At the beginning of the Edo period (1600-1868 CE) the Japanese Tokugawa shōgunate enforced the famous closed country policy. During the period of isolation that would ensue until the Meiji Restoration, mathematics flourished like never before. The new tradition that arose was rich and diverse, with mathematics manifesting itself through different practitioners in many different ways. And, for the first time in Japanese history, mathematics began to diverge from Chinese practice, developing a uniquely Japanese identity. Because of this, we therefore can look to Edo mathematics with the expectation that it can especially clearly illustrate cultural variability in the practice of mathematics if it is the case that there exists such. The present thesis examines whether cultural-contextual factors from within the isolated Edo environment impacted individual practitioners of mathematics to result in the variation and uniqueness that appeared. Also, it highlights and addresses what the consequences might be for historians, philosophers, and mathematicians if such an influence did occur.

Das Land des Lächelns zeigt unter Ministerpräsident Abe zunehmend fratzenhaftere Züge. Japans im negativen Sinne „reizvolle“ Politik irritiert nicht nur seine nächsten Nachbarn China und Korea. Auch die USA sind beunruhigt über das provokante Verhalten ihres Partners im Bündnisfalle. Territorialstreitigkeiten drohen zu eskalieren, die Auseinandersetzung mit der wenig ruhmreichen Vergangenheit wird verweigert. Läuft Japan Gefahr, sämtliche Sympathien zu verspielen?

Technology in Japan has reached ubiquitous status and its development is one of the main priorities of state policy. which includes a wide range of programs aimed at increasing the involvement of IT in everyday life as an improvement of both society and humanity itself. On the other hand, there seems to be resistance among citizens of western countries to accept refrigerators able to tell you that you are almost out of eggs, or cars that remind you to fasten the safety belt or check your breath for the presence of alcohol before you can drive. There seems to he resistance for us to talk to machines as if they were alive. The question thus emerges: why are the Japanese so conscious about technologies? What is there in Japanese spirituality, tradition, history, or ideology that facilitates the acceptance of Information Technologies and Artificial intelligence as not only an integral part of daily life, but in fact as forms of actual consciousness? This thesis will deal with two aspects of contemporary life of Japanese - technologies and Shinto as a part of daily routine. These two aspects lead us to the concept of posthumanism as well as a religious concept of Shinto as a way of life in Japan. The questions arising from this approach are why and how information technologies are related to Shinto. Why is this relation almost inevitable? To answer these questions, this thesis will analyze the personification of technology in both Japanese animated film and in consumer products. / Graduate

Demand for equal rights tends to be accompanied by assimilation of ethnic subordinates while the recognition of their separate identity is liable to justify unfair segregation. When an ethnic minority is aware of this dilemma, what identity are they to claim and what ideology do they present? By looking at contemporary local activism in Okinawa, Japan, this dissertation tries to give an empirical answer to this question. In Okinawans' historical experience, both their sameness as and difference from the Japanese turned out to be disadvantageous for the people. Local activists can support neither their Japanese identity nor Okinawan identity. As a result, although they struggled against the central power of the state, their activism can not be fully embraced within the category of multiculturalist movements. The body of this dissertation consists of a historical reconstruction of citizens' movements and a sociological analysis of activists' discourse on Okinawa-Japan relations. The ethnography focuses on a particular generation of educated local people, who form the mainstream of local activists in post-reversion Okinawa, and tries to illuminate what impact the reversion movement had on them and how it shaped their thought and actions thereafter. Chapter 1 describes the way in which Okinawan intellectuals re-contextualise obsolete religious tradition into their environmentalist or pacifist movements. Chapter 2 addresses the moral ambiguity of modern collective identities and demonstrates, with the Japanese as an example, that moral values change depending on transient international power relations. Chapter 3 focuses on the empirical historical context, the reversion movement, in which a category of Okinawan intellectuals realised this moral ambiguity. Chapter 4 examines an expression of regional identity, the Ryukyuan Arc, by which Okinawan activists tried to overcome the principle of modern social collectivity. Chapter 5 discusses how Okinawans' perception has historically changed in regard to their position in Japanese society.

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Typescript. / Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 370-391. / xviii, 391 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

This exploratory study follows existing theory and analysis of mass media product and its audience analysis. It aims to analyse how audience members utilise a popular anime in Japan for their construction and reconstruction of sense of self, which is referred to as socialisation. Academic research has increasingly shed light on audience members??? socialisation by utilising mass media products in encompassing academic fields such as media studies, communication studies and cultural studies. It is widely agreed that the content of mass media products play a significant role in their socialisation. This study takes up a Japanese anime, Mononoke Hime as a sample case for investigating audience members??? socialization. Through the analysis of reactions of audience members to Mononoke Hime, it will be investigated how audience members interpret the anime reflecting one???s experience in the society relating the experience to the content of Mononoke Hime. It will be clarified that the audience members of the anime construct and reconstruct their sense of self, morals and values in the society, that is, they utilize the anime as a facility for their socialization. The data of this study are collected comments which are compiled in a published magazine and private comments posted on Internet sites. 133 comments in the magazine and 32 comments on Internet sites are selected for the analysis. The data were analysed by two analytical approaches. The first analysis is to see how the consulted viewers established their relationship with the anime, while the second analysis is to see how the viewers depicted and interpreted the content of the anime. This study concluded that the consulted audience members show high level of ideological involvement with the anime; they depict parts of the anime relating to their experience in the real life and talk the anime seriously rather than playfully enjoy it as an entertainment. By analysing the comments of consulted audience members, it is also revealed that the audience members take characters of the anime as a role model both in cross gender and gender based ways.

The Hanshin (阪神) and Hankyu (阪急) Railway lines run parallel from Umeda, Osaka to Sannomiya, Kobe; Hankyu passing through the area closest to the mountains and Hanshin traversing the lowland closest to the coast. Frequent riding of their separate trains by the researcher yielded two very distinct travelling experiences. Upon enquiry, friends and colleagues readily acknowledged these characteristics- describing the Hankyu area as ??fashionable?? (おしゃれ) and ??wealthy?? (お金持ち); whereas the area surrounding the Hanshin line was portrayed as ??noisy?? (にぎやか) and of a place of ??commoners?? (庶民). Despite having these perceptions, however, they were uncertain as to their causes. The purpose of this thesis is to research the story behind distinctions in the urban space surrounding two railway lines. Further, it aims to investigate the extent to which two private railway groups have, through their diversified businesses, contributed in some way to these perceived distinctions. It is an examination that requires a study of place; particularly one that investigates the locational attributes of the region, like its physical geography, and processes exogenous and endogenous to the two corporations. The former processes are ones that originated outside the corporations, notably economic and industrial growth and social change. The latter are ones that originated within the corporations, particularly their management structures, oligopolistic competition, corporate brands, and consumption. The research draws on various facets of the geographical tradition: it stems from transport geography to pursue the geography of the city, themes of place-making, and consumption. Embodied in these are the important subjects of history, culture, corporate behaviour and the economy. In particular, this thesis considers the popular view which states that transport is a ??permissive factor rather than a direct stimulus?? (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998: 13). By bringing transport geography in touch with other sub-disciplines, to consider the historical and cultural significance of transport from a contemporary perspective, this thesis concludes that transport can, as in the case of Japanese private urban railways, have a direct influence on place.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Vita. Bibliography: L. [312]-319.