Paolo Mauro, Nathan Sussman, and Yishay Yafeh
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199272693
- eISBN:
- 9780191603488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199272697.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
This chapter conducts a case study of spreads on sovereign bonds issued by Japan and Russia, two countries that introduced the gold standard in 1897. It is shown that Japanese spreads were relatively ...
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This chapter conducts a case study of spreads on sovereign bonds issued by Japan and Russia, two countries that introduced the gold standard in 1897. It is shown that Japanese spreads were relatively unaffected by the establishment of some of Japan’s most important institutions, including the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution in 1889, which explicitly guaranteed the protection of property rights and the rule of law. The only institutional reform that led to an immediate improvement in Japan’s ‘credit rating’ was the adoption of the gold standard. Japan’s war with Russia (1904-1905) and its successful outcome had a far more visible impact on spreads than most institutional reforms. The chapter also conducts a case study of the British-Dutch interest differential around the Glorious Revolution. It shows that developments regarding war and peace had a far greater impact on borrowing costs than institutional reforms.Less
This chapter conducts a case study of spreads on sovereign bonds issued by Japan and Russia, two countries that introduced the gold standard in 1897. It is shown that Japanese spreads were relatively unaffected by the establishment of some of Japan’s most important institutions, including the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution in 1889, which explicitly guaranteed the protection of property rights and the rule of law. The only institutional reform that led to an immediate improvement in Japan’s ‘credit rating’ was the adoption of the gold standard. Japan’s war with Russia (1904-1905) and its successful outcome had a far more visible impact on spreads than most institutional reforms. The chapter also conducts a case study of the British-Dutch interest differential around the Glorious Revolution. It shows that developments regarding war and peace had a far greater impact on borrowing costs than institutional reforms.
Claudia Derichs and Harold R. Kerbo
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199260362
- eISBN:
- 9780191601873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260362.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The chapter provides an overview of the historical development of politics as a profession from the time of Japan's opening to the West until today. It looks at the polity dimension of Japanese ...
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The chapter provides an overview of the historical development of politics as a profession from the time of Japan's opening to the West until today. It looks at the polity dimension of Japanese politics and discusses the political class under four aspects: size, scope, political recruitment, and political careers. It addresses specific features of the Japanese political class such as the relatively little importance of political parties for recruitment, the comparatively high percentage of hereditary seats in the parliament, the strong position of the bureaucracy, the great influence of advisory bodies, and the frequent occurrence of economic scandals.Less
The chapter provides an overview of the historical development of politics as a profession from the time of Japan's opening to the West until today. It looks at the polity dimension of Japanese politics and discusses the political class under four aspects: size, scope, political recruitment, and political careers. It addresses specific features of the Japanese political class such as the relatively little importance of political parties for recruitment, the comparatively high percentage of hereditary seats in the parliament, the strong position of the bureaucracy, the great influence of advisory bodies, and the frequent occurrence of economic scandals.
Colin Latimer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231256
- eISBN:
- 9780191710803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231256.003.0013
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
The modern era in Japan is normally considered as beginning in 1868 when the feudal age, or Edo era, finally ended. The Emperor Meiji declared the restoration of Imperial rule in January 1868 (the ...
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The modern era in Japan is normally considered as beginning in 1868 when the feudal age, or Edo era, finally ended. The Emperor Meiji declared the restoration of Imperial rule in January 1868 (the Meiji restoration) and he and his entourage transferred the capital from Kyoto to Edo / Tokyo (Edo was renamed Tokyo) in September 1868. The new and globally ambitious Meiji government quickly realized the importance of science and technology. A major problem was the shortage of teachers capable of teaching advanced courses. So Japanese sought Kelvin's involvement in the appointment of teaching staff. This chapter discusses Kelvin's protégés in Tokyo and Japanese scholars in Glasgow.Less
The modern era in Japan is normally considered as beginning in 1868 when the feudal age, or Edo era, finally ended. The Emperor Meiji declared the restoration of Imperial rule in January 1868 (the Meiji restoration) and he and his entourage transferred the capital from Kyoto to Edo / Tokyo (Edo was renamed Tokyo) in September 1868. The new and globally ambitious Meiji government quickly realized the importance of science and technology. A major problem was the shortage of teachers capable of teaching advanced courses. So Japanese sought Kelvin's involvement in the appointment of teaching staff. This chapter discusses Kelvin's protégés in Tokyo and Japanese scholars in Glasgow.
