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Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The evolution of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) over the past fifty years has created debate in Japan's Parliament over its legality, purpose, direction and normalization. The JSDF appears to be taking steps to "normalize." If so, what are the indicators and have any of the steps been achieved? This thesis analyzes the trends of the JSDF in its evolution from a National Police Reserve to a self-defense force as to the roles and missions that it has chosen to accept or reject. Also, the issues that arise out of Article 9 in Japan's Constitution are examined to determine if there is a conflict in interpretation. Japan's major political parties' views on Article 9 and the JSDF are presented in order to determine where they stand on the issues. Japan's regional neighbors and their possible reactions to a normalization of the JSDF are presented, in addition to other factors that will either aid or impede the normalization of the JSDF. Finally, recommendations regarding the United States' approach to engaging a normalized Japan are presented. The basic conclusion of the thesis is that Japan will normalize the JSDF and United States policy should be to encourage and engage Japan's normalization. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

This thesis analyzes the ways in which the Japanese state uses the disabled body and disability athletics as a tool of governance and how that affects the incorporation of disabled people into Japanese society. Throughout Japan's history the disability identity has been a subject of negotiation between social actors including the government, general public, those with disabilities, and powerful international collectives. After World War II, disabled former soldiers were celebrated for their national sacrifice while other disabled bodies were displaced. In later decades, disability athletics became a space where the symbol of the ideal disabled body has been promoted for public consumption. On the stage of athletics, various actors have shaped and influenced each other by advocating different visions of the disabled body in Japanese society. Disabled athletes negotiate depictions of disability as idealized (the 'super crip') or stigmatized (the 'pitiable disabled person'), and these depictions in turn create public expectations for what the disabled body should be but at times glosses over the struggles of many disabled people. The purpose of this thesis is to consider how notions of the disabled body are used to negotiate nationalism, modern ideas of care and social responsibility, and expectations to become a body of inspiration for the disabled community and the general public. The core question is: What are the implications of the disabled body being used as a tool on the stage of disability athletics for governance in modern day Japan? The thesis will provide a basis for deeper understanding about the relevance of disability athletics as both a form of governance and a site of identity formation for the disabled.

This paper deals with the reforms in the Japanese economy after year 2001. The goal is to describe and assess the most importanr reforms. The first part deals with the PM Koizumi's reforms (in office 2001 - 2006). The second part is about reforms after Koizumi's withdrawal till the onset of a new government in September 2009. The last part deals with the planned reforms of the current cabinet.

Les Japonais semblent avoir une prédilection pour la peinture impressionniste. Des expositions y sont consacrées chaque année et une foule anonyme d'amateurs s'y précipitent. Pour la réception des œuvres d'art dans la société, il est nécessaire non seulement que la notion d'art soit partagée, mais aussi les facteurs qui permettent son fonctionnement- les musées, les expositions, les spectateurs et les collectionneurs. Comment ce pays, le Japon, situé culturellement et géographiquement loin de l'Europe, s'est-il imprégné de cette notion étrangère à sa culture et devenir l'un des premiers consommateurs de peinture impressionniste? Cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier la réception et la diffusion de la peinture impressionniste au Japon entre 1945 et 1985. Dans la première partie, nous nous intéresserons aux différentes parties prenantes du système de l'art au Japon, acteurs et vecteurs de la réception et la diffusion des peintures impressionnistes: les grands quotidiens, les grands magasins, les collections, l'enseignement de l'art, les reproductions. Les grands quotidiens jouèrent un rôle important en tant qu'organisateurs d'expositions et les grands magasins, en tant qu'importants lieux d'exposition. Dans la deuxième partie, nous nous focaliserons sur quatre peintres - Monet, Renoir, Cézanne et Van Gogh - que les Japonais englobent dans le mouvement impressionniste (lnshô-ha, ayant acquis une popularité particulièrement importante, et dont la réception et la diffusion se sont produites de manières différentes. En se concentrant sur la peinture impressionniste, notre étude décrit également la vulgarisation de la notion d'art au Japon. / The Japanese seem to have a predilection for the impressionist paintings. Exhibitions gathering their paintings are organized every year and crowds of fans visit them. The reception of works of art in a society depends not only on a shared concept of Art, but also on the factors allowing the operation of Art - the museums, exhibitions, viewers and collectors. How did this country, culturally and geographically located so far from Europe, absorb this concept strange 10 their culture and become one of the most important consumers of Impressionist painting? This thesis aims to study the reception and the dissemination of Impressionist painting in Japan between 1945 and 1985. In the first part, I focus on the different stakeholders of the Art system in Japan, actors and vectors of the reception and dissemination of Impressionist paintings: major newspapers, department stores, art collections, art education, reproductions. Major newspapers played an important role as organizers of exhibitions and department stores, as important venues. In the second part, I study the reception of four pa inters - Monet, Renoir, Cezanne and Van Gogh - which the Japanese consider as Impressionists (lnshô-ha), who have gained a particularly significant popularity and whose reception and dissemination occurred in different ways. Focusing on Impressionist painting, our study also describes the expansion of the concept of Art in Japan.

