Contemporary Japan Research Articles

A/Void Pregnancy? Yagi Emi’s Kūshin techō and Fake Pregnancy as a Means of Exploring Women’s Struggles

Kūshin techō (Diary of a void), Yagi Emi’s brilliant debut in the Japanese literary scene, was published in 2020 and proceeded to win the 36 th Osamu Dazai Prize. With its provocative tones, the novel addresses maternal issues during a very crucial moment for literature. Indeed, contemporary women’s writing from all over the world is growing more and more engaged with issues such as illness, disease, healthcare, medical practice, and clinical institutions, as well as with the topic of “care,” usually depicted as a women’s responsibility. In this paper, I argue that, through the parody of the Maternal and Child Health Handbook, Yagi Emi advances a critique of the condition of Japanese women in contemporary Japan. More specifically, the use of the fake pregnancy and the diary as a narrative strategy serve as a means to explore contradictions and gender gaps women face during pregnancy, in the workplace and at home, such as sekuhara (sexual harassment) and matahara (maternal harassment), social pressure, prejudice and stigma, and economic inequality. At the same time, I argue that the absence of a male partner throughout the narrative reveals the prejudice and stigma surrounding unmarried pregnant women in Japan, and on the other hand, it makes it possible to read Kūshin techō as an example of Hélène Cixous’ écriture feminine.

‘And All Is Semblative a Woman’s Part’: Japan’s All-Male As You Like It

ABSTRACT The practice of cross-gender casting, which has been a long-standing convention in Japanese theatre, has shaped the audience’s expectations of actors performing the opposite gender. Consequently, the audience’s lived experience in Japan is distinct from that of Western audiences. It is challenging to assess the kinaesthetic experience of viewers from different cultural backgrounds, given that the reception of a performance is influenced by culturally determined frames of reference. Traditional cross-gender casting relies on contrast, which may inadvertently reinforce gender stereotypes. This may be how the Japanese approach to cross-gender theatre is perceived, but the current cross-gender theatre is not constrained by the traditional forms of stylisation in male or female impersonation. Surprisingly, gender stereotyping and gender ambiguity/fluidity appear to be able to coexist in Japanese culture, which is reflected in cross-gender theatre. Following a discussion concerning the impact of gender representation in subculture and culture on contemporary Japan, I examine Studio Life’s latest Shakespeare production of As You Like It. It is noteworthy that this production does not reinforce traditional gender norms but instead challenges them, presenting a reimagined portrayal of female characters through the male body.

When death falls apart: Making and unmaking the necromaterial traditions of contemporary Japan By HannahGould, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2023. 168 pp.

When death falls apart: Making and unmaking the necromaterial traditions of contemporary Japan By HannahGould, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2023. 168 pp.

Urban social infrastructure and care: Japanese examples

ABSTRACT In response to the crisis of care created by the neoliberal capitalist era, many new concepts have emerged as part of the collective search for solutions to the care crisis, including care commons, caring cities and caring infrastructures. Care infrastructures as part of the urban social infrastructure are understood in this work as “everyday non-institutional care spaces” (Merkel, 2023). This study focuses on the infrastructures of care in contemporary Japanese cities. Based on six months of fieldwork in Japan in the spring of 2023, it explores the potential of the socio-economic endeavors of mostly Japanese women in major Japanese cities as a care infrastructure to support the care needs of different social groups. The paper presents two cases as culturally specific examples of Japanese care infrastructure. It contributes to the literature by showing that care is intertwined with the economy as a new social business model in contemporary Japan, in a different way from the more volunteer-based care infrastructures in other countries.

The Ambivalence of Far-Right Women: Hate, Trauma, Gender, and Neoliberalism in Contemporary Japan.