T. Griffith Foulk
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304671
- eISBN:
- 9780199866861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304671.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 1 summarizes the modern scholarly opinion that throughout its history, the Zen tradition rejected religious ritual as a legitimate means of carrying out its unique Buddhist mission, and ...
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Chapter 1 summarizes the modern scholarly opinion that throughout its history, the Zen tradition rejected religious ritual as a legitimate means of carrying out its unique Buddhist mission, and subjects this view to a contemporary historical critique. The author's thesis is that modern Japanese Zen scholars constructed the anti‐ritual theme in Zen in order to make Zen more relevant to the modern age in the eyes of both the ruling elite in Meiji/Taisho Japan and Western intellectuals who tended to be dismissive of religious ritual. Pushed in this direction by their own historical circumstances, modern Zen scholars portrayed the entire Zen tradition as anti‐ritual in basic intent and practice in spite of the historical record that belies this view. The author proceeds to describe the history of Zen ritual and presents a catalog description of ritual activities that are practiced in contemporary Sōtō Zen.Less
Chapter 1 summarizes the modern scholarly opinion that throughout its history, the Zen tradition rejected religious ritual as a legitimate means of carrying out its unique Buddhist mission, and subjects this view to a contemporary historical critique. The author's thesis is that modern Japanese Zen scholars constructed the anti‐ritual theme in Zen in order to make Zen more relevant to the modern age in the eyes of both the ruling elite in Meiji/Taisho Japan and Western intellectuals who tended to be dismissive of religious ritual. Pushed in this direction by their own historical circumstances, modern Zen scholars portrayed the entire Zen tradition as anti‐ritual in basic intent and practice in spite of the historical record that belies this view. The author proceeds to describe the history of Zen ritual and presents a catalog description of ritual activities that are practiced in contemporary Sōtō Zen.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one ...
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This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one execution should occur each year, and in order to discern why conflict persists around the issue of executions. The first half of the chapter describes and explains key capital punishment developments during four periods of Japanese history: the de facto abolition of the death penalty in premodern Japan; the dramatic decline of executions during the Meiji restoration of the late 19th century; the retention of capital punishment during the American-led occupation of Japan after the Pacific war; and the steady decrease in executions in the first four decades following the occupation. The chapter's fifth section shows that change is ongoing by examining the causes and consequences of the resurgence of capital punishment since the Aum Shinrikyo gas attacks of 1995. The two concluding sections identify lessons from Japanese history and explore alternative futures of the death penalty in Asia's most developed nation.Less
This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one execution should occur each year, and in order to discern why conflict persists around the issue of executions. The first half of the chapter describes and explains key capital punishment developments during four periods of Japanese history: the de facto abolition of the death penalty in premodern Japan; the dramatic decline of executions during the Meiji restoration of the late 19th century; the retention of capital punishment during the American-led occupation of Japan after the Pacific war; and the steady decrease in executions in the first four decades following the occupation. The chapter's fifth section shows that change is ongoing by examining the causes and consequences of the resurgence of capital punishment since the Aum Shinrikyo gas attacks of 1995. The two concluding sections identify lessons from Japanese history and explore alternative futures of the death penalty in Asia's most developed nation.
David Howell
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240858
- eISBN:
- 9780520930872
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240858.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This pioneering study looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the ...
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This pioneering study looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The book illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs—hairstyle, clothing, and personal names—served to distinguish the “civilized” realm of the Japanese from the “barbarian” realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcasts.Less
This pioneering study looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The book illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs—hairstyle, clothing, and personal names—served to distinguish the “civilized” realm of the Japanese from the “barbarian” realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcasts.
Osamu Saito and Masahiro Sato
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265314
- eISBN:
- 9780191760402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265314.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter traces the evolution of Japan's systems of household and land registration from c.1600 to the period of early Meiji reforms in the 1870s and 1880s, with due attention to the distinction ...
