Contemporary Portraits of Japanese Women

Contemporary Portraits of Japanese Women PDF Author: Yukiko Tanaka
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313389977
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
As Japan shifted from an agricultural country before 1950 to an industrialized nation in less time than any other developed country, women felt the pressure of the shift. Husbands worked longer hours, leaving all the household chores and child rearing to their wives while fulfilling their responsibilites as corporate soldiers. The economy was fueled by a diligent, well-educated, low-paid workforce, but gender role division became even more rigid. Household incomes rose and improvement in areas such as diets, transportation, and leisure were made; modern appliances also made it possible for mothers to have part-time jobs. But pollution also rose, as did prices, and crowded living conditions began to impinge on family life. Tanaka, who has spent many years looking back at her country from an American perspective, examines marriage, motherhood, employment, independence, women's movements, and old age for women in Japan over the last 50 years.

Contemporary Portraits of Japanese Women

Contemporary Portraits of Japanese Women PDF Author: Yukiko Tanaka
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313389977
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Get Book

Book Description
As Japan shifted from an agricultural country before 1950 to an industrialized nation in less time than any other developed country, women felt the pressure of the shift. Husbands worked longer hours, leaving all the household chores and child rearing to their wives while fulfilling their responsibilites as corporate soldiers. The economy was fueled by a diligent, well-educated, low-paid workforce, but gender role division became even more rigid. Household incomes rose and improvement in areas such as diets, transportation, and leisure were made; modern appliances also made it possible for mothers to have part-time jobs. But pollution also rose, as did prices, and crowded living conditions began to impinge on family life. Tanaka, who has spent many years looking back at her country from an American perspective, examines marriage, motherhood, employment, independence, women's movements, and old age for women in Japan over the last 50 years.

Warriors of Art

Warriors of Art PDF Author: Yumi Yamaguchi
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770030313
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Recently the West has been inundated by a steady flow of images from manga, anime, and the video games that are a key part of todays Japanese visual culture. At the same time, Japanese contemporary artists are gaining a higher profile overseas: many Westerners are already familiar with Takashi Murakamis brightly colored, cartoonlike characters, or with Junko Mizunos grotes-cute Lolita-style girls. Perhaps less familiar are the absurd fighting machines of Kenji Yanobe, the many disguises of Tomoko Sawada, or the grotesque fairytale landscapes of Tomoko Konoike. Warriors of Art features the work of forty of the latest and most relevant contemporary Japanese artists, from painters and sculptors, to photographers and performance artists, with lavish full-color spreads of their key works. Author Yumi Yamaguchi offers an insightful introduction to the main themes of each artist, and builds up a fascinating portrait of the society that has given birth to them: a Japan that still bears the scars of atomic destruction, a Japan with a penchant for the cute and the childish, a Japan whose manga and anime industries have come to dominate the world. Warriors of Art takes its title from a phrase used to describe Taro Okamoto (1911-1996), perhaps the first truly influential contemporary artist to emerge in postwar Japan, who fought to bring modern art to a wider audience. Following in Okamotos footsteps, the forty artists featured in this book are a new generation of warriors, attacking our senses with a shocking mix of the cute, the grotesque, the sexy, and the violent, forcing us to sit up and take notice of their vision of Japan.

Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo

Modern Girls, Shining Stars, the Skies of Tokyo PDF Author: Phyllis Birnbaum
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231113564
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
These stunning biographical portraits, some adapted from essays that first appeared in the "New Yorker", explore the lives of five Japanese women who did their best to stand up and cause more trouble than was considered proper in Japanese society. 5 photos.

Marriage in Contemporary Japan

Marriage in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Yoko Tokuhiro
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135230323
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
The phenomenon of bankonka – ‘postponement of marriage’ – is increasingly reported in contemporary Japanese media, clearly illustrating the changing patterns of modern lifestyles and attitudes towards marriage, personal obligation and ambition. This is the first book in recent years to explore the contemporary state of marriage in Japanese society. Setting out the different perceptions and expectations of marriage in today’s Japan, the book discusses how economic issues and the family impact on marital behaviour. Contrary to the views of some feminists that young women have no interest in improving their status and position, this book argues that, by delaying marriage and childrearing, young women can be seen as ‘rebels’ challenging Japanese patriarchal society. Unlike many other studies, it gives equal attention to male gender roles and masculinity, exploring what constitutes being a ‘real man’ in Japan – through the analysis of mainstream and non-mainstream conceptions of masculinity that co-exist in contemporary Japan, and considers the implications of such different roles for the institution of marriage. It investigates the roles of wife and mother, articulating why the strict division of labour defining men as breadwinners and women as homemakers became popular. Moreover, it describes the changing character of courtship relationships, explaining why the norm has shifted from arranged marriages pre-1945 to love marriages after that period. Finally, it puts the Japanese experience into cross-cultural, international context with a series of comparisons with marriage elsewhere both in Asia – including in Korea and Hong Kong – and in western countries such as France, Sweden, Italy and the United States.

Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field

Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field PDF Author: Joshua S. Mostow
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824825720
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In this, the first collection in English of feminist-oriented research on Japanese art and visual culture, an international group of scholars examines representations of women in a wide range of visual work. The volume begins with Chino Kaori's now-classic essay Gender in Japanese Art, which introduced feminist theory to Japanese art. This is followed by a closer look at a famous thirteenth-century battle scroll and the production of bijin (beautiful women) prints within the world of Edoperiod advertising. A rare homoerotic picture-book is used to extrapolate the grammar of desire as represented in late seventeenth-century Edo. In the modern period, contributors consider the introduction to Meiji Japan of the Western nude and oil-painting and examine Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) and the role of one of its famous artists. The book then shifts its focus to an examination of paintings produced for the Japanese-sponsored annual salons held in colonial Korea. The post-war period comes under scrutiny in a study of the novel Woman in the Dunes and its film adaptation. The critical discourse that surrounded women artists of the late twentieth-century - the Super Girls of Art - i

The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies

The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies PDF Author: James D Babb
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473908795
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
"A welcome addition to any reading list for those interested in contemporary Japanese society." - Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Society, University of Oxford "I know no better book for an accessible and up-to-date introduction to this complex subject than The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japan Studies." - Hiroko Takeda, Associate Professor, Organization for Global Japanese Studies, University of Tokyo "Pioneering and nuanced in analysis, yet highly accessible and engaging in style." - Yoshio Sugimoto, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies includes outstanding contributions from a diverse group of leading academics from across the globe. This volume is designed to serve as a major interdisciplinary reference work and a seminal text, both rigorous and accessible, to assist students and scholars in understanding one of the major nations of the world. James D. Babb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.

A Contemporary Portrait of Life in Korea

A Contemporary Portrait of Life in Korea PDF Author: Jibum Kim
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9819958296
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This book delves into the values, attitudes, and behaviours of Koreans over the course of the past twenty years. Compiled by leading Korean scholars, the book uses the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), the most comprehensive source of information detailing recent continuity and change in Korea, and addresses a diverse, wide-range of topics such as nationalism, familyism, social inequality, politics, religion, welfare, trust, attitudes towards North Korea, and attitudes towards sex. These issues, in continuously shaping and influencing the lives of Koreans, deserve further examination so as to fully grasp a deeper understanding of Korean contemporary culture. Each chapter covers an overview of background information about the chapter subject and then compares Korean attitudes to those of other countries, drawing on cross-national data derived from sources such as the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and the East Asian Social Survey (EASS). It collates this data and then unpacks it to demonstrate trends and how they are impacted by stability or change. Despite the rapid economic development and democratization in Korea, it remains difficult to pinpoint common denominators regarding recent social trends in Korea, and there are surprisingly few books that present a current, nuanced, and empirically substantiated scholarly depiction of Koreans and their social issues. This book fills this gap in serving as an indispensable reference for students and scholars interested in the diverse issues in Korean society.

A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan

A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan PDF Author: Jennifer Robertson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 140514145X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
This book is an unprecedented collection of 29 original essays by some of the world’s most distinguished scholars of Japan. Covers a broad range of issues, including the colonial roots of anthropology in the Japanese academy; eugenics and nation building; majority and minority cultures; genders and sexualities; and fashion and food cultures Resists stale and misleading stereotypes, by presenting new perspectives on Japanese culture and society Makes Japanese society accessible to readers unfamiliar with the country

Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan

Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: David H. Slater
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824897714
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Modern social movements frequently serve as a space to voice concerns in a supportive and collective context and thus are an important venue for individuals to learn how to speak up for themselves. With the rise of new generations and advancement of technology such as digital networks, contemporary Japanese social movements and activism have transformed significantly in recent years, now with more flexibility and less reliance on ideology and institutional foundations. The new patterns provide individuals different spaces and ways to get involved in “politics,” which have shed the traditional settings and expectations. This transformation carries both advantages and risks. In Alternative Politics twelve original ethnographic studies illustrate how social movements are creating new alternatives for Japan in the current century. The term “alternative” has a double meaning. First, it refers to forms of political engagement that are outside the standard politics of political parties and institutional forums. Second, it engages with contemporary movements seeking an alternative politics that is culturally specific and historically embedded, an alternative to past periods of activism in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s often characterized as tainted, and causing the decline of social movement activity for nearly two decades. The introduction written by Slater and Steinhoff places the volume in historical, social, and methodological context and analyzes the main characteristics of the new social movements. Each chapter provides a rich description of a particular movement active between 1990 and 2020, showing what the participants wanted to achieve, how they tried to distance themselves from earlier movements, and how they used new social media and other innovations to do so. The accounts preserve the immediacy of the period when the fieldwork was conducted, but each end with a postscript bringing the movement up to date. Engagingly written by an international community of Japan specialists committed to doing extended fieldwork with small social movement groups, Alternative Politics will appeal to social scientists interested in activism and Japan specialists in various disciplines, as well as undergraduates in a wide range of courses.

Women in the Language and Society of Japan

Women in the Language and Society of Japan PDF Author: Naoko Takemaru
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786456108
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Feminist critics have long considered language a primary vehicle for the transmission of sexist values in a society. This much-needed sociolinguistic critique examines the representation of women in traditional Japanese language and society. Derogatory and highly-sexualized terms are placed in historical context, and the progress of nonsexist language reform is reviewed. Central to this work are the individual voices of Japanese women who took part in a survey, expressing their candid thoughts and concerns regarding biased gender representations. In their own words, they give voice to the reality of being female within the constraints of a traditional—and sometimes misogynistic—language.