Book Announcement: A History of Popular Culture in Japan

A History of Popular Culture in Japan
From the Seventeenth Century to the Present
E. Taylor Atkins

The phenomenon of ‘Cool Japan’ is one of the distinctive features of global popular culture of the millennial age. A History of Popular Culture in Japan provides the first historical and analytical overview of popular culture in Japan from its origins in the 17th century to the present day, using it to explore broader themes of conflict, power, identity and meaning in Japanese history.

E. Taylor Atkins shows how Japan is one of the earliest sites for the development of mass-produced, market-oriented cultural products consumed by urban middle and working classes. The best-known traditional arts and culture of Japan- no theater, monochrome ink painting, court literature, poetry and indigenous music-inhabited a world distinct from that of urban commoners, who fashioned their own expressive forms and laid the groundwork for today’s ‘gross national cool.’ Popular culture was pivotal in the rise of Japanese nationalism, imperialism, militarism, postwar democracy and economic development.

Offering historiographical and analytical frameworks for understanding its subject, A History of Popular Culture in Japan synthesizes the latest scholarship from a variety of disciplines. It is a vital resource for students of Japanese cultural history wishing to gain a deeper understanding of Japan’s contributions to global cultural heritage.

For more information: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-history-of-popular-culture-in-japan-9781350195936/

Book Announcement: Tracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957 – 2017): The Boomerang Flying Transnational

Tracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957 – 2017):
The Boomerang Flying Transnational
By Kevin Coogan, Claudia Derichs

Tracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957–2017) tells the story of the Japanese Red Army (JRA), a militant left-wing group founded in 1971 which was involved in numerous terrorist attacks.

It traces the origins of the group in the Japanese New Left in the 1960s and looks at Red Army groups of the early 1970s in Japan, such as the Red Army Faction, and the United Red Army which became infamous for murdering its own members. The book also examines the JRA’s trans- and international links with other militant groups including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as the networks of intellectuals and fellow activists who supported them.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of terrorism, radicalism, and Japanese social history.

For more information: https://www.routledge.com/Tracing-Japanese-Leftist-Political-Activism-1957-2017-The-Boomerang/Coogan-Derichs/p/book/9780367641382

Book Announcement: Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan: Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts

Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan: Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts
Edited by Fabio Rambelli & Or Porath

In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts.

The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth.

This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.

For more information: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110720211/

Book Announcement: Interactions Between Rivals: The Christian Mission and Buddhist Sects in Japan (c.1549-c.1647)

Interactions Between Rivals: The Christian Mission and Buddhist Sects in Japan (c.1549-c.1647)
Edited by Alexandra Curvelo & Angelo Cattaneo

This volume presents comprehensive research on how southern European Catholics and the Japanese confronted each other, interacted and mutually experienced religious otherness in early modern times.

In their highly variable and asymmetric relations, during which the political-military elites of Japan at times not only favoured, but also opposed and strictly controlled the European presence, missionaries – particularly the Jesuits – tried to negotiate this power balance with their interlocutors.

This collection of essays analyses religious and cultural interactions between the Christian missions and the Buddhist sects through processes of cooperation, acceptance, confrontation and rejection, dialogue and imposition, which led to the creation of new relational spaces and identities.

For more information: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1190560

Book Announcement: Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha

Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha
Robert A. Jacobs

In the fall of 1961, President Kennedy somberly warned Americans about deadly radioactive fallout clouds extending hundreds of miles from H‑bomb detonations, yet he approved ninety‑six US nuclear weapon tests for 1962. Cold War nuclear testing, production, and disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima have exposed millions to dangerous radioactive particles; these millions are the global hibakusha. Many communities continue to be plagued with dire legacies and ongoing risks: sickness and early mortality, forced displacement, uncertainty and anxiety, dislocation from ancestors and traditional lifestyles, and contamination of food sources and ecosystems.

Robert A. Jacobs re‑envisions the history of the Cold War as a slow nuclear war, fought on remote battlegrounds against populations powerless to prevent the contamination of their lands and bodies. His comprehensive account necessitates a profound rethinking of the meaning, costs, and legacies of our embrace of nuclear weapons and technologies.

For more information: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230338/nuclear-bodies/

Book Announcement: Sōjiji: Discipline, Compassion, and Enlightenment at a Japanese Zen Temple

Sōjiji: Discipline, Compassion, and Enlightenment at a Japanese Zen Temple
Joshua A. Irizarry

Sōjiji is one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen, the largest sect of Japanese Buddhism. The temple is steeped in centuries of culture and tradition, but it is very much rooted in the present and future, performing functions and catering to needs that reflect the changing demographic, social, and religious landscapes of contemporary Japan.

