Social Science Japan Journal - current issue

Editorial

Hiroshi, I. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Does It Matter Who Cares? A Comparison of Daughters versus Daughters-in-Law in Japanese Elder Care

LONG, S. O., CAMPBELL, R., Chie, N. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Japan's mass longevity has led to significant changes regarding the care of frail older people. In 2000, the state created a mandatory Long-Term Care Insurance program designed to provide home-based and institutional services. It has not, however, eliminated the centrality of family assistance and the question for many families remains: who will do what for frail elderly relatives? This paper examines the widespread notion that caregiving by a daughter is a better option for family care than caregiving by a daughter-in-law. As part of a larger study of family care under the new long-term care insurance system, we interviewed 14 caregiver–care recipient pairs in which the caregiver was a daughter or a daughter-in-law. In this paper, we compare the two groups regarding how they became the caregiver, their use of long-term care services and the difficulties and positive outcomes of caregiving they have experienced. We find that what the caregivers do and the difficulties of providing support to their relative are largely similar, but that they differ in the emotional and relational aspects of the caregiving experience.

Negotiating What's 'Natural': Persistent Domestic Gender Role Inequality in Japan

NORTH, S. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

The burden of family work in Japan falls disproportionately on wives, even those who work full time and have relatively high incomes. Japanese household gender culture shows little of the progress toward equality seen in other industrialized nations and this is contributing to delayed family formation and low birth rates. This study of dual-income Japanese families with young children found a degree of increased mutuality in family work being negotiated. Nevertheless, couples’ actions continue to be oriented strongly to symbols of patriarchal prestige, such as husbands’ birth order position and breadwinner status. To the extent that they embraced tradition, respondents’ negotiations were colored by gender displays that preserved the certainties of historically contextualized gender identities and reproduced their associated unequal family work differentials.

Japanese Perceptions of Trafficking in Persons: An Analysis of the 'Demand' for Sexual Services and Policies for Dealing with Trafficking Survivors

Nami, O., Keiko, H. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

This paper analyzes and discusses Japanese people's awareness on issues relating to human trafficking, based on the results from a 2006 nationwide survey on perceptions on trafficking and prostitution, conducted by the National Women's Education Center of Japan. First, we summarize prior studies on Japanese people's awareness regarding sex and sexual behavior, and then, based on the findings of our survey, we clarify both the conditions surrounding male demands for sexual services and the consciousness of Japanese society overall in supporting those conditions. Additionally, we analyze people's attitudes regarding different approaches to dealing with survivors of human trafficking. Finally, we discuss the kinds of information necessary to educate the public so as to help eradicate human trafficking.

Law and Community in Japan: The Role of Legal Rules in Suburban Neighborhoods

Kiyoshi, H. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

This article investigates how people utilize legal rules to conserve hospitable dwelling environments in suburban neighborhoods in Japan, through an examination of building agreements (kenchiku kyotei), which are private contracts between landowners. The discussions in this paper are based on a database that includes interviews with residents and government officials, as well as responses to questionnaires administered to most of the boards of the homeowners associations in Yokohama City. My findings reveal that (a) Japanese residents often take legal rules into account when facing conflicts; (b) residents are often quite familiar with legal rules; (c) when residents discuss and settle disputes, neighborhood associations play important roles and (d) residents occasionally refer to and utilize not only legal rules but also nonlegal rules. My analysis suggests that legal rules are more ubiquitous than previously thought in Japan and that social structure has a decisive influence on the way they work.

Nation or Colony? The Political Belonging of the Japanese in Karafuto

Hiroyuki, S. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

This article charts the process of policy formulation regarding the political status of Japanese settlers in Karafuto, a Japanese colony in southern Sakhalin from 1905 to 1945. With a focus on the voices of colonists themselves, I analyze the ups and downs of their political movement to obtain the franchise to vote from 1924 to 1945. From the early 1920s, Japanese residents in Karafuto demanded representation in the National Assembly (Diet). They claimed that since the island's majority population was Japanese, settler–colonists possessed the full rights of Japanese citizens (unlike Karafuto's Indigenous Peoples, the Taiwanese or the Koreans). However, before granting the franchise, the central government stipulated a change in Karafuto's administrative status, from colony to unit of local administration. This condition prompted Japanese settler–colonists to resist full political integration with the mother country due to economic dependence on the Karafuto Colonial Government's development and public works projects.

By-Elections in Japan

JOU, W. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

By-elections have received relatively scarce scholarly attention, and common features identified by existing works largely derive from studies of Western countries with relatively stable patterns of party competition. The following pages contribute to the literature by examining by-elections in the Japanese House of Representatives since electoral reform in 1994. Changing patterns of party competition adds interest to observing by-elections taking place in the context of an evolving two-party system. The paper discusses how results from Japanese by-elections conform to, or deviate from, expectations based on findings from previous studies, in terms of the frequency and direction of seat changes, the turnout rates, the presence of minor party and independent candidates and the timing of by-elections during the legislative period. It then tests the impact of these factors, along with government approval ratings and macroeconomic indicators, on governing party performance in by-elections. The number of candidates, cabinet support and prefecture-level unemployment rates are found to exert a significant influence. Separate analysis is also carried out for by-elections characterized by head-to-head contests between the two major parties.

The Timely Discourse of an 'Ambivalent Savant': Osatake Takeki

VANOVERBEKE, D. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Nonregular Workers and Inequality in Japan

WEATHERS, C. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea

VOGEL, S. K. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Law in Japan: A Turning Point

UPHAM, F. K. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Seikatsu Hogo no Keizai Bunseki (The Economics of Public Assistance in Japan)

Yoshiya, S., Arata, T. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Escape from Work: Freelancing Youth and the Challenge to Corporate Japan

WHITELAW, G. H. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

I'm Married to Your Company! Everyday Voices of Japanese Women

GOLDSTEIN-GIDONI, O. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Families in Japan: Changes, Continuities and Regional Variations

MARTIN, R. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Utsuri yuku 'Kyoyo' (Changes in 'Cultural Literacy')

ASKEW, D. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Media no naka no Manga: Shinbun Hito-koma Manga no Sekai (Comic Art in the Media: The World of Single-Panel Newspaper Cartoons)

STEWART, R. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Local Citizenship in Recent Countries of Immigration: Japan in Comparative Perspective

Yuka, I. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Gurobarujidai no Nihonshakai to Kokuseki (Japanese Society and Nationality in the Age of Globalization)

Chikako, K. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Shokuminchiki Taiwan ni okeru Seinendan to Chiiki no Hen'yo (Youth Association and Transformation of Local Communities in Colonial Taiwan)

MATSUDA, H. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II

BROOK, T. — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Erratum

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT

Acknowledgement of Referees

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:36:22 PDT