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This chapter traces the evolution of Japan's systems of household and land registration from c.1600 to the period of early Meiji reforms in the 1870s and 1880s, with due attention to the distinction between a system designed by the state and local forms of registration practice. In the section on the pre-Meiji period, one such local practice of having people ‘disowned’ and its consequence — registerlessness — is examined. The section on the Meiji reforms and the section that follows turn to the issue of continuity and discontinuity, and the question of whether any progress was made by those reforms. In order to illustrate the actual changes that took place at the local level, the chapter begins with an eighteenth-century story about a peasant woman and ends with a case of a family dispute that another village woman brought before the court some 120 years later.Less
This chapter traces the evolution of Japan's systems of household and land registration from c.1600 to the period of early Meiji reforms in the 1870s and 1880s, with due attention to the distinction between a system designed by the state and local forms of registration practice. In the section on the pre-Meiji period, one such local practice of having people ‘disowned’ and its consequence — registerlessness — is examined. The section on the Meiji reforms and the section that follows turn to the issue of continuity and discontinuity, and the question of whether any progress was made by those reforms. In order to illustrate the actual changes that took place at the local level, the chapter begins with an eighteenth-century story about a peasant woman and ends with a case of a family dispute that another village woman brought before the court some 120 years later.
Kaoru Sugihara
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265321
- eISBN:
- 9780191760495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265321.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
The ‘European miracle’ needs to be compared to an East Asian development path. In East Asia efficient institutions fostered great use of labour, an ‘industrious revolution’ path entailing extensive ...
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The ‘European miracle’ needs to be compared to an East Asian development path. In East Asia efficient institutions fostered great use of labour, an ‘industrious revolution’ path entailing extensive use of family labour and systems of double cropping. The result was a ‘labour-intensive industrialization’ such as occurred in Meiji Japan. That labour-intensive path now shapes the centres of most of the world's manufacturing employment, currently situated in East, South-east and South Asia. The challenge for Japan and other East Asian economies has been to develop resource- and energy-saving technologies.Less
The ‘European miracle’ needs to be compared to an East Asian development path. In East Asia efficient institutions fostered great use of labour, an ‘industrious revolution’ path entailing extensive use of family labour and systems of double cropping. The result was a ‘labour-intensive industrialization’ such as occurred in Meiji Japan. That labour-intensive path now shapes the centres of most of the world's manufacturing employment, currently situated in East, South-east and South Asia. The challenge for Japan and other East Asian economies has been to develop resource- and energy-saving technologies.
CHUSHICHI TSUZUKI
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205890
- eISBN:
- 9780191676840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205890.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Political History
A Japan-centred world vision lay behind the government's attempt to frame a constitution for itself. The year 1881 was a turning-point in Japanese politics, because the initiative in preparing a ...
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A Japan-centred world vision lay behind the government's attempt to frame a constitution for itself. The year 1881 was a turning-point in Japanese politics, because the initiative in preparing a constitution was taken away from the Minken movement and was assumed by the government, equipped with the imperial decree of 12 October in which the emperor expressed his hopes for convening a national assembly in 1890. Ito Hirobumi was to be sent to Europe to study constitutions there. A counter-offensive by the hanbatsu government began, and emperor-centred nationalism, itself the cause of the Meiji Restoration, was to be reaffirmed and given a modern form in a constitution learned from Europe. This chapter also deals with constitutional foundations; Inoue Kaoru and the unequal treaties; the Constitution of the Empire of Japan; the rise of Meiji nationalism; Okuma, Mutsu, and Treaty revision; and the Civil Code of 1890. Efforts to compile a civil code began as early as 1870 and resulted in the adoption in 1890 of one modelled after French law and consisting of sections dealing with property rights, obligations, mortgages, and other related matters. The chapter then addresses the constitutional politics in practice.Less
A Japan-centred world vision lay behind the government's attempt to frame a constitution for itself. The year 1881 was a turning-point in Japanese politics, because the initiative in preparing a constitution was taken away from the Minken movement and was assumed by the government, equipped with the imperial decree of 12 October in which the emperor expressed his hopes for convening a national assembly in 1890. Ito Hirobumi was to be sent to Europe to study constitutions there. A counter-offensive by the hanbatsu government began, and emperor-centred nationalism, itself the cause of the Meiji Restoration, was to be reaffirmed and given a modern form in a constitution learned from Europe. This chapter also deals with constitutional foundations; Inoue Kaoru and the unequal treaties; the Constitution of the Empire of Japan; the rise of Meiji nationalism; Okuma, Mutsu, and Treaty revision; and the Civil Code of 1890. Efforts to compile a civil code began as early as 1870 and resulted in the adoption in 1890 of one modelled after French law and consisting of sections dealing with property rights, obligations, mortgages, and other related matters. The chapter then addresses the constitutional politics in practice.
