Published papers

The majority of Japanese social scientists have treated the idea of indigenization of social sciences as unrelated to them. However, sociology in Japan also has its own characteristics shaped by the structure of the Japanese society. Since long ago, Japanese sociologists have tried to analyze the unique characteristics of Japanese society and published numerous books on this subject for the Japanese public. Even their eagerness to introduce Western theories of sociology was an integral part of this effort to elucidate Japan’s ‘uniqueness’. The fact that Japan was not colonized and managed to develop an extensive domestic education/labor/language/publishing market played an important role in this predominantly domestic focus of Japanese sociology. The specific nature of the domestic public demand also contributed to this situation. Although it has been gradually changing since 2000s, this autarky resulted in a weak presence of Japanese sociology in the global academic community.

In the summer of 2012, following an accident at the Fukushima power plant in March 2011, 200,000 people filled the streets outside the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. This new movement had much in common with contemporaneous movements around the world, such as Occupy Wall Street. These included its use of the internet and the central role played by a highly educated precariat. In this essay, I analyze the results of the research I conducted on this movement, including the characteristics displayed by its main actors and participants, the structure of the organizing group and its methods of mobilization. Furthermore, I analyze Japan’s political structure to show why the movement has not directly affected electoral outcomes. While this article analyzes Japanese society, it also contributes to understanding a more universal problem: What is the relationship between twenty-first century social movements and political systems that took shape during the twentieth century?

The Japanese manga and animation industry was established under special conditions in the high growth period of the 1960's. At that time the domestic market of the publishing industry and the film industry was large, the literacy rate was high, other entertainment was little developed, and the industry did not yet confront the challenges of globalization. However, the industrial structure established during this period has deteriorated to one that exploits creators who have weak bargaining power. This reflects the situation throughout Japanese society in the sense that the social structure originating in the 1960s has lost flexibility, creating dysfunction and growing disparities. Keywords: Socio-Cultural Structure, Constructed Specificity, Cognitive Precariat, manga, anime