While far-right movements are commonly associated with masculinity and women are in the minority, it is notable that they often play significant roles within these movements. To deepen our understanding of the motivations behind women's participation, this study challenges Blee's argument that women's motivations for participating are shaped by their interactions with other members. By using the psychosocial method devised by Hollway and Jefferson and developed by Gadd, the present study argues that women's pre-participation experiences can play a vital part in drawing them to the movements. Through analyzing the life stories of six far-right women in Japan and conducting an in-depth case study of three of them, the study aims to uncover a wide range of experiences that may initially appear unrelated to far-right ideology but ultimately led these subjects to become involved in far-right movements. It highlights the importance of paying attention to their complex subjectivities, which are formed by the interplay between their unique trajectories and societal transitions concerning gender norms, particularly within the era of neoliberal "emancipation." The study finds that the duality of far-right movements, which combine conservatism with deviance, enables some women to express paradoxical desires that they experience in response to living through a transitional era.

Power and Privilege: Mapping Imagined Communities in Japan’s English Medium International Schools

This paper explores the commodification of education and the reinforcement of hegemony through international English Medium schools in Japan, positioning them as gatekeepers to imagined communities of global elitism. Over the past decade, Japan has seen a surge in international schools, driven by the global dominance of the English language. The institutions, which were initially established for expatriate elites, now cater to affluent Japanese and Asian families. This paper examines the high costs, selective admissions, and marketing strategies of these schools to illustrate how they commercialize education, perpetuate class divisions, and uphold cultural dominance. The literature suggests that English Medium U.K. and US model international schools in Japan symbolize access to elite Western power structures, reinforcing social stratification and the marginalization of those within Japan unable to afford such education. This study employs theoretical frameworks of imagined communities, hegemony, and cultural capital to analyze the broader societal implications of these schools. A systematic review of relevant academic literature, complemented by a comparative analysis of tuition fees, was conducted to deepen the understanding of the relationship between education, power, and social identity in contemporary Japan. By doing so, it aims to foster a more inclusive and equitable educational environment.

Impact of Gender Role Attitudes and Gender Differences on the Evaluation of Female Leaders: Insights from a Survey of Japanese University Students

Women’s active participation in society is desirable. However, it has not increased sufficiently in contemporary Japan, where the ratio of women decision-makers in politics and corporations is low, and gender inequality persists. One reason for this could be people’s negative perception of female leaders. This study focused on female managers as female leaders. It examined whether people’s gender-role attitudes might affect their attitudes about female leaders and whether these attitudes might differ depending on people’s sex (males or females). We administered a collective-style questionnaire survey to university students (N=107, 46 men and 61 women, mean age=20.11, SD=1.04) in Japan. We adopted a three-way between-subjects survey design; gender-role attitudes (traditional or equal) x managers (male condition or female condition) x participants’ sex (male or female). The results indicated that the participants’ gender-role attitudes had a more substantial effect on evaluating female managers than the participants’ gender. People with liberal gender-role attitudes had a highly positive perception of female leaders, whereas those with traditional gender-role attitudes considered female leaders more strictly. The results of this study indicated that gender-role attitudes do not affect the assessment of male leaders, suggesting that individual values might not affect the evaluation of male leaders. In contrast, these variables affected the assessment of female leaders. Therefore, we concluded that gender-role attitudes are essential for promoting the psychological acceptance of women leaders, which suggests the need to develop personnel with egalitarian gender-role attitudes to increase and popularize women managers in Japanese society.

The Cultural Diplomacy of Contemporary Japan and the Politics of Performance: Focusing on the Commemorative Performance for the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Japanese–Vietnamese Diplomatic Relationship

The Cultural Diplomacy of Contemporary Japan and the Politics of Performance: Focusing on the Commemorative Performance for the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Japanese–Vietnamese Diplomatic Relationship

Images of Exclusion in Shinsei Kamattechan’s Work: Bullying, Hikikomori, Unemployment, Mental Illness, Gender Non-conformity in Contemporary Japan

