Challenges the conventional view of Japanese society as monocultural and homogenous.

Part I. Archaeology and Identity: 1. The Japanese as an Asia-Pacific population Katayama Kazumichi; 2. North Kyushu creole: a language-contact model for the origins of Japanese John C. Maher; 3. Beyond ethnicity and emergence in Japanese archaeology Simon Kaner; 4. Archaeology and Japanese identity Clare Fawcett; Part II. Centre and Periphery: 5. A descent into the past: the frontier in the construction of Japanese history Tessa Morris-Suzuki; 6. The place of Okinawa in Japanese historical identity Richard Pearson; 7. Ainu Moshir and Yaponesia: Ainu and Okinawan identities in contemporary Japan Hanazaki Kohei; Part III. Contact with the Outside: 8. Some reflections on identity formation in East Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Derek Massarella; 9. Siam and Japan in pre-modern times: a note on mutual images Ishii Yoneo; 10. Indonesia under the 'Greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere' Goto Ken'ichi; 11. Japanese army internment policies for enemy civilians during the Asia-Pacific war Utsumi Aiko; Part IV. The Japanese Family: 12. Modern patriarchy and the formation of the Japanese nation state Ueno Chizuko; 13. The modern Japanese family system: a unique or universal? Nishikawa Yuko; Part V. Culture and Ideology: 14. Emperor, race and commoners Amino Yoshihiko; 15. Two interpretations of Japanese culture Nishikawa Nagao; 16. Kokusaika: impediments in Japan's deep structure Gavan McCormack; Afterword: diversity and identity in the twenty-first century Mark Hudson and Tessa Morris-Suzuki.