SISEA 475/575

JAPANESE SOCIETY

Winter Quarter, 2008

Andrea G. Arai

Office: Thomson 436Classroom: Smith 105

Office Hours: Tues. 4:30-5:30 or by appoint.

Class Time: T, Th 2:30-4:20

Course Website:

Course Content:

The course focuses on the social transformations of the post-WWII period of

the economic miracle through the recession of the 1990s and the emerging social

forms of the present. One of the main themes of the course will be changing

notions of (and conflicts over) identity and difference. We will be exploring these

notions and struggles through readings, films, speakers, lecture, discussion and

individual and group projects on: education and youth, the family, work,

technology and consumer society, gender roles, crime and security, popular

culture and militarization.

Course Requirements and Evaluation:

Students are expected to be present at all class sessions, prepare the assigned readings carefully (this will be discussed further during the first few weeks of class, and have all pertinent readings with you on the day of class. You are also required to participate in the Go-Post discussion board, and meet scheduled deadlines for your take-home midterm and final writing assignment, in-class presentations, and final project. The readings and concepts build on each other, so preparation for class sessions, attention and good note-taking during class, and participation in-class is very important.

Go-Posts and Participation:

Go-Post is an electronic bulletin board set up for the class. There is a link to the board on the course website. This is probably the most efficient way for you to access it. The assigned postings on Go-post are intended to get you to think carefully and deeply about the readings, as well as, help us develop discussion in class. They will also serve as a resource for review for the take-home midterm and final project.

They should be a paragraph in length (though they can be longer) and should consist of a close commentaryon some part of the reading(s).It is also helpful when they include a question, observation or insight you had about the readings to share with the class.

I especially value postings that make thoughtful connections to other readings that we have done for the course, with my lectures, and/or with our ongoing discussions on Go-post and in the classroom. As we go along, you will see that the readings “speak to each other” and as you are able, you should make every effort to articulate the relations you see between them.

One of the main objectives of these postings as a ‘low stakes’ writing exercise is to build your competency with class material for the midterm exam and for the final project.

To receive full credit, postings must be completed by the time noted on the weekly schedule. Each posting is worth 1 point and there are 17 postings noted on the syllabus.You are required to complete 15 of them or a total of 15 points. You can earn an extra point for each one above 15 that you complete according to the content and time requirements above-noted.

Midterm:

The midterm will be take-home and open-book and notes. It will be handed out on Feb. 14th and due back on the 21st. It will cover most of the major themes of the course. There is no final exam for this course,but there will be a separate take-home writing assignment covering the final weeks of the course. The midterm is worth 25 points.

Final Writing Assignment:

This assignment, like the midterm, will be take-home and open book and note. It will focus on readings and discussion following the midterm exam from 2/19—3/13. You will be asked to choose two of the readings during this section of the course—they can be from different weeks and on different subjects--and discuss how they have added to your understanding of Japanese society. You may choose to expand upon two of your Go-post postings as the basis for this assignment. You may also use it as a way to think through how some of the readings in the second section of the course inform your mini-project.

Japan Focus Article:

As the first stage in the preparation of your mini-project for this class, you will choose an article from the on-line journal “Japan Focus” on a theme relating to Japanese Society, either one that is covered on the syllabus or project list, or one about which you have talked to me. You will present this article in a small-group format during one of the final weeks of the course. I recommend beginning to look at the past and present offerings of this journal as soon as possible. You should choose your article by mid-February. I will pass around a sign-up sheet on Feb. 19th in class for the title, author, and date of your article. The small-group presentation of your article will be done in class on Feb. 26th.You should use a detailed outline for your presentation to the group that you will hand in to me following the presentation. “Japan Focus” is a very high quality online resource about Japan and the Asia-Pacific that is published weekly. The link to the journal will be available on our website.

Mini-Project:

The mini-project will be your culminating work for this class. This is an opportunity for you to work on something of your choice related to Japanese Society. Your “Japan Focus” for the 2/26 small group presentations can be one of your bibliographic references, but it does not have to be. You will need three main sources in all. You may rely on more than one “Japan Focus” article and more than two outside sources if you wish, but your three main sources should be the ones that inform your discussion most strongly. Your other written sources can be drawn from the optional readings listed on most weeks, from references to additional outside sources made during class time, and/or from the project list of readings included in each week and continued on blackboard. Other sources should be cleared with the instructor by email, during office hours, or following class on most days. One of the three main sources may also be from literary or visual culture, including a work of fiction, film, TV show, or other media or popular event in Japan. (More detail on how to use these other sources will be provided following the Midterm Exam). Your project idea and first proposal of these sources (these may change up until the end of the term) will be due on 2/28 following the presentation of your “Japan Focus” article (you may hand this in sooner if you would like). Presentations of the mini-projects will take place on our final exam day, Tues. March 18th. Other students in the group will provide feedback that can be incorporated into the write-up of the mini-projects. The project write-up (5-7 pages in length) plus bibliography is due by Thurs. March 20th (noon at the latest) in my box in Thomson, or sent electronically.

