The volume opens with a detailed autobiographical sketch of the author's original 'meeting with Japan', which began in 1961after taking up a post at ANU, Canberra (the result of a successful response to an advert in the Manchester Guardian). After twenty-one years in Australia, Arthur Stockwin moved back to the UK to take the chair of the then recently-established Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies. He was to be in post there also for twenty one years, his retirement coinciding with publication of his Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan (Routledge, 2003).

This book focuses on the influence exerted by the Left on the political landscape of Japan in the modern era.

'The Collected Writings of J.A.A. Stockwin', Part 1, addressed 'The Politics and Political Environment of Japan'; Part 2 is entitled 'Japanese Foreign Policy, International Perspectives and Japanese Studies'.

This new and fully updated second edition of Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan provides undergraduate and graduate students with an interdisciplinary textbook written by leading specialists on contemporary Japan. Students will gain the analytical insights and information necessary to assess the challenges that confront the Japanese people, policymakers and private and public-sector institutions in Japan today. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of key debates and issues confronting Japan, issues covered include: A rapidly aging society and changing employment system Nuclear and renewable energy policy Gender discrimination Immigration and ethnic minorities Post-3/11 tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown developments Sino-Japanese relations An essential reference work for students of contemporary Japan, it is also an invaluable source for a variety of courses, including comparative politics, anthropology, public policy and international relations.

Through a discourse analysis of Japanese parliamentary debates, this book explores how different understandings of Japan’s history have led to sharply divergent security policies in the postwar period, whilst providing an explanation for the much-debated security policy changes under Abe Shinzō. Analyzing the ways identities can be constructed through ‘temporal othering,’ as well as ‘spatial othering,’ this book examines the rise of a new form of identity in Japan since the end of the Cold War, one that is differentiated not from prewar and wartime Japan, but from postwar Japan. The champions of this identity, it argues, see the postwar past as a shameful period, characterized by self-imposed military restrictions, and thus the relentless chipping away of these limitations in recent years is indicative of how dominant this identity has become. Exploring how these military restrictions have shifted from being a symbol of pride to a symbol of shame, this book demonstrates the concrete ways in which the past can both enable and constrain policy. Temporal Identities and Security Policy in Postwar Japan will be invaluable to students and scholars of Japanese politics and foreign policy, as well as international relations more generally.

This volume looks at the history of Japan from a transnational perspective. It brings to the fore the interconnectedness of Japan's history with the wider Asian-Pacific region and the world. This interconnectedness is examined in the volume through the themes of empire, migration, and social movements.

Originally a student of Meiji Japan, Gordon Daniels is widely known for his work on the Pacific War and the Occupation of Japan, with particular regard to the world of communications in film and propaganda as well as Japanese sport. He has also been closely involved with the post-war era of international relations and Japan, as well as studies in Japanese history and historiography. In the 1980s he made significant contributions in reporting on the scope and development of Japanese Studies in Britain. His most recent work has been as joint editor (and contributor) with Chushichi Tsuzuki of Social and Cultural Perspectives - the fifth of the five-volume series on the history of Anglo-Japanese Relations (Palgrave, 2002).

Widely acknowledged as the doyen of twentieth-century Japanese literature, fine art and the performing arts, as well as being renowned for his translations of Zeami and Mori Ogai. Collected Writings of J.Thomas Rimer brings together in whole or in part much of Rimer's prodigious output in these fields over the past forty years, including some of his milestone (fully illustrated) essays on Japanese Art, especially 'Tokyo in Paris/ Paris in Tokyo' (Japan Foundation, 1987).

This book introduces a multilayered approach to the study of democracy, combining specific knowledge of Japan with theoretical insights from the literature on democratization. It examines different aspects of Japanese democracy—historical, institutional, and sociocultural—to provide a conscious understanding of the nature and practice of democracy, both in Japan and beyond. The book's chapters give testimony to the dynamic nature and continuity of Japanese democracy and analyze its strengths and weaknesses. The central argument of this book is that Japan’s democratization should be seen as a multilayered experience shaped by the gradual process of absorbing democratic ideas, forming democratic institutions, and practicing democratic behaviors and rituals at various levels of society. As the case of Japan shows, democracy is neither a structured formula nor only a set of democratic laws and institutions, but a continuous, gradual process.

To what extent is Japan in decline? In recent years popular writings, media commentaries and analysts often take the view that the rise of Japan is long since over and that the world's second largest economy is not just treading water but that society and the economy are failing, with potential catastrophic outcomes. But is this really the case? Could it be that once again Japan is being misread and misinterpreted? Are there not both obvious and less obvious signs of renewal and recovery? And how might the new DPJ-led government reform Japan? Based on papers given at a major international conference held at the University of Adelaide in November 2009, this thesis is examined here by a group of the world's leading specialists in their fields, addressing many of the key issues facing Japan today, from the economy and environment, to education, social policy, politics, internationalization, diplomacy, security. This volume will have wide-ranging interdisciplinary relevance for students and specialists alike.