Researching Twenty-First Century Japan

About the Editors:Timothy Iles is an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where he teaches Japanese culture, cinema, and language. He has an MA from the University of British Columbia in Modern Japanese Literature, and a PhD from the University of Toronto, also in Modern Japanese Literature. He has taught courses on Japanese literature, theatre, culture, and cinema in Canada and the United States, and has published articles on those subjects. He is also author of Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama, and Theatre (Fuccecio: European Press Academic Publishers, 2000), and The Crisis of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Film (Brill, 2008).Peter Matanle is a Lecturer in Japanese studies at the School of East Asian Studies (SEAS), University of Sheffield. He is the author of numerous publications in the sociology of work in Japan, including Japanese Capitalism and Modernity in a Global Era (Routledge, 2003) and Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan (Co-edited with Wim Lunsing, Palgrave, 2006). He is the founder and general editor of the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies.Contributors:Darren-Jon Ashmore, Mio Bryce, Christoher Burgess, Paul James Cardwell, Andrew Elliott, Patrick Galbraith, Angelos Giannakopoulos, Mitsutoshi Horii, Kuniko Ishiguro, Wendy Nakanishi, Yoshiko Okuyama, Anthony Rausch, David Rear, Tomoko Shimoda, Utpal Vyas

• List of FiguresList of TablesPreface, Peter MatanleIntroduction, Timothy IlesChapter 1: The Japan Foundation in China: An Agent of Japan’s Soft Power?, Utpal VyasChapter 2: Regulatory Reform in Japan 1994-2010 and the Influence of the European Union, Paul James CardwellChapter 3: Party Financing in Germany and Japan: Comparative Perspectives of Political Corruption, Angelos Giannakopoulos, Konstadinos Maras, Shinya AmanoChapter 4: The Heisei Mergers in Contemporary Japan: A Step on the Road to a Doshu-sei Realignment?, Anthony RauschChapter 5: The Dilemma of “Critical Thinking”: Conformism and Non-Conformism in Japanese Education Policy, David RearChapter 6: The Emergence of Positive Fathering Roles in Japanese Social Marketing, Tomoko ShimodaChapter 7: Cell Phone as Metaphor: Japanese Deaf and Hearing High School Students’ Concepts of Mobile Communication,Yoshiko OkuyamaChapter 8: Japanese Employment in Transformation: The Growing Number of Non-Regular Worker, Kuniko IshiguroChapter 9: Deprofessionalization of Buddhist Priests in Contemporary Japan, Mitsutoshi HoriiChapter 10: Celebrating ‘Multicultural Japan’: Writings on ‘Minorities’ and the Discourse on ‘Difference’, Chris BurgessChapter 11: Ito and Isabella in the Contact Zone:Interpretation, Mimicry and Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Andrew ElliottChapter 12: ‘Desperate Housewives’ in Modern Japanese Fiction—Three Novels by Ariyoshi Sawako, Wendy NakanishiChapter 13: Kiritake Masako’s Maiden’s Bunraku, Darren-Jon AshmoreChapter 14: Manga and Anime: Fluidity and Hybridity in Global Imagery, Mio Bryce, Christie Barber, and Amy PlumbChapter 15: Moe: Exploring Virtual Potential in Post-Millennial Japan, Patrick W. Galbraith

Researching Twenty-First Century Japan brings together 15 of the best papers published in the journal’s first ten years. It is, appropriately, a very eclectic collection, with papers on such diverse topics as municipal mergers and manga, political financing scandals and Buddhist priests. Readers looking for a full set of wide ranging explorations of modern Japan will find informative and insightful essays. ... This book provides important insights about contemporary scholarly publishing. It reveals the depth and range of ejcjs’s intellectual contributions. ... Together, ejcjs and Researching Twenty-First Century Japan demonstrate the potential, achievements and unrealized opportunities of e-journals. ... this collection is a very good representation of the contributions that ejcjs has made and continues to make to modern Japan studies. The richness of the papers leads one to wish ejcjs all the best for continued good health and to make us all look forward to the next print collection of the 'best of' this useful e-journal.