Late Submissions, Extensions and Supplementary Tests

Assessment tasks are compulsory and must be submitted on time. As a general rule, extensions will not be granted without a valid and documented reason (e.g. medical certificate). Late submissions will be penalised by 5% for each day (including weekends) the assessment task is late. A request for a supplementary test will be considered only in the case of serious illness or disruption. No assessment tasks will be accepted after assessment tasks have been corrected and feedback has been provided. Assessment tasks handed in early will not be marked and returned before the due date. If you anticipate unavoidable difficulty in completing an assessment task (in class and/or online), contact the convener as soon as possible. 

Disruption to Studies

If a student is prevented by serious and unavoidable disruption from completing unit requirements in accordance with their ability, they may apply for support under the Disruption to Studies Policy. To access this support, students must notify the university via ask.mq.edu.au. Students should refer to the Disruption to Studies Policy for further information (see the link provided in the 'Policies and procedures' section of this unit guide).

The class is divided into four "modules" of three weeks each, The Modules are:

1) Precarious Japan

2) Gender and Sexuality

3) Ethnic Minorities

4) Japan in the World

Each teaching week, there will be a one hour lecture (on campus or via ECHO 360) and a one hour, on campus tutorial. Tutorial attendance is compulsory for all students. Tutorial participation will be mostly student led, with students participating actively in small group discussions. The tutor will primarily act as a facilitator of student discussion, as well as assessing each students' participation.

Each lecture will cover the broader theoretical themes of the week, whereas the tutorials will focus on discussing each week's required readings. It will be essential that students complete the required readings, and prepare a list of questions  and ideas for discussion with their peers in tutorials, before each week's lecture. A summary of each week's major themes may be found in iLearn and in the Unit Guide (under Unit Schedule). Lecture slides will be made available on the Saturday before class to aid preparation, but please note that they may be slightly updated before Monday on occasion.

This unit has an online presence. Login is via: https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/

For student quick guides on the use of iLearn go to: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/tools-and-resources/ilearn/ilearn-quick-guides-for-students

Technology

Students are required to have regular access to a computer and the internet. Mobile devices alone are not sufficient. This is particularly true for online tests (to be conducted at home).

We strongly encourage that you bring along your own laptop computer. The preferred operating system is Windows 10. Please be aware, however, that use of a laptop is not strictly required for tutorials in this unit but you may like to bring it with you to take notes and access readings in class.

Students are required to access the online unit in iLearn by the end of Week 1 and follow any relevant instructions and links for downloads that may be required. 

For central technical support go to:  http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

Below is the unit schedule, including the topics and required readings for each week. All the required readings will be made available via iLearn as PDFs from Week 1. Students are encouraged to read ahead in order to prepare for the various assessment tasks. 

Introduction

Week 1: What is “Japanese Studies”?

In this introductory lecture, we will explore the scholarly tradition of Japanese Studies to understand how different scholars in different periods approached and understood Japanese society. These disciplinary discussions are crucial for understanding the rest of the content we will be discussing in each of the modules. We will also explore the Assessments of the Unit, as well as briefly discuss contemporary Japan's demographic situation.

Essential Reading (by Week 2)

1. Sugimoto, Y. 2014. Japanese Society: Inside out and outside in. International Sociology. 29 (3): 191–208.

Module 1: Precarious Japan

Week 2: Social precariousness after the “Lost Decades”

In the introductory lecture for Module 1: Precarious Japan, we will firstly discuss the important sociological concepts of structure and agency to contextualise our understandings of Japanese society. We will then discuss the postwar economic and social development of Japan, focussing upon the increasing neoliberalisation of Japanese society after the collapse of the Bubble Economy of the 1980s. In discussing the so-called Lost Decades (1990s & 2000s), we will focus upon the trope of precarity/precariousness to investigate contemporary social disadvantage. We will place a particular focus on Japan's declining birthrate and its effects on Japanese society.

Essential Reading

1. Allison, A. 2013. Precarious Japan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 1–42.
2. Shirahase, S. 2015. Demography as destiny: Falling birthrates and the allure of a blended society. In Baldwin, F. & Allison, A. (eds). Japan: The Precarious Future. New York, NYU Press, pp. 11–35.

