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This thesis is in response to scholarly works on Japanese society and the ideal of the monoethnic race in relation to minorities and immigrants living in contemporary Japan. Race is as much a biological concept as it is a social one, and much of our modern understanding of race was borne out of the scientific and philosophic thought of nineteenth-century Europe and North American. Therefore, I posit that the adoption of western science by Japan effectively translated the Japanese body into a biological construct and blurred the line between science and culture, developing into a racially-based national identity by the time of the Pacific War. The construction of the Japanese body in this manner occurred in three successive translations: (1)the body as an object to be improved upon in order to compete with the West; (2) the body as a racialized object, distinct from all others and (3)the body as an object to be safeguarded from degradation. The discourse among social actors, including scholars, the government, religious leaders, and others, followed along western models of biological determinism and ultimately led to Japan's own indigenous form of eugenics. The catalyst for this process was the "scientizing" of the body. Just as Douglas has theorized that what is acted upon the body reflects larger societal issues, when western science was placed into the framework of the Japanese body it can be discerned that the translation from a traditional form to a scientific one, resulting in a "scientized" body. However, the translation was not wholesale and indigenous concepts of the body, like the family state, merged with biodeterminist conceptions to create a mono-ethnic race in line with Neo-Shintoist ideology. Implications for postwar Japan fall outside the confines of this thesis, but threads from the prewar period do carry over into the present.

This thesis is an art historical study focussing on contemporary Japan, and in particular the artists Murakami TakashL Mori Mariko, Aida Makoto, and Nara Yoshitomo. These artists represent a generation of artists born in the 1960s who use popular culture to their own ends. From the seminal exhibition 'Tokyo Pop' at Hiratsuka Museum of Art in 1996 which included all four artists, to Murakami's group exhibition 'Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture' which opened in April 2005, central to my research is an exploration of contemporary art's engagement with the pervasiveness of cuteness in Japanese culture. Including key secondary material, which recognises cuteness as not merely something trivial but involving power play and gender role issues, this thesis undertakes an interdisciplinary analysis of cuteness in contemporary Japanese popular culture, and examines howcontemporary Japanese artists have responded, providing original research through interviews with Aida Makoto, Mori Mariko and Murakami Takashi. Themes examined include the deconstruction of the high and low in contemporary art; sh6jo (girl) culture and cuteness; the relation of cuteness and the erotic; the transformation of cuteness into the grotesque; cuteness and nostalgia; and virtual cuteness in Japanese science fiction animation, and computer games.

This thesis argues that ijime (bullying) is a product of the regimented culture of the Japanese education system, which place a heavy emphasis on conformity. It also argues that addressing the problem of ijime requires a reculturing of Japanese schools. The thesis highlights Japan’s long battle against ijime, which is a consequence of the unremitting drive to educate suitable Japanese citizens. The thesis investigates the characteristics of Japanese education, which is based on a national form of meritocracy and egalitarianism, to find if there is evidence that Japanese schools systematically legitimise oppression of those who do not conform. It examines the socio-historical development of ijime, revealing the serious extent to which the problem has become inherent in Japanese society, leaving little prospect for significant improvement. The five major ijime-suicide incidents, Shikagawa in 1986; Ohkouchi, 1994; Ohno, 2000; Takigawa, 2005 and Mori, 2006, are also studied in order to show how ijime can escalate to a disturbing level and in some cases develops a criminal element. Ijime has become a major social problem over the past few decades in Japan, causing serious absenteeism and even suicides among school children. In response, the Japanese government introduced “relaxed education”, which reduces student workloads and provides diversity in learning. Within the schools, organisational support systems have also been developed to help students with problems. Despite these measures, ijime still regularly occurs and the number of those who find it difficult to go to school is increasing. There has been no indication of serious improvement. This thesis is partly based on an analysis of the views and experiences of Japanese students and teachers. The results indicate that Japanese students perform ijime to discipline nonconformists for the sake of providing order, and that teachers are involved in ijime either as direct or indirect initiators. Ijime has been, either intentionally or unintentionally, accepted by many some students and teachers. Moreover, the results show that many students target individuals to guarantee collective identity, implying that they need to participate in the collective act of ijime for their social survival at school. The Japanese school is shown to be one place where ijime is still accepted because it facilitates universal conformity and peer solidarity. The thesis identifies two major problems resulting from the group-oriented culture of Japanese education. One problem is that, despite its egalitarian educational policies, the Japanese school system has created a hierarchy among students, allowing conformists to punish or marginalise nonconformists. The other problem is that a heavy emphasis on group life at school to promote peer solidarity has augmented the risk of exclusion by students who maintain collective identity by alienating someone. The findings show that ijime has been promoted by the cultural values and goals of conformity, and that the problem of ijime will not be alleviated without changing the regimented system of Japanese schooling.

