Digital Commons Network^™

Deconstructing Hikikomori: From Literature To Reality, Lydia Perry

Senior Projects Fall 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

This work explores the growing trend of socially withdrawn individuals in Japanese society known as "hikikomori." Through the lenses of philosophy, literature, anthropology, economics, and more, I deconstruct the common perceptions of hikikomori and expand upon the cultural critiques inherent in choosing a life of solitude.

Shizen Nōhō: Restoring The Relationship Between Food, Nature, And People In Japan, Katharine Graham

Scripps Senior Theses

In Japan’s postwar era, agriculture has become highly industrialized, involving heavy machinery, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, all in the name of “progress.” Through employing such practices, humans have attempted to improve upon nature’s way of doing things, and in turn have degraded the soil’s fertility, natural ecosystems, and human health. In response to this, Shizen Nōhō has emerged in Japan as an alternative way of cultivating food. Shizen Nōhō practitioners challenge the notion that we need chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery to farm successfully. Rather, they advocate for a way of growing food that functions seamlessly with natural ecosystems. This …

Adapt Or Die! The Social And Economic Dynamics Of Japan’S Animation Industry, You Pan

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research explored and discussed about Japanese animation industry, past, present, and possibilities to a better future. While there is existing literature on Japanese animation, this research will focus on a case study that will discover the bright side of Japanese animation market, while addressing the existing problems within the animation industry or potential issues at present times. By illustrating the existing and potential issues as well as the bright side, the objective of this research is to help the Japanese animation industry to survive under the depressive economic environment. My research will identify reasons for low productivity of high …

Currents Of Consumption: How National Narratives Of Japanese Cuisine Collide With Localized Forms Of Sushi In Northern California, John Ostermiller

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper examines how national narratives of Japanese cuisine collide with the expectations, preferences, and perceptions of American consumers (particularly Northern California). The global economy has benefited the circulation of positive images of Japan managed by the Japanese government, but the commercialization of Japanese cuisine is also at odds with government efforts. In Japan, sushi is often synonymous with nigirizushi: sliced seafood and a daub of wasabi atop vinegared rice. As part of Japan’s washoku tradition, this singular image of sushi (allegedly) reflects the deepest essence of Japanese cultural sensibilities tied to simplicity, perfection, and nature. But in America, consumers’ …

Betraying Revolution: The Foundations Of The Japanese Communist Party, Matthew J. Crooke

Master's Projects and Capstones

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and China’s restoration of capitalism, it is easy to dismiss the relevancy of socialism today. Yet, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) has enjoyed success at the polls and recognition as a serious opponent of the government of Abe Shinzō. The JCP however is not making a push for power. Instead, it supports liberal opposition parties, most recently throwing its weight behind the new Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) in the October 2017 general election. A future CDP government in Japan could include the JCP as a coalition partner. Does …

A Translation And Analysis Of Japan’S Seminal Lesbian Studies Work, Indiana Scarlet Brown

East Asian Studies

I translated Kakefuda Hiroko’s seminal lesbian studies book “‘Rezubian’ de aru to iu koto” 「レズビアン」である、ということ (On Being a ‘Lesbian’) in order to critically analyze her assertions and theories. This publication made a great impact in Japan during the 1990s by alleviating feelings of isolation and catalyzing the expansion of media specifically geared toward sexual minorities. I chose to analyze this text as well as Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble for each author’s nuanced interrogation of how their readers can reconsider and challenge the realities we may take for granted. In this project, I seek to add to my understanding of what …

Gender And Spiritual Possession In The Tale Of Genji, Molly Phelps

Undergraduate Theses

This thesis looks at the relationship between gender and the supernatural in Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji. The goal is to show how Lady Rokujo uses spiritual powers to rebel against the sexual hierarchy of Heian Japan while not fully defying its sexism. This is supported by historical background of the Heian period, examples of the mistreatment of women in the novel, and close analysis of instances of Lady Rokujo's supernatural actions. This analysis shows there is a complicated background to the vengeful spirit trope that still haunts the global imagination.

