Digital Commons Network^™

Medieval International Relations Of East Asia: The Tribute System Reconsidered, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Negative Emotions Predict Elevated Interleukin-6 In The United States But Not In Japan, Jiyoung Park, J. M. Boylan, C. L. Coe, K. Curhan, C. S. Levine, H R. Markus, Shinobu Kitayama, Kawakami N, Karasawa M, G. D. Love, Ryff Cd

Jiyoung Park

Necktie Nightmare: Narrating Gender In Contemporary Japan, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

...the thing I hated most of all was the necktie.When I wore a necktie, there was just no doubt that I was a man.The image was of a salaryman! The mainstay of the house! The symbol of manhood! These are the words of Nomachi Mineko in the autobiographical account of her transition from male to female. The book (adapted from a blog) appeared in late 2006 under the title O-kama dakedo OL yattemasu (I'm Queer But I'm An Office Lady). The book's publication coincided with a range of mainstream representations of trans-gendered lives - in television dramas, documentaries, memoirs and …

How To Be A Girl: Mainstream Media Portrayals Of Transgendered Lives In Japan, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

Just before the turn of the twenty-first century changes to Japanese laws concerning the modification of reproductive capacity resulted in the removal of some legal barriers to the surgical modification of sexed bodies. These operations are variously known as "sex change", " sex adjustment", or "sex reassignment" , operations. Medical facilities that perform such surgery usually do so ony after the client has spent a substantial period of time living as a member of the gender they wish to acquire. Now there is a significant number of individuals in Japan who have undergone such surgery or are planning to do …

Sex And Censorship During The Occupation Of Japan, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This chapter entitled “Sex and Censorship During the Occupation of Japan” is excerpted from Mark McLelland’s Love, Sex and Democracy in Japan during the American Occupation (Palgrave MacMillan 2012). The book examines the radical changes that took place in Japanese ideas about sex, romance and male-female relations in the wake of Japan’s defeat and occupation by Allied forces at the end of the Second World War. Although there have been other studies that have focused on sexual and romantic relationships between Japanese women and US military personnel, little attention has been given to how the Occupation impacted upon the courtship …

Policy Images, Issue Frames, And Technical Realities: Contrasting Views Of Japan’S Energy Policy Development, Paul Scalise

Paul J. Scalise

No abstract provided.

Regional Security Complex Theory And The Conflict In The East China Sea, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Sino-Japanese Rivalry Over The Diaoyu Islands In The Northeast Asian Security Sub-Complex, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Deepening Learning And Inspiring Rigor: Bridging Academic And Experiential Learning Using A Host Country Approach To A Study Tour, Susan O. Long, Yemi S. Akande, Roger W. Purdy, Keiko Nakano

Susan O Long

American students are increasingly incorporating study in a foreign country into their college educations, but many participate in short-term programs that limit their engagement with any more than the superficial aspects of the host culture. This article describes a short-term study abroad course for American students to Japan in which the authors drew on an “emic” host country model of group travel in an effort to combine high academic standards, personal growth, and deepened engagement with Japanese culture. The authors first consider the history of study tours in U.S. study abroad and then look at an alternative model provided by …

A Normal Accident Or A Sea-Change? Nuclear Host Communities Respond To The 3/11 Disaster, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

While 3/11 has altered energy policies around the world, insufficient attention has focused on reactions from local nuclear power plant host communities and their neighbors throughout Japan. Using site visits to such towns, interviews with relevant actors, and secondary and tertiary literature, this article investigates the community crisis management strategies of two types of cities, towns, and villages: thosewhich have nuclear plants directly in their backyards and neighboring cities further away (within a 30 mile radius). Responses to the disaster have varied with distance to nuclear facilities but in a way contrary to the standard theories based on the concept …

Scouting And Servant Leadership In Cross-Cultural Perspective: An Exploratory Study, Ric Rohm, Bramwell Osula

Ric Rohm

This qualitative case study evaluates the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), Boy Scouts of America, Scout Association of Japan, and the four major German scouting organizations (Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg, Pfadfinderinnenschaft Sankt Georg, Bund der Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder, and Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder) as servant leadership development programs. After a brief history of the origins of scouting, the WOSM and the three national scouting organizations are examined, comparing their mottos, promises, and laws. All programs promote service to God, country, and community; teaching leadership through outdoor living and community service projects. A review of servant leadership literature …

Clash Of National Identities: China, Japan, And The East China Sea Territorial Dispute, Tatsushi Arai

Tatsushi Arai

This volume is a collection of policy analyses and recommendations derived from a China-Japan dialogue and collaborative research.

