Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Let Your Light Shine: A Holistic Reflection On The Individual In A Community, Nicole C. Argudin

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

"Sic luceat lux vestra," or “Let your light Shine” This phrase from the Gospel of Mattew stresses the importance that we all have a light or a talent and we should shine our light for all. The problem though is when we live in the same community for so long, we start to lose our uniqueness and eventually become close-minded to new experiences. By encountering and learning from other communities, we are made aware of this issue and other strengths and weakness of our own community that we take for granted. My disclaimer about this paper is that it is …

Anime And War, Carol Sun

Honors Papers and Posters

This poster examines the growth and development of anime in Japan in post-World War II Japan, particularly its ability to make audiences question the trajectory of humanity and society and to "critique the society that relies on technology...as a means to prevent or discourage war and conflict".

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.

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 15 No. 1, Fall 2017, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa Dale

The editor reflects on this issue's new articles, which focus on historical and contemporary expressions of masculinity in China, Japan, Korea, and India.

Asian Masculinity Studies in the West: From Minority Status to Soft Power by Kam Louie

Material focusing on Asian men and sexualities which had in the past resisted analysis, has sparked original and innovative modes of analysis that have become commonplace. In this exciting period, Asian masculinity studies have attracted some adventurous minds and new territories are being explored every day. While carving out an interdisciplinary field for itself, Asian masculinity …

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 …

From Beyond The Stars: Innovation And Inspiration In Meiji Japanese Art, 1868-1912, Charles Mason, Madeleine Zimmerman, Joe Earle, Tom Wagner

Kruizenga Art Museum Exhibition Catalogs

Design by Tom Wagner. Photography by the Kruizenga Art Museum, Tom Wagner, and Curatorial Assistance/WorldBridge Art, Inc. Produced by Storming the Castle Pictures (StCP) for the Kruizenga Art Museum as a catalogue for the exhibition, "From Beyond the Stars," August 29 - December 16, 2017.

The Rise And Fall Of The Zaibatsu: Japan's Industrial And Economic Modernization, David A. C. Addicott

Global Tides

Throughout the past century, the rise and fall of the zaibatsu and the operations of their direct successors has not only shaped Japan’s economic and financial landscape but also has been instrumental in the modernization of the world economy. Many of these corporations traced their roots to Japan’s premodern era, and were directly responsible for the transformation of a nation of rice farmers into an industrial powerhouse in the years prior to World War II. Following Japan’s defeat, these monopolistic corporations were dismantled by the Keynesian economists of the Allied occupation and were reorganized into the keiretsu system, which exists …

Law, Society, And Setsuo: Miyazawa’S Influence On Socio-Legal Studies, Eric A. Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

What Setsuo has accomplished over these past 30 years is nothing short of remarkable. I can think of no other scholar within or outside of Japan who has had a greater impact on both the legal academic community and society more generally. Indeed, when Setsuo was still quite young he had already written a number of influential articles. But they turn out to represent only a fraction of his extraordinary output over the next years. In reflecting on Setsuo’s many achievements, I am particularly drawn to comment on three of them. First, his empirical and comparative law and society scholarship, …

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 …

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 14 No. 2, Spring 2017, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa Dale

This issue presents the latest research on the history and life experiences of mixed race individuals in China, Japan, and Korea.

Eurasians and Racial Capital in a "Race War" by W. Puck Brecher

The ubiquity of racist propaganda in Japan and the U.S. during the Pacific War and the extraordinary cruelty of the fighting have fostered the perception that Japanese and Americans harbored a deep racial hatred for each other. Indeed, historical research convincingly interprets the Pacific War as a “race war” within the contexts of military engagement and state rhetoric. We know little, …