This book is an unprecedented collection of 29 original essays by some of the world's most distinguished scholars of Japan.* Covers a broad range of issues, including the colonial roots of anthropology in the Japanese academy; eugenics and nation building; majority and minority cultures; genders and sexualities; and fashion and food cultures* Resists stale and misleading stereotypes, by presenting new perspectives on Japanese culture and society* Makes Japanese society accessible to readers unfamiliar with the country

Synopsis of Contents viiiNotes on Contributors xviiiPart I: Introduction 11 Introduction: Putting and Keeping Japan in Anthropology 3Jennifer RobertsonPart II: Cultures, Histories, and Identities 172 The Imperial Past of Anthropology in Japan 19Katsumi Nakao3 Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Properties Management: Prewar Ideology and Postwar Legacies 36Walter Edwards4 Feminism, Timelines, and History-Making 50Tomomi Yamaguchi5 Making Majority Culture 59Roger Goodman6 Political and Cultural Perspectives on ''Insider'' Minorities 73Joshua Hotaka Roth7 Japan's Ethnic Minority: Koreans 89Sonia Ryang8 Shifting Contours of Class and Status 104Glenda S. Roberts9 The Anthropology of Japanese Corporate Management 125Tomoko Hamada10 Fashioning Cultural Identity: Body and Dress 153Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni11 Genders and Sexualities 167Sabine FrühstückPart III: Geographies and Boundaries, Spaces and Sentiments 18312 On the ''Nature'' of Japanese Culture, or, Is There a Japanese Sense of Nature? 185D. P. Martinez13 The Rural Imaginary: Landscape, Village, Tradition 201Scott Schnell14 Tokyo's Third Rebuilding: New Twists on Old Patterns 218Roman Cybriwsky15 Japan's Global Village: A View from the World of Leisure 231Joy HendryPart IV: Socialization, Assimilation, and Identification 24516 Formal Caring Alternatives: Kindergartens and Day-Care Centers 247Eyal Ben-Ari17 Post-Compulsory Schooling and the Legacy of Imperialism 261Brian J. McVeigh18 Theorizing the Cultural Importance of Play: Anthropological Approaches to Sports and Recreation of Japan 279Elise Edwards19 Popular Entertainment and the Music Industry 297Shuhei Hosokawa20 There's More than Manga: Popular Nonfiction Books and Magazines 314Laura MillerPart V: Body, Blood, Self, and Nation 32721 Biopower: Blood, Kinship, and Eugenic Marriage 329Jennifer Robertson22 The Ie (Family) in Global Perspective 355Emiko Ochiai23 Constrained Person and Creative Agent: A Dying Student's Narrative of Self and Others 380Susan Orpett Long24 Nation, Citizenship, and Cinema 400Aaron Gerow25 Culinary Culture and the Making of a National Cuisine 415Katarzyna CwiertkaPart VI: Religion and Science, Beliefs and Bioethics 42926 Historical, New, and ''New'' New Religions 431Ian Reader27 Folk Religion and its Contemporary Issues 452Noriko Kawahashi28 Women Scientists and Gender Ideology 467Sumiko Otsubo29 Preserving Moral Order: Responses to Biomedical Technologies 483Margaret LockIndex 501