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Japan Documents Handbook titles

This series focuses on the broad field of Japanese Studies, aimed at the worldwide English language scholarly market, published in Tokyo in English. Each Handbook contains an average of 20 newly written contributions on various aspects of the topic, which together comprise an up-to-date survey of use to scholars and students. The focus is on Humanities and Social Sciences.

Handbook of Civil Society in Japan (Edited by Simon Avenell and Akihiro Ogawa Minohara)

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Civil society in Japan is a large and multifaceted sphere with a diversity of actors pursuing various social, political, and economic objectives. The sphere has experienced major waves of transformation in the post-1945 era, especially in the 1990s when volunteering and nonprofit activities came to the forefront of political and popular attention. This handbook brings together twenty-one leading experts to provide comprehensive and up-to-date analyses of civil society in Japan. What is the history of Japanese civil society and how has it evolved in recent decades? Who have been the key participants and what are their objectives? How have international actors and conditions influenced civil society in Japan? More broadly, what do recent developments in Japanese civil society tell us about the condition of democracy, state-society relations, and the public sphere in the country? And how might Japanese civil society develop into the future? The contributions to the handbook offer innovative perspectives based on the most-recent fieldwork and data available. The handbook is divided into three sections: Institutions, Justice and Transnationalism. Topics include nonprofit organizations, volunteering, philanthropy, new media, gender, pacifism, nuclear power, territorial politics, international cooperation and transnational solidarity. The volume will be valuable for scholars in both research and teaching as well as essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the diversity and vibrancy of Japanese civil society today.

December, 2024, 354p. Hardback

ISBN: 9784909286604

¥28,875 (tax included)

Editors:
Simon Avenell & Akihiro Ogawa
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Simon Avenell  is Professor of modern Japanese history at the Australian National University. He focuses on social, political, and intellectual developments after 1945. His books include Making Japanese Citizens (University of California Press, 2010), Transnational Japan in the Global Environmental Movement (University of Hawai’i Press, 2017), and Asia and Postwar Japan (Harvard University Press, 2022). In 2025 he will publish A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation (University of Hawai’i Press). He is currently conducting research on generational politics in contemporary Japan.

Akihiro Ogawa is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia.  His core research interest lies in contemporary Japan and Asia, focusing on civil society.  His research is widely published with more than 80 publications, and his most recent solo-authored monograph is Antinuclear Citizens: Sustainable Policy and Grassroots Activism in Post-Fukushima Japan (Stanford University Press, 2023). He chairs the Asian Civil Society Research Network (https://asiancivilsociety.com/), founded in 2017, and is currently working on legislative transparency with parliamentary monitoring organizations across Asia. 
 

Contributors

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Daniel P. Aldrich, Northeastern University; Alexander Bukh, Waseda University; Adam Eldridge-Imamura, University of Melbourne; Mary Alice Haddad, Wesleyan University; Muneo Kaigo, University of Tsukuba; Aya H. Kimura, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa; Shuhei Kimura, University of Tsukuba; Reeya Komoda, Tottori University; Yoojin Koo, International Christian University; Yanyan Li, Komazawa University; Scott Musgrave-Takeda, University of Melbourne; Aya Okada,Tohoku University in Japan; Sae Okura, University of Tsukuba; Tamaki Onishi, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Yoshihiro Seki, Kwansei Gakuin University; Tin Tin Htun; Chika Watanabe, University of Manchester; Tobias Weiss, Sophia University; Toshiaki Yoshida, Northeastern University.

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​Table of Contents 目次  

(Editors, Simon Avenell and Akihiro Ogawa, 編)

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​Introduction: Civil Society in Japan (Simon Avenell and Akihiro Ogawa);

Chapter 1 - Conceptualizations: The Idea of Civil Society in Japan (Simon Avenell); 

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​Part 1: Institutions: Chapter 2—Nonprofit Organizations: Have NPOs Taken Root in Japanese Society? Public Perceptions, Media Coverage and Appearance in Education (Aya Okada); Chapter 3—Volunteering: Volunteering with Two Faces in Japan (Yoshihiro Seki); Chapter 4—Grassroots Advocacy: The Ethics of Care and Small Grassroots Minority and Civic Groups in Japan (Tin Tin Htun9; Chapter 5—Philanthropy: Defining and Advancing Japanese Philanthropy: Historical and Religio-Philosophical Perspectives (Tamaki Onishi); Chapter 6—Social Enterprise: New Trends Among Social Enterprises in Japan: The Potential of Policy for “Social Firms” (Reeya Komoda); Chapter 7—Conservative Civil Society: “Small Membership with Strong Advocacy”: Conservative Civil Society in Japan (Yoojin Koo); Chatper 8—Media: Civil Society and Newspaper Journalism: The Nuclear Power Debate in Japan (Tobias Weiss); Chapter 9—New Media: Social Media Platforms and Civil Society in Japan (Muneo Kaigo); 

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Part 2: Justice: Chapter 10—Pacifism: Continuity and Change in Japanese Peace Activism: Two Challenges to the 2015 Abe “War Laws” (Adam Eldridge-Imamura); Chapter 11—Okinawa: Contemporary Okinawan Civil Society and Exploring Environmental Justice (Scott Musgrave-Takeda); Chapter 12—Nuclear Power: Rethinking Civil Society–State Relations in Japan 11 Years after the Fukushima Accident (Daniel P. Aldrich and Toshiaki Yoshida); Chapter 13—Environment: Environmental Activism in Japan After 3-11 (Mary Alice Haddad); Chapter 14—Citizen Science: Citizen Science (Aya H. Kimura); Chapter 15—Gender: Gender Inequality in Japanese Civil Society (Sae Okura);  

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Part 3: Transnationalism: Chapter 16—Transnational Solidarity: Antinuclear Activism: The Case of No Nukes Asia Forum (Akihiro Ogawa); Chapter 17—Japan-China Relations: The Strengths of Japanese Civil Society: The Views of Japan-China Civil Society Mediators (Yanyan Li); Chapter 18—Territorial Politics: Civil Society and Territorial Disputes (Alexander Bukh); Chapter 19—International Cooperation: International Cooperation on Disasters (Chika Watanabe and Shuhei Kimura).

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