Volunteering is a highly visible phenomenon in Japan, adopted as a meaningful social activity by millions of Japanese, and covered widely in the Japanese media. This book, based on extensive original research, explores the reality of volunteering in an urban residential Japanese neighbourhood.
Volunteering is a highly visible phenomenon in Japan, adopted as a meaningful social activity by millions of Japanese, and covered widely in the Japan...
Based on fieldwork in a Japanese institution for the elderly, this title explores the whole issue of aging and responses to it in Japan, and compares the Japanese approach in these matters with Western approaches.
Based on fieldwork in a Japanese institution for the elderly, this title explores the whole issue of aging and responses to it in Japan, and compares ...
Can merely changing one's perspective on one's past lead to the alleviation of mental and physical suffering? Are our personal pasts an inviolable terrain, or are they capable of reinterpretation and revision? This book explores the Japanese practice of Naikan, a psychotherapeutic method which combines meditation-like body engagement with the recovery of memory and the reconstruction of one's autobiography in order to bring about healing and a changed notion of the self. Although it arose out of a Shin Buddhist self-cultivation practice, Naikan has achieved success in Japan, in both hospitals...
Can merely changing one's perspective on one's past lead to the alleviation of mental and physical suffering? Are our personal pasts an inviolable ter...
Despite their small area, the southern islands of Japan can be seen as stepping stones towards a more nuanced view of cultural osmosis between Japan and the outside world. This book presents an ethnographic portrayal of the people of the Southern Ryukyu Islands and their world. In particular it explores the mind of the islanders, their relationship with the natural world, their social relationships, and the rituals which represent and give expression to these relationships.
Based on extensive original research, including participant observation, the book allows the authentic voices...
Despite their small area, the southern islands of Japan can be seen as stepping stones towards a more nuanced view of cultural osmosis between Japa...
Japan's Changing Generations argues that 'the generation gap' in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social order before entering and conforming to that order. Rather, it signifies something more fundamental: the emergence of a new Japan, which may be quite different from the Japan of postwar decades.
It argues that while young people in Japan in their teens, twenties and early thirties are not engaged in overt social or political resistance, they are turning against the existing Japanese social order, whose legitimacy has been undermined by the...
Japan's Changing Generations argues that 'the generation gap' in Japan is something more than young people resisting the adult social orde...
It has been customary in the appraisal of the different approaches to the study of Japan anthropology to invoke an East-West dichotomy positing hegemonic 'Western' systems of thought against a more authentic 'Eastern' alternative.
Top scholars in the field of Japan anthropology examine, challenge and attempt to move beyond the notion of an East-West divide in the study of Japan anthropology. They discuss specific fieldwork and ethnographic issues, the place of the person within the context of the dichotomy, and regional perspectives on the issue. Articulating the influence of the...
It has been customary in the appraisal of the different approaches to the study of Japan anthropology to invoke an East-West dichotomy positing heg...
This book is about the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, living in and around Tokyo; it is, therefore, about what has been pushed to the margins of history. Customarily, anthropologists and public officials have represented Ainu issues and political affairs as limited to rural pockets of Hokkaido. Today, however, a significant proportion of the Ainu people live in and around major cities on the main island of Honshu, particularly Tokyo. Based on extensive original ethnographic research, this book explores this largely unknown diasporic aspect of Ainu life and society. Drawing from...
This book is about the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, living in and around Tokyo; it is, therefore, about what has been pushed to the margin...
Presenting a study of politics at grassroots level among young Japanese, this book examines the alliance between the religious movement Soka Gakkai (the 'Value-creation Society') and Komeito (the 'Clean Government Party'), which shared power with the Liberal Democratic Party from 1999 to 2009. Drawing on primary research carried out among Komeito supporters, the book focuses on the lives of supporters and voters in order to better understand the processes of democracy. It goes on to discuss what the political behaviour of young Komeito supporters tell us about the role of religious...
Presenting a study of politics at grassroots level among young Japanese, this book examines the alliance between the religious movement Soka Gakkai...
Based on extensive original research, this book explores the early educational experiences of foreign children in Japan. It considers foreign children's experiences of Japanese schools, examines the special tutoring such children often have to improve their language proficiency, and explores the role of mothers in encouraging their children's education. It contrasts the experiences of foreign children with those of Japanese children and sets out the extensive difficulties foreign children encounter in becoming fully accepted by and integrated into Japanese society. The book concludes by...
Based on extensive original research, this book explores the early educational experiences of foreign children in Japan. It considers foreign children...
This book, based on extensive original research, explores the various ways in which Japanese people think about death and how they approach the process of dying and death. It shows how new forms of funeral ceremonies have been developed by the funeral industry, how traditional grave burial is being replaced in some cases by the scattering of ashes and forest mortuary ritual, and how Japanese thinking on relationships, the value of life, and the afterlife are changing. Throughout, it assesses how these changes reflect changing social structures and social values.
This book, based on extensive original research, explores the various ways in which Japanese people think about death and how they approach the pro...