Based on more than fifteen years of fieldwork, interviews, and archival research, Sōjiji: Discipline, Compassion, and Enlightenment at a Japanese Zen Temple immerses the reader in the lives and experiences of the different groups that comprise Sōjiji’s contemporary religious community. Through clear and accessible prose, ethnographically-grounded analysis, and emotionally compelling stories, the reader will explore the rich pastiche of daily life and ritual activity at a major Japanese Zen temple in institutional, historical, and social context through the lived practices of its community of clergy, practitioners, parishioners, and visitors.

For more information: https://www.press.umich.edu/11510618/sojiji

Book Announcement: Narratives Without Guilt: Japanese Perpetrators and the Question of Responsibility

Narratives Without Guilt:
Japanese Perpetrators and the Question of Responsibility
Frank Jacob

During the Second World War Japanese soldiers committed several different war crimes, including the kidnapping and raping of women or the mistreatment of POWs. In relation to the war crime trials after 1945 these perpetrators were interviewed by the Allied powers and could reflect on their acts during the war. How they perceived their own role for the named eruptions of violence is the main focus of the present book. It takes a closer look at the self-perception and the apologetical narratives of war criminals within the Japanese Army to explain how ordinary Japanese men explained their crimes against humanity once the Second World War was over.

For more information: https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110731835/html

Book Announcement: Japan on the Jesuit Stage: Two 17th-Century Latin Plays with Translation and Commentary

Japan on the Jesuit Stage: Two 17th-Century Latin Plays with Translation and Commentary
Akihiko Watanabe

The Jesuits were a major source of European information on Japan from the late 16th to early 17th century. Not only were they active missionaries but they also produced linguistic, religious and cultural tracts, regional chronicles, as well as hundreds of Latin plays written in imitation of classical Greco-Roman theatre but set in Japan. An intriguing yet underexplored segment of Jesuit school theatre is that which stages non-classical, non-Western subjects such as Japan, and this volume is the first to present Latin texts of two of these plays alongside full English translations, commentaries and an extensive introduction.

The plays in question – Martyrs of Japan and Victor the Japanese – were performed in Koblenz and Munich, in 1625 and 1665 respectively, and are collated from original 17th-century manuscripts for this edition. They were based on specific events which took place in Japan in 1597 and 1613, and their main characters are historically attested Japanese Catholic converts and their pagan peers.

The juxtaposition of the Latin texts and original English translations makes the plays newly accessible to a wide readership, shedding light on the ways in which Western classical humanism rooted in ancient Mediterranean theatre became intertwined with momentous historical developments across the globe to produce these unique spectacles. The introduction and commentary examine the historical, cultural and literary contexts and provide guidance on interpretative and stylistic issues, allowing for a full appreciation of the plays in which pagan classical, Christian, early modern European and Japanese elements come together.

For more information: https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/japan-on-the-jesuit-stage-9781350217218/

Book Announcement: Tsuchi: Earthy Materials in Contemporary Japanese Art

Tsuchi: Earthy Materials in Contemporary Japanese Art
Bert Winther-Tamaki

An examination of Japanese contemporary art through the lens of ecocriticism and environmental history

Bert Winther-Tamaki explores how Japanese artists have continually sought a passionate and redemptive engagement with earth. By focusing on the role of tsuchi (earthy materials such as soil and clay) as a convergence point for a wide range of creative practices, this book offers a critical reassessment of contemporary art in Japan and its intrinsic relationship to the environment.

For more information: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/tsuchi

Funding: Asian Division’s Florence Tan Moeson Fellowship

The Library of Congress’s Asian Division is happy to announce that it is now accepting applications for the 2023 Florence Tan Moeson Research Fellowship Program. Please note that the fellowship application is accepted only via email submission. In order to apply, the applicant must download the application form and follow the enclosed instructions. The deadline for the 2023 application season is midnight January 16, 2023 US Eastern Time.

The purpose of the fellowship is to provide individuals with the opportunity to pursue research in the area of Asian Studies, using the unparalleled collections of the Asian Division and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The fellowships are for a minimum of five business days of research at the Library of Congress. The grants may vary from $300 to $3,000 and are to be used to cover travel to and from Washington, overnight accommodations, as well as other research expenses. All research trips need to be completed before September 15, 2023. Graduate students, faculty, independent scholars, researchers, and librarians with a need for fellowship support are especially encouraged to apply.

For more information: https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2022/09/the-asian-divisions-florence-tan-moeson-fellowship-now-accepting-applications-for-2023/?loclr=eaint