Postwar Japan Research Articles

In the Mood for Kimono: Hayashi Mariko and the Weaving of Japanese Fashion into Popular Fiction

The field of postwar Japanese and international fiction has seen an expanding corpus of texts revolving around kimono. Many works, while tapping into the intricacies of sartorial traditions, contain actualized narratives of young girls and women experiencing or remembering kimono in prewar, postwar, and contemporary Japan. In these stories, the kimono—ever persisting, at times resisting—helps the protagonist to discover self-confidence and agency as they deal with loss, social expectations, family, and national history. This article focuses on Hayashi Mariko’s short story collection Stories about Kimono (Kimono o meguru monogatari, 1997) and her more recent novel The Imperial Visit to Ohara: The Story of an Obi-Making Family (Ohara gokō: Obi ni ikita kazoku no monogatari, 2014b). These two narratives work within all of these parameters and illustrate how authors can write consistently about the multiple meanings within kimono. Through analyzing how Hayashi describes kimono outfits and their implications, this article also explores how, as a literary device, the kimono connects with the concept of reality effect; emphasizes the power of the feminine gaze in Japanese literature; and reveals how the limits between fiction and reality can be broken down. When inspired by the specific mode of dress that is kimono, writers can prompt new inspirations for women to create their own stories with it, discarding the cliché of ‘yamato nadeshiko’ (lit: Japanese pink carnations, used to evoke Japanese demure, feminine beauty) to explore darker and/or more embodied experiences.

신국가 건설과 문화국가론의 전개 — 패전후 일본, 해방후 한국 —

신국가 건설과 문화국가론의 전개 — 패전후 일본, 해방후 한국 —

조선인에 대한 미불금 공탁의 특례적 법령에 관한 연구

In post-war Japan under GHQ/SCAP, the policies of GHQ and the Japanese government conflicted over the handling of unpaid wages for forced labor victims from former colonies, such as Koreans. While GHQ ultimately instructed debtors, companies and business owners, to deposit them in special management accounts, etc. in order to pay outstanding payments to Koreans, the Japanese government has since 1946 decided to deposit them with each local legal bureau in accordance with the deposit procedure under the Civil Act. instructed that In general, Japanese debtor companies and others followed the instructions of the Japanese government. After 1949, when the conclusion of the Japan Peace Treaty was expected and the end of GHQ’s military rule was imminent, GHQ eventually instructed the Japanese government to devise separate measures regarding the deposit system for overseas creditors, including Koreans, unlike the existing deposit procedure under the Civil Act, as a realistic alternative. Accordingly, on February 28, 1951, ｢Prescript on Special Cases on Deposit for the Purpose of Repayment of Debts to Foreigners, etc. Living Abroad｣ (Prescript No. 22) and ｢Debt Repayment to Foreigners, etc. An Ordinance on the Enforcement of the Decree on Special Deposits (Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice, Ordinance of the Minister of Justice No. 1) was also enacted and promulgated. Since then, the Prescript on Special Cases in Deposit has been amended 8 times and the Enforcement Ordinace has been revised 9 times. This study focused on analyzing the meaning and characteristics. The main characteristics of the Prescript on Special Cases of Deposit and its Enforcement Ordinace are as follows. First, the funds of ‘foreigners residing abroad’ are specially deposited and transferred to the ‘yen account, bank of Japan’, the ‘statute of limitations’ prescribed in the existing civil law does not apply, and the right to request refund by the government delegation representing individual creditor was recongnized in the two laws. This is a very unusual special measure. In addition, it contains special provisions for deposit procedures and procedures unlike the existing civil law regulations. Second, Article 1 of the Enforcement Ordinace enumerates ‘overseas’ areas that are not included in Japan’s annexed islands, including ‘Ulleungdo, Dokdo(Take-shima), and Jejudo’. This is the one I have confirmed and reported as a thesis for the first time. Third, the main points of the revised contents of the two laws are the deletion of GHQ’s deposit order and procedures, the deletion of the clause on the right to claim refund by the government delegation representing individual victims, and the inclusion of clause Dokdo etc., as annexed islands of Japan. It is the point that the clause about overseas regions was deleted. Overall, the above content restricts the deposit procedure for unpaid money for Korean victims of forced labor, lowers the possibility of claiming the deposit, and restricts the procedure, and can be regarded as an amendment to delete provisions unfavorable to the claim to sovereignty over Dokdo.

