Japan Studies: Find Books

Satoko and Nada (Graphic novel)

"Satoko, a Japanese student studying in America, has a new roommate: a Saudi Arabian woman named Nada! They might have different customs, but through mutual respect--and the hilarious adventures of their daily life--Satoko and Nada prove that friendship knows no borders." -- Page [4] of cover.

Women and politics in contemporary Japan

"This book looks at the gendering of the political system in Japan, and the effects of that system on gender equality in parliamentary politics specifically and society more generally." -- Provided by publisher

Edges of the rainbow : LGBTQ Japan

"An intimate photographic glimpse into the queer world behind the closed doors of modern Japanese society" -- Provided by publisher.

Japan's Secret Shame (Documentary)

This is a story of Ms. Shiori Ito, a 29-year-old Japanese journalist went public in 2017 alleging she was raped by a high-profile journalist who is a biographer of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Black Box

Black Box, Shiori Ito's account of seeking justice after sexual assault, ushered in the #MeToo movement in Japan.

I Hear the Sunspot (Graphic novel)

Two young men, one with a hearing disability, and the other, a brash interloper who agrees to take notes for this classmate in college in exchange for a boxed lunch. Journey of the two emotional development.

Minorities and Diversity

This book discusses the status of women in Japan in relation to marriage and single motherhood, gendered roles and norms in the early modern period, the Japanese American reparation movement, mutual aid in Okinawa, etc.

Queer Voices from Japan

Essays in this book "trace the evolution of queer voices in Japan with analyses of the presence of homosexuality in the Japanese Imperial Army, the development of Japan's first gay bars, and same-sex experiences in the pre- and post-war periods." --Publisher's descriptions.

Hafu  ハーフ (Documentary)

“Hafu” is the unfolding journey of discovery into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experience in modern day Japan. --Publisher's synopsis.

Career Women in Contemporary Japan: Pursuing Identities, Fashioning Lives

"This book examines what motivates Japanese women to pursue professional careers in the contemporary neoliberal economy, and how they reconfigure notions of selfhood while doing so." -- Publisher's descriptions.

My brother's husband (Graphic novel)

Yaichi, a work-at-home suburban dad in Tokyo, and his daughter Kana, are suddenly upended with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. What follows is an unprecedented and journey into the largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture..-- Provided by publisher.

Manga girl seeks herbivore boy : studying Japanese gender at Cambridge

Essays about gendered images, identities and life-styles in contemporary Japan.

Linguistic stereotyping and minority groups in Japan

The text presents a revealing examination of the discriminatory language, known as sabetsu yogo, as identified by five minority groups, the Burakumin, the Ainu, people with physical or mental disabilities, women and ethnic groups within Japan -- Publisher's description

Night in the American village: women in the shadow of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa

"Focusing on the women there (=Okinawa)," the author "follows the complex fallout of the murder of an Okinawan woman by an ex–U.S. serviceman in 2016 and speaks to protesters, to women who date and marry American men and groups that help them when problems arise."--Excerpt from publisher's description

Re-reading the salaryman in Japan : crafting masculinities

This book uses the figure of the suited white-collar office worker, ‘salaryman’ to explore masculinity in Japan by examining the salaryman as a gendered construct. --Excerpt from publisher’s description

Diversity in Japanese culture and language

Drawing from multiple disciplines, this book challenges the notion of Japanese uniqueness by exploring cultural and language diversity in Japan.

Disability in Japan

"Disability and chronic illness represents a special kind of cultural diversity, the 'other' to 'normal"' able-bodiedness. Most studies of disability consider disability in North American or European contexts; and studies of diversity in Japan consider ethnic and cultural diversity, but not the differences arising from disability."  --From the publisher's description

 Redefining Japaneseness : Japanese Americans in the ancestral homeland

"Redefining Japaneseness chronicles how Japanese American migrants to Japan navigate and complicate the categories of Japanese and 'foreigner.'"