A Case Study: Gender Equality In The Workplace In Post-War Japan And Its Global Implications, Lee Michelle Cummings

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Gender equality is an issue that is coming to the forefront of all nations, not just because of feminist ideals, but economically as well. This project focuses on why this is occurring and how some countries’ cultures impact this issue more then others. To do this, gender equalities issues in the workplace in Japan are used as a case study. The idea of men being the breadwinners in the outer sphere, while women take care of and remain in the home in the inner sphere, is a phenomenon seen not only in Japan but other Asian nations, such as China. …

Making Japan Great Again: Japan's Liberal Democratic Party As A Far Right Movement, Wesley Yee

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In recent years, far right-wing political parties have gained power around the world. Far-right movements build a populist, anti-establishment support base through the use of ethno-nationalism and xenophobic policies and slogans. This article applies the models and party frames used to study European far-right movements and applies them to the case of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), a party whose policies under prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe have pushed the party from having a center-right stance to having more of a far-right nationalist and populist one. Using this framework I find that the LDP has utilized …

Finding Home After Fallout: The Future Of Fukushima's Forests, Katy N. Spence

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This long-form journalistic piece is about radioactive forests in Yamakiya, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and how locals are dealing with it. Residents of Yamakiya were forced to evacuate their village in April 2011 following an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

One Yamakiyan, Hidekatsu Ouchi, stepped into the role of community leader and is the focus of this story. He hopes Yamakiya can use the radiation, rather than condemning it. Ouchi’s devotion to his community is connected to the Japanese concept of furusato, which refers to an individual’s obligation and nostalgia for family, community and place. The story asserts …

Japan's Employment 'Catch-22': The Impact Of Working Conditions For Women In Japan On Japan's Demographic Population Crisis, Mary Perkins

Master's Theses

This thesis examines Japan’s aging population crisis and gender inequalities in the workplace. This topic presents an interesting and challenging phenomenon for Japan, as Japan’s economy and technology have developed more rapidly than almost any other country, establishing Japan as one of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Yet Japan still significantly lags behind other industrialized nations when it comes to women’s rights and opportunities for advancement in the workplace. This is in turn hampering efforts for Japan to address a population crisis, with an older population growth rate far outpacing the growth of demographic groups that would support the …

The Otaku Phenomenon : Pop Culture, Fandom, And Religiosity In Contemporary Japan., Kendra Nicole Sheehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation centers on the otaku subculture and their subsequent incorporation of Japanese religious elements into their consumption of Japanese popular culture. This phenomenon highlights the intersections of popular culture and religion in Japan, which is emerging in religious sites. Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples are incorporating popular culture as a means to maintain relevancy, encourage growth of parishioners, and raising revenue by capitalizing on the popularity of manga and anime. The relevance of this research connects to the continued impact of Japanese popular culture through globalization. The first chapter provides a theoretical background examining this socio-religious …

One Endless Dance: Tanaka Min's Experimental Practice, John (Zack) Fuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work is the first in-depth study of the work of avant-garde Japanese dancer/choreographer Tanaka Min, and focuses on his extensive innovations in the fields of improvised dance, training, and choreographic method. These interrelated aspects of his experimental practice are intimately concerned with the relation between space and the body, employ collaborative methods, and are strongly influenced by the life and work of Hijikata Tatsumi (widely to considered to be the founder of the butô movement). They are also deeply informed by his choice to live his daily life as an organic vegetable farmer, a choice that I argue constitutes …

Native Roots And Foreign Grafts: The Spiritual Quest Of Uchimura Kanzō, Christopher Andrew Born

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Between 1875 and 1890, Japanese academics, writers, legal experts, and intellectuals discussed and debated a host of new ideas and programs in the rapidly-expanding national media. Of great consequence were the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education and the Meiji Constitution. The first sought to establish a strong nativist basis for a Japanese identity under the aegis of an imperial hegemon. The second sought to create a structure for modern citizenship based on Western notions of law and social contract. These seemingly antithetical documents came to symbolize the problematical status of the individual in Meiji Japan. They would become the touchstone …

The Scars Of War: The Demonic Mother As A Conduit For Expressing Victimization, Collective Guilt, And Forgiveness In Postwar Japanese Film, 1949-1964, Sophia Walker