MATT K. MATSUDA
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195162950
- eISBN:
- 9780199867660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162950.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of ...
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This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 leads to a re-ordering of civilizations in the late 19th century. Organized around the contract marriage in Pierre Loti's popular story Madame Chrysanthème (similar to Madame Butterfly), the question of whether the Japanese are capable of emotion becomes central to debates about what constitutes an advanced society. French commentaries insisting on Gallic passion are contrasted to Japanese material and political developments that rapidly transform the tea-house vision of Japan into a picture of the imperialist “Yellow Prussians” of Asia, both fascinating and threatening to increasingly uncertain European powers.Less
This chapter examines the rise of Japan to global visibility during the Meiji Restoration after 1868, and the ways that the almost simultaneous collapse of the French in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 leads to a re-ordering of civilizations in the late 19th century. Organized around the contract marriage in Pierre Loti's popular story Madame Chrysanthème (similar to Madame Butterfly), the question of whether the Japanese are capable of emotion becomes central to debates about what constitutes an advanced society. French commentaries insisting on Gallic passion are contrasted to Japanese material and political developments that rapidly transform the tea-house vision of Japan into a picture of the imperialist “Yellow Prussians” of Asia, both fascinating and threatening to increasingly uncertain European powers.
Laura Nenzi
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839574
- eISBN:
- 9780824869656
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839574.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a rural Mito woman – a political activist, oracle, poet, and teacher – whose life coincided with the late-Tokugawa crisis, the collapse of the ...
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The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a rural Mito woman – a political activist, oracle, poet, and teacher – whose life coincided with the late-Tokugawa crisis, the collapse of the shogunate, and the rise of the modern Meiji state. Tokiko’s political activism combines focus and visionary flights of the imagination, nuancing our understanding of political consciousness among the non-elites in nineteenth-century Japan by blurring the line between rational and irrational and between discourse and action. Her use of prognostication, her appeals to the cosmic forces, and her conversations with ghosts illuminate original paths to female participation in the political debate of the late Tokugawa on one side, and resourceful ways to preserve identity in the face of modernity, science, and the onset of historical amnesia on the other. Tokiko’s story places the ordinary individual within the frame of large-scale history, squaring well-known historical moments with the private microcosm of a self-described “nobody.” By putting an extra in the spotlight, The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko offers a new script for the drama that unfolded on the stage of late-Tokugawa and early-Meiji history.Less
The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko is the story of a rural Mito woman – a political activist, oracle, poet, and teacher – whose life coincided with the late-Tokugawa crisis, the collapse of the shogunate, and the rise of the modern Meiji state. Tokiko’s political activism combines focus and visionary flights of the imagination, nuancing our understanding of political consciousness among the non-elites in nineteenth-century Japan by blurring the line between rational and irrational and between discourse and action. Her use of prognostication, her appeals to the cosmic forces, and her conversations with ghosts illuminate original paths to female participation in the political debate of the late Tokugawa on one side, and resourceful ways to preserve identity in the face of modernity, science, and the onset of historical amnesia on the other. Tokiko’s story places the ordinary individual within the frame of large-scale history, squaring well-known historical moments with the private microcosm of a self-described “nobody.” By putting an extra in the spotlight, The Chaos and Cosmos of Kurosawa Tokiko offers a new script for the drama that unfolded on the stage of late-Tokugawa and early-Meiji history.
Richard M Reitan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832940
- eISBN:
- 9780824870591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832940.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This innovative study of ethics in Meiji Japan (1868–1912) explores the intense struggle to define a common morality for the emerging nation-state. In the Social Darwinist atmosphere of the time, the ...
