Japan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019): Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Japan in the Heisei Era (1989–2019) provides a retrospective and multidisciplinary account of a society in flux. Featuring analyses from leading scholars around the globe, this textbook examines the evolving contexts of Japan throughout the Heisei era and how longstanding verities and values have been called into question. Asking what this holds for Japan’s future relations with the world and within its own communities, chapters delve beneath the layers of a complex and increasingly diverse society, exploring topics including simmering ethnonationalism, economic torpor, political stagnation, and cultural dynamics. Features of this textbook include:• Analysis of key social issues ranging from immigration, civil society, press freedom, politics, labour and the economy, to diversity, the marginalisation of women, Shinto, and Aum Shinrikyo• Evaluation of the legacy of Emperor Akihito on war memory, the imperial institution, art, regional relations, and constitutional revision• Multidisciplinary insights from both the social sciences and humanities• Rich illustrations for visual analysis of developments in contemporary Japanese literature, film, art, and pop culture Providing students with dynamic analyses of how contemporary Japanese society continues to transform, this textbook is essential reading for students of Japanese Studies, including Japanese culture, society, history, and politics. About the Author Noriko Murai is an Associate Professor of Art History at Sophia University, where she teaches modern and contemporary Japanese art and visual culture. Her publication in English includes Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia (2009) and Inventing Asia: American Perspectives Around 1900 (2014). Jeff Kingston is a Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan. He is the author and editor of a dozen books on contemporary Japan and Asia including Japan’s Quiet Transformation (2004), Contemporary Japan (2011), and Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan (2014). Tina Burrett is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University. She is the co-editor of Press Freedom in Contemporary Asia (2020) and the author of Television and Presidential Power in Putin’s Russia (2013).