Thesis advisor: John B. Williamson / Today, against the backdrop of the demographic pressures to delay the retirement of older workers, sociologists of aging have begun exploring the impact of national labor market institutions on individual workers’ experiences of aging. Using semi-structured, life story interview data drawn from a sample of 52 male workers in the Tokyo area (born between 1940 and 1953), this dissertation research has contributed to uncovering the ways in which the institution of lifetime employment – the most foundational labor market institution of contemporary Japan – uses age to control individuals’ perceptions and behaviors over the course of their working lives. This dissertation research includes data from pre-mandatory retirement older workers (n=29, aged 55-59) and post-mandatory retirement older workers (n=23, aged 60-68). Based on a social constructionist perspective, this dissertation research has explored three areas of these workers’ experiences of aging over the course of their working lives: (1) perceived instances of being subjected to age discrimination; (2) changes to their attitudes toward these age discrimination experiences; and (3) changes to their self-concepts as workers. A series of thematic data analyses of the interview data, drawn with a life course approach and a grounded theory method, has generated two sets of findings. First, the pre-mandatory retirement experiences of aging of the interview participants (n=52) have contributed to uncovering and describing a social process through which ‘older workers’ are socially constructed within the institutional framework of lifetime employment. Second, the research has found that after mandatory retirement, the post-mandatory retirement workers (n=23) rejected the label of ‘older workers’ and critically viewed lifetime employment as a 'total institution' (Goffman 1961), essentially an institution of social control, harmful to workers in their later working lives. This dissertation research has contributed to the literature by demonstrating that the lifetime employment institution in Japan serves as an intensive age-based social control mechanism that has constructed and reproduced ‘older workers’ in the country’s labor force. Based on the findings of post-mandatory retirement experience of aging, this dissertation research also suggests that the Japanese government should find ways to mitigate the social exclusion, marginalization, and stigmatization that workers experience in their post-mandatory retirement working lives. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

Dans cette thèse, nous allons aborder le problème de l'interprétation et de la compréhension de l'image filmique en traitant des vues du Cinématographe Lumière, et en particulière des films tournés au Japon. Nous devons ici confronter plusieurs points de vue pour différencier des lectures diverses, par exemple un point de vue historique et un socioculturel. Notre point de vue actuel sur les images du Japon prises par des Français à la fin 19e siècle est très éloigné de celui du spectateur du Cinématographe à cette époque-là. Cette distance est un des intérêts majeurs de la thèse, car aucune personne ne peut échapper au point de vue provenant de sa propre culture lors de sa rencontre avec l'extérieur. / In this thesis, we address the problem of the interpretation and understanding of the cinematic image, analyzing films by the Cinematograph Lumière, especially films shot in Japan. Here we must confront several points of view to differentiate various translations, such as a historical perspective and a sociocultural perspective. Our current point of view of the images of Japan taken by two French operators in the late 19th century is really far from the point of view of a spectator at the time of the Cinematograph. This distance is a major interest of the thesis, because no one, when confronted with a foreign culture, can escape from his own point of view based on his own culture.