Sengo nihon no ‘kakushin’ seiryoku—teikō to suibō no seijishi (Reformists in Postwar Japan: A Postwar History of Opposition and Decline)

Sengo nihon no ‘kakushin’ seiryoku—teikō to suibō no seijishi (Reformists in Postwar Japan: A Postwar History of Opposition and Decline)

Creating Disability Publics in Postwar Japan (1937–57)

Abstract: In this article, I investigate how blind elites, wounded veterans, U.S. policymakers, and other diverse stakeholders helped define the concept of disability in Japan during the postwar period by drafting and implementing the 1949 Law for the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons. I trace how such stakeholders' personal and professional commitments came to be reflected in state-sponsored welfare projects to explain why individuals with specific physical and cognitive impairments were denied access to social services and financial support in the 1950s. I also frame the rise of disability publics that facilitated the formation of Japan's modern disability movement.

A Long Anxiety Dream: The Absence and Subversion of Identity in Kazuo Ishiguro's an Artist of the Floating World

The article will discuss Kazuo Ishiguro's possibilities as an atypical diasporic writer by focusing on his dual international background. Next, through analyzing his early novel “An Artist of The Floating World”, the theme of the absence and subversion of identity can be revealed. By shaping an imagined post-war Japan and using unreliable narratives, Kazuo Ishiguro succeeds in conveying universal anxiety. Finally, we will explore the writer's own anxieties implied behind the context of his personal goal of so-called “universal values”, where the United States plays a role of “the other” that cannot be ignored.

Heart of the Country

How can we create a world that will offer our children wisdom, humanity, responsibility and hope? Shinichi Yasutomo, the extraordinary principal of a rural village school in Hokkaido, Japan, passionately believes he knows the way - by giving children a moral compass to guide their lives, by educating their hearts as wells as their minds. Heart of the Country takes time - a full calendar year, to follow the life of this extraordinary man and the families and children he has dedicated himself to. It is also the story of the village of Kanayama, a rural farming community bound together by love for its children and a deep respect for learning. Parents, elders and leaders of this once impoverished town have been tempered by the long journey through the cultural upheaval of postwar Japan. They embrace Principal Yasutomo’s vision of hope for the future, but not without wary glances back to the past. Produced in collaboration with the community of Kanayama, Hokkaido and the Hokkaido University of Education Japan.

Diaconal Church Initiatives and Social/Public Welfare in Postwar Japan: A Descriptive Overview

This article reflects on post-WWII developments and the current state of church-related diaconal initiatives in Japan. Pioneering Christians have made significant contributions to the development of social welfare since the Meiji Era (1868–1912). Despite still being a radical minority of around only 1 percent of Japan’s population, the nationwide network of Japanese Christian churches, educational institutions, and social welfare organizations makes Christianity’s presence felt on a much wider scale. With its focus on postwar efforts, this article gives a brief overview that ranges from education to social reform and medical care, all of which were traditionally incorporated under the notion of “Christian Social Welfare” (Kirisutokyō Shakai Fukushi). The research integrates Japanese and English sources in a methodical, rigorous literature study in response to the following main question: Why is there a complicated relationship in postwar Japan between church practices defined as diakonia and the work of Christian-based social welfare organizations? This article discovers how diakonia as a theological concept is re-orientating the core identity and mission of churches in Japan. A case study from the Reformed Church of Japan’s diaconal activities is presented to highlight the conclusion that a complex relationship remains between social welfare organizations and wider church practices enacted under the rubric of diakonia.

Japanese Imperial Subjects Transplanted to Asia and the ‘Crack between the People’ - Hikiage’s Multilayered Character and ‘Post-war’ -

This article dissertation intends to examine the problem of migration and return that developed during the period of Japanese imperialism in connection with the problem of conceptual identity. Since hikiage began in earnest after August 15, 1945 when World War II came to an end, it is associated with postwar Japan and thus the hikiage issue should not be overlooked when discussing postwar Japan. Rather than discussing hikiage in the postwar history, the comparative study shows the need to discuss preand post-war Japan from the perspective of hikiagesha, or returnees from Japanese overseas colonial territories. In post-war Japan, the progress of hikiage and hikiagesha’s experiences were featured in novels, autobiographies, and the media, with their image being formed. Hikiage was extremely simplified and defined as the returning of overseas Japanese people to Japan after Japan lost the war, and the image of hikiagesha was formed, which is different from that of the local Japanese people. Hikiage was described using words like ‘homecoming,’ ‘return,’ ‘repatriation,’ ‘stowing away,’ and ‘eviction,’ concealing the fact that hikiage reflects hikiagesha’s experiences in different countries and regions. In order to clarify this, this article examined hikiage in relation to regional characteristics of several concepts and relationships of international politics. This article also shows that hikiage involves a ‘level’ that is different from ‘human migration’ or an ‘immigration issue,’ which appear in existing studies. In other words, the aspects of hikiage experience are very different and complex to interpret as ‘being victimized’ and ‘victimizing others’ overlap in hikiage. This causes difficulty developing historical awareness or bringing back memories of war. This article examines hikiage in relation to national imperialism and examines how it was perceived by the colonized by looking at the use of such concepts as salvage, homecoming, and return in Korean society. Notably, this article suggests the need to consider the hikiage issue as a medium to reconstruct the war experience and Cold War system experience of East Asia beyond the logic behind the colonizer and the colonized.