Week 3: Youth responses to changing employment and social withdrawal

In the second lecture of Module 1: Precarious Japan, we will focus our discussions more closely on changing conditions of employment and their effects on young people in Japan. We will begin by discussing the development of ideals of life-long employment in postwar Japanese society, and then discuss how the casualisation of the workforce since the Koizumi administration has adversely effected youths in Japan. Drawing upon our understandings of social precarity, structure, and agency, we will examine a number of youth subcultures which have emerged in reaction to the casualisation of the workforce, including the freeter, NEET, sôshoku danshi and hikikomori phenomena.

Essential Reading

1. Genda, Y. 2007. Jobless youths and the NEET problem in Japan. Social Science Japan Journal. 10 (1): 23–44.
2. Furlong, A. 2008. The Japanese hikikomori problem: Acute social withdrawal among young people. Sociological Review. 56 (2): 309–325.

Week 4: On the margins: Disability in Japan

In the final lecture for Module 1: Precarious Japan, we will examine what it means to exist on the margins of a society, with a specific focus on disability and mental illness in contemporary Japan. As background, we will chart the history of medicine in Japan, with a particular focus on the influence of Shinto notions of purity on contemporary attitudes towards the differently-abled. Through our reading, we will then investigate governmental attempts to create a "barrier free" society that supports the integration of the differently-abled into society, as well as discussing some of the failures of such policies. A significant focus will be placed on disability rights activism in Japan and on understanding how differently-abled individuals and groups exercise their agency to advocate for change in Japanese society.

Essential Reading

1. Stevens, C. S. 2007. Living with Disability in Urban Japan. Japanese Studies. 27 (3): 263–278.
2. Nakamura, K. 2009. Disability, destitution, and disaster: Surviving the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Japan. Human Organization. 68 (1): 82–88.

Module 2: Gender and Sexuality

Week 5: Is Japanese masculinity in crisis?

In the introductory lecture of the Module 2: Gender and Sexuality, we will move from our focus on the neoliberalisation of Japanese society to examine contemporary debates concerning masculinity in Japan. We will begin by tracing the various historical ideologies of masculinity in Japan and explore how they are linked to notions of employment and fatherhood as embodied in the figures of the kigyô senshi and daikokubashira. We will then turn to discuss emerging masculine youth cultures in post-Bubble Japan which challenge such ideologies, including the sôshoku danshi, the newly emerging jendâresu danshi, and male otaku. Throughout, we will reflect upon the role of heteronormativity in structuring notions of Japanese masculinity, as well as the construction of "hegemonic" masculinities.

Essential Reading

1. Mathews, G. 2014. Being a man in a Strained Japan: The view from twenty years later. In Kawano, S., Roberts, G. S. & Orpett Long, S. (eds). Capturing Contemporary Japan: Differentiation and Uncertainty. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 60–80.
2. Slater, D. H & Galbraith, P. 2011. Re-narrating social class and masculinity in neoliberal Japan: An examination of the media coverage of the ‘Akihabara Incident’ of 2008. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. 11 (3). Available at: http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2011/SlaterGalbraith.html.

Week 6: Historical feminisms in contemporary Japan

In the second lecture of Module 2: Gender and Sexuality, we will trace the historical development of feminist movements in Japan in order to understand the changing roles of women in Japanese society. Before examining the history of feminism in Japan, we will examine some of the ideologies of womanhood which have been dominant in Japan, including ryôsai kenbo and the yamato nadeshiko. We will then examine how feminist groups have challenged such notions, placing a particular emphasis on the role of women in postwar Japan's politics. We will end the discussion by investigating young women's sub-cultural subversions of hegemonic femininity, including the gothic lolita fashion community. Important to these discussions are how women exercise their agency within patriarchal social structures.

Essential Reading

1. Kano, A. 2011. Backlash, fight back, and back-pedalling: Responses to state feminism in Contemporary Japan. International Journal of Asian Studies. 8 (1): 41–62.
2. Luke, A. 2016. Resilience, agency and activism: Viewing Yoshiko Yamaguchi through the feminist life course perspective. Women’s Studies International Forum. 57 (July-August): 11–21.

