This course provides a survey of the main issues in contemporary Japanese culture and society. It focuses on values, institutions, social processes and patterns of social change against on the one hand the background of Japanese history, and, on the other, the ways in which Japan is now facing globalization and having to redefine its place in the world order and in East Asia specifically. The course will expose the student to the main areas of debate in modern Japanese society and will provide a systematic overview of the sociology and anthropology of both rural and urban Japan, of social issues and of processes of social change now at work transforming the society from within and without. (3 credits)
Prerequisites:
None
Attendance policy:
Note: Attendance to all class meetings is required for all IES Abroad Area Studies courses. The three- hour format for classes makes missing a single class equivalent to missing a full week during a regular semester. Therefore, students are permitted a maximum of one unexcused absence. Additional unexcused absences will result in a penalty of one of letter grade from your final grade, for each additional absence—i.e. two missed classes turns an A into a B, three turns it into a C, and so on.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course students will be able to:
• Discuss a comprehensive overview of contemporary Japanese society and culture
• Demonstrate a foundation for other, more detailed analyses of specific aspects of Japanese society, economy, politics, art and popular culture as examined in detail in other courses
• Analyze social and cultural observations
• Discuss techniques for overcoming ethnocentricity
• Write papers, use libraries and other resources for independent research
Method of presentation:
Lecture, discussion, and writing assignments
Required work and form of assessment:
Class participation: 20%
Assignments and Quizzes: 40%
Final Research Paper: 40%
content:
Week One: (September 12) Introduction
An introduction to the content of the course. Basic concepts for understanding Japanese society. How has modern and contemporary history influenced the recent development of Japanese society and its values and institutions? Differing paradigms for understanding Japanese society.
Reading: Sugimoto Chapters 1 and 2.
Week Two: (September 21).
Socialization, family, gender and aging. The processes of becoming and remaining Japanese. Educational institutions and practices. Patterns of marriage, divorce, and reproduction. Those without families: the
aged, the homeless and the singles.
Reading:
Sugimoto chapters 5 and 6.
Week Three (October 3)
Law, Justice, Policing and the Social Order. How is social conformity achieved and maintained? Political life and political culture. Is anyone in charge around here? Political parties and institutions and their connection to other social processes, social movements and civil society.
Reading:
Sugimoto Chapters 8 and 10.
Week Four (October 10)
[Field Trip: National Museum of Japanese History]
Week Five (October 17)
The experience of the Self. Individualism or relationalism? How is the Japanese sense of self expressed or mirrored in art, literature, film, education and psychotherapy? The classic arguments deriving from Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and its more contemporary re-interpretations.
Reading:
Eades chapter 12.
Dorinne Kondo, “Creating an Ideal Self: Theories of Selfhood and Pedagogy at a Japanese Ethics Retreat”. Ethos, 1987, Vol.15, No.3, pp.241-272.
Joseph Tobin: “Japanese Pre-school and the Pedagogy of Selfhood”. In Nancy Rosenberger, ed. Japanese Sense of Self. (Cambridge University Press 1992).
Week Six (October 24)
Work and life. Corporations, the workplace, careers and gender. What happens to those not in the corporations or without higher education? What is happening to the ideals of lifetime employment in a globalizing environment?
Reading:
Sugimoto chapter 4.
Week Seven (November 7)
Japanese cities, urban forms, changing communities. The management of crowding and density. Consumer culture in the cities and the organization of everyday life. The changing relationship between the cities and the countryside: migration and the impact of urban cultures.
Reading:
Clammer Chapters 1, 2 and 4.
Week Eight (November 14)
Media, cultural production and consumption. The worlds of television, magazines and “information”. The mobile phone and its impact. Does the media really rule Japan?
Reading:
Sugimoto Chapter 9
Week Nine (November 21)
[Field Trip: Urban Society Analysis]
Week Ten (November 28)
Social stratification and social differences in Japan. Do classes exist in Japan? If not how can we think alternatively about social and cultural hierarchies? Minorities, immigration and the problems of migrant
labor and refugees. Thinking about ethnicity and cultural nationalism in Japan.
Reading:
Sugimoto chapters 2 and 7.
Week Eleven (December 5)
Are the Japanese Religious? Religious institutions, religious practice, and religious minorities. Conversion and social change. Old religions, new religions and foreign religions. Religion, nationalism and politics in Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine controversy. Aum Shinrikyo and changing Japan.
