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.

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.

2015, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien / Stiftung D.G.I.A., Tokyo, 29 p.

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.

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.

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.

2015, de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 123 p.
ISSN (Online) 1869-2737
ISSN (Print) 1869-2729

 

 

This paper sets out to investigate (i) whether an increase in donations in the aftermath of disasters can mitigate the negative effects on subjective well-being (SWB), and if so, (ii) whether policy measures such as tax law changes can amplify this mitigating effect by providing further incentives for donations.

To analyse these questions we use data on a recent, impactful disaster: the triple disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011 in Japan (3-11).