In this article, the author focuses on the contemporary Japanese music band, Shinsei Kamattechan 神聖かまってちゃん. The band’s songwriter, who goes by the artistic pseudonym of “Noko” (の子), seems to base their (they are non-binary) oeuvre on their own experiences of being bullied and excluded, as well as that of suffering from mental illness, suicidal thoughts, and unemployment. These experiences found in Kamattechan’s work can be called “images of exclusion”. The aim of this paper is to present the aforementioned images of exclusion in a broader sociological context. To do that, the article analyses the band’s songs in a broader perspective based on the academic literature on the topic of Heisei Japan (1989–2019). The paper concludes by providing evidence that his family’s origin was as a Heisei era hi-shimin (非市民; people excluded from the norm) from the start, with Noko’s father being part of the “working poor”. Various social problems of Heisei-era Japan (for example bullying or hikikomori 引きこもり) are clearly reflected in Noko’s biography and closely intertwined with their art.

The beginning of despair: aggressive Retsuko and the Sanrioization of women’s ‘transgressive rage’

In 2016, Sanrio debuted a series of shorts featuring Retsuko, a cute lesser panda with a penchant for bursts of death-metal infused violent rage. The shorts, eventually transformed into a full show on Netflix, were a comedic look at Retsuko’s anger at unfair treatment in the Japanese workplace, casting a critical eye on issues of sexism, harassment, and overwork. But while Retsuko has been explicitly positioned as counter cultural, what does it mean to be transgressive and Sanrio? This paper analyzes this question from a cross-disciplinary perspective, drawing on critical feminist studies, rage studies, media studies, and sociolinguistics. Approaching the framing, content, and speech of Retsuko throughout her media appearances, we argue that while Retsuko is certainly critical of contemporary Japan, her transgression is ultimately limited, with any potential paths to freedom or rebellion hampered by a corporate system that reabsorbs transgressive behavior and sells it back to customers, closing off the potential to imagine new ways of being.

Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan: Beyond Religion? By Ioannis Gaitanidis

Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan: Beyond Religion? By Ioannis Gaitanidis

Coming to Grips With Benign Prostate Enlargement or Prostate Cancer in Contemporary Japan: Readings From a Cancer-Self.

This article explores how a group of 35 Japanese men comprehend and verbalize the somatic experience embedded in dealing with benign prostate enlargement, or disquiet/discomfort of developing prostate cancer. Grounded in an adaptation of the sexual scripts theorizing, a set of in-depth, semistructured individual interviews were conducted through a LINE-app videocall from 2021 to 2023. Outcomes of interview were analyzed through a conversational approach, and presented by using three axes: the body, gender, and sexuality. An understanding of the Japanese-civilized-self has rendered somatic knowing problematic and pretended ignorance a strategy to deal with conversations about a condition involving the genitals and body waste. The body refers to a cancer-self who copes with ignorance of the prostate's anatomy and physiology, the-mechanics-of-urine, and medication/treatment side-effects. Gender is concerned with a cancer-self who grapples with an ailment that "emasculates the self," and the feminization of care as well as infantilization at medical facilities. Sexuality implies a cancer-self who bears scripts related to asexuality, medication/treatments that affect libido and penile erections, and a tarnished sexual reputation as a "heterosexual man" because prostate stimulation has been associate with homosexuality.

Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan: Beyond Religion? by Ioannis Gaitanidis (review)

Spirituality and Alternativity in Contemporary Japan: Beyond Religion? by Ioannis Gaitanidis (review)

Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond: Assessing Authenticity in <em>You Only Live Twice</em>

You Only Live Twice (1967) saw James Bond team up with the Japanese Secret Service to navigate the choppy waters of Cold War tensions between the USA and Russia, both of which had been pitted against each other by a nefarious criminal mastermind. Bond embraces Japanese culture, to the point of taking not only a Japanese wife, but a Japanese identity. This article will examine the authenticity of the depiction of 1960's Japan, from customs and manners, to the actual Cold War tensions that were bubbling under the surface of contemporary Japan, which would result in the Japanese university protests the following year.