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This innovative study of ethics in Meiji Japan (1868–1912) explores the intense struggle to define a common morality for the emerging nation-state. In the Social Darwinist atmosphere of the time, the Japanese state sought to quell uprisings and overcome social disruptions so as to produce national unity and defend its sovereignty against Western encroachment. Morality became a crucial means to attain these aims. Moral prescriptions for re-ordering the population came from all segments of society. Each envisioned a unity grounded in its own moral perspective. It was in this atmosphere that the academic discipline of ethics (rinrigaku) emerged—not as a state-sponsored program with its own agenda. The book turns to the dominant moral theories of early Meiji. It considers the fluidity of moral subjectivity by juxtaposing rinrigaku texts with moral writings by religious apologists. By the beginning of the 1890s, moral philosophers in Japan were moving away from the empiricism and utilitarianism of the prior decade and beginning to place “spirit” at the center of ethical inquiry. This shift is explored through the works of two thinkers, Inoue Tetsujirō (1856–1944) and Nakashima Rikizō (1858–1918), the first chair of ethics at Tokyo Imperial University. Finally, the book looks at the national morality movement (kokumin dōtoku) and its close association with the state before concluding with an outline of some conceptual linkages between the Meiji and later periods.Less
This innovative study of ethics in Meiji Japan (1868–1912) explores the intense struggle to define a common morality for the emerging nation-state. In the Social Darwinist atmosphere of the time, the Japanese state sought to quell uprisings and overcome social disruptions so as to produce national unity and defend its sovereignty against Western encroachment. Morality became a crucial means to attain these aims. Moral prescriptions for re-ordering the population came from all segments of society. Each envisioned a unity grounded in its own moral perspective. It was in this atmosphere that the academic discipline of ethics (rinrigaku) emerged—not as a state-sponsored program with its own agenda. The book turns to the dominant moral theories of early Meiji. It considers the fluidity of moral subjectivity by juxtaposing rinrigaku texts with moral writings by religious apologists. By the beginning of the 1890s, moral philosophers in Japan were moving away from the empiricism and utilitarianism of the prior decade and beginning to place “spirit” at the center of ethical inquiry. This shift is explored through the works of two thinkers, Inoue Tetsujirō (1856–1944) and Nakashima Rikizō (1858–1918), the first chair of ethics at Tokyo Imperial University. Finally, the book looks at the national morality movement (kokumin dōtoku) and its close association with the state before concluding with an outline of some conceptual linkages between the Meiji and later periods.
Chushichi Tsuzuki
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205890
- eISBN:
- 9780191676840
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205890.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Political History
This history of modern Japan covers its transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. The book traces Japan's pursuit of power, ...
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This history of modern Japan covers its transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. The book traces Japan's pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of 19th century western imperialism; and on to the post-war US-Japanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the 20th century. The book examines Japan's political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention given to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan's modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan's own imperialism. The book goes on to show how some of the factors that contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.Less
This history of modern Japan covers its transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. The book traces Japan's pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of 19th century western imperialism; and on to the post-war US-Japanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the 20th century. The book examines Japan's political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention given to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan's modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan's own imperialism. The book goes on to show how some of the factors that contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.
James L. Huffman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824872915
- eISBN:
- 9780824877866
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824872915.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to ...
