Japan Viewed from Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This edited collection raises questions about globalization, Japan's relationships with other Asian countries, and the continued importance of U.S.–Japan relations. The contributors analyze the historical development of the region and its current situation from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives to answer these questions.

Yoneyuki Sugita is professor of history at Osaka University.

Part I: Is This Really Globalization? Chapter 1: Borders of 'American Citizens' Created in a More Globalized World: The Significance of the Transpacific Steamship Route for Asian Immigration to the Unites States in the Late 19th Century, Yuki Ooi Chapter 2: Symbiotic Relationship between Japan's Status in the World and Changes in the Nature of Medical Insurances from the 1920s to the Early 1940s, Yoneyuki Sugita Chapter 3: Japanese Identity in a Globalized World: "Anti-Japanism" and Discursive Struggle, Karl Gustafsson Chapter 4: From "Funeral" to "Engaged" Buddhism: Death Rites and Postwar Japanese Social Identity, Steven Heine Chapter 5: The Obama 'Pivot' to Asia in the Context of American Hegemony, Bruce Cumings Part II: Whither Japan's Relations with Asia? Chapter 6: The Young East: Negotiating Japan's place in the world through East Asian Buddhism, Judith Snodgrass Chapter 7: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Japan: Dispute Settlement and Trade Security, John Paden Chapter 8: Popular Culture Regionalization in East Asia and What this Means to Japan, Nissim Otmazgin Chapter 9: Myanmar: the Last Frontier for Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Southeast Asia, Marie Söderberg Chapter 10: Recalibrating Sino-Japanese Relations for a Better Future: Implications of Japan's Joint Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden with China, Victor Teo Part III: Do U.S.-Japan Relations Still Matter? Chapter 11: The Unforeseen Effects of the American Intervention: The Political Purge Program and the Making of Japan's Postwar Leadership, Juha Saunavaara Chapter 12: A Comparative Analysis of the Relationship between Learning Environments and Educational Performance in Japan and the United States, Christopher Weiss, Emma García, and Gerard Torrats-Espinosa Chapter 13: Privatizing Foreign Policy: The Role of Business Executives in U.S.-Japan Economic Relations, Toru Oga Chapter 14: Abolition of Japan's Nuclear Power Plants? Analysis from a Historical Perspective on Early Cold War, 1945-1955, Mayako Shimahoto