Analyzing the Spiritual Connotation of Japanese Pop Culture from the Course of Modernization Based on Contemporary Japanese Writers

The development of pop culture in Japan has long historical roots. Since its post-war modernization, Japan has successfully transformed itself from an old culture-importing country to a culture-exporting country. The article focuses on a number of epochal points since Japan's post-war renaissance, analyzing a number of representative Japanese authors and their works from 1945 to the present, and understanding the birth and spread of Japanese popular culture. Studies have shown that the development of Japanese popular culture has been heavily influenced by European and American culture, but has also demonstrated rebellion and reflection on past cultures and ideologies, ultimately opening up a wide range of cultural areas on this basis. The article takes the representative writers and works of contemporary Japan as the blueprint for research, and finds that Japanese pop culture has a unique rebellious character and humanistic sentiment in its spiritual connotation. In the present day, the Japanese national psyche, on the other hand, interacts and influences popular culture.

Beyond Words

Beyond Words

Lifelong Learning Review in Contemporary Japan

Lifelong Learning Review in Contemporary Japan

Japan’s Policies to Attract and Retain International Students: Economic and Migration Approaches

in Japan during and after graduation. The study showed that, although education has traditionally been one of the main directions of Japanese cultural diplomacy, in contemporary Japan attracting foreign students is also viewed as one of the ways to solve social problems and ensure sustainable economic growth. For example, it is assumed that foreign graduates of Japanese universities will partially compensate for the labor shortage in Japan, and will also play an important role in expanding Japanese business and strengthening its positions in regional and global markets. In order to attract foreign students, the government, universities and various organizations are taking comprehensive measures to provide them with support, ranging from simplifying the admission procedure, providing scholarships for study, providing extensive information support, to assisting with employment after graduation. At the same time, the study identifies the problems faced by foreigners, in particular foreign students, which significantly limit the massive influx of foreign specialists to Japan.

The Concept of Nature Underlying Early Childhood Education and Care from Pre-Modern to Contemporary Japan, via Sozo Kurahashi and Kitaro Nishida

ABSTRACT This article examines the Japanese historical concept of nature in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Through modernisation, Japan was infused with Anglo-European philosophy. However, Japan’s pre-modern concept of nature differed from that of the West or modern Japan and latently affected the Japanese modern educational system. The concept of nature comprised two modes: mizukara, meaning “voluntarily” or indicating the mode of the voluntary self or “I,” and onozukara, referring to what is “spontaneously or naturally so” or indicating modes of transcendence beyond the self that permeate Japanese pre-modern reading education and apprenticeship as well as contemporary Japanese society. This study investigates Japanese modern texts by representative educator Sozo Kurahashi and philosopher Kitaro Nishida on education and philosophy to describe the latent and underlying connection between the concept of nature and Japanese ECEC as well as to depict the configuration of educational discourse focused on nature.

Return to the countryside: An ethnographic study of young urbanites in Japan's shrinking regions

This article studies urban–rural mobilities in contemporary Japan using several island communities in the Setouchi region of the Seto Inland Sea as a case study. It seeks to examine the phenomenon of den-en kaiki (rural return) with a focus on young Japanese urbanites moving to depopulated regions outside large cities. Based on a 15-month ethnographic study, the paper draws on original in-depth qualitative interviews with 35 individuals in their 20s–40s. The findings show that while some may be more traditional “lifestyle migrants,” many are adopting rural living as a temporary escape from the city and are not necessarily committed to staying long term. The narratives reveal diverse mobilities as a reflection of the changing attitudes of young Japanese attempting to find meaning and satisfaction while sustaining a livelihood in post-growth Japan. The growing importance of the “relationship population,” referring to urbanites who spend extended time in rural communities but do not live there, is discussed to broaden existing conceptions of rural mobilities from the Japanese context. The messiness of rural mobilities in contemporary Japan highlights the need for an expanded understanding of concepts such as counter-urbanization to include various forms of exchange and consider how they can contribute to the future sustainability of rural spaces.