Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan: A Sociological Enquiry

The debate surrounding the "uniqueness" of Japan is central to the field of Japanese studies. Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan examines this debate from a comparative and theoretical perspective, and tests more general theories of ethnicity and cultural nationalism. Kosaku Yoshino a Japanese scholar with a background in Western approaches to nationalism and Japanese sociology brings these fields together in an original way. Drawing from a wide range of interviews with a wide range of intellectuals, teachers and entrepreneurs to examine theories and assumptions about national identity and cultural nationalism. He explores how ideas of cultural uniqueness known as nihonjinron are "produced" and "consumed" in contemporary Japan, and draws the conclusion that the agents of Japanese Japanese cultural nationalism are no longer teachers and intellectuals, but businessmen. Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan also examines theJapanese people's perception of their own uniqueness and explores the ways in which ideas of cultural distinctiveness are formulated in different national and historical contexts. The book integrates anthropological, political, and sociological material, and will appeal both to students and researchers in these areas and to the general reader interested in contemporary Japan.