The main task of this study was to examine the proposition that the modernization processes of Japan had commenced during the late Tokugawa period (1804-1867) and that the impetus to social change was not concentrated solely in the post-Meiji Restoration (1868) period. A survey of contemporary literature on modernization enabled us to select a suitable working definition of modernization. For analytical purposes, modernization was defined in terms of the adaptive and reforming efforts by the late Tokugawa ideologues. The definition implied nothing specific about the component processes involved and this permitted us to be free in selecting the component actions within the modernization process. The study of the adaptive and transformation processes consisted of an analysis of five biographies written in Japanese and representative of the ideologues of the late Tokugawa period. For our investigation, the method of content analysis was employed. This allowed the extraction of desired data according to explicitly formulated and systematic rules. The coding scheme employed to analyze the biographical material was designed taking into account our basic proposition. The process of assigning extracted data into the appropriate categories consisted of a dichotomization process whereby the data was recorded in mutually exclusive categories. The interpretative categories selected for content analysis were not based on a specific theory purporting to explain certain aspects of social change but it suggested a model which lent clarity to the study of the linkage between causal forces (societal conditions and formative factors) and the ideologue’s structures of activities. In this model, the underlying assumption was that the causal forces were linked to the observable variations by the ideologue's attitudes, orientations, and concepts. This assumption was supported by the data and the structure of activities gave rise to patterns which tended to be similar although the structural processes themselves varied from ideologue to ideologue. On the basis of our investigation, we concluded that the data obtained from the content analysis of five biographies supported our proposition that the adaptive and transformation processes of modern Japan established their roots during the late Tokugawa period and that the impetus to social change was not concentrated solely in the post Meiji Restoration period. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

This work utilizes a spatial theory approach to meditate on postwar Japanese society and cinema. It is not a history of Japanese postwar cinema, or a survey of notable directors and genres. Rather, the focus is specifically on film and its relation to the deeper tropes of Japanese society; in particular, on how the sense of nation is affirmed and/or challenged within a postwar period of remarkable change. Understanding such a structure greatly aids in analyzing the forms and meanings within the films. The question of National Cinema, then, is approached by exploring how the interaction of spatial-temporal elements affect both the social construction and filmic practices of the nation. / The first part of the dissertation features an extended analysis of Japanese society using a variety of historical, philosophical and theoretical sources, both Japanese and foreign. They provide a theoretical base and a social history that ground the critical readings of the selected films; all of which are well-known and widely available. Part two is a close textual analysis of five 1950s productions---from a range of films and genres---that are contrasted with three films from the late 1980s/early 1990s. The final chapter examines notions about National Cinema in light of the preceding film analysis.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of women in the Japanese workplace. Data obtained from in-depth interviews and questionnaires, shows that the Japanese workplace is in a state of change moving toward a higher level of opportunity for female workers. While similar to the circumstances experienced by Western women, the changes which Japanese women are experiencing have their own history and thus are analyzed from a non-Western perspective. Some key aspects of the analysis include: training, separate positions for men and women, tasks, and perceptions of gender discrimination. For men and women who held the same jobs it was found that the majority of training experiences were gender neutral. This is consistent with the fact that Japanese companies must make training equal as mandated by the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law. In the workplace, however, discrimination has taken the form of separate positions for men and women. While there were informants who were both supportive and un-supportive of job separation, it was clear that this practice resulted in lower salaries and fewer high level positions for women. When males and females held the same positions, 17% of women were given different duties. These duties included serving tea, cleaning, and hostessing, all of which are tasks generally done by a wife for her husband. Thus in some instances domestic roles determine tasks assigned in the workplace. From the informants' responses a Japanese definition of gender discrimination was formulated. Culturally, gender discrimination was noted in terms of treating women differently than men, but also included improper sexual advances. A full 80% of the study's informants acknowledged the existence of gender discrimination in the Japanese workplace. Finally, from this sample it was determined that cultural relativism, internal labor market theory, and human capital theory are all compatible tools for analysis of the Japanese labor market. / Graduation date: 1998

This paper is about locating the meaning of a series of games known as the Dark Souls series in relation to contemporary social conditions in Japan. I argue that the game should be thought of as an emblem of the current cultural zeitgeist, in a similar way one might identify something like Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums as an emblem of the counter cultural 60s. I argue that the Dark Souls series expresses in allegorical form an anxiety about living in a time where the meaning of our everyday actions and even society itself has become significantly destabilized. It does this through a fractured approach to story-telling, that is interspersed with Buddhist metaphysics and wrapped up in macabre, gothic aesthetic depicting the last gasping breath of a once great kingdom. This expression of contemporary social anxiety is connected to the discourse of postmodernity in Japan. Through looking at these games as a feedback loop between text, environment and ludic system, I connect the main conceptual motifs that structure the games as a whole with Osawa Masachi's concept of the post-fictional era and Hiroki Azuma's definition of the otaku.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

This thesis examines from a medical anthropological viewpoint how the practice of the newly imported complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been transplanted, received and transformed in Japan. More specifically, I focus on homeopathy, which was introduced into Japan in the late 1990s. To address the research question, I focus on the practice of homeopathy from the anthropological viewpoint. The adoption of any new form of medicine is influenced by the prevailing medical, social and cultural context. So, how and why was homeopathy introduced into Japan the late 1990s? I explore this question by focusing on three aspects of the reception of homeopathy in Japan: (1) the institutionalisation of the homeopathy, including the formation of associations of practitioners and homeopathic colleges; (2) the translation of the theory and practice of homeopathy by the practitioners into a culturally acceptable form; (3) the utilisation and consumption of homeopathy by the patients, their families and self-prescribers. Over eighteen months of fieldwork in Japan led me to focus on these three elements of homeopathic practice. Regarding the theoretical framework, this mainly explores medical pluralism and the health care system in Japan from an anthropological perspective, and the globalisation and transmission of medicine. I argue that the success of homeopathy in Japan was largely thanks to the transmission strategies set by the founders of the colleges for lay homeopaths. Mothers in particular, concerned by worries over family health care, were drawn by this approach. Furthermore I also argue that this group not only be' self-help groups, creating thereby a strong tie with the lay homeopaths. I argue that mothers gained a sense of the empowerment through homeopathy. Within the Japanese health care system it was the popular sector that received and developed homeopathy.

No description available.