Description
Book SynopsisHistorically Japan has alternated between periods of celebration of a diverse, multicultural society and severe spells of xenophobia and persecution of the Other. This collection of multidisciplinary essays re-introduces the idea of Japan as a multicultural society and reflects a rapidly changing Japan as the Japanese confront a new range of diversity in their midst.
Shedding new light on the manifestations of difference in Japan from a diverse range of authors and perspectives, this extraordinary book is a study of those persons who are very much part of Japanese society today, but whose voices have long been neglected, silenced or oppressed.
Written in accessible language, this broad-based volume is an attractive and useful resource for students and academics, as well as being a timely and revealing contribution to research scholars and for those interested in the phenomena of cultural identities and transformations.
Trade Review'Transcultural Japan provides a new exploration of diversity in Japan by variously situated authors, themselves representing diverse perspectives on Japanese society. Perhaps its largest contribution is in presentations of individuals and groups with multiple identity positions, reflecting the interpenetrations of transnationalism or transculturalism as currently manifest in Japanese society and experience' - Millie Creighton, University of British Columbia
"Transcultural Japan: At the Borderlands of Race, Gender, and Identity is a thoughtprovoking and engaging examination of Others in contemporary Japan. The breadth and depth of this edited volume is the result of the collaborative efforts of fifteen authors from diverse areas of expertise, yet it remains throughout a unified and accessible text. Transcultural Japan is essential reading for anyone interested in not just what is happening in Japan today, but perhaps more importantly, where Japan is heading tomorrow." - Lacklan Jackson, Asian Studies Reviews, December 2010
Table of ContentsForeword 1. Ethnoscapes and the Discourse of The Other in 21st Century Japan David Blake Willis 2. The Racialization of Japan William Wetherall 3. Positioning Oneself in the Japanese Nation State: The Hokkaido Ainu Case Katarina Sjoberg 4. A Perfectly Ordinary Ethnic Korean in Japan? Kyo Nobuko 5. The Marvelous in the Real: Images of Burakumin in Modern Japanese Fiction Yoshiko Yokochi Samuel 6. From Ethnic Ghetto to ‘Gourmet Republic’: The Changing Image of Kobe’s Chinatown and the Ambiguity of Being Chinese in Modern Japan Tsu Yun Hui 7. Japanese- Brazilian Migrants in the Land of Yen and the Ancestors- Between Priviledge and Prejudice Angelo Akimitsu Ishi and Jornal Tudo Bem 8. Okinawan Diasporic Identities: Between Being a Buffer and a Bridge Wesley Ueunten 9. "Becoming a Better Muslim" Identity Narratives of Muslim Foreign Workers in Japan Akiko Onishi 10. Self as Other: Internationalism as Resistance Among Japanese Women Karen Kelsky 11. Transgressing Women: Reading Narratives of "Filipina Brides" in Japan since the 1980s Nobue Suzuki 12. Dejima: Creolization and Enclaves of Difference in Transnational Japan David Willis 13. Narratives of Living in the Borderlands of Race and Nation in Japan Stephen Murphy- Shigematsu