Week 7: Japan’s LGBT communities: Historical trajectories

In the final lecture of Module 2: Gender and Sexuality, we will explore the historical trajectories of Japan's diverse LGBT communities. We will begin by focussing upon Japanese historical understandings of (male) homosexuality, charting the changing representations of sexual minorities in Japanese media. We will place a particular emphasis on the historical development of Japanese terminology for discussing sexual minorities in the Japanese postwar context. We will then explore the postwar histories of Japan's gay male and lesbian communities, with a particular focus placed upon the historical role of activism within these communities. We will finish by reflecting upon the positioning of LGBT groups in Japan from the perspective of social precarity, and explore recent debates in Japanese government concerning the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation for LGBT communities.

Essential Reading

1. Maree, C. 2014 Queer women’s culture and history in Japan. In McLelland, M. & Mackie, V. (eds). Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia. New York & London: Routledge, pp. 230–244.
2. McLelland, M. & Suganuma, K. 2009. Sexual minorities and human rights in Japan: An historical perspective. The International Journal of Human Rights. 13 (2–3): 329–343.

Module 3: Ethnic minorities in Japan

Week 8: Gaijin, blackness and ethnic stereotypes in Japan

In this introductory lecture for Module 3: Ethnic Minorities, we will move our focus to understanding historical and contemporary patterns of immigration to Japan as well as thinking through the various stereotypes of "foreigners" to be found in Japanese media. After discussing the differences between nationality, race and ethnicity (with a focus on Japanese understandings of such concepts), we will investigate media representations of gaijin (white foreigners) and black (African, African American, and Afro-Caribbean) individuals and groups in contemporary Japan. We will place a strong focus throughout this module on problematising notions of Japan as an ethnically and linguistically homogeneous society through a critical investigation of nihonjinron.

Essential Reading

1. Hambleton, A. 2011. Reinforcing identities? Non-Japanese residents, television and cultural nationalism in Japan. Contemporary Japan. 23 (2011): 27–47.
2. Capobianco, P. 2015. Confronting diversity: Africans challenging Japanese societal convictions. Contemporary Japan. 27 (2): 189–212.

Week 9: Ethnic Koreans in Japan

In the second lecture of Module 3: Ethnic Minorities, we will examine the history of the zainichi kankokujin, the long-term ethnic Korean minority living in Japan. As well as tracing the historical trajectory of this ethnic group, we will utilise the zainichi as a case study to understand the limits of Japanese citizenship from a legal perspective. Our discussions of zainichi communities will also touch upon the contemporary socio-political relationships between Japan, South Korea and North Korea in the postwar era. Finally, we will examine the contentious issue of ethnic discrimination and hate speech in the Japanese context through a discussion of a right-wing group known as Zaitokukai (Association of Citizens against the Special Privileges of the Zainichi) who have often come into conflict with local governments due to their anti-Korean rhetoric.

Essential Reading

1. Chapman, D. 2006. Discourses of multicultural coexistence (tabunka kyōsei) and the ‘old-comer’ Korean residents in Japan. Asian Ethnicity. 7 (1): 89–102.
2. Itagaki, R. 2015. The anatomy of Korea-phobia in Japan. Japanese Studies. 35 (1): 49–66.

Week 10: Chinese migration to Japan: Education, leisure, and sex

In the final lecture of Module 3: Ethnic Minorities, we will turn our attention to Japan's largest ethnic group, the Chinese. In particular, we will focus our discussion on educationally-channeled migrants from the People's Republic of China as a site to discuss the ambiguities surrounding Japanese understandings of the Chinese people as both a national group and as a "race". We will chart the historical trajectory of discourses of Chineseness in Japanese society, thinking through such terms as kakyo, shinajin and furyô chûgokujin. The lecture will conclude with a discussion of the intersections of ethnicity and sexuality, linking discussions had in Module 2 to our discussions of ethnicity, by focussing upon gay Chinese tourists' experiences of xenophobia in Japan.

Essential Reading

1. Coates, J. 2015. “Unseeing” Chinese Students in Japan: Understanding educationally channelled migrant experiences. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. 44 (3): 125–154.
2. Baudinette, T. 2016. Ethnosexual frontiers in queer Tokyo: The construction of racialized desire in Japan. Japan Forum. 28 (4): 465–485.