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This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to understand how poor people themselves experienced life. After examining the dominant popular views of hinmin or poor people in this era as a baseline, the author looks at what brought masses of hinmin to the cities, where they lived, and what work they did: everything from pulling rickshaws to making textiles, from carrying night soil to providing sex. It looks too at the daily challenges of stretching budgets, grappling with educational issues for children, and preparing meals. One chapter concentrates on the major problems, such as illness and disasters, that made the poverty-stricken life especially difficult, while another examines the endless ways in which the very poor acted as agents, filling life not just with hope but with activism and celebration in the here and now. Final, comparative chapters take up the nature of rural poverty and the lives of poor Japanese immigrants in Hawai’i’s sugar plantations as a way of understanding what was unique about urban poverty. The work contends that despite massive difficulties, the hinmin attacked life as intelligent agents, experiencing a range of life experiences similar to those that typified the more affluent classes.Less
This work examines the daily lives of Japan’s very poor—the kasō shakai or underclass—during the last half of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Focusing on urban slums (hinminkutsu), it attempts to understand how poor people themselves experienced life. After examining the dominant popular views of hinmin or poor people in this era as a baseline, the author looks at what brought masses of hinmin to the cities, where they lived, and what work they did: everything from pulling rickshaws to making textiles, from carrying night soil to providing sex. It looks too at the daily challenges of stretching budgets, grappling with educational issues for children, and preparing meals. One chapter concentrates on the major problems, such as illness and disasters, that made the poverty-stricken life especially difficult, while another examines the endless ways in which the very poor acted as agents, filling life not just with hope but with activism and celebration in the here and now. Final, comparative chapters take up the nature of rural poverty and the lives of poor Japanese immigrants in Hawai’i’s sugar plantations as a way of understanding what was unique about urban poverty. The work contends that despite massive difficulties, the hinmin attacked life as intelligent agents, experiencing a range of life experiences similar to those that typified the more affluent classes.
Jason G. Karlin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838263
- eISBN:
- 9780824871451
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838263.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book is a historical analysis of the discourses of nostalgia in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan. Through an analysis of the experience of rapid social change in Japan's ...
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This book is a historical analysis of the discourses of nostalgia in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan. Through an analysis of the experience of rapid social change in Japan's modernization, it argues that fads (ryūkō) and the desires they express are central to understanding Japanese modernity, conceptions of gender, and discourses of nationalism. In doing so, the book uncovers the myth of eternal return that lurks below the surface of Japanese history as an expression of the desire to find meaning amid the chaos and alienation of modern times. The Meiji period (1868–1912) was one of rapid change that hastened the process of forgetting. However, repression merely produced new forms of desire seeking a return to the past, with the result that competing or alternative conceptions of the nation haunted the history of modern Japan. This book examines the intellectual, social, and cultural factors that contributed to the rapid spread of Western tastes and styles, along with the backlash against Westernization that was expressed as a longing for the past. By focusing on the expressions of these desires in popular culture and media texts, it reveals how the conflation of mother, countryside, everyday life, and history structured representations to naturalize ideologies of gender and nationalism.Less
This book is a historical analysis of the discourses of nostalgia in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan. Through an analysis of the experience of rapid social change in Japan's modernization, it argues that fads (ryūkō) and the desires they express are central to understanding Japanese modernity, conceptions of gender, and discourses of nationalism. In doing so, the book uncovers the myth of eternal return that lurks below the surface of Japanese history as an expression of the desire to find meaning amid the chaos and alienation of modern times. The Meiji period (1868–1912) was one of rapid change that hastened the process of forgetting. However, repression merely produced new forms of desire seeking a return to the past, with the result that competing or alternative conceptions of the nation haunted the history of modern Japan. This book examines the intellectual, social, and cultural factors that contributed to the rapid spread of Western tastes and styles, along with the backlash against Westernization that was expressed as a longing for the past. By focusing on the expressions of these desires in popular culture and media texts, it reveals how the conflation of mother, countryside, everyday life, and history structured representations to naturalize ideologies of gender and nationalism.
Pär Kristoffer Cassel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199792054
- eISBN:
- 9780199932573
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199792054.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History, World Modern History
This chapter argues that prior to the Opium Wars in the mid-nineteenth century, both Qing China and Tokugawa Japan were familiar with the principle of personal jurisdiction and the existence of ...
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This chapter argues that prior to the Opium Wars in the mid-nineteenth century, both Qing China and Tokugawa Japan were familiar with the principle of personal jurisdiction and the existence of ethnic and social groups that had separate legal existences prior to the Opium War. In the Qing legal order, the Manchu conquest élite enjoyed extensive legal privileges, which placed them outside the criminal jurisdiction of the local Chinese administration. Similarly, the Tokugawa shogunate was accustomed to devolving jurisdiction to local domains and different status groups.Less
This chapter argues that prior to the Opium Wars in the mid-nineteenth century, both Qing China and Tokugawa Japan were familiar with the principle of personal jurisdiction and the existence of ethnic and social groups that had separate legal existences prior to the Opium War. In the Qing legal order, the Manchu conquest élite enjoyed extensive legal privileges, which placed them outside the criminal jurisdiction of the local Chinese administration. Similarly, the Tokugawa shogunate was accustomed to devolving jurisdiction to local domains and different status groups.
