This anthology presents a survey of recent scholarship on Japanese literature—classical, postwar, and contemporary—and Japan studies from both established and up-and-coming academics based in the West and East. This collection of cutting-edge scholarship offers a snapshot of the current state of Japan studies in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The first section of the book considers the Heian period and its literature from the perspective of female authors and their works. The second part explores postwar prose and poetry, as well as the writing of contemporary author Haruki Murakami, relating them all to issues present in Japan’s wider society. Finally, the third section puts Japan and its writings within the global context, comparing them with other historical, cultural and linguistic milieus, and considering the role of translation in representing Japanese literature to the world.
How do you earn the MEXT scholarship for graduate studies in Japan? Mastering the MEXT Scholarship Application: The TranSenz Guide is your step-by-step guide to the scholarship application process and maximizing your chances of success. Regardless of whether you're hearing about the scholarship for the first time or if you have experience applying in the past, this series will take you from being just one more applicant hoping to get lucky to creating and applying a deliberate approach to maximize your chances of success. How to Apply for the MEXT Scholarship will help you begin that process, test your eligibility and competitiveness, and set you up with the strategy and mentality you need to stand out from the competition. You will learn: 1. What the MEXT Scholarship offers plus where, when, and how to apply 2. The mindset you need to set yourself apart from other applicants and win the scholarship 3. The difference between the embassy- and university-recommended application processes, and how to get started with each 4. How competitive the application is and why you need to develop an application strategy 5. How to perform an eligibility self-evaluation - including checking to see if you have the grades to apply 6. How to establish your application strategy and position yourself to overcome the competition and become one of the few, elite scholarship winners Throughout the book, you will find optional exercises and downloadable worksheets, to help you determine your eligibility and create your application strategy to maximize your application's potential. Distilled Expertise from Thousands of Applicants Travis Senzaki has spent seven years working in international student recruiting and acceptance for Japanese universities, including three years as the direct point of contact for all MEXT scholarship inquiries and applications at a large, private university. He has personally processed hundreds of applications and has used his experience to help over 5000 MEXT scholarship applicants through the process through the TranSenz Blog, one of the world's leading independent sources of information and advice on the MEXT scholarship. Travis' Mastering the MEXT Scholarship Application: The TranSenz Guidebuilds on his blog articles and well over 2000 questions submitted through the blog, as well as exhaustive research of successful applicants'approaches and experiences to bring you the best practices for every step of the application process. Get started today! This is a long application process - over a year in most cases - and you want to give yourself months to prepare in advance. Download and start reading today!
With a new look at the 1880s financial reforms in Japan, Steven J. Ericson's Financial Stabilization in Meiji Japan overturns widely held views of the program carried out by Finance Minister Matsukata Masayoshi. As Ericson shows, rather than constituting an orthodox financial-stabilization program—a sort of precursor of the "neoliberal" reforms promoted by the IMF in the 1980s and 1990s—Matsukata's policies differed in significant ways from both classical economic liberalism and neoliberal orthodoxy. The Matsukata financial reform has become famous largely for the wrong reasons, and Ericson sets the record straight. He shows that Matsukata intended to pursue fiscal retrenchment and budget-balancing when he became finance minister in late 1881. Various exigencies, including foreign military crises and a worsening domestic depression, compelled him instead to increase spending by running deficits and floating public bonds. Though he drastically reduced the money supply, he combined the positive and contractionary policies of his immediate predecessors to pull off a program of "expansionary austerity" paralleling state responses to financial crisis elsewhere in the world both then and now. Through a new and much-needed recalibration of this pivotal financial reform, Financial Stabilization in Meiji Japan demonstrates that, in several ways, ranging from state-led export promotion to the creation of a government-controlled central bank, Matsukata advanced policies that were more in line with a nationalist, developmentalist approach than with a liberal economic one. Ericson shows that Matsukata Masayoshi was far from a rigid adherent of classical economic liberalism.
