7.3.2 The three-tier structure of the internal market
  • 7.3.3 Four types of married women
  • Part-time workers and part-time housewives
  • Career women
  • Full-time housewives
  • Networkers
  • 7.4 Control of the female body
  • 7.4.1 Contraception and abortion
  • 7.4.2 Domestic violence
  • 7.4.3 Sexual harassment
  • 7.5 Marriage and divorce
  • 7.6 Types of households
  • 7.6.1 Spread of single-person households
  • 7.6.2 Nuclear family patterns
  • 7.6.3 Decline in extended families
  • 7.6.4 Schematic summary of the family
  • 7.7 Gender and sexual diversity
  • 7.8 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 8 Ethnicity and Japaneseness: defining the nation
  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Japanese ethnocentrism
  • 8.3 Indigenous Ainu
  • 8.4 Buraku liberation issues
  • 8.5 Zainichi Koreans
  • 8.5.1 Nationality and name issues
  • 8.5.2 Generational change and internal diversity
  • Fatherland orientation
  • Individualistic orientation
  • Multicultural orientation
  • Assimilation orientation
  • 8.5.3 Advancement and backlash
  • 8.6 Okinawans
  • 8.6.1 Legacy of the independent kingdom and US occupation
  • 8.6.2 American military base issue
  • 8.6.3 Indigenous people, self-determination, and internal colony
  • 8.7 Foreign residents
  • 8.8 Deconstructing the Japanese
  • 8.9 Problems and pitfalls
  • 8.10 Japan beyond Japan
  • 8.11 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 9 Political culture: competition and collusion
  • 9.1 Introduction
  • 9.2 The three-way deadlock
  • 9.3 The dominance of the public bureaucracy
  • 9.3.1 Regulatory control
  • 9.3.2 Amakudari
  • 9.3.3 Administrative guidance
  • 9.4 Two competing political economies
  • 9.4.1 The business community’s push for deregulation
  • 9.4.2 Privatization of public enterprises
  • 9.4.3 Globalism versus nationalism
  • 9.5 Interest groups in support of the LDP
  • 9.6 The challenges of reforming political culture
  • 9.6.1 Heavy reliance on the bureaucracy
  • 9.6.2 Money politics and its social basis
  • 9.6.3 Local politics against the national bureaucracy
  • Project implementation
  • Routine lobbying
  • Interregional competition
  • 9.7 The case of Fukushima: collusive center and civil defiance
  • 9.7.1 TEPCO and the nuclear village
  • 9.7.2 Manipulation of hardship on the periphery
  • 9.7.3 Division in the business and civil communities
  • 9.8 The history war
  • 9.9 The media establishment
  • 9.9.1 A high degree of centralization
  • 9.9.2 Similarities with other large corporations
  • 9.9.3 Institutional linkage with the establishment
  • 9.10 Five rifts in the elite structure
  • 9.11 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 10 Religion: belief and secularization
  • 10.1 Introduction
  • 10.2 Traditional religions
  • 10.2.1 Shinto
  • 10.2.2 Buddhism
  • 10.2.3 Christianity
  • 10.3 New religions
  • 10.3.1 The expansion of new religions
  • 10.3.2 Spirituality movements
  • 10.4 Aspects of this-worldliness
  • 10.4.1 Worshippers’ earthly expectations
  • 10.4.2 Religion as business
  • 10.4.3 Religion and the state
  • 10.5 Revitalization amid secularization
  • 10.6 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 11 Culture: the popular and the cool
  • 11.1 Introduction
  • 11.2 The two dualities of Japanese culture
  • 11.2.1 Elite versus popular culture
  • 11.2.2 Traditional versus imported culture
  • 11.3 Mass culture
  • 11.3.1 Entertainment media
  • Television and radio
  • The tabloid press and weekly magazines
  • 11.3.2 Affordable diversions
  • Pachinko
  • Karaoke
  • 11.3.3 Cross-status cultural consumption
  • 11.4 Folk culture
  • 11.4.1 Local festivals as occasions of hare
  • 11.4.2 Regional variation of folk culture
  • 11.4.3 Marginal art
  • 11.5 Alternative culture
  • 11.5.1 Mini-communication media and online papers
  • 11.5.2 Countercultural events and performances
  • 11.5.3 Communes and the natural economy
  • 11.6 The spread of the Cool Japan discourse
  • 11.6.1 Manga: laying the groundwork
  • 11.6.2 The three phases of Cool Japan
  • Phase one (1990–2005): grassroots drive
  • Phase two (2005–15): state involvement
  • Phase three (2015–25): experience economy and hybridity
  • Experience economy
  • Cross-sector mixing
  • 11.6.3 Uncool material conditions
  • Animators
  • Otaku
  • 11.6.4 Historical context
  • 11.6.5 Postmodern Nihonjinron
  • Challenge of neo-Nihonjinron
  • Postmodern sensitivity
  • Neo-exoticism
  • Masking Japan
  • 11.7 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • 12 Civil society: activism and friendly authoritarianism
  • 12.1 Introduction
  • 12.2 The fragmentation of social relations
  • 12.3 Post-Fukushima protest movements
  • 12.3.1 Demonstrations on the streets
  • 12.3.2 Characteristics of participants
  • 12.3.3 Social segment effects
  • Unstructured organization
  • Empowerment: process over outcomes
  • Expansion of internet-based social capital
  • Tabular recapitulation
  • 12.4 Volunteers, NPOs, NGOs, and resident movements
  • 12.4.1 Volunteers
  • 12.4.2 NPOs and NGOs
  • 12.4.3 The prevalence of resident movements
  • 12.4.4 Three-dimensional typology
  • 12.4.5 Interest groups
  • 12.5 Seikatsusha as an emic concept of citizens
  • 12.6 Friendly authoritarianism
  • 12.6.1 Mutual surveillance within small groups
  • 12.6.2 Visible and tangible power
  • 12.6.3 Manipulation of ambiguity
  • 12.6.4 Moralizing and mind correctness
  • Physical correctness
  • Emotive moralizing
  • A community of sanctions
  • Ideology of egalitarian competition
  • 12.7 Conclusion
  • Research questions
  • Further readings
  • Online resources
  • References
  • Index