1st Edition

Transcultural Japan At the Borderlands of Race, Gender and Identity

Edited By David Blake Willis, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu Copyright 2008
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages 35 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Historically 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.

    Foreword 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

    Biography

    DAVID BLAKE WILLIS is Professor of Anthropology and Education at Soai University, Osaka, where he has been since 1986. He was a Senior Associate Professor at the University of Oxford 2006-2007. STEPHEN MURPHY-SHIGEMATSU, Professor at the University of Tokyo 1994-2006, received a doctorate from Harvard, was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, and is Professor at Fielding University.

    'Transcultural Japan provides insightful analyses of race, gender and identity in contemporary Japan that can be utilized by both seasoned academics and newcomers to Japanese studies.' - Stephen Robert Nagy, Waseda University,Social Science Japan Journal, vol 12, no 2, Winter 2009