Digital Commons Network^™

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.

Japanese Imports Of Manufactures From East Asia: Is The Glass Half Empty Or Half Full, James Lutz

James M Lutz

No abstract provided.

E-Elections: Time For Japan To Embrace Online Campaigning, Matthew J. Wilson

Matthew J. Wilson

Asia has embraced the Internet and social media. Japan and South Korea rank among the world’s leaders in technological innovation and Internet penetration. China boasts over 420 million Internet users, and other Asian countries have experienced the widespread acceptance of online technologies. With the rapid ascendency of the Internet and social media, however, Asian countries have sometimes struggled with striking the proper balance between individual rights and the legal regulation of online activities. One prime example of such struggle involves the clash between Japan’s election laws and individual political freedoms.

Although Japan generally subscribes to democratic traditions and the principle …

Kawashima Takeyoshi, La Conscience Juridique Des Japonais, Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten, 1967, Matthieu Forlodou

Matthieu Forlodou

Vous trouverez ici un aperçu de la traduction que j'ai fait de l'ouvrage du juriste japonais KAWASHIMA Takeyoshi sur La conscience juridique des Japonais, publié en 1967 aux éditions Iwanami.

Editors’ Introduction: Emerging Issues For Educational Research In East Asia, Emily C. Hannum, Hyunjoon Park, Yuko Goto Butler

Emily C. Hannum

In recent decades, globalization and regional integration have brought significant economic and demographic changes in East Asia, including rising economic inequality, growing population movements within and across borders, and the emergence or renewed geopolitical significance of cultural and linguistic minority populations. These trends have coincided with significant changes in family formation, dissolution, and structures. How have these changes played out in the diverse educational systems of East Asia? In what innovative ways are East Asian governments addressing the new demographic realities of their student populations? This volume offers a snapshot of key educational stratification issues in East Asian nations, and …

Glimmers Of Hope: The Evolution Of Equality Rights Doctrine In Japanese Courts From A Comparative Perspective, Craig Martin

Craig Martin

There has been little study of the analytical framework employed by the Japanese courts in resolving constitutional claims under the right to be treated as an equal and not be discriminated against. In the Japanese literature the only comparative analysis done focuses on American equal protection jurisprudence. This article examines the development of the equality rights doctrine in the Japanese Supreme Court from the perspective of an increasingly universal “proportionality analysis” approach to rights enforcement, of which the Canadian equality rights jurisprudence is a good example, in contrast to the American approach. This comparative analysis, which begins with a review …

An Examination Of The Impact Of Air From China On Summertime Air Quality In Japan Before, During, And After The Beijing Olympics, Gary A. Morris, Hajime Akimoto, Masayuki Takigawa, Jun Hirokawa, Fumio Hasebe, Masatomo Fujiwara, Koji Miyagawa, Nicholay Krotkov, Jacquie Witte, Yugo Kanaya, Nathan Kellams, Ted Pietrzak

Gary A. Morris

During July – September 2008 pollution controls in China associated with the Beijing Olympics led to emissions reductions of up to 43%, as observed by NASA satellite instruments. Pollution from China has an impact on air quality throughout East Asia. In this poster, we examine the impact of China's pollution on Japan through the use of Aura satellite data (2005 – 2009), ozonesonde data (2000 – 2009), and data from air quality surface monitors (2000 – 2009). We also examine the year-to-year variability in meteorological flow regimes through trajectory model simulations of transport to Japan from the areas around Beijing …

From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …

“Math Is Hard,” Said Mrs. Ford; “Not For Me,” Said Mrs. Honda: Does Culture Matter In Teaching And Learning In Elementary Mathematics?, Shamah Md-Yunus

ShamAh Md-Yunus

This article is a discussion of the practices of teaching and learning in elementary mathematics from the perspectives of Eastern and Western cultures. It focuses on the differences in teaching pedagogy in math between the United States and three Asian countries: Singapore, Japan, and China.

From Hōshi To Borantia: Transformations Of Volunteering In Japan And Implications For Foreign Policy, Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

This study explores the relationship between state-citizen relations and changing notions of volunteering in Japan. I map Japan's state-citizen relations through an analysis of the transformations of volunteering in Japan from “hōshi” (mutual obligation) to "borantia" (borrowed from the English "volunteer"). The article broadly considers these paradigm shifts in terms of the context of the role International Non Profit Organisations (INPOs) play in Japanese foreign policy.

Kind Participation: Postmodern Consumption And Capital With Japan's Telop Tv, Aaron Gerow

Aaron Gerow