The Key to Success in Your MEXT Scholarship Application: Step-by-Step guide to writing a Field of Study and Research Program Plan that will impress your reviewers and secure your scholarship. The Field of Study and Research Program Plan is the most important document in your MEXT scholarship application that you can control. A researched, clear plan can win your the scholarship, but a poor plan can destroy your chances. But where do you start? What are reviewers looking for? What should the final plan look like? How to Write a Scholarship-Winning Field of Study and Research Program Plan answers all of your questions about the document, and walks you through the research and writing, step-by-step. This book will teach you: 1. What role the Field of Study and Research Program Plan plays in your application, and how to use it to your greatest advantage, 2. How to choose your research field, 3. How to conduct literature reviews to create and validate a research question, 4. How to select your research methodologies and methods, 5. How to write and format each section of the form, including the length and contents for each section, 6. The best review process to ensure a high quality product. Plus, it includes reviews of past applicants' submissions, so you can compare your plan to successful applications. The book also includes a link to downloadable worksheets that will help you get the most value out of each chapter, as well as a free companion email course to help you on your way! Take Advantage of the Expertise of Thousands of Applicants Travis Senzaki has spent seven years working in international student recruiting and acceptance for Japanese universities, including three years as the direct point of contact for all MEXT scholarship inquiries and applications at a large, private university. He has personally processed hundreds of applications and has used his experience to help over 5000 MEXT scholarship applicants through the process through the TranSenz Blog, one of the world's leading independent sources of information and advice on the MEXT scholarship. Travis' Mastering the MEXT Scholarship Application: The TranSenz Guide series builds on his blog articles and well over 2000 questions submitted through the blog, as well as exhaustive research of successful applicants' approaches and experiences to bring you the best practices for every step of the application process. Get started today! It is never too early to start thinking about your research topic and preparing your Field of Study and Research Program Plan. Regardless of whether you have already started your application, or are planning to apply a year or more from now, this book can help you today! Download it now and start reading to make the most of your Field of Study and Research Program Plan so you can give yourself the best possible chance to win the MEXT Scholarship.
Japanese Schooling is organized around important crosspoints for understanding the historic roots and contemporary features of Japanese education. These include (1) socialization for discipline at home and in school; (2) the impact of university examinations on educational equality and moral development; and (3) centralized control and national identity. Written by leading American and Japanese scholars, Japanese Schooling is uniquely informative and comprehensive, with wide-ranging and critical analyses of sensitive issues and traditional educational questions. Among the topics that highlight both strengths and weaknesses are: nursery schooling, pupil violence in junior high schools, the reasons for high achievement levels in mathematics, the textbook controversy and teacher unionism, the role of large class size in teaching cooperative behavior, gender issues, and special education. As one reviewer said, &“The book has no equal among recently published works which in comparison avoid sharp analysis and are narrowly focused.&” Another feature is the bibliography of more than 200 English-language sources on Japanese education published since 1972. It constitutes probably the most complete bibliographic research base currently available for those interesting in studying Japanese education. Overall, Japanese Schooling shows every promise of taking a place alongside Herbert Passin&’s Society and Education in Japan, published in 1965 and long-considered the classic reference for understanding the interplay between contemporary educational issues and the permanent patterns of Japanese culture.
In both the literal and metaphorical senses, it seemed as if 1970s America was running out of gas. The decade not only witnessed long lines at gas stations but a citizenry that had grown weary and disillusioned. High unemployment, runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, caused in part by U.S. dependence on Arab oil, characterized an increasingly bleak economic situation. As Edward D. Berkowitz demonstrates, the end of the postwar economic boom, Watergate, and defeat in Vietnam led to an unraveling of the national consensus. During the decade, ideas about the United States, how it should be governed, and how its economy should be managed changed dramatically. Berkowitz argues that the postwar faith in sweeping social programs and a global U.S. mission was replaced by a more skeptical attitude about government's ability to positively affect society. From Woody Allen to Watergate, from the decline of the steel industry to the rise of Bill Gates, and from Saturday Night Fever to the Sunday morning fervor of evangelical preachers, Berkowitz captures the history, tone, and spirit of the seventies. He explores the decade's major political events and movements, including the rise and fall of détente, congressional reform, changes in healthcare policies, and the hostage crisis in Iran. The seventies also gave birth to several social movements and the "rights revolution," in which women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities all successfully fought for greater legal and social recognition. At the same time, reaction to these social movements as well as the issue of abortion introduced a new facet into American political life-the rise of powerful, politically conservative religious organizations and activists. Berkowitz also considers important shifts in American popular culture, recounting the creative renaissance in American film as well as the birth of the Hollywood blockbuster. He discusses how television programs such as All in the Family and Charlie's Angels offered Americans both a reflection of and an escape from the problems gripping the country.
