Description
Book SynopsisIn Waste, Eiko Maruko Siniawer innovatively explores the many ways in which the Japanese have thought about waste—in terms of time, stuff, money, possessions, and resources—from the immediate aftermath of World War II to the present. She shows how questions about waste were deeply embedded in the decisions of everyday life, reflecting the...
Trade ReviewWaste makes an outsized contribution to the study of postwar Japanese history will be essential reading for students of modern Japan as well as our current era more broadly.
* The Journal of Asian Studies *
Siniawer's book is a moving and meaningful cultural history relevant to Critical Discard Studies, rooted in the specific time and place of postwar Japan, and extends to the twenty-first century.
* Situations *
Eiko Maruko Siniawer's study of waste in postwar Japan is history writing at its very best: expansive in scope, richly textured, compellingly narrated, and convincingly argued. This summary hardly does justice to the richness of the material discussed in the book, nor does it fully convey Siniawer's thought-provoking analysis throughout. Thanks to its breadth, the richness of its content, and the sophistication of its analysis, the book will be essential and compelling reading for anyone interested in the postwar history of Japan as well as notions of waste in the contemporary world.
* Social Science Japan Journal *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Meaning and Value in the Everyday
Part One: Re-Civilization and Re-Enlightenment: Transitions of the Early Postwar Period, 1945-1971
1. The Imperatives of Waste
2. Better Living through Consumption
Part Two: Shocks, Shifts, and Safeguards: Defending the Middle-Class Lifestyles, 1971-1981
3. Wars against Waste
4. A Bright Stinginess
Part Three: Abundant Dualities: Wealth and its Discontents in the 1980s and Beyond
5. Consuming Desires
6. Living the Good Life?
7. Battling the Time Thieves
Part Four: Affluence of the Heart: Identities and Values in the Slow-Growth Era, 1991-Present
8. Greening Consciousness
9. We Are All Waste Conscious Now
10. Sorting Things Out
Afterword: Waste and Well-Being
Notes
Bibliography
Index