Evaluation:

Go-post discussion postings on course readings 15 points

Midterm 25 points

Final Writing Assignment 15 points

“Japan Focus” Article Review on Project Topic 15 points

Project Idea and Bibliography10 points

Write-up and Presentation20 points

Total100 points

*Extra Credit points are available for additional go-post postings beyond the required 15, and for attendance and participation at Japan Studies talks scheduled during winter term and noted in the weekly schedule. Each additional posting (on time and according to the content requirements is worth 1 pt.) Attendance at the Japan Studies talks and short write-up of what you learned at the talk is worth 2 pts. and is highly recommended!

Required Books:

1) Simon Partner, Assembled in Japan: Electrical Goods and the Making of the Japanese Consumer. University of California Press, 1999.

2) Kaori Okano and Motonori Tsuchiya, Education in Contemporary Japan: Inequality

and Diversity. Cambridge U. Press, 1999

3) Robert S. Yoder, Youth Deviance in Japan, Trans Pacific Press, 2004.

4) Amy Borovoy, The Too-Good Wife: Alcohol, Codependency and the Politics of

Nurturance in Postwar Japan. University of California Press, 2005.

Recommended:

Andrew Gordon (ed.) Postwar Japan as History. University of California Press, 1993.

Optional:

Sabine Fruhstuck, Uneasy Warriors: Gender, Memory, and Popular Culture in the

Japanese Army, University of California Press, 2007.

Shorter Readings: The shorter readings listed in the class schedule below will be available as PDF copies through the library e-reserves listed for this class. To access Ereserves: Go to UW Libs., click on Course Reserves, Search by Instructor, Sign in with UW ID., Accept Copyright, and find pdf. in list.

CLASS SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE

1/8:Introduction to Course, Individual Background and Interests in Japanese Society

1/10:“Inventing, Forgetting, Remembering” and Developing the new Nation

Readings:

  • Simon Partner, “Electrifying Japan: Techno-Nationalism and the Rise of Mass Society,” in Assembled in Japan, pgs. 7-14.
  • Takahashi Fujitani, “Inventing, Forgetting, Remembering: Toward a Historical Ethnography of the Nation-State” in Cultural Nationalism in East Asia (ed. Harumi Befu), Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1993. Pgs. 77-89 (pdf. in Ereserves)

Optional: Fujitani, pg. 90-106.

*Go-Post Posting #1 (Due by Noon)

WEEK TWO

1/15: Envisioning the Postwar Nation and Society

Readings:

  • Simon Partner, “Reenvisioning Japan” pgs. 15-43 & 44-70.
  • Andrew Gordon, “Japan Reborn” in The Wages of Affluence: Labor and Management in Postwar Japan, Harvard U. Press, 1998, pgs.4-19 pdf in Ereserves

*Go-Post Posting #2 (Due by Noon)

1/17: Technology and Consumer Society

Reading:

  • Assembled in Japan. Chapt. 5 “Creating the “Bright Light” pgs. 137-156.

Optional: pgs. 157-192.

*Go-Post Posting #3 (Due by Noon)

WEEK THREE

1/22: New Realities of Society under the “Economic Miracle”

Readings:

  • Assembled in Japan, Chapt. 6, “Nimble Fingers and the Transistor Radio, pgs. 193-224
  • Koji Taira, “Dialectics of Economic Growth, National Power and

Distributive Struggles, in Postwar Japan as History, pgs. 167-186

pdf in Ereserves

*Go-Post Posting #4 (Due by Noon)

Optional:

  • Marilyn Ivy, “Formations of Mass Culture,” in A. Gordon, Postwar Japan as History, pgs. 239-258. pdf. in Ereserves
  • A. Gordon, “Managing Society for Business” in Wages of Affluence: Labor and Management in Postwar Japan, pgs. 174-194. pdf. in Ereserves

1/24: New Ideologies of Society under the “Economic Miracle”

Readings:

  • Ross Mouer and Yoshio Sugimoto, “Japanese Society: Stereotypes and Realities” in Images of Japanese Society, 1986. pgs. 1-18 pdf in Ereserves
  • William Kelly, “Finding a Place in Metropolitan Japan: Ideologies, Institutions and Everyday Life,” in A. Gordon, Postwar Japan as History, pgs. 189-216. pdf in Ereserves

*Go-Post Posting #5 (Due by Noon)

Optional:

  • Chie Nakane, “The Overall Structure of Society” in Japanese Society, University of California Press, 1970. Pgs. 87-103. pdf in Ereserves

WEEK FOUR

1/29:Schooling and Society, the Place/Role of Education in Postwar Japan

Readings:

  • Okano and Tsuchiya, Preface and Chapt. 2 in Education in Contemporary Japan. Pgs. xi-xvi & 13-52.
  • Thomas Rohlen, Introduction and “University Entrance Exams: A National Obsession,” in Japan’s High Schools, University of California Press, 1983, pgs. 1-7 & 77-93.