Module 4: Japan in the world

Week 11: History debates in East Asia: The Yasukuni Controversy

In this introductory lecture to Module 4: Japan in the World, we move our focus away from solely looking at Japanese society within a domestic context and broaden some of our discussions to consider Japan's situatedness within the world. We begin by thinking through Japan's relationships with its East Asian neighbours. Important to this discussion is an understanding of the role of wartime history on contemporary Japanese international relations. We will discuss how various sociologists and historians understand Japan as a "continually postwar" society. As a case study, we examine the various controversies surrounding the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo as a way to explore the contested nature of war memorialisation. We will also look at how the war is memorialised in Australia as a comparative case study.

Essential Reading

1. Inuzuka, A. & Fuchs, T. 2014. Memories of Japanese militarism: The Yasukuni Shrine as a commemorative site. The Journal of International Communication. 20 (1): 21–41.
2. Allen, M. 2015. Ghostly remains and converging memories: Yūshūkan and the Australian War Memorial exhibit the Pacific War. Asian Studies Review. 39 (3): 430–446.

Week 12: Understanding Japanese migrants and residents in Australia

In the second lecture for Module 4: Japan in the World, we will explore the experiences of Japanese people who travel to Australia to study, work or permanently settle. We will begin with a brief overview of the history of Australia-Japan relations, before turning to investigating Australians' historical attitudes towards the Japanese. We will then explore the experiences of Japanese in Australia from a similar perspective to that adopted in Module 3 when discussing ethnic minorities in Japan. We will focus on how Japanese living in Australia maintain their cultural identities as Japanese, as well as explore how migrating to Australia leads to cultural hybridity. Our discussions will focus on reasons why Japanese choose to move to Australia, exploring important sociological theories concerning mobility and cosmopolitanism.

Essential Reading

1. Kawashima, K. 2014. Uneven cosmopolitanism: Japanese working holiday makers in Australia. In Breaden, J., Steele, S. & Stevens, C.S. (eds). Internationalising Japan: Discourse and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge, pp. 106–124.
2. Nagatomo, J. 2011. De-territorialized ethnic community: The residential choices and networks among Japanese lifestyle migrants in South-East Queensland. Japanese Studies. 31 (3): 423–440.

Week 13: Exploring nuclear disaster in a transnational context

In the final lecture for Module 4: Japan in the World, we will look at the transnationality of nuclear disaster via a case study of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 3, 2011. We will begin by investigating the history and effects of natural disaster on the formation of Japanese society, as well as explore transnational environmental activism surrounding pollution in Japan which emerged in the 1970s. We will then think about how the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant can be viewed transnationally, thinking through the global circulation of nuclear material between Japan, the US and Australia. We will tie these discussions to a renewed focus on social precariousness, taking our discussions of Japanese society full circle by investigating the informal life politics of those Japanese coping with nuclear fallout back home.

Essential Reading

1. Broinowski, A. 2013. Fukushima: Life and the transnationality of radioactive contamination. Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 11 (41): un-paginated. Available at: http://apjjf.org/2013/11/41/Adam-Broinowski/4009/article.html.
2. Morris-Suzuki, T. 2015. Re-animating a radioactive landscape: Informal life politics in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan Forum. 27 (2): 167–188.

Online Unit

Login is via: https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/

Is my unit in iLearn?: http://help.ilearn.mq.edu.au/unitsonline/ to check when your online unit will become available.

Technology

Students are required to have regular access to a computer and the internet. Mobile devices alone are not sufficient.

For students attending classes on campus we strongly encourage that you bring along your own laptop computer, ready to work with activities in your online unit. The preferred operating system is Windows 10. Please be aware, however, that use of a laptop is not required for tutorials in this unit but you may like to bring it with you to take notes and access readings in class.

Students are required to access the online unit in iLearn by the end of Week 1 and follow any relevant instructions and links for downloads that may be required. 

Please contact your course convenor before the end of Week 1 if you do not have a suitable laptop (or tablet) for in-class use.

• For central technical support go to:  http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/