--Excerpt from publisher's description

Japan's minorities : the illusion of homogeneity

"Japan's Minorities addresses a broad range of issues associated with the six principal minority groups in Japan: Ainu, Burakumin, Chinese, Koreans, Nikkeijin, and Okinawans."--From publisher's description

Importing diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program

"In this balanced study of the JET program, David L. McConnell draws on ten years of ethnographic research to explore the cultural and political dynamics of internationalization in Japan." --Excerpt from publisher's description

Cultural and social division in contemporary Japan : rethinking discourses of inclusion and exclusion

"This book explores not only how Japanese society is diversified and unequal, but also how diversity and inequality have caused people to divide into separate realities from which conflict and violence have emerged."--Provided by publisher

Genders, transgenders, and sexualities in Japan

"Incorporating Japanese language materials and field-based research, this compelling collection of essays takes a comparative look at the changing notions of gender and sexual diversity in Japan, considering both heterosexual and non-heterosexual histories, lifestyles and identities."--From publisher's description

Transcultural Japan at the borderlands of race, gender, and identity

"Transcultural Japan provides a critical examination of being Other in Japan.  Portraying the multiple intersection of race, ethnicity, class, and gender, the book suggests ways in which the transcultural borderlands of Japan reflect globalization in this island nation." --From the publisher's description。

Migrants and identity in Japan and Brazil the Nikkeijin"

"This title examines the relationship between the Nikkei migrants and the Japanese related to the emerging diversity of society."  --From the publisher's description

Minorities and education in multicultural Japan an interactive perspective

This book examines multiculturalism in Japan on minority children and their peers.  The authors also look at how the education system is incorporating multiculturalism to provide minority students with better access to opportunities.--Summarized from the publisher's description

Rethinking Japanese feminisms

Rethinking Japanese Feminisms discusses diversity within Japanese feminist thought explored through a range of disciplines, including anthropology, political science, literature, and more. 

The Fabric of Indigeneity: Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan

"The author synthesizes ethnographic field research, museum and archival research, and participation in cultural-revival and rights-based organizing to show how women craft Ainu and indigenous identities through clothwork and how they also fashion lived connections to ancestral values and lifestyles."  --Excerpted from the publisher's description

Dilemmas of Adulthood : Japanese Women and the Nuances of Long-Term Resistance

Through interviewing Japanese women over a 10-year period, Nancy Rosenberger explores "long-term resistance" in modern Japan, operationalized as punctuated shifts in gendered social norms.

Gender and career in Japan

Using a multidisciplinary approach including sociology, psychology, and economics, Gender and Career in Japan explores gender norms in career and life paths.

Trans-Pacific Japanese American Studies: Conversations on Race and Racializations

"Trans-Pacific Japanese American Studies is a unique collection of essays derived from a series of dialogues held in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Los Angeles on the issues of racializations, gender, communities, and the positionalities of scholars involved in Japanese American studies." --From the publisher's description 

Gendered trajectories : women, work, and social change in Japan and Taiwan

"This work explores why industrial societies vary in the pace at which they reduce gender inequality and compares changes in women's employment opportunities in Japan and Taiwan over the last half-century."--Publisher's description 

Gender struggles : wage-earning women and male-dominated unions in postwar Japan

This book explores the role unions played in creating the middle-class housewife in Japan, missing an opportunity to join grassroots and local social movements led by women.  

Manbiki kazoku (Shoplifters) (Film)

"On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence. . ."--Description from film website; film poster from IMBD

あん--Sweet Bean (Film)

A dorayaki baker hires a 76-year-old assistant with a secret recipe, his shop is transformed, but the discrimination she faces due to Hansen's disease (leprosy) threatens his thriving business and her acceptance in society.

Interested in leprosy issues in Okinawa? Visit Public Health section of the Okinawa Collection Recent Acquisition guide.

Goze: women, musical performance, and visual; disability in traditional Japan

Goze were visually impaired female musicians who organized into guilds during the Edo Period.  They made great musical contributions to Japan's rural communities, which this book explores.  

A disability of the soul: an ethnography of schizophrenia and mental illness in contemporary Japan

Disability of the Soul is based on Karen Nakamura's ethnographic research on Bethel House, an international community created in a small fishing town to enhance local economic conditions and aid participants' recoveries from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

Capturing Contemporary Japan : Differentiation and Uncertainty

This volume covers a wide-range of social topics and includes voices from diverse groups, including women, the disabled, the elderly, and many others from different walks of life.

