Events and Activities
Contemporary Japan 28, No. 1
Ethnographies of Hope in Contemporary Japan
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In this issue, contributors consider feelings, perceptions, and narratives of hope and hopelessness in Japan: tracing, as it were, the work of hope.
Hope (kibō) in this context can be understood as at once a disposition, a tool, and a collective resource. People may actively seek out or attempt to foster hope; but hope is also, at times, felt as external: bestowed upon some and not others. That is to say, hope can be situational. Both fostered hope and situational hope can have an impact on people’s actions, but it is the latter that highlights the significance of the “independent action of hope in the world” (Reed 2011: 533). The contributions to this issue, in this sense, enlarge our understanding of what hope does.
Meeting the Challenge of Globalization – Comparing Korean and Japanese Global Human Resource Management
Japan and South Korea are home to numerous multinational firms, particularly in highly globalized manufacturing industries such as automobiles and electronics. Both countries also have distinct business cultures and management systems which arguably lend strong competitiveness to their leading multinationals. However, the business activities of Japanese and Korean firms are increasingly being transferred to overseas locations, resulting in the need to attract, nurture and retain talent from all over the world.
How can firms with strong national roots manage their global human resources competently without giving up their home-grown competitive strengths? How can they effectively integrate managers who neither know the business cultures nor the languages of their firms’ home countries?
Adoption of Corporate Social Resposibility by Japanese Companies
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a topical issue in many countries. What are the drivers for the global spread of explicit CSR- practices that are demonstrated to the outside- even in countries where companies had addressed CSR implicitly? What catalyzes organizations to adopt CSR and how does their adoption influence other companies’ likelihood to adopt CSR? This book approaches the recent world-wide adoption of CSR practices as part of the global spread of management concepts.
Research on the Corporate Governance of Listed Stock Companies in Japan.
2015, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien / Stiftung D.G.I.A., Tokyo, 29 p.
Gestalt und Gehalt
Der Formalismusstreit in der japanischen Literaturtheorie der 1920er-Jahre
Der „Inhalt” und seine „Form” sind seit jeher Objekt der Begierde jedes Literaturtheoretikers. Viele verkünden, in deren Relation den Stein der poetischen Weisheit gefunden und sich mit ihm den richtigen Zugang zur literarischen Formästhetik verschafft zu haben – so auch die japanischen Literaten, welche gegen Ende der 1920er-Jahre einen heftigen Streit um jene poetische Weisheit ausfechten.
Dabei prallen zwei gegensätzliche Kunstkonzepte aufeinander: Während die Neosensualisten wie Yokomitsu Riichi oder Inukai Takeru um jeden Preis das Konzept der Kunstautonomie verteidigen, bangen die Marxisten wie Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke oder Kurahara Korehito um den Utilitarismus der Literatur.
Risks and Opportunities in Japan: Local Communities Confronting Demographic Change and Climate Change
The sustainability of Japanese society depends on how we deal with the risks and opportunities in the age of a declining birth rate and an aging population. Securing the future of local communities through innovative ideas and business schemes is being considered as one important strategy. Recently many distinguished social entrepreneurs have tackled and solved the social problems in respective communities with local stakeholders and achieved social change. One related area is renewable energy through its contribution to regional value added.
Geschichtsdenken im modernen Japan
Eine kommentierte Quellensammlung
In jeder Gesellschaft ist die eigene Geschichte ein wichtiges Mittel zur Stiftung von Identität. Als solche ist sie überall und zu jeder Zeit ein öffentlich umstrittenes Thema. Japan ist dabei keine Ausnahme. Auch dort lösen, je nach politischer und gesellschaftlicher Lage, nationale Selbstbestätigung und Selbstkritik einander ab.
In der vorliegenden Anthologie sind 66 Beiträge von namhaften Autorinnen und Autoren zusammengestellt, die in ihren Texten den Diskurs über die japanische Geschichte in den letzten 150 Jahren maßgeblich geprägt haben.
Parental Well-Being In Japan
In Japan, like in other post-industrialized societies, expectations for “successful” parenting are much higher today than they were three or four decades ago (for the case of Germany, see Bertram and Spiess 2011).
Additionally, raising a child has become more costly in terms of both time and money. These elevated costs, together with the rising opportunity costs for women opting for motherhood, are strongly correlated with the fertility rate in Japan (Ogawa et al. 2009). As the country’s low fertility rate is considered a major demographic problem by policy makers, it is imperative that they better understand parents, particularly those with young children who require a high degree of care.