The Power of Memory in Modern Japan

The Power of Memory in Modern Japan PDF Author: Sven Saaler
Publisher: Global Oriental
ISBN: 9004213201
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book

Book Description
Due to their symbolic and iconographic meanings, expressions of ‘collective memory’ constitute the mental topography of a society and make a powerful contribution to its cultural, political and social identity. In Japan, the subject of ‘memory’ has prompted a huge response in recent years.

The Power of Memory in Modern Japan

The Power of Memory in Modern Japan PDF Author: Sven Saaler
Publisher: Global Oriental
ISBN: 9004213201
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book

Book Description
Due to their symbolic and iconographic meanings, expressions of ‘collective memory’ constitute the mental topography of a society and make a powerful contribution to its cultural, political and social identity. In Japan, the subject of ‘memory’ has prompted a huge response in recent years.

Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan

Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan PDF Author: Daniel V. Botsman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400849292
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book

Book Description
The kinds of punishment used in a society have long been considered an important criterion in judging whether a society is civilized or barbaric, advanced or backward, modern or premodern. Focusing on Japan, and the dramatic revolution in punishments that occurred after the Meiji Restoration, Daniel Botsman asks how such distinctions have affected our understanding of the past and contributed, in turn, to the proliferation of new kinds of barbarity in the modern world. While there is no denying the ferocity of many of the penal practices in use during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), this book begins by showing that these formed part of a sophisticated system of order that did have its limits. Botsman then demonstrates that although significant innovations occurred later in the period, they did not fit smoothly into the "modernization" process. Instead, he argues, the Western powers forced a break with the past by using the specter of Oriental barbarism to justify their own aggressive expansion into East Asia. The ensuing changes were not simply imposed from outside, however. The Meiji regime soon realized that the modern prison could serve not only as a symbol of Japan's international progress but also as a powerful domestic tool. The first English-language study of the history of punishment in Japan, the book concludes by examining how modern ideas about progress and civilization shaped penal practices in Japan's own colonial empire.

Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan

Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351139622
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
This new and fully updated second edition of Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan provides undergraduate and graduate students with an interdisciplinary textbook written by leading specialists on contemporary Japan. Students will gain the analytical insights and information necessary to assess the challenges that confront the Japanese people, policymakers and private and public-sector institutions in Japan today. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of key debates and issues confronting Japan, issues covered include: A rapidly aging society and changing employment system Nuclear and renewable energy policy Gender discrimination Immigration and ethnic minorities Post-3/11 tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown developments Sino-Japanese relations An essential reference work for students of contemporary Japan, it is also an invaluable source for a variety of courses, including comparative politics, anthropology, public policy and international relations.

Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History

Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History PDF Author: Sven Saaler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317599039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 700

Get Book

Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History is a concise overview of modern Japanese history from the middle of the nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century. Written by a group of international historians, each an authority in his or her field, the book covers modern Japanese history in an accessible yet comprehensive manner. The subjects featured in the book range from the development of the political system and matters of international relations, to social and economic history and gender issues, to post-war discussions about modern Japan’s historical trajectory and its wartime past. Divided into thematic parts, the sections include: Nation, empire and borders Ideologies and the political system Economy and society Historical legacies and memory Each chapter outlines important historiographical debates and controversies, summarizes the latest developments in the field, and identifies research topics that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention. As such, the book will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese history, Asian history and Asian Studies.

Perspectives on Social Memory in Japan

Perspectives on Social Memory in Japan PDF Author: Yun Hui Tsu
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004213732
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
This collection of essays represents the first interdisciplinary study in English to consider social memory in Japan across a wide range of issues and phenomena. The volume examines a variety of memorialization subjects, including music and poetry, artefacts and tools, oral testimonies and written documents, ritual and ceremonies as well as art and artists.

Contested Memories in Chinese and Japanese Foreign Policy

Contested Memories in Chinese and Japanese Foreign Policy PDF Author: Matteo Dian
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0081020287
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book

Book Description
Contested Memories in Chinese and Japanese Foreign Policy explores the issue of memory and lack of reconciliation in East Asia. As main East Asian nations have never achieved a common memory of their pasts, in particular, the events of the Second World War and Sino-Japanese War, this book locates the issue of memory within International Relations theory, exploring the theoretical and practical link between the construction of a country’s identity and the formation and contestation of its historical memory and foreign policy. Provides an innovative theoretical framework Draws connections between the role of memory and foreign policy Uses the interpretative theory of international relations Gives comparative perspective using the cases of China and Japan Presents in-depth analysis of the construction and contestation of national memory in China and Japan

Escaping Japan

Escaping Japan PDF Author: Blai Guarné
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315282755
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423

Get Book

Book Description
The idea that Japan is a socially homogenous, uniform society has been increasingly challenged in recent years. This book takes the resulting view further by highlighting how Japan, far from singular or monolithic, is socially and culturally complex. It engages with particular life situations, exploring the extent to which personal experiences and lifestyle choices influence this contemporary multifaceted nation-state. Adopting a theoretically engaged ethnographic approach, and considering a range of "escapes" both physical and metaphorical, this book provides a rich picture of the fusions and fissures that comprise Japan and Japaneseness today.

Persistently Postwar

Persistently Postwar PDF Author: Blai Guarné
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785339605
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book

Book Description
From melodramas to experimental documentaries to anime, mass media in Japan constitute a key site in which the nation’s social memory is articulated, disseminated, and contested. Through a series of stimulating case studies, this volume examines the political and cultural representations of Japan’s past, showing how they have reinforced personal and collective narratives while also formulating new cultural meanings, both on a local scale and in the context of transnational media production and consumption. Drawing upon diverse disciplinary insights and methodologies, these studies collectively offer a nuanced account in which mass media function as much more than a simple ideological tool.

Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido

Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido PDF Author: Philip A. Seaton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317558715
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book

Book Description
Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, barely features in most histories of the Second World War. However, the combination of distinctive war experiences, a vibrant set of local historian groups, and powerful media organizations disseminating local war history, has generated an identifiable set of local collective memories. Hokkaidoʼs status as an early colonial acquisition also makes the island an important vantage point from which to reassess the course and nature of the Japanese Empire. This book argues that Hokkaido’s experiences of war and its militarized post-war constitutes a local case study with a much greater national and international significance on both theoretical and empirical grounds than first impressions might suggest. Using Japanese-language sources presented for the first time in English and a number of detailed local history case studies, it offers a fascinating and hitherto little-known perspective on the Second World War. It also combines a comprehensive theory of how war memories operate at the local level within a broad historical context that explains Hokkaidoʼs pivotal role within Japanese imperial history. Demonstrating that understanding local history and memories is essential for a nuanced understanding of national history and memories, the book will be highly valuable to students and scholars of Japanese history, Second World War history, and Asian history.

Local Memories in a Nationalizing and Globalizing World

Local Memories in a Nationalizing and Globalizing World PDF Author: M. Beyen
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137469382
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book

Book Description
In historical studies, 'collective memory' is most often viewed as the product of nationalizing strategies carried out by political élites in the hope to create homogeneous nation-states. In contrast, this book asserts that collective memories develop out of a never-ending, triangular negotiation between local, national and transnational actors.