 Queer Japan: From the Pacific War to the Internet Age

 "This volume, with its combination of fieldwork in the gay and lesbian communities and the use of historical sources such as journals and documents, breaks important new ground in this field."--Excerpted from publishers description

Queer Japanese : gender and sexual identities through linguistic practices

"Abe presents a comprehensive picture of the linguistic strategies employed by Japanese sexual minorities in various social contexts, from magazine advice columns to bars to text messaging on cell phones to private homes."--Publisher's description

Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics

Available in print, online, and open-access, this volume examines Japan vis-a-vis the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, exploring the Games' impact on the nation and city.  There are chapters devoted to diversity issues, such as sexual minorities and disability.  

Invisibility by Design: Women and Labor in Japan's Digital Economy

Gabrielle Lukacs explores how Japanese female entrepreneurship has changed in the digital economy.

Coed Revolution: The Female Student in the Japanese New Left

Available in print and online, Chelsea Szendi Schieder writes about women's participation in New Left protest movements during 1960s Japan.

Women and Public Life in Early Meiji Japan : The Development of the Feminist Movement

Mara Patessio discusses how Japanese women interacted and performed in public spaces, including politics and education, during the Meiji Era and the impacts on later debates and discourses.  

Flowering tales: women exorcising history in Heian Japan

A literary analysis monograph by Takeshi Watanabe exploring women's impact on Heian literature.

Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Work in the Gendered Economy

This ethnography covers sex work in Tokyo.

Anne's Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables

Anne's Cradle features the fascinating life of Hanako Muraoka, who devoted her life to translating the Anne of Green Gables series, setting into motion a cultural phenomenon throughout Japan.

Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch

Rebecca Copeland and Linda Ehrlich analyze the story of the yamamba, or mountain witch, an entity that inspires creativity and empower women.

Contraceptive Diplomacy: Reproductive Politics and Imperial Ambitions in the United States and Japan

This book investigates the birth control movements in Japan and the United States through transnational feminism.

Intimate disconnections : divorce and the romance of independence in contemporary Japan

Available online, Allison Alexy's new book focuses on contemporary divorce and family life in Japan and how it espouses new notions of love, marriage, and neoliberalism.

Japan's far more female future : increasing gender equality and reducing workplace insecurity will make Japan stronger

Bill Emmott's writes about women and work during the Heisei Era.

New! 消された精神障害者 

Banned in mainland Japan in 1950, "private home detention" remained in place during postwar Okinawa until the reversion in 1972.  This book illuminates the detention imprisonments through cases and stories.  

Hate speech in Japan : the possibility of a non-regulatory approach

This book focuses on hate speech laws in Japan, which largely rely on non-regulatory enforcement.

A transnational critique of Japaneseness : cultural nationalism, racism, and multiculturalism in Japan

In this book, Yuko Kawai examines Japanese identity through a applying a multicultural lens.

Uniquely Okinawan : determining identity during the U.S. wartime occupation

Through oral history and archival research, Courtney Short explores the construct of race and identity during and after World War II in Okinawa.

「男女格差後進国」の衝撃 : 無意識のジェンダー・バイアスを克服する 

This book examines the gender gap in Japan and studies measures other countries adopted to address gender bias and discrimination.

障害者権利条約の実施―批准後の日本の課題

This book examines the current status and issues of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), which was adopted by the United Nations in 2006 and ratified by Japan in 2014.

尊厳なきバリアフリー:「心・やさしさ・思いやり」に異議あり!

The author raises the question of whether "welfare city planning" and "mental barrier-free" have been helpful in realizing the social participation of people with disabilities, or rather, whether they have spread an atmosphere in society that prevents them from doing so. 

The Other Japan: Voices Beyond the Mainstream

Through interviews, The Other Japan shows a diverse nation of everyday men and women in various occupations but also illustrates the experiences of aboriginal people, zainichi, and burakumin.  These voices talk about war, peace, nature, and the environment.