Family and Social Policy in Japan

Roger Goodman is lecturer in the social anthropology of Japan at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford. His publications include Children of the Japanese State: The Changing Role of Child Protection Institutions in Contemporary Japan (2000) and The East Asian Welfare Model: Welfare Orientalism and the State (1998).

• 1. Introduction: anthropology, policy and the study of Japan Roger Goodman; 2. Toward a cultural biography of civil society in Japan Victoria Lynn Bestor; 3. Pinning hopes on angels: reflections from an aging Japan's urban landscape Glenda Roberts; 4. Reproducing identity: maternal and child health care for foreigners in Japan Setsuko Lee and Carolyn Stevens; 5. State, standardization and 'normal' children: an anthropological study of a preschool Eyal Ben-Ari; 6. Child abuse in Japan: 'discovery' and the development of policy Roger Goodman; 7. Touching of the hearts: an overview of programs to promote interaction between the generations in Japan Leng Leng Thang; 8. Death policies in Japan: the state, the family and the individual Yohko Tsuji; 9. Embodiment, citizenship and social policy in contemporary Japan Vera Mackie.

'It is a timely addition to a thoughtful series which counts among its authors leading academics and authorities on key aspects of contemporary Japanese society and culture … This book, with its further chapters on maternal and child healthcare for foreigners, pre-school education, death policies and citizenship, provides an overview of contemporay Japanese society that cuts through all the time-worn stereotypes and assumptions about the immutability of traditional values and behaviour. It acknowledges that the Japanese social landscape is rapidly changing and looks deep within society to explain these changes.' Asian Affairs