For almost fifty years, Sources of Japanese Tradition has been the single most valuable collection of English-language readings on Japan. Unrivalled in its wide selection of source materials on history, society, politics, education, philosophy, and religion, the two-volume textbook is a crucial resource for students, scholars, and readers seeking an introduction to Japanese civilization. Originally published in a single hardcover book, Volume 2 is now available as an abridged, two-part paperback. Part 1 covers the Tokugawa period to 1868, including texts that address the spread of neo-Confucianism and Buddhism and the initial encounters of Japan and the West. Part 2 begins with the Meiji period and ends at the new millennium, shedding light on such major movements as the Enlightenment, constitutionalism, nationalism, socialism, and feminism, and the impact of the postwar occupation. Commentary by major scholars and comprehensive bibliographies and indexes are included. Together, these readings map out the development of modern Japanese civilization and illuminate the thought and teachings of its intellectual, political, and religious leaders.
This book examines Meiji Japan (1868–1912) to demonstrate the complex interplay between Japanese nation-building and the country’s engagement with global processes. "Meiji Japan" refers to an era (1868–1912) that—as experienced from within—had an undetermined duration and extent. The length of the emperor’s reign was not preordained, and the country’s territorial borders were not as well-defined or wide-reaching at the start of the period as at the close. Questions about who was represented by and who identified with the emerging nation-state remained in flux as Japan’s modern political, economic, legal, and sociocultural parameters were being created. Basing their inquiries on the idea of Meiji Japan in global history, the authors examine Japan’s rise on the modern world stage, focusing on the individuals—whether government leaders, intellectual elites, indigenous communities, or colonial migrants—who both shaped and were shaped by this era of global connectivity. Localized challenges and supranational opportunities meant people were in motion, as territorial expansion redefined marginalized groups, and as diverse populations moved to and from colonized and foreign lands. This volume seeks to excavate how people back then positioned themselves in a specific time and place, just as people in the twenty-first century seek to give Meiji Japan meaning at the sesquicentennial commemoration of its start. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Japan Forum.
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese History is a concise overview of modern Japanese history from the middle of the nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century. Written by a group of international historians, each an authority in his or her field, the book covers modern Japanese history in an accessible yet comprehensive manner. The subjects featured in the book range from the development of the political system and matters of international relations, to social and economic history and gender issues, to post-war discussions about modern Japan’s historical trajectory and its wartime past. Divided into thematic parts, the sections include: Nation, empire and borders Ideologies and the political system Economy and society Historical legacies and memory Each chapter outlines important historiographical debates and controversies, summarizes the latest developments in the field, and identifies research topics that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention. As such, the book will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese history, Asian history and Asian Studies.
The end of Japan’s empire appeared to happen very suddenly and cleanly – but, as this book shows, it was in fact very messy, with a long period of establishing or re-establishing the postwar order. Moreover, as the authors argue, empires have afterlives, which, in the case of Japan’s empire, is not much studied. This book considers the details of deimperialization, including the repatriation of Japanese personnel, the redrawing of boundaries, issues to do with prisoners of war and war criminals and new arrangements for democratic political institutions, for media and for the regulation of trade. It also discusses the continuing impact of empire on the countries ruled or occupied by Japan, where, as a result of Japanese management and administration, both formal and informal, patterns of behavior and attitudes were established that continued subsequently. This was true in Japan itself, where returning imperial personnel had to be absorbed and adjustments made to imperial thinking, and in present-day East Asia, where the shadow of Japan’s empire still lingers. This legacy of unresolved issues concerning the correct relationship of Japan, an important, energetic, outgoing nation and a potential regional "hub," with the rest of the region not comfortably settled in this era, remains a fulcrum of regional dispute.
