Japan's gender roles are in turmoil. Traditional life courses for men and women are still presented as role models, but there is an increasing range of gender choices for those uncomfortable with convention. This collection of studies from the University of Cambridge provides fascinating insights into the diversity of gendered images, identities, and life-styles in contemporary Japan - from manga girls to herbivore boys, from absent fathers to transgender people. (Series: Japanese Studies / Japanologie - Vol. 3)

Japanese men are becoming cool. The suit-and-tie salaryman remodels himself with beauty treatments and 'cool biz' fashion. Loyal company soldiers are reborn as cool, attentive fathers. Hip hop dance is as manly as martial arts. Could it even be cool for middle-aged men to idolize teenage girl popstars? This collection of studies from the University of Cambridge provides fascinating insights into the contemporary lives of Japanese men as it looks behind the image of 'Cool Japan.' (Series: Japanese Studies / Japanologie, Vol. 6) [Subject: Japanese Studies, Cultural Studies]

Shinjuku Ni-chōme is a nightlife district in central Tokyo filled with bars and clubs targeting the city’s gay male community. Typically understood as a “safe space” where same-sex attracted men and women from across Japan’s largest city can gather to find support from a relentlessly heteronormative society, Regimes of Desire reveals that the neighborhood may not be as welcoming as previously depicted in prior literature. Through fieldwork observation and interviews with young men who regularly frequent the neighborhood’s many bars, the book reveals that the district is instead a space where only certain performances of gay identity are considered desirable. In fact, the district is highly stratified, with Shinjuku Ni-chōme’s bar culture privileging “hard” masculine identities as the only legitimate expression of gay desire and thus excluding all those men who supposedly “fail” to live up to these hegemonic gendered ideals. Through careful analysis of media such as pornographic videos, manga comics, lifestyle magazines, and online dating services, this book argues that the commercial imperatives of the Japanese gay media landscape and the bar culture of Shinjuku Ni-chōme act together to limit the agency of young gay men so as to better exploit them economically. Exploring the direct impacts of media consumption on the lives of four key informants who frequent the district’s gay bars in search of community, fun, and romance, Regimes of Desire reveals the complexity of Tokyo’s most popular “gay town” and intervenes in debates over the changing nature of masculinity in contemporary Japan.

This book provides an in-depth investigation of two Japanese men's magazines, ChokiChoki and Men's egg, analysed as representative examples of the genre of Japanese lifestyle magazines for young men. Employing both qualitative and quantitative content analysis, focusing on topics ranging from everyday life activities up to partnerships and sexuality, it examines how these magazines discursively renegotiate norms of Japanese masculinity. By scrutinizing the way these magazines convey ideas of gendered behavior within different contexts, the book demonstrates how Japanese lifestyle magazines discursively create new ideas of gender and masculinities in particular. It argues that hegemonic gender norms of Japan's society are both altered and reconstructed at the same time and that while altering parts of the gendered habitus in order to adjust to changing social circumstances and perceptions of gender, magazines (un)consciously reproduce core values of the hegemonic gender regime and thus revalidate them as legitimate. A key read for scholars and students of contemporary Japan, Japanese studies, gender studies, and anyone interested in Japanese popular culture and media, this book provides new insights into a segment of the Japanese media market that has received little scholarly attention.

In this welcome brand new fifth edition of the bestselling textbook Understanding Japanese Society, Joy Hendry takes the reader into the heart of Japanese life. Providing a clear and accessible introduction to Japanese ways of thinking, which does not require any previous knowledge of the country, this book explores Japanese society through the worlds of home, work, play, religion and ritual, covering a full range of life experiences, from childhood to old age. It also examines the diversity of people living in Japan, the effects of a growing number of new immigrants, and role of the longest-standing Japanese prime-minister Shinzo Abe. Fully updated, revised and expanded, the fifth edition contains new material on: the continued effects of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters of 2011 local examples of care for nature and the environment new perspectives on the role of women Japan’s place in the context of globalisation . Each chapter in this new edition also includes an exciting insert from scholars in the field, based on new and emerging research. This book will be invaluable to all students studying Japan. It will also enlighten those travellers and business people wishing to gain an understanding of Japanese people.

The scientific study of human mating has mushroomed over the past three decades, and this growth in turn has generated a proliferation of evolving literature revealing fresh discoveries about mate attraction, mate choice, mate retention, marital satisfaction, jealousy, infidelity, intimate partner violence, breakups, internet dating, cyberstalking, and sexual coercion. In The Oxford Handbook of Human Mating, editor David M. Buss showcases contributions from the best and the brightest scientists in the field, providing up-to-date summaries of theories and empirical evidence of the science of human mating strategies. Much of the research in the field is guided by sexual selection theory. Over 150 years after Darwin's proposal of sexual selection theory, it has become the most important overarching theoretical framework for the scientific study of the mating strategies of all sexually reproducing species, including humans. A mountain of research centered around Darwin's classic book has documented the many complexities of human mate competition and mate choice; how these processes differ between the sexes; and how they differ as a function of sex ratio, mate value, social contexts, ovulation cycles, personality characteristics, and cultural norms and mating rituals. Thus, the science is now ripe for a collection of work by eminent scholars in the field. David M. Buss is a leading researcher and pioneer in the study of human mating strategies, and he applies his expertise to the curation of this volume, which includes major sections covering theories of human mating; mate selection and mate attraction; mate competition; sexual conflict in mating; human pair bonding; the endocrinology of mating; and mating in the modern world.

This book sheds light on the important and mostly neglected role that gender plays in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, doing so by investigating three key problem areas: empowerment, education, and infrastructure. Starting with a theoretical and methodological framework, this edited collection contains 12 chapters from scholars and researchers from around the world. The book includes numerous case studies discussing the current status of gender equality relating to the SDGs. It reinforces the significance of gender for sustainable and just development, highlighting how women play a major role in work organization, disaster management, income, household maintenance, and mediation of knowledge. "Women" as a classification encompasses much diversity with many intersecting axes of difference; this book focuses on the excluded and disadvantaged majority social group, without imposing homogeneity on that categorization. Many chapters focus on critical situations occurring in the Global South, where these issues are highly prominent, and importantly, these contributions are written by local scholars. Finally, the volume provides pathways for basic and professional gender responsive education and innovation in the field. The book will generate important discussions in interdisciplinary research and higher education settings focusing on sustainable development, gender, equality, human rights, and education.

The beginning of the 21st century has seen important shifts in mobility cultures around the world, as the West’s media-driven car culture has contrasted with existing local mobilities, from rickshaws in India and minibuses in Africa to cycling in China. In this expansive volume, historian Gijs Mom explores how contemporary mobility has been impacted by social, political, and economic forces on a global scale, as in light of local mobility cultures, the car as an ‘adventure machine’ seems to lose cultural influence in favor of the car’s status character.

Beyond the Cubicle looks at the hidden ramifications of job insecurity upon workers' intimate lives, personal relationships, and crises of identity and self-worth. The broad and wide-ranging essays explore how changes in work have altered our emotions, reworked the interplay of gender, race and class, and contributed to a contemporary radical individualism in variety of contexts.