This book explores the myth, so abused by the mass media, that the Japanese are a grey, anonymous mass of efficient, obedient workers. The articles shed light on a Japan outside officialdom, a lively Japan of tumultuous and independent thought, inefficient and aesthetic, pleasure-loving, aggressive and wasteful, creative and anti-authoritarian. The book's truly international contributors examine the role in modern Japanese society of a range of leisure and play activities, from drinking to travel, football to karaoke, tattoos to rock fandom. They explore how things which seem like play in one context are deadly serious in another, and how the fun and enjoyment may be achieved in unexpected ways. They also draw attention to the importance of such activities in understanding the deeper structure and meaning pervading all areas of the society in which they take place. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Japanese Studies, Sociology, Anthropology and Cultural Studies.

An almost obsessional use of numbers characterizes Japanese popular culture. A wide variety of numerical formulae and strategies provide the means for explaining events and solving problems occurring in everyday life. These include such matters as the choice of the name for a child, ranking in almost any game or sport, the diagnosis and cure of illness or the decision to accept a new job. This text provides a general study of the field of Japanese popular numeracy. It introduces the reader to a world of numbers in which fortune-telling, the abacus and games involving numbers, as well as curious numerical names (of both people and places), illustrate the importance of systems of counting, calculation and forecasting. The study explores the cultural roots of attitudes towards numbers and makes suggestions about the contemporary implications of a culture in which mechanical numeracy (and number obsession) is general but the highest levels of academic mathematics still fall short of world standards.

Dolores Martinez heads an international team of scholars in this lively discussion of Japanese popular culture. The book's contributors include Japanese as well as British, Icelandic and North American writers, offering a diversity of views of what Japanese popular culture is, and how it is best approached and understood. They bring an anthropological perspective to a broad range of topics, including sumo, karaoke, manga, vampires, women's magazines, soccer and morning television. Through these topics - many of which have never previously been addressed by scholars - the contributors also explore several deeper themes: the construction of gender in Japan; the impact of globalisation and modern consumerism; and the rapidly shifting boundaries of Japanese culture and identity. This innovative study will appeal to those interested in Japanese culture, sociology and cultural anthropology.

In Taking in a Game, Joseph A. Reaves examines the development of baseball in Korea, the Philippines, Mainland China, and Taiwan, as well as the more widely known story of baseball in Japan. In this entertaining and informed account, Reaves covers everything from baseball in Qing Dynasty China in the nineteenth century to the 2000 Sydney Olympics bronze-medal match between Japan and Korea. Reaves guides the reader through a history of Asian baseball, the cultures that surround it, and the future of what has become a great Asian game.

This ethnographic study examines the lives of Japanese workers in small firms and analysis their experiences of working life, leisure and education. This unique case study of the Shintani Metals Company illustrates the ways in which employees lives extend beyond their work. Japanese Working Class Lives provides a valuable alternative view of working life outside the large corporations. Roberson demonstrates that the Japanese working class is more diverse than Western stereotypes of be-suited salary-men would suggest.