This dissertation examines the socio-cultural conditions of Japanese society as reflected in factors that induce recent Japanese immigration to Canada. The examination is based on interview research done with six female and six male Japanese immigrants living in Vancouver, who arrived in Canada after the mid-1990s. While previous migration studies emphasized political-economic conditions as the causes of migration flow, the narratives of these interviewees reveal a different migratory pattern that is motivated by spiritual well-being and life values. In order to encapsulate the complexity of contemporary migration flow, the push/pull factors that induced interviewees' emigration are thematically categorized and analyzed within a frame that emphasizes both these factors' interdependence with the interrelationships of Japanese social systems that have swayed the interviewees' decision to emigrate from Japan, and the nature of complexity in Japanese society. Showing the pluralism of these factors, they are categorized into nine themes: 1)physical environment; 2) spiritual enrichment and a stress-reduced life style; 3) socio-cultural constraints; 4) family life; 5) education; 6) age restrictions; 7) gender roles; 8)diversification, and 9) self-actualization. Luhmann's theory of social systems and Foucault's notion of governmentality serve as touchstones for the re-interpretation of the push/pull factors based on the examination of the interrelations among three Japanese social systems of family, education, and employment. The analysis reveals the complexity of the push/pull factors. Moreover, the interviewees' image of a "simple Canada," which also contributes to their decision to immigrate, is explained in terms of the "double complexity" of Japanese society stemming from both the complexity of modern society and the complexity of an amalgam of "modern" and "pre-modern" elements in Japanese society. Through an extensive examination of the correlations between the experiences of contemporary Japanese migrants and Japanese social systems, this study brings new insights to discussions on tensions between human agency and social structure, and the importance of intangible, mental images in the ways people shape their lives.

This dissertation examines the socio-cultural conditions of Japanese society as reflected in factors that induce recent Japanese immigration to Canada. The examination is based on interview research done with six female and six male Japanese immigrants living in Vancouver, who arrived in Canada after the mid-1990s. While previous migration studies emphasized political-economic conditions as the causes of migration flow, the narratives of these interviewees reveal a different migratory pattern that is motivated by spiritual well-being and life values. In order to encapsulate the complexity of contemporary migration flow, the push/pull factors that induced interviewees' emigration are thematically categorized and analyzed within a frame that emphasizes both these factors' interdependence with the interrelationships of Japanese social systems that have swayed the interviewees' decision to emigrate from Japan, and the nature of complexity in Japanese society. Showing the pluralism of these factors, they are categorized into nine themes: 1)physical environment; 2) spiritual enrichment and a stress-reduced life style; 3) socio-cultural constraints; 4) family life; 5) education; 6) age restrictions; 7) gender roles; 8)diversification, and 9) self-actualization. Luhmann's theory of social systems and Foucault's notion of governmentality serve as touchstones for the re-interpretation of the push/pull factors based on the examination of the interrelations among three Japanese social systems of family, education, and employment. The analysis reveals the complexity of the push/pull factors. Moreover, the interviewees' image of a "simple Canada," which also contributes to their decision to immigrate, is explained in terms of the "double complexity" of Japanese society stemming from both the complexity of modern society and the complexity of an amalgam of "modern" and "pre-modern" elements in Japanese society. Through an extensive examination of the correlations between the experiences of contemporary Japanese migrants and Japanese social systems, this study brings new insights to discussions on tensions between human agency and social structure, and the importance of intangible, mental images in the ways people shape their lives.

This thesis is an exploration of the novel Taigan no Kanojo (Woman on the Other Bank, 2004) by Japanese writer Kakuta Mitsuyo (1967- ). A biography of the author is presented first, covering Kakuta’s writing to date and the personal circumstances that have influenced her body of work. To my knowledge this is the first in-depth biography prepared, in English or Japanese, of Kakuta Mitsuyo. The next section of this thesis is a discussion of the text. Kakuta is deeply critical of the status of women in Japanese society, and uses Taigan no Kanojo as a platform to make her readers aware of her views. She probes employment conventions that limit women’s choices and the difficulties that women face when they try to combine motherhood with work outside the home. She asks her reader to reconsider what should define ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in terms of women’s lives. This section, therefore, explores these themes, and places the novel firmly within its social background. Lastly, in order to make the novel that forms the focus of this thesis accessible to a non-Japanese readership, translations of Chapters One and 15, and synopses of Chapters Two through 14 are then provided.