*Go-Post Posting #6 (Due by Noon)

Optional:

  • Thomas Rohlen, Japan’s High Schools, pgs. 93-110.

Project Readings:

  • Horio Teruhisa, xi-xxii and pg. 106-129, “Democratizing Education and Liberating the Japanese Spirit” in Educational Thought and Ideology in Modern Japan pdf. Ereserves
  • Andrea Arai, “When National Futures No Longer Guarantee Personal Ones, the Juku and Everyday Life in late 20th Century Japan” Unpublished Manuscript, pdf. Ereserves
  • Eika Tai, “Multicultural Education in Japan, “Japan Focus,”

1/31:Schooling Problems and Difference

Readings:

  • Okano and Tsuchiya, “Problems and Reforms in the 80s and 90s” pgs. 194-234.
  • Margaret Lock, “Flawed Jewels and National Dis-Order: Narratives on Adolescent Dissent in Japan,” in The Journal of Psychohistory, 18 (4), Spring, 1991. Pgs. 508-529 pdf. Ereserves

*Go-Post Posting #7 (Due by Noon)

Optional (Schooling Problems and Difference (continued))

  • Robert Yoder, “Class Ecology, High School Rank and Misbehavior,” in Youth Deviance in Japan, pgs. 41-57.
  • Norma Field, “The Child as Laborer and Consumer” in S. Stephens (ed.) Children and the Politics of Culture., pgs. 51-78. pdf. Ereserves

Project Readings:

  • Andrea Arai, “Homes, Schools and Collapse,” Unpublished Manuscript. pdf. Ereserves
  • Horio, Teruhisa. “The Crisis in Japanese Education Today,” pgs. 3-18. pdf. Ereserves
  • Hae-joang Cho, “Children in the Examination War in South Korea: A Cultural Analysis,” in S Stephens (ed.), Children and the Politics of Culture, pgs. 141-168.

Pdf. ereserves

WEEK FIVE

2/5: Gender and Japanese Society: Women and Too-Good Wives

  • Amy Borovoy, Introduction and Chapts. 1, in The Two-Good Wife, pgs. 1-41 & 42-66.

*Go-Post Posting #8 (Due by Noon)

Optional:

  • Sandra Buckley,”The Body-Politics of “Being-Woman,” in Postwar Japan as History, pgs. 347-371. pdf. Ereserves
  • Ueno, Chizuko. “The Japanese women’s movement: the counter-values to Industrialism,” in The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond, (eds. G. McCormack and Y. Sugimoto), pdf. Ereserves

Project Readings:

  • Sabine Fruhstuck, “Feminist Militarists,” in Uneasy Warriors, pgs. 86-115.

pdf. Ereserves

  • Karen Kelsky, “Internationalism as Resistance,” in Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams, Duke University Press, pgs. 85-132.

Pdf. Ereserves

  • Miyako Inoue, “Defamiliarizing Women’s Language: Strategies and Tactics of Female Office Workers,” in Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan, University of California Press, 2006, pgs. 252-277.

Pdf. Ereserves

  • Yuko Ogasawara, “The Japanese Labor Market and Office Ladies,” in Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies.

Pdf. Ereserves

  • Anne Allison, “Male Rituals and Masculinity,” in Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club, pgs. 143-167.

2/7: The Mother and Family in Japanese Society

Readings:

  • Amy Borovoy, Chapt. 2., in The Too-Good Wife, pgs. 67-85
  • Nishikawa Yuko, “The Modern Family System: Uniques or Universal,” in Multicultural Japan: Paleolithic to Postmodern, Cambridge University Press, Ed. By Donald Denoon et al., pgs. 224-234.

