Understanding Japanese Society

Joy Hendry is Professor Emerita of Oxford Brookes University, UK, and has held visiting associations with Tokyo, Dōshisha, and Keio universities, carried out fieldwork over 50 years, and published many books and articles on the social anthropology of Japan. A recent book An Affair with a Village (2021) tells a more personal story. In 2017, she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government.Emma E. Cook is Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at Hokkaido University, Japan. Previous publications include a book titled Reconstructing Adult Masculinities: Part-Time Work in Contemporary Japan (2016), an edited volume with Allison Alexy called Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict (2018), and articles in Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Asian Anthropology, and Social Science Japan Journal, among others.

• Introduction 1. Sources of Japanese identity: Historical and mythological foundations of Japan 2. The house and family system 3. Socialisation and classification 4. Community and neighborhood 5. The education system 6. Status, hierarchy, and ethnic diversity 7. Healthcare and ageing 8. Religious influences 9. Ritual and the life cycle 10. Opportunities for working life 11. Arts, entertainment, and leisure 12. Government and the craft of politics 13. The legal system and social control Conclusion