High Modernism and Populism in Post-War Japan: Tanaka Kakuei’s Plan for Remodelling the Japanese Archipelago

A sweeping proposal to re-orient development from Japan’s metropolitan core to its peripheries, Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s 1972 “Plan to Remodel the Japanese Archipelago” was published as a bestselling book and helped propel Tanaka to the premiership. This article argues that the Plan was part of an innovative style of politics that defies a standard dichotomy of technocracy and populism in scholarship on Japanese politics. Tanaka’s plan and its genesis are informative on three levels: (i) individual biography, represented by the remarkable political figure of Tanaka; (ii) domestic politics and Japan’s trajectory of regional development; and (iii) the international environment, as it was deeply informed by global forces in the early 1970s. As an embodiment of “high modernism,” the Plan had major potential and pitfalls and shaped the fabric of Japanese life well after Tanaka’s years in office.

Kyōkaisen no gakkōshi: Sengo nihon no gakkōka shakai no shūen to shūhen (Boundaries of Japanese Public Education: A History of Schooling Society and Its Borders)

As its title suggests, this volume is composed of chapters on areas and aspects of the schooling system of postwar Japan that are often regarded as peripheral. The book seeks not only to illuminate its topics, but also to examine the nature and significance of margins and borders in the school system. Edited by one of Japan’s leading historians of education, it sheds light on to aspects of schooling that will be less familiar to many and provides a valuable way to consider these topics. The main focus of the book is the period from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. The book begins with two chapters by editor Kimura Hajime. In the introduction, Kimura explores the concepts that run through the book, pointing out that ‘boundaries’ can relate to the school system or to schooling practices—though system and practices exist in relation to one another. One key boundary is constituted by the term ‘ichijōkō’ (literally, ‘article one school’), referring to the types of school mentioned in the first article of Japan’s School Education Law. Kimura points out that although ichijōkō tend to be seen as the core of the postwar school system, even within this core there is a periphery, while schools that are not ichijōkō have also played highly significant roles. Furthermore, the boundaries of the ‘core’ and the ‘periphery’ have shifted over time in terms of both systems and practices. In chapter 1, Kimura goes on to give a valuable overview of the development of schooling in Japan from the later Meiji period to the present. This part is particularly useful for its references to the latest Japanese scholarship.

Editorial EAJPC 9.1

This editorial is an overview of this edition of the Journal of East Asian Popular Culture. It features a theme that has assumed prominence in East Asia’s cultural conversations during the latter half of 2022, namely the role of religion in public life. Five articles examine the engagement of religion with various examples of popular global culture. Two articles deal with popular portrayals of the recent colonial past in postwar Japan and Taiwan. The Book Reviews section features commentary on recently published works that relate to themes discussed in the research articles.