*Go-Post Posting #9 (Due by Noon)

Optional: (The Mother and Family in Japanese Society, continued)

  • Amy Borovoy, Conclusion: The Home as a Feminist Dilemma, pgs. 161-176.
  • Anne Allison, “Producing Mothers,” in Permitted and Prohibited Desires, pgs. 105-122. pdf. Ereserves
  • Kathleen Uno, “The Death of Good Wife, Wise Mother,” in Postwar Japan as History,pdf. Ereserves

Project Readings:

  • Merry White, “Families in Postwar Japan: Democracy and Reconstuction,” in Perfectly Japanese: Making Families in an Era of Upheaval, U. of Calif. Press, 2001, pgs. 63-96. pdf. Ereserves
  • Fujiwara Chisa, “Single Mothers and Welfare Reform in Japan: Gender and Class Dimensions of Income and Employment.” “Japan Focus”
  • Anne Allison, “Family and Home” in Nightwork, pgs. 102-113.

WEEK SIX

2/12: Film Day: “Family Game”

** Also optional viewing of “Battle Royale” with Global Futures Seminar, 11:30-1:30pm (Balmer 311)

2/14: The Question of Crime and Social Control

Readings:

  • Robert Yoder, Introduction, Chapts. 4 & 5 Youth Deviance in Japan, pgs. 1-21,58-89 & 90-125.

*Go-Post Posting #10 (Due by Noon)

Optional:

  • R. Mouer and Y. Sugimoto, “Social Control: The Fine Blend of Controls” in Images of Japanese Society, pgs. 252-263.
  • Peter Hill, Introduction and “Heisei Yakusa: Burst Bubble and Boutaihou” in The Japanese Mafia: Yakusa, Law and the State, Oxford, 2003, pgs.177-247. pdf Ereserves
  • Minoru Shikita and Shinichi Tsuchiya, An Overview of the Criminal Justice System in Japan, “Trends in Penal Code Offenses in Crime and Criminal Policy in Japan, Springer-Verlag, 1992, pgs.xiii-xxxviii, 16-37.pdf. Ereserves

Project Readings:

  • David Ambaras, Introduction and “Juvenile Delinquency and the National Defense State,” in Bad Youth: Juvenile Delinquency and the

Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Japan. pdf. Ereserves

  • Marilyn Ivy, “Tracking the Mystery Man with the 21 Faces,” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Autumn, 1996) pp. 11-36. pdf. Ereserves

Take-Home Midterm (due on Thurs. 21st in my box, Thomson, 4th floor)

WEEK SEVEN

2/19:The Changing Sense of Personal Security: “Jiken” Youth and Foreigner

Readings:

  • Andrea Arai, “The Wild Child of 1990s Japan” in Japan after Japan (eds. T. Yoda and H. Harootunian). pdf Ereserves
  • Thomas Ellis and Koichi Hamai, “Crime and Punishment in Japan: From Re-integrative Shaming to Popular Punitivism,” Japan Focus, http//japanfocus.org/products/topdf/2340

*Go-Post Posting #11 (Due by Noon)

**Title, author and date of Japan Focus article due in class

Optional:

  • Debito Arudou, “Upping the Fear Factor,” Japan Times, 2/20/07

pdf. Ereserves

  • Debito Arudou, “Gaijin Hanzai Magazine and Hate Speech in Japan: the newfound power of Japan’s international residents, in “Japan Focus”

2/21: Film Day: TBA

WEEK EIGHT

**Monday, 2/25 3:30pm, Marilyn Ivy (Columbia University)

“The World as Super-flat,” Denny 401, Anth. Colloquium, Sponsored by Japan Studies.

2/26:Class Visit by Marilyn Ivy & “Japan Focus” Article Presentations

Readings:

  • M. Ivy, “The World as Superflat…” (Full title to-be-added) pdf. Ereserves
  • “Japan Focus”, Choice Article

*Go-post Posting #12

Optional:

  • M. Ivy, “National-Cultural Phantasms and Modernity’s Losses, in Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan, Chicago, 1995. Pgs. 1-28.pdf. Ereserves

2/ 28: The Bubble Bursts and the Social Transformations of Fukeiki (economic downturn)

Readings:

  • Tomiko Yoda, “A Roadmap to Millennial Japan,” in Japan After Japan, pdf. Ereserves
  • Andrea G. Arai, “Recession and Crisis Narratives, ” Unpublished Manuscript, pdf. Ereserves

*Go-Post Posting #13 (Due by Noon)

**Project Idea and Tentative Bibliography Due

WEEK NINE

3/4: The changing nature of work, education and the youth in Japanese Society

Readings:

  • Genda Yuji, Preface, Prologue and Chapts. 1 & 2 in A Nagging Sense of Job Insecurity. Pgs. 1-50. pdf Ereserves
  • Andrea G. Arai, “The Neoliberal Subject of Lack and Potential: Developing the Frontier Within and Creating a Reserve Army of Labor,” in Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge, Issue 10, Spring, 2005.

*Go-Post Posting #14 (Due by Noon)