Nationalisms of Japan: Managing and Mystifying IdentityIn this fresh and original analysis, Brian J. McVeigh confronts both the demonizers and apologists of Japan. He argues persuasively that far from being unique, Japanese nationalism becomes demystified once 'management' and 'mysticism'—the same processes and practices that operate in other national states—are taken into account. Stripping away Orientalist-inspired misconceptions, the author stresses the variety and relative intensity of nationalisms, ranging from economic, ethnic, and educational to cultural, gendered, and religious. He moves beyond state-centered ideologies to explore the linkages between official and popular nationalisms and the complex interplay of ethnocultural, ethnopolitical, and ethnoracial forms of identity. The ambiguity and everydayness of nationalism, McVeigh contends, explain its enduring power. He concludes that modern Japan is imbued with a deeply rooted legacy of 'renovationism' or 'reform nationalism' that accounts for its streamlined state structures, guarded economic nationalism, and highly scrutinized relationship with the rest of the world. Highlighting the pluralism of identity among Japanese, this book will be an invaluable corrective to recent works that glibly proclaim the emergence of 'globalization,' 'internationalization,' and 'convergence.' |
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Agency for Cultural Asia Asian associated banal nationalism Befu Billig bunka Bureau bureaucratic capitalism capitalist chapter civil concept cram schools Cultural Affairs cultural nationalism democracy discourse Division economic nationalism economic progressivism Education Ministry elite Emperor established ethnic ethnic nationalism ethnos nationalism example foreign gendered higher women's schools historical hōjin homogeneity ideology imperial industrial institutions internationalization Japanese culture Japanese language Japanese nationalism Japanese society juku kokka kokumin kokutai kōtō kotodama kyōiku labor liberal Mahikari Mahikari members means Meiji period minzoku mobilization Morris-Suzuki 1998 movement mysticism nation-state national identity nationalist Nihon nihonjin-ron nippon nomic non-Japanese official Oguma organizations Party percent political popular postwar prewar race racial racialist racism reform religions religious renovationism renovationist restorationism right-wing role sense sentiment Shinto social socialist spiritual Stronach structures Su God tion tional Tokyo tradition University wartime WBBG women's junior colleges