피진에서 기층언어의 문법적 흔적을 측정하려는 시도 - 뱀부 영어(Bamboo English)에서 볼 수 있는 일본어나 한국어의 영향 -

20세기 중반, "뱀부 영어"(Bamboo English:이하, BE)라고 불리는 영어 기반의 피진(pidgin)은 전후 점령하 일본에서 미군과 현지인 사이에서 먼저 사용된 이후, 한반도에서는 미군과 현지인 사이에서 사용되었다. BE의 언어 데이터가 많지 않아서인지 지금까지 연구는 거의 이루어지지 않았다. 본고에서는 수량적인 분석을 통해 BE의 문법구조를 조금이라도 해명하는 것이 목적이었다. 분석 대상은 BE 44개의 문장이다. 1문장씩 형태소 해석을 행하고 나서, BE와 표준 영어, BE와 일본어, BE와 한국어의 3가지의 산포도를 작성해, 피어슨(Pearson)의 r치에 의한 상관계수를 문장마다 3개씩 산출하였다. 입력은 x값이 원래의 BE문 형태소의 일련 번호이며, y 값은 표준영어, 일본어 및 한국어 각각의 번역문 형태소를 BE에 맞추어 정렬한 번호 예이다. 분석한 결과, 먼저, BE문의 대부분이 영어와 문법적으로(형태소 순서) 유사하다는 것을 알았다. 원래 BE는 피진화된 영어이며, 피진일본어도 피진한국어도 아니기 때문에, 이것은 예상한대로의 결과라고도 할 수 있다. 그러나 그럼에도 불구하고 44개 문장 가운데, 7개 (약 15 %)는 영어로는 설명 할 수 없는 형태소 순서로 되어 있다. 이 7개문의 대부분은 또, 기층언어(일본어나 한국어)의 통사론적인 영향을 받고 있음이 판명되었다. 마지막으로, BE는 전세계의 많은 다른 피진과는 달리 "제3자에 의한 사용"(tertiary usage)이 발견되지 않는다는 점에 주의할 필요가 있다. 즉, BE는 일본인과 한국인이 서로의 의사전달을 위한 링구아 프랑카(국제어)로는 사용되지 않았다. 그럼에도 불구하고 이 피진에 대한 기층언어의 강한 문법적 영향이 보이는 것은 일본어와 한국어 사이에 존재하는 형태소 순서의 유사성에 기인하는 것으로 보인다. In the mid 20th century an English-based pidgin commonly referred to Bamboo English was used first in post-war occupied Japan by American military and Japanese locals, and later on the Korean peninsula as American soldiers and local people there had increasing contact. No in-depth studies of it have been published mainly because of the paucity of linguistic data. This paper seeks to shed light on its grammatical structure through quantitative analyses, namely producing three scatter plots and thrice calculating Pearson’s r correlation coefficients. These are made for 44 individual sentences in Bamboo English, with the x values being the sequential numbers of the morphemes in the original Bamboo English sentence and the y values being the re-ordered numbers of morphemes in the Standard English, Japanese and Korean translations, respectively. The results showed that the majority of the BE sentences were grammatically similar (similar morpheme order) to English. This is to be expected since, after all, BE is pidginized English and not pidginized Japanese or pidginized Korean. Nonetheless seven (or around 15%) of the 44 sentences had morpheme order which is unexplainable by English. Many (though significantly all of these) do indeed seem to reflect the syntactic influence of the substrata (i.e. Japanese and Korean) languages. Finally, we note that BE differs from many pidgins worldwide in that we do not find “tertiary usage”, that is BE was not used a lingua franca by Japanese and Koreans to communicate with one another. Nonetheless, it is possible that the strong grammatical influence of the substrata languages on this pidgin may be due to the morpheme order similarities inherent in Japanese and Korean.

戦後日本におけるラーメンの受容過程 - アメリカ小麦を中心に -

戦後日本におけるラーメンの受容過程 - アメリカ小麦を中心に -

History of aftercare for dependent children in Japan between the 1950s and 1970s: the expectations and limitations of the vocational parent (Shoku-oya, Hogojutakusha) system

ABSTRACT Post-World War II, the vocational parent system was established in Japan in 1951―based on the Child Welfare Law―to provide aftercare for older dependent children. The vocational parents lived with the children and provided the guidance necessary for them to live independently. The evolution of the vocational parent system is divided into three periods for this study: the 1950s, the end of the 1950s to the mid-1960s, and the mid-1960s to the 1970s. Vocational parents were primarily from small- and medium-sized business establishments who could provide personal guidance. This prevented the children from becoming skilled workers and seeking employment in large companies. Vocational parents were expected to provide “parental love” to the children without compensation, despite having to bear the childcare costs and blunders at work. The more the government, welfare personnel, and newspapers sought the welfare ideal of parent-like assistance, the more detached they became from the realities of the working environment and the needs of the children. Consequently, the disparity may have contributed to the decline in aftercare in post-war Japan.