Honors Projects

Contemporary American viewers are familiar with the vengeful and terrifying ghost women of recent J-Horror films such as Ringu (Nakata Hideo, 1998) and Ju-On (Shimizu Takashi, 2002). Yet in Japanese theater and literature, the threatening ghost woman has a long history, beginning with the neglected Lady Rokujo in Lady Murasaki’s 11th century novel The Tale of Genji, who possesses and kills her rivals. Throughout history, the Japanese ghost mother is hideous and pitiful, worthy of fear as well as sympathy, traits that authors and filmmakers across the centuries have exploited. This project puts together four films that have never before …

History And Context: Late Meiji (1905-1912) Narratives Of The Imjin War (1592-8), Brian Heise

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From a foreign policy perspective, Japan's Meiji period (1868-1912) invites comparison with the regime of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98), the warlord who united Japan at the end of a 150 year period of civil war: in both times, the state leadership of the archipelago sought to expand its authority onto mainland Asia through both war and negotiation. These two period stand out in Japanese history as examples of only a very few instances when Japanese states had taken such an interest in continental affairs. Writers who recounted the story of Hideyoshi and his continental ambitions at the close the the Meiji …

Blasian And Proud: Examining Racialized Experiences Amongst Half Black And Half Japanese Youth In Japan, Helen Itsel Aracena

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Together We’Ll Make Magic: Exploring The Relationship Between Empathy And Literature Using Ruth Ozeki’S “A Tale For The Time Being”, Janet Lindsay Dinozzi-Houser

Senior Projects Spring 2017

My project is devoted to untangling the often-misunderstood and misapplied subject of empathy, particularly as it relates to the reading process. I begin with a brief background of the term’s history and the debate surrounding its use by researchers in the fields of both Psychology and Philosophy of Mind. I then apply this critical understanding of a commonly invoked term to a close reading of contemporary novel A Tale for The Time Being by Japanese-American novelist Ruth Ozeki. Dedicated primarily to the fictional story of Nao Yasutani, a teenage girl struggling with her recent move back to Japan after a …

The Question Of Remilitarization: Is Japan's Pacifist Nature In Danger Of Reform, Shanisha Coram

Scripps Senior Theses

Though Article 9 has not been revised since it was implemented in 1947, the past two decades have seen an increase in Japanese military capability due to the government’s loose interpretation of Article 9 and its limitations to allow for Japanese involvement in collective security operations internationally. As a result, a number of Japanese political scholars and newspapers have projected the possibility of not only Japanese constitutional revision but also the re-militarization of Japan as well. Interested in finding out whether or not this projection has any likelihood of success in the future, I have posed the following question: Why …

Cochlear Implants And Related Neurotechnologies: Japanese Perspectives In Deaf Neuroethics, Zachary Clayton Abbott

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Asian neuroscience and neurotechnology (neuroS/T) research and development will surpass that of the United States and Europe, achieving a 60% increase in overall market growth, within the next decade. One area of ethical interest in neuroS/T involves auditory technologies: cochlear implants, middle ear prosthetics, bone-anchor hearing aids. A survey collected data on Japanese and U.S. attitudes of deafness as a disability, awareness of auditory technologies, and beliefs regarding psychosocial implications of such interventions. This survey is particularly timely because of shifts in attitudes toward these technologies and deaf identity between younger and older Japanese people in the direction of U.S. …

Great Mirror Of Motherly Love: Maternal Fantasy, Mystic Mothers, And Reflected Selves In Modern And Contemporary Japanese Fiction, Jessica E. Legare

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fantasy and mysticism often serve as key elements in escapist literature—constructing stories that move protagonists beyond the furthest reaches of the real, the familiar and the human. Yet, the otherworldly can also bring the protagonist within reach of the familiar if we consider the representations of mothering in the following Japanese narratives: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s “Longing for Mother” (1919), Izumi Kyōka’s “The Holy Man of Mount Kōya” (1900), Takahashi Takako’s “Doll Love” (1976), and Ono Masatsugu’s “Prayers from Nine Years Ago” (2014). Through their depictions based on supernatural and spiritual tropes, mystical-mother figures become metaphorical mirrors meant to reflect the protagonists’ …

Japanese Shôjo: Emergence And Developments Of Shôjo In 1910s Through 1930s Japan, Mayuko Itoh

