Japan After Japan

Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present

Tomiko Yoda, Harry Harootunian, Tomiko Yoda, Harry Harootunian, Rey Chow, Masao Miyoshi

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780822338130
  9780822337874
• eBook ISBN:
  9780822388609
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Japanese History
• Index: History

The prolonged downturn in the Japanese economy that began during the recessionary 1990s triggered a complex set of reactions both within Japan and abroad, reshaping not only the country's economy but also its politics, society, and culture. In Japan After Japan, scholars of history, anthropology, literature, and film explore the profound transformations in Japan since the early 1990s, providing complex analyses of a nation in transition, linking its present to its past and connecting local situations to global developments.

Several of the essayists reflect on the politics of history, considering changes in the relationship between Japan and the United States, the complex legacy of Japanese colonialism, Japan's chronic unease with its wartime history, and the postwar consolidation of an ethnocentric and racist nationalism. Others analyze anxieties related to the role of children in society and the weakening of the gendered divide between workplace and home. Turning to popular culture, contributors scrutinize the avid consumption of "real events" in formats including police shows, quiz shows, and live Web camera feeds; the creation, distribution, and reception of Pokémon, the game-based franchise that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon; and the ways that the behavior of zealous fans of anime both reinforces and clashes with corporate interests. Focusing on contemporary social and political movements, one essay relates how a local citizens' group pressed the Japanese government to turn an international exposition, the Aichi Expo 2005, into a more environmentally conscious project. Another essay offers both a survey of emerging political movements and a manifesto identifying new possibilities for radical politics in Japan. Together the contributors to Japan After Japan present much-needed insight into the wide-ranging transformations of Japanese society that began in the 1990s.

Contributors. Anne Allison, Andrea G. Arai, Eric Cazdyn, Leo Ching, Harry Harootunian, Marilyn Ivy, Sabu Kohso, J. Victor Koschmann, Thomas LaMarre, Masao Miyoshi, Yutaka Nagahara, Naoki Sakai, Tomiko Yoda, Yoshimi Shunya, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Introduction Harry Harootunian and Tomiko Yoda
• A Roadmap to Millennial Japan Tomiko Yoda
• The University and the ‘‘Global Economy’’: The Cases of the United States and Japan Masao Miyoshi
• The University, Disciplines, National Identity: Why Is There No Film Studies in Japan? Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
• Japan’s Long Postwar: The Trick of Memory and the Ruse of HistoryHarry Harootunian
• National Subjectivity and the Uses of Atonement in the Age of RecessionJ. Victor Koschmann
• ‘‘Give Me Japan and Nothing Else!’’:Postcoloniality, Identity, and the Traces of Colonialism Leo Ching
• ‘‘You Asians’’: On the Historical Role of the West and Asia Binary Naoki Sakai
• Revenge and Recapitation in Recessionary Japan Marilyn Ivy
• The ‘‘Wild Child’’ of 1990s Japan Andrea G. Arai
• The Rise and Fall of Maternal Society:Gender, Labor, and Capital in Contemporary Japan Tomiko Yoda
• Representation, Reality Culture, and Global Capitalism in Japan Eric Cazdyn
• Monsieur le Capital and Madame la Terre Do Their Ghost-Dance:Globalization and the Nation-State Yutaka Nagahara
• New-Age Fetishes, Monsters, and Friends: Pokémon Capitalismat the Millennium Anne Allison
• Otaku Movement Thomas LaMarre
• A Drifting World Fair: Cultural Politics of Environment in the Local/GlobalContext of Contemporary Japan Yoshimi Shunya
• Angelus Novus in Millennial Japan Sabu Kohso
• Contributors
• Index