Asia and Postwar Japan: Deimperialization, Civic Activism, and National Identity , by Simon Avenell

Asia and Postwar Japan: Deimperialization, Civic Activism, and National Identity , by Simon Avenell

Street Photography in Postwar Japan: The Work of Daidō Moriyama

Street Photography in Postwar Japan: The Work of Daidō Moriyama

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The highest casualties and largest reconstruction funds—Characteristics of major disasters and future challenges in developed countries

AbstractThe 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake was a disaster that led to the greatest number of casualties related to any form of natural disaster seen in developed countries since World War II. Furthermore, this earthquake occurred in an area where tsunami countermeasures had been prioritized. This disaster, therefore, led to the question “Is it impossible to reduce the number of victims of huge catastrophes, even in cases in which advanced disaster prevention measures have been taken?” Part of the reason this particular earthquake caused the largest number of deaths was because the tsunami that followed—which exceeded the “design load” of the seawall—hit the urban area. In addition, the tsunami, which also exceeded the “estimated loads” of the established disaster prevention plan, caused many “evacuation failures.” Another factor that contributed to the deaths was that the disaster prevention measures, up to that point, had relied primarily on the recognition that disasters could be prevented by the development of “hard,” or tangible, disaster prevention facilities in addition to “soft,” or intangible, measures, such as issuing warnings, without imposing space restrictions. Another characteristic of the Great East Japan Earthquake was that the largest reconstruction budget associated with any disaster in postwar Japan was compiled for it. Although the reconstruction project was over‐specified for the disaster‐afflicted area in terms of scale, cost, and duration of reconstruction, many unused land areas were also created in the new urban areas created during the reconstruction project. Furthermore, the reconstruction projects undertaken with the huge reconstruction budget were not based on the “choice to rebuild the lives” of the disaster‐afflicted areas and the victims, but were rather implemented while simultaneously “marginalizing” said victims and areas as a whole. The over‐specified reconstruction projects and the associated marginalization of disaster victims tend to exist in a mutually regulated relationship. Therefore, there are concerns about the future sustainability of the noted disaster‐afflicted areas, which are already suffering from a severe population decline. Based on the previously presented discussion, it is possible to highlight various issues associated with disaster measures implemented in developed countries. First, regardless of how advanced disaster measures are, a “surge in disaster damage” can occur, which can lead to a “black swan” event. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate disaster prevention measures based on the assumption that such crises will occur in the future. Second, it is necessary for developed countries to determine how best to formulate reconstruction policies to avoid marginalizing disaster victims as well as to prevent over‐specified reconstruction. In examining these two issues, the common problem that arises is how to conduct “risk assessment and enable its acceptance” most calmly immediately after a disaster and then formulate disaster prevention measures based on such assessment. Finally, the future of disaster sociology is detailed in this work. More specifically, in order for disaster sociology to escape its “marginal” status in sociology, it is necessary to consider “disaster” in the context of both a social structure and a social change—similar to how risk theory views the issue.

Historical meaning of post‐Fukushima social movements: Crisis in hegemony in postwar Japan and prefigurative politics in the 2010s

AbstractSince the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 and the nuclear power plant accident, a number of movements have emerged in Japanese society, including the anti‐nuclear power movement and others with a variety of agendas. The social movements of the 2010s in Japan have expanded along with the spread of social networking services and have brought together a new class of people who are different from those of the established movements. This article will compare and examine the social movements of the 2010s with those of the past, as well as the function they played in the social structure. In the early 2020s, a structural crisis in the political and economic foundations of postwar Japan has become apparent. The Japanese social movements of the 2010s were movements that pressed for the transformation of the old social system as well as the transformation of the old anti‐system movements. Thus, this movement had the distinction of prefiguring a fundamental shift in the confrontational frame of reference between conservatism and progressivism that had shaped postwar Japan. This article will discuss the historical significance of the Japanese social movements of the 2010s in light of the structural factors behind the decline of the social base of both conservative and progressive forces.

Rebuilding from the Ruins: Miracle of Postwar Japan’s Economy

This article studies the economic success of Japan in the postwar period and explores it from the perspective of political economy. The economic success of Japan in the second half of the 20th century is visible. After World War II's end, Japan's economy was destroyed entirely, and the industrial system also collapsed. Tokyo was burned to the ground during the air attack, and Mount Fuji could be seen from anywhere in Tokyo. Still, as a defeated country, it chased after western developed nations with an astonishing speed and had remarkable success, making scholars wonder about why Japan's high-speed development. Since the idea that the economy is the foundation of national development has become common sense, scholars continually argue about the best method to develop the economy. In the second half of the 20th century, Neoliberalism flourished gradually and dominated the mainstream in the west. However, the "Miracle of Japan's economy" proved to the world that statism and the political economy also could bring remarkable success to socioeconomic development with great competitiveness. Therefore, studying the "Miracle of Postwar Japan's Economy" is vital because it provides a more comprehensive view for scholars and reveals the truth that the economy's success is multipath. In the article, the author focuses on two Japanese policies on the economy to explore their influence and result. The first policy is "Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act", and the other is the "Inclined Production Mode". This article believes Japan's success in the postwar period resulted from political economy.