Pär Kristoffer Cassel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199792054
- eISBN:
- 9780199932573
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199792054.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History, World Modern History
This chapter examines how legal pluralism and extraterritoriality contributed to shape the public debate in China and Japan in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It contrasts official ...
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This chapter examines how legal pluralism and extraterritoriality contributed to shape the public debate in China and Japan in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It contrasts official Chinese and Japanese responses to a series of widely publicized consular courts cases and shows that the Japanese authorities were much more successful in mobilizing public opinion against extraterritoriality than the Qing Empire was. The chapter argues that one of the reasons for the Japanese success was the fact that the Japanese state had created a relatively unified citizenry by abolishing all traces of legal pluralism.Less
This chapter examines how legal pluralism and extraterritoriality contributed to shape the public debate in China and Japan in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It contrasts official Chinese and Japanese responses to a series of widely publicized consular courts cases and shows that the Japanese authorities were much more successful in mobilizing public opinion against extraterritoriality than the Qing Empire was. The chapter argues that one of the reasons for the Japanese success was the fact that the Japanese state had created a relatively unified citizenry by abolishing all traces of legal pluralism.
Scott Mehl
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781501761171
- eISBN:
- 9781501761195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501761171.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This book analyzes the complex response of Meiji-era Japanese poets and readers to the challenge introduced by European verse and the resulting crisis in Japanese poetry. Amidst fierce competition ...
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This book analyzes the complex response of Meiji-era Japanese poets and readers to the challenge introduced by European verse and the resulting crisis in Japanese poetry. Amidst fierce competition for literary prestige on the national and international stage, poets and critics at the time recognized that the character of Japanese poetic culture was undergoing a fundamental transformation, and the stakes were high: the future of modern Japanese verse. The book documents the creation of new Japanese poetic forms, tracing the first invention of Japanese free verse and its subsequent disappearance. The book examines the impact of the acclaimed and reviled shintaishi, a new poetic form invented for translating European-language verse and eventually supplanted by the reintroduction of free verse as a Western import. The book draws on materials written in German, Spanish, English, and French, recreating the global poetry culture within which the most ambitious Meiji-era Japanese poets vied for position.Less
This book analyzes the complex response of Meiji-era Japanese poets and readers to the challenge introduced by European verse and the resulting crisis in Japanese poetry. Amidst fierce competition for literary prestige on the national and international stage, poets and critics at the time recognized that the character of Japanese poetic culture was undergoing a fundamental transformation, and the stakes were high: the future of modern Japanese verse. The book documents the creation of new Japanese poetic forms, tracing the first invention of Japanese free verse and its subsequent disappearance. The book examines the impact of the acclaimed and reviled shintaishi, a new poetic form invented for translating European-language verse and eventually supplanted by the reintroduction of free verse as a Western import. The book draws on materials written in German, Spanish, English, and French, recreating the global poetry culture within which the most ambitious Meiji-era Japanese poets vied for position.
Tomoe Kumojima
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- December 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198871439
- eISBN:
- 9780191914317
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198871439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, World Literature
Victorian Women’s Travel Writing on Meiji Japan: Hospitable Friendship explores real-life instances and literary manifestations of cross-cultural friendship between Victorian female travellers and ...
