Analysis of Japanese society has been hampered by its use of static
models: by its assumption that there is a unique and unchanging
structure explainable by reference to a handful of native terms. That
approach was always suspect, and has been further undermined by the fact
of globalization, in which interactions between Japan and the rest of
the world have become faster and further-reaching than ever before. This
collection of papers, by a varied team of anthropologists and
sociologists, is a bold attempt to come to terms with change, by putting
a wide range of aspects of contemporary Japanese society under the
microscope. Some of the studies look at macro phenomena such as patterns
of international migration (Befu), business internationalization
(Sedgwick), educational reform (McVeigh) and trends in values revealed
in statistical surveys (M���¶hwald). Others examine ground-level
change as experienced by particular social groupings: women in the
workplace (Bishop), casual laborers (Gill), yakuza gangsters (Herbert)
and members of the Burakumin community of former outcastes (Davis). Two
papers examine the impact of globalization and change on aspects of
traditional culture: the craft of making Buddhist altars (Eades et al)
and the practice of ascetic mountain worship (Riessland). A concluding
chapter takes a broader perspective, on the issue of how various
theoretical approaches to Japanese society have attempted to interpret
emotions (Clammer).
