Japan today is at an important historical juncture. Buffeted in recent years by rapid economic, social, and political change, yet still very much steeped in custom and history, the nation has become an amalgam of the traditional and the modern. As a result, the country has become increasingly difficult to categorize: How are we to represent today's Japan effectively, and fairly predict its future? This critical, multi-disciplinary collection explores the convergence of past and future in contemporary Japan. Contributors comment on a wide range of economic, socio-cultural, and political trends--such as the mobilization of Japanese labour, the burgeoning Ainu identity movement, and the shifting place of the modern woman--and conclude that despite the rapid changes, many of the traditional facets of Japanese society have remained intact, institutional change, they assert, is unlikely to occur quickly, and Japan must find alternate ways to adjust to twenty-first-century pressures of global competition and interdependence. A pleasure to read, this broad volume will be welcomed by upper-level undergraduates, graduates, and specialists in Japanese studies.

What role does consumption play in Japanese lives? In this study of consumer behaviour, an anthropologist explores Japan through the eyes of Japanese researchers and discovers patterns of change that are both uniquely Japanese and shared by consumers in other advanced industrial nations.

Bargain shopping in Japan can be a challenge, but this book succinctly explains all the ins and outs to making the most of your Japanese shopping experience. Japan is the shopping capital of the world--unequaled in the number, variety and convenience of its shopping venues. The Shopping Guide to Japan is a one-of-a kind Japan guidebook that provides detailed information about methods of payment, prices, taxes, tax-free goods, store hours, discount days, store etiquette, returns and refunds, and in-store bargaining. The shopping book covers all of the main shopping categories in Japan--from boutiques and departments stores to flea markets, shopping streets, train station shopping, bargain shopping and airport shopping. In addition to the primary shopping areas in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, the book covers Sendai and Sapporo in the north and Naha on the Island of Okinawa.

Focuses on the study of how humans use high quality, highly pleasurable, and frequently rare products, services, and experiences to distinguish to themselves and others who they are as well as whom they are not - both within and across cultures.

Contents: 1 Canada and Japan Today 2 Canada and Japan to the 1930s 3 Canada and Japan During World War II 4 Canada-Japan Relations After World War II 5 The Changing Face of Canadian and Japanese Societies 6 Canadian and Japanese Business Cultures 7 The Evolution of Canada-Japan Trade 8 Canada-Japan Investment 9 The Future of the Canada-Japan Business Relationship 10 Approaching the 21st Century

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.