Recommended Reading:
Ian Reader Religion in Contemporary Japan (Macmillan); John Clammer Japan and Its Others (Trans Pacific Press) chapters 8 and 9.
Week Twelve (December 12)
(i) Getting sick and staying well. The sociology of health, sport, diet and the cult of the body. The “feminization” of Japanese men?
Recommended Reading:
Seth Linhart and Sabine Fruhstuck, eds. The Culture of Japan as Seen Through its Leisure (State University of New York Press); Laura Spielvogel Working Out in Japan: Shaping the Female Body in Tokyo Fitness Clubs (Duke University Press).
(ii) Globalization and the internationalization of Japanese society. Where is Japan going in the 21st Century, both in the world and in terms of its own internal social changes? Can it survive in its present form or is in migration the answer?
Reading:
Eades Chapter 1
Final research paper due.
Required readings:
• Yoshio Sugimoto, An Introduction to Japanese Society (Cambridge University Press) Supplementary readings will also be drawn from J.S.Eades, T.Gill and H. Befu (eds) Globalization and Social Change in Contemporary Japan (TransPacific Press), John Clammer Contemporary Urban Japan
(Blackwell) and other sources available in the library that will be recommended as the course unfolds and depending on students’ individual interests and research papers.
A highly recommended book for purchase and constant use is also Yoshio Sugimoto (ed). Modern
Japanese Culture ((Cambridge University Press 2009)
Brief Biography of Instructor:
John Clammer is Visiting Professor of Sociology at the United Nations University, Tokyo and was formerly Professor of Sociology and Graduate Professor of Asian Studies at Sophia University. He received his D.Phil. degree from Oxford University and has taught and researched at universities in Germany, the UK, Australia, Korea, Argentina and Singapore. His teaching and research includes the sociology of art and culture, urbanism, development, religion and environment. Amongst his major recent books are “Japan and Its Others: Globalization, Difference and the Critique of Modernity” (2001), “Diaspora and Identity: The Sociology of Culture in Southeast Asia” (2002) and “Diaspora and Belief: Globalization, Religion and Identity in Postcolonial Asia” (2009).
Introduction To Japanese Society And Culture
This course provides a survey of the main issues in contemporary Japanese culture and society. It focuses on values, institutions, social processes and patterns of social change against on the one hand the background of Japanese history, and, on the other, the ways in which Japan is now facing globalization and having to redefine its place in the world order and in East Asia specifically. The course will expose the student to the main areas of debate in modern Japanese society and will provide a systematic overview of the sociology and anthropology of both rural and urban Japan, of social issues and of processes of social change now at work transforming the society from within and without. (3 credits)
None
Note: Attendance to all class meetings is required for all IES Abroad Area Studies courses. The three- hour format for classes makes missing a single class equivalent to missing a full week during a regular semester. Therefore, students are permitted a maximum of one unexcused absence. Additional unexcused absences will result in a penalty of one of letter grade from your final grade, for each additional absence—i.e. two missed classes turns an A into a B, three turns it into a C, and so on.
By the end of the course students will be able to:
• Discuss a comprehensive overview of contemporary Japanese society and culture
• Demonstrate a foundation for other, more detailed analyses of specific aspects of Japanese society, economy, politics, art and popular culture as examined in detail in other courses
• Analyze social and cultural observations
• Discuss techniques for overcoming ethnocentricity
• Write papers, use libraries and other resources for independent research
Lecture, discussion, and writing assignments
Class participation: 20%
Assignments and Quizzes: 40%
Final Research Paper: 40%
Week One: (September 12) Introduction
An introduction to the content of the course. Basic concepts for understanding Japanese society. How has modern and contemporary history influenced the recent development of Japanese society and its values and institutions? Differing paradigms for understanding Japanese society.
Reading: Sugimoto Chapters 1 and 2.
Week Two: (September 21).
Socialization, family, gender and aging. The processes of becoming and remaining Japanese. Educational institutions and practices. Patterns of marriage, divorce, and reproduction. Those without families: the
aged, the homeless and the singles.
Reading:
Sugimoto chapters 5 and 6.
Week Three (October 3)
Law, Justice, Policing and the Social Order. How is social conformity achieved and maintained? Political life and political culture. Is anyone in charge around here? Political parties and institutions and their connection to other social processes, social movements and civil society.