Japan's Distribution Challenge: Lessons From Abroad, Paul J. Scalise

Paul J. Scalise

No abstract provided.

Repetition And The Symbolic In Contemporary Japanese Ancestor Memorial Ritual, Jason A. Danely

Jason Danely

Ancestor memorial rituals, including mortuary ceremonies for the dead, periodic grave visits, practices at home altars, and the like, constitute the most popular form of religious participation in contemporary Japan, encompassing an increasingly diverse number of ritual forms. This article examines a common theoretical framework used to describe this diversity by categorizing rituals in terms of continuity vs. change or tradition vs. invention. This article proposes an alternate framework for understanding processes leading to the transformation of rituals like ancestor memorial. This framework is centered around the process of repetition and its role in the production of the symbolic. Drawing …

Post-Crisis Japanese Nuclear Policy: From Top-Down Directives To Bottom-Up Activism, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Over the past fifty years, Japan has developed one of the most advanced commercial nuclear power programs in the world. This is largely due to the government’s broad repertoire of policy instruments that have helped further its nuclear power goals. These top-down directives have resulted in the construction of 54 plants and at least the appearance of widespread support for nuclear power. By the 1990s, however, this carefully cultivated public support was beginning to break apart. And following the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 and resulting nuclear crisis in the Fukushima nuclear complex, the political and social landscape for …

Review Keyes, Roger S. 2006. Ehon: The Artist And The Book In Japan., Helen Kilpatrick

Helen Kilpatrick

This handsome tome is based on an exhibition of Japanese picture books held by the New York Public Library from October 2006 to February 2007. Despite the more contemporary connotations associated with the term ehon, this is not a catalogue of books for children. The collection is best described as a volume that traces the traditions of Japanese artists’ books. With the inclusion of two more recent works by non-Japanese (American and German) artists, the volume also features international entries that are currently ‘‘contribut[ing] to the living Japanese book tradition’’ (p. 313). Although it excludes neither children’s nor contemporary books …

Hatoko Comes Home: Civil Society And Nuclear Power In Japan, Daniel P. Aldrich, Martin Dusinberre

Daniel P Aldrich

This article seeks to explain how, given Japan’s “nuclear allergy” following World War II, a small coastal town not far from Hiroshima volunteered to host a nuclear power plant in the early 1980s. Where standard explanations of conten- tious nuclear power siting decisions have focused on the regional power utilities and the central government, this paper instead examines the importance of historical change and civil society at a local level. Using a microhistorical approach based on interviews and archival materials, and framing our discussion with a popular Japanese television show known as Hatoko’s Sea, we illustrate the agency of municipal …

Anti-Japanese Sentiment And The Responses Of Two Meiji Intellectuals, Masako Gavin

Masako Gavin

Extract: After the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), overpopulation and unemployment became pressing issues in Japan. Many intellectuals were concerned about the social and economic hardships caused by these “new” problems, and endeavoured to remedy them through emigration. Hawai’i and California became popular destinations for Japanese emigrants, both being on the Pacific Rim, with their warm climates and good job opportunities.

Asian Expatriate Development: A Comparative Study Of Japanese, Korean And Singaporean Expatriates, A. Ahad M. Osman-Gani, Wee Liang Tan

Wee Liang TAN

Owing to rapid internationalization of business activity, human resource development (HRD) has become increasingly important in recent years. This is especially true when domestic human resource management takes on international dimensions as it deals more with multicultural workforce. International HRD, much of it embodied in cross-cultural training, has been proposed by many scholars as a means of facilitating more effective interaction among managers, employees and customers from different national-cultural backgrounds. Despite the need for cross-cultural skills and the shortage of managers who possess these skills, most human resource decision-makers do nothing in terms of cross-cultural training for their employees. Studies …

Review Of The Book Imposing Peace And Prosperity: Australia, Social Justice And Labour Reform In Occupied Japan By C. De Matos, Leon Wolff

Leon Wolff

Extract:

Christine de Matos finds little evidence of an Australia imprint on Occupation policy on Japan. If anything, Australia’s policy legacy on post-war Japan was “negligible” (p. 151): its proposals for structural reform were “neglected” (p.147); its practical policy inputs “arbitrary” (p. 74); and its engagement in Occupation control machinery a mere “preten[ce] to Allied cooperation and policy contributions” (p.74). This hardly is a promising basis for a book-length inquiry into Australia’s involvement in “imposing peace and prosperity in Occupied Japan”.

Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Support And The Gender Gap: A New Approach, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Scholars have argued that there is a broad gender gap in support for the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan. We uncover strong evidence that age, rather than gender, along with rural or urban location, serves as the most critical determinant of party support. Through logistic regression, propensity score matching and simulation techniques applied to four large-scale datasets; we demonstrate that age effects are consistent but slowly diminishing across cohorts between the mid-1970s and the early 2000s. As Japanese women and men age, they come to support the LDP at similar rates controlling for education, income and other demographic …

From The Stage To The Clinic: Changing Transgender Identities In Post-War Japan, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper looks at the transformation of male-to-female transgender identities in Japan since the Second World War. The development of print media aimed at a transgender readership is outlined as is the development of bars, clubs and sex venues where transgendered men sought both partners and commercial opportunities. The origin of various transgender 'folk categories' such as okama, gei bōi, burūbōi and nyūhāfu is discussed and their dependence upon and relationship to the entertainment world is outlined. Finally, the paper looks at how the resumption of sex-change operations in Japan in 1998 has led to a new public discourse about …

“Kissing Is A Symbol Of Democracy!” Dating, Democracy And Romance In Occupied Japan 1945-1952, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

Japan’s defeat at the end of its fifteen years’ war in 1945 saw widespread changes to the family and gender system. Women were given political rights for the first time and were recognised as independent agents at work, in the home and in their romantic relationships. Whereas war-time ideology had brought about the “death of romance” in popular culture, with the relaxation of censorship at the war’s end, there was a sudden proliferation in discussion about the qualities of the “new” or “modern” couple and the popular press saw the rise of an eclectic range of “experts” offering advice on …

Salarymen Doing Queer: Gay Men And The Heterosexual Public Sphere In Japan, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper looks at the difficulties gay men in Japan experience in discussing their sexuality in the Japanese workplace.

From Sailor-Suits To Sadists: Lesbos Love As Reflected In Japan's Postwar "Perverse Press", Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper looks at a range of narratives positioning women's same-sex sexuality in the popular sexological press of the early postwar period in Japan.

The Role Of The 'Tojisha' In Current Debates About Sexual Minority Rights In Japan, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

‘Speaking as a tojisha’ has become an important strategy in establishing ‘correct knowledge’ about sexual minority cultures in contemporary Japan. Originally developed in a legal context where it referred to the ‘parties’ in court proceedings, in the 1970s tojisha was taken up by citizens’ groups campaigning for the right of self determination for the ‘parties concerned’ facing discrimination and has become a central concept for all minority self-advocacy groups. In the 1990s the discourse of tojisha sei (tojisha-ness) was adopted by gay rights groups and by spokespersons for lesbian and transgender communities in a battle to change public perceptions of …

'Race' On The Japanese Internet: Discussing Korea And Koreans On '2-Channeru', Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper investigates discourse about race on the Japanese Internet, particularly regarding resident Koreans and their relationship to the Japanese. One board relating to arguments about Korea on the notorious ‘Channel 2’ BBS, Japan’s most visited Internet site, is investigated, since it is one of the main public forums in which racial vilification takes place, perpetrated by both Japanese and Korean posters. Nakamura’s (Cybertypes) contention that the Internet is ‘a place where race is created as an effect of the net's distinctive uses of language’ is taken as a starting point to investigate the differences between Japanese and Anglophone notions …

Socio-Cultural Aspects Of Mobile Communication Technologies In Asia And The Pacific: A Discussion Of The Recent Literature, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper reviews the recent literature published on mobile communications, cell phones and the Internet in Asian cultural contexts.

Interpretation And Orientalism: Outing Japan's Sexual Minorities To The English-Speaking World, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

The growing visibility of Japanese gay men and lesbians who articulate their identities in a manner similar to activists in the west has been heightened by two recent English books Queer Japan and Coming Out in Japan. While acknowledging the need to listen to a plurality of voices from Japan, this essay critiques the manner in which the coming-out narratives in these books have been framed by their western translators and editors. In the introductions to both books, Japan is (once again) pictured as a feudal and repressive society. In their efforts to let the homosexual subaltern speak, the translators …

Japan’S Original Gay Boom, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper looks at the rise of the category gei boi (gay boy) in postwar Japanese media.