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Victorian Women’s Travel Writing on Meiji Japan: Hospitable Friendship explores real-life instances and literary manifestations of cross-cultural friendship between Victorian female travellers and Meiji Japanese, examining its ethico-political significance against the backdrop of British ‘New Imperialism’. Shifting critical focus from the individualist model of subjectivity to affective relationality, Tomoe Kumojima conceptualizes the female travellers’ open subjectivity as hospitable friendship and argues that femininity proves to be an asset in their praxis of more equitable cross-cultural contact in non-colonial Japan. Political affordances of literature are the book’s overarching thread. Kumojima opens new archives of unpublished correspondence and typescripts and introduces contemporary Japanese literature hitherto unavailable in English, shedding a refreshing light on the works of Isabella Bird, Mary Crawford Fraser, and Marie Stopes. The book traverses the themes of identity fluidity, literary afterlife, international female solidarity, literary diplomacy, cross-racial heterosexual intimacy, and cross-gender friendship. It traces the shifts in the representation of Japan in Victorian discourses prompted by Britain’s colonial management, Japan’s successful modernization, the Anglo-Japanese bilateral relationship, and global geopolitics, demonstrating how the women travellers complicated and challenged Oriental stereotypes and imperial binaries by creating counter-discourses through their literary activities. Kumojima also offers parallel narratives of three Meiji female pioneers in Britain and burgeoning transnational feminist alliances. The book addresses the absence of Japan in discussions of the British Empire in the field of literary studies and that of women and female agency in the male-dominated historiography of the Anglo-Japanese relationship.Less
Victorian Women’s Travel Writing on Meiji Japan: Hospitable Friendship explores real-life instances and literary manifestations of cross-cultural friendship between Victorian female travellers and Meiji Japanese, examining its ethico-political significance against the backdrop of British ‘New Imperialism’. Shifting critical focus from the individualist model of subjectivity to affective relationality, Tomoe Kumojima conceptualizes the female travellers’ open subjectivity as hospitable friendship and argues that femininity proves to be an asset in their praxis of more equitable cross-cultural contact in non-colonial Japan. Political affordances of literature are the book’s overarching thread. Kumojima opens new archives of unpublished correspondence and typescripts and introduces contemporary Japanese literature hitherto unavailable in English, shedding a refreshing light on the works of Isabella Bird, Mary Crawford Fraser, and Marie Stopes. The book traverses the themes of identity fluidity, literary afterlife, international female solidarity, literary diplomacy, cross-racial heterosexual intimacy, and cross-gender friendship. It traces the shifts in the representation of Japan in Victorian discourses prompted by Britain’s colonial management, Japan’s successful modernization, the Anglo-Japanese bilateral relationship, and global geopolitics, demonstrating how the women travellers complicated and challenged Oriental stereotypes and imperial binaries by creating counter-discourses through their literary activities. Kumojima also offers parallel narratives of three Meiji female pioneers in Britain and burgeoning transnational feminist alliances. The book addresses the absence of Japan in discussions of the British Empire in the field of literary studies and that of women and female agency in the male-dominated historiography of the Anglo-Japanese relationship.
CHUSHICHI TSUZUKI
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205890
- eISBN:
- 9780191676840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205890.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Political History
When the Meiji emperor died in 1912, an era came to an end. This is an era of which the Japanese could rightly be proud as it was one of enormous success in terms of modernization, while the ...
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When the Meiji emperor died in 1912, an era came to an end. This is an era of which the Japanese could rightly be proud as it was one of enormous success in terms of modernization, while the traditional power-structures and equally traditional social and cultural frameworks were mainly kept intact. Thus, the transition from one era to another era is reported in this chapter. The evolution of party politics, the Taisho seihen (political change), and Japan and the First World War are also detailed. In addition, the chapter considers Minponshugi or ‘people-ism’, war prosperity, the Factory Act of 1911 (enforced in 1916), and Suzuki Bunji and the Yuaikai. As the war ended, Taisho democracy seemed to be moving slowly along a path that might lead Japan to the threshold of social democracy and even beyond it, encouraged by the revolutionary events in Europe.Less
When the Meiji emperor died in 1912, an era came to an end. This is an era of which the Japanese could rightly be proud as it was one of enormous success in terms of modernization, while the traditional power-structures and equally traditional social and cultural frameworks were mainly kept intact. Thus, the transition from one era to another era is reported in this chapter. The evolution of party politics, the Taisho seihen (political change), and Japan and the First World War are also detailed. In addition, the chapter considers Minponshugi or ‘people-ism’, war prosperity, the Factory Act of 1911 (enforced in 1916), and Suzuki Bunji and the Yuaikai. As the war ended, Taisho democracy seemed to be moving slowly along a path that might lead Japan to the threshold of social democracy and even beyond it, encouraged by the revolutionary events in Europe.