Reading:
Sugimoto Chapters 8 and 10.
Week Four (October 10)
[Field Trip: National Museum of Japanese History]
Week Five (October 17)
The experience of the Self. Individualism or relationalism? How is the Japanese sense of self expressed or mirrored in art, literature, film, education and psychotherapy? The classic arguments deriving from Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and its more contemporary re-interpretations.
Reading:
Eades chapter 12.
Dorinne Kondo, “Creating an Ideal Self: Theories of Selfhood and Pedagogy at a Japanese Ethics Retreat”. Ethos, 1987, Vol.15, No.3, pp.241-272.
Joseph Tobin: “Japanese Pre-school and the Pedagogy of Selfhood”. In Nancy Rosenberger, ed. Japanese Sense of Self. (Cambridge University Press 1992).
Week Six (October 24)
Work and life. Corporations, the workplace, careers and gender. What happens to those not in the corporations or without higher education? What is happening to the ideals of lifetime employment in a globalizing environment?
Reading:
Sugimoto chapter 4.
Week Seven (November 7)
Japanese cities, urban forms, changing communities. The management of crowding and density. Consumer culture in the cities and the organization of everyday life. The changing relationship between the cities and the countryside: migration and the impact of urban cultures.
Reading:
Clammer Chapters 1, 2 and 4.
Week Eight (November 14)
Media, cultural production and consumption. The worlds of television, magazines and “information”. The mobile phone and its impact. Does the media really rule Japan?
Reading:
Sugimoto Chapter 9
Week Nine (November 21)
[Field Trip: Urban Society Analysis]
Week Ten (November 28)
Social stratification and social differences in Japan. Do classes exist in Japan? If not how can we think alternatively about social and cultural hierarchies? Minorities, immigration and the problems of migrant
labor and refugees. Thinking about ethnicity and cultural nationalism in Japan.
Reading:
Sugimoto chapters 2 and 7.
Week Eleven (December 5)
Are the Japanese Religious? Religious institutions, religious practice, and religious minorities. Conversion and social change. Old religions, new religions and foreign religions. Religion, nationalism and politics in Japan. The Yasukuni Shrine controversy. Aum Shinrikyo and changing Japan.
Recommended Reading:
Ian Reader Religion in Contemporary Japan (Macmillan); John Clammer Japan and Its Others (Trans Pacific Press) chapters 8 and 9.
Week Twelve (December 12)
(i) Getting sick and staying well. The sociology of health, sport, diet and the cult of the body. The “feminization” of Japanese men?
Recommended Reading:
Seth Linhart and Sabine Fruhstuck, eds. The Culture of Japan as Seen Through its Leisure (State University of New York Press); Laura Spielvogel Working Out in Japan: Shaping the Female Body in Tokyo Fitness Clubs (Duke University Press).
(ii) Globalization and the internationalization of Japanese society. Where is Japan going in the 21st Century, both in the world and in terms of its own internal social changes? Can it survive in its present form or is in migration the answer?
Reading:
Eades Chapter 1
Final research paper due.
• Yoshio Sugimoto, An Introduction to Japanese Society (Cambridge University Press) Supplementary readings will also be drawn from J.S.Eades, T.Gill and H. Befu (eds) Globalization and Social Change in Contemporary Japan (TransPacific Press), John Clammer Contemporary Urban Japan
(Blackwell) and other sources available in the library that will be recommended as the course unfolds and depending on students’ individual interests and research papers.
A highly recommended book for purchase and constant use is also Yoshio Sugimoto (ed). Modern
Japanese Culture ((Cambridge University Press 2009)
John Clammer is Visiting Professor of Sociology at the United Nations University, Tokyo and was formerly Professor of Sociology and Graduate Professor of Asian Studies at Sophia University. He received his D.Phil. degree from Oxford University and has taught and researched at universities in Germany, the UK, Australia, Korea, Argentina and Singapore. His teaching and research includes the sociology of art and culture, urbanism, development, religion and environment. Amongst his major recent books are “Japan and Its Others: Globalization, Difference and the Critique of Modernity” (2001), “Diaspora and Identity: The Sociology of Culture in Southeast Asia” (2002) and “Diaspora and Belief: Globalization, Religion and Identity in Postcolonial Asia” (2009).