This dissertation examines the socio-cultural conditions of Japanese society as reflected in factors that induce recent Japanese immigration to Canada. The examination is based on interview research done with six female and six male Japanese immigrants living in Vancouver, who arrived in Canada after the mid-1990s. While previous migration studies emphasized political-economic conditions as the causes of migration flow, the narratives of these interviewees reveal a different migratory pattern that is motivated by spiritual well-being and life values. In order to encapsulate the complexity of contemporary migration flow, the push/pull factors that induced interviewees' emigration are thematically categorized and analyzed within a frame that emphasizes both these factors' interdependence with the interrelationships of Japanese social systems that have swayed the interviewees' decision to emigrate from Japan, and the nature of complexity in Japanese society. Showing the pluralism of these factors, they are categorized into nine themes: 1)physical environment; 2) spiritual enrichment and a stress-reduced life style; 3) socio-cultural constraints; 4) family life; 5) education; 6) age restrictions; 7) gender roles; 8)diversification, and 9) self-actualization. Luhmann's theory of social systems and Foucault's notion of governmentality serve as touchstones for the re-interpretation of the push/pull factors based on the examination of the interrelations among three Japanese social systems of family, education, and employment. The analysis reveals the complexity of the push/pull factors. Moreover, the interviewees' image of a "simple Canada," which also contributes to their decision to immigrate, is explained in terms of the "double complexity" of Japanese society stemming from both the complexity of modern society and the complexity of an amalgam of "modern" and "pre-modern" elements in Japanese society. Through an extensive examination of the correlations between the experiences of contemporary Japanese migrants and Japanese social systems, this study brings new insights to discussions on tensions between human agency and social structure, and the importance of intangible, mental images in the ways people shape their lives. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The thesis addresses the reception and consumption of Japanese fashion in the U.K. between 1980 and 2006 and concomitant constructions of Japanese identity in the critical discourses surrounding fashion. It examines the impacts of the sartorial traffic emanating from the Japanese fashion system, the creative outputs of which are polarised in Western critical thought as either unreflective cultural borrowings (Japanisation, appropriation) or as embodying an unfathomable Eastern aesthetic (zen, wabi/sabi, wa). Building on a substantive account of the cultural impacts of the initial encounters with the West, the investigation identifies sites where Japanese sartorial culture is consumed in the form of text, image and artefact. A variety of methodological approaches are mobilised in the analysis of data from retail outlets, cultural institutions and media publications. Material pertaining to "high-concept designers" whose outputs are largely consumed within visual and intellectual contexts is balanced by that from "high street apparel makers" operating in a more commercially-oriented manner. Findings regarding the role of an "intermediate matrix" of designers/brands employing creative approaches and retail strategies that supersede issues of culture, race and historicity are presented in order to map a creative continuum in contemporary Japanese fashion design. In addressing the imbrications of Japanese identity and contemporary sartorial practice, the thesis interrogates research findings from creative, commercial, critical, curatorial and mass media sources within a framework of existing academic accounts of the construction of Japan in the Western mind. The conclusion articulates new readings of the nature of "Japanese-ness" available to a globally connected audience and identifies a gendered differentiation between visual representations of Japanese-designed fashion mediated through the gatekeepers of sartorial culture in the United Kingdom.

O tema deste trabalho é a hierarquia na sociedade japonesa contemporânea. Partindo de contribuições de autores clássicos como Ruth Benedict e Nakane Chie, a presente tese pretende fornecer uma descrição e análise das relações sociais japonesas. A análise é embasada na teoria da estruturação, principalmente na concepção de consciência discursiva. Para tanto, a família, a escola, as empresas japonesas, a relação sempai-kohai, assim como relações com a classe social e a estratificação são enfocadas. A conclusão é a de que a relação sempai-kohai é a principal referência, e também que a família tem perdido a importância para definição da hierarquia na sociedade Japonesa. / The subject of this work is the hierarchic aspects in contemporary Japanese society. Starting from the contributions of classic authors like Ruth Benedict and Nakane Chie, this thesis aims at providing a description and an analysis of Japanese social relations. The approach is based on structuration theory, laying mainly on the conception of discursive consciousness. For such a purpose, the Japanese family, the school, the enterprise, the relation sempai-kohai, as relations with the concepts of social class and stratification are focused. The conclusion is that the relation sempai-kohai is the major reference and also that the family have lost its importance to the definition of hierarchy in Japan society.