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the 1910s through the 1930s, education for girls in Japan changed rapidly. The education for girls centered on practical matters such as houskeeping, but girls made communities in the magazines for girls where they can develop modern self identity. Through their communication, the image of shôjo, or girls was created. In this thesis, I will analyze the magazine community from 1910s through 1930s where shôjo culture developed. By presenting the significant characteristics of the community and its teachings, I will explain how the shôjo community connotes notions of both past and future. Then, I will compare the shôjo …

The Demonic Women Of Premodern Japanese Theatre, Jasmine C.E. Umeno

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis aims to examine the ways in which women are used as vehicles within the noh and kabuki theatre traditions to perpetuate moral and religious doctrine. Using the theoretical frameworks of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Jill Dolan, I examine two plays which feature a female demon as their antagonist, Momijigari and Dojoji, and focus on the ways they incorporate Buddhist and Neo-Confucian ideology in their respective noh and kabuki renditions.

Comparing The Reproductive Climates Of Japan, Norway And Italy: A New Way Of Looking At The Reasons For Low Fertility Rates, Samantha Graham

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In recent years, much has been made of the looming demographic crisis that is forming in Japan. The declining birthrate and graying of the population has made many government officials, sociologists, and scholars very anxious about what will happen when a nation begins to shrink. These same officials and scholars are also looking for a reason for the decline, and many have placed the blame on Japanese women without examining the reasons these women have for having fewer children or forgoing motherhood altogether. But Japan is not the only nation suffering from population decline. Other smaller, industrialized nations also face …

More Than A Bath: An Examination Of Japanese Bathing Culture, Adam M. Merry

CMC Senior Theses

Steeped in tradition for over a thousand years, bathing culture in Japan remains relevant due to the preservation of the traditional, innovative modernization of existing bathing structures, and the diversification therein. This thesis will examine the significance of bathing culture, focusing largely on onsen and sento, account for its historical evolution, analyze how it functions in modern society and forecast its future viability. More specifically, the concept that Japan's vibrant bathing culture was able to flourish due to mythological creation stories, politically motivated access to baths, propagated therapeutic value, and scientific reinforcement of the benefits of a hot bath …

Human Trafficking In Japan: Legislative Policy, Implications For Migration, And Cultural Relativism, Paul Capobianco

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Fox-Kuzunoha: The Actor Print And The Expression Of Female As 'Other' In The Late Edo Period, Kara Jefts

Honors Theses

Stories of the supernatural are a rich part of Japan’s cultural history, and one way to explore the popularity of these tales is through the widely produced visual medium of Ukiyo-e prints. By the eighteenth century, kabuki theatre became a dominant theme in Ukiyo-e, and kabuki plays provide a way to access diverse folk traditions involving the supernatural, often based on Shinto beliefs or Buddhist principles. Confucian values, at the core of Edo Period society, commonly frame these subjects in contrast to traditional familial relationships. Using the visual language of the stage, moments of dramatic climax in kabuki are emphasized …

Japanese Nuclear Power Policy: Forty Years Of Construction, Confusion, And Conflict, Sarah Fries

Honors Papers

How could Japan, a victim of nuclear weapons, become the world's third largest nuclear power country? Drawing upon English and Japanese sources as well as pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear publications, I stove to provide a balanced analysis of Japan's nuclear power debate and context in which to understand the 2011 Fukushima Crisis. By analyzing the role of the press and the anti-nuclear and pro-nuclear coalitions, I provide arguments as to why the Japanese energy policy has been predominantly pro-nuclear since the 1950s and hazard an argument that nuclear power will likely continue to exist in Japan.

Japan's Population Decline And Its Implications For Japanese Society, Nandor Forgach

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Designing For A Japanese High-Context Culture: Culture's Influence On The Technical Writer's Visual Rhetoric, Russell Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the challenges technical writers face when designing documents for high-context cultures, such as the Japanese. When developing documents intended to cross cultural gulfs, technical writers must take into consideration cultural expectations, preferences, and practices in document design and communication. High-context cultures, such as Japan, design documents using drastically different design strategies than those used in the United States. Japanese communication habits are more ambiguous than communication in the United States. Thus, the Japanese often use visuals for their aesthetic appeal, not for their ability to complement the text that surrounds the visual. The ambiguous nature of high-context …