I now complete the series with the ,,Nihon-shinshinto-shi", the history of the shinshinto era of Japanese swords, starting from Suishinshi Masahide ́s initiation of a new trend around An ́ei (1772-1781) to the ban on swords issued by the Meiji government in 1876. As with the ,,Nihon-koto-shi" and the ,,Nihon-shinto-shi", the reader should be able to grasp a coherent picture of the backgrounds and scholastic activities around the Japanese sword at the end of the feudal era. Finally, the time scale must not be overlooked: The ,,Nihon-koto-shi" had to deal with roughly 800 years, from the Nara to the end of the Muromachi period, and the ,,Nihon-shinto-shi" comprised ,,just" about 200 years, whereas the shinshinto era lasted only about a century.

Als Abschluss meiner Erweiterung Dr. Honma Junjis Standardwerk ,,Nihon-koto-shi" folgt nun nach dem ,,Nihon-shinto-shi" das ,,Nihon-shinshinto-shi", also die Geschichte der shinshinto-Schwertperiode von ihrem Gründer Suishinshi Masahide bis zum während der Meiji-Zeit verhängten Schwerttrageverbot des Jahres 1876. Gleich der ,,Nihon-koto-shi" und der ,,Nihon-shinto-shi" soll auch hier der Leser wieder ein schlüssiges Bild über die Hintergründe und schulischen Aktivitäten vom Ende des japanischen Schwertes in seinem feudalen Kontext bekommen. Wie schon mit der zunehmenden Urbanisierung der Edo-Zeit erfolgte die Aufarbeitung der shinshinto-Zeit in ähnlicher Weise wie dies schon im Vorgängerwerk ,,Nihon-shinto-shi" der Fall war, und zwar beginnend mit den großen Zentren und im konkreten Fall mit der Wiederbelebung der Schwertschmiedekunst durch Suishinshi Masahide, gefolgt von den einzelnen Provinzen, die wieder anhand ihrer ,,Signifikanz" für die Schwertwelt als auch im Kontext zu einander abgehandelt werden.

This book should bring the reader more near to the no less interesting era of the ,,New Sword", the shinto. With the transition to the peaceful Edo period, the Japanese sword experienced considerable changes which are briefly touched in some other sword publications. This book now tries to present the historical and scholastic changes of the shinto in a comprehensive manner. The reader should get an idea about the activities of the Edo-period swordsmiths in all the provinces and how - if at all - they were connected in terms of school or workmanship. The classification based on the traditional gokaden is no longer applicable in shinto times and so a more geographical processing suggests itself. In the beginning we have the large sword centres of Kyoto, Osaka and Edo. Subsequently, all other provinces follow, arranged according to their ,,significance" in the sword world and in context with each other to avoid as much as possible big geographical and theoretical jumps.

Japan has consistently been pursuing the goal of a permanent UN Security Council seat for 30 years. The book investigates the motives for this ambition, and how it has been pursued domestically and internationally. It is therefore a study of the inner workings of the Japanese Foreign Ministry as well as of the country's underdeveloped multinational diplomacy.

Japan has consistently been pursuing the goal of a permanent UN Security Council seat for 30 years. This book investigates the motives for this ambition, and how it has been pursued domestically and internationally. It is therefore a study of the interior workings of the Japanese Foreign Ministry as well as of the country's underdeveloped multilateral diplomacy.

A collaborative effort by scholars from the United States, China, and Japan, this volume focuses on how these three powers of the Asia-Pacific region adjusted their relations during 1989–2001 in the uncertain environment following Tiananmen and the end of the Cold War. The authors approach these questions from both a domestic and a foreign policy perspective. Three scholars describe the domestic context in each of the three countries. Each of the three bilateral relationships is examined by two scholars, one from each country involved.

The Regional Handbooks of Economic Development series provides accessible overviews of countries within their larger domestic and international contexts, focusing on the relations among regions as they meet the challenges of the twenty first century. The series allows the non-specialist student to explore a wide range of complex factors-social and political as well as economic-that affect the growth of developing regions in Asia, Europe, and South America. Each Handbook provides an overview chapter discussing the region's economic conditions within an historical and political context, as well as 20 or more chapter-length essays written by recognized experts, which analyze the key issues affecting a region's economy: its population, natural resources, foreign trade, labor problems, and economic inequalities, and other vital factors. In addition, the volumes offer useful support materials, including a series of appendices that include a detailed chronology of events in the region, a glossary of terms, biographical entries on key personalities, an annotated bibliography of further reading, and a comprehensive analytical index.

Ozawa Ichirō is one of the most important figures in Japanese politics, having held the positions of Chief Secretary of the Liberal Democrat Party and, after defection from the LDP, President of the Democratic Party of Japan. Ozawa has distinctive ideas that set him apart from the average Japanese politician, he believes in the concept of the independence of the individual, as opposed to the importance of the group, and as a policy entrepreneur he has had a huge impact on political change not only advocating but precipitating institutional change in a key political area – the election system. Using extensive interview data from key players in the political arena, this book examines Ozawa's struggle to normalize alternation in office between two competing political parties – particularly significant given the results of the 2009 election which handed over power to the Democratic Party of Japan – and how he has used his entrepreneurial talents to precipitate and carry out institutional change. Not only a political biography, but also an in-depth analysis of the Japanese political and electoral systems, this book will be of huge interest to anyone interested in Japanese politics and electoral systems.

Widely recognized both in America and Japan for his insider knowledge and penetrating analyses of Japanese politics, Gerald Curtis is the political analyst best positioned to explore the complexities of the Japanese political scene today. Curtis has personally known most of the key players in Japanese politics for more than thirty years, and he draws on their candid comments to provide invaluable and graphic insights into the world of Japanese politics. By relating the behavior of Japanese political leaders to the institutions within which they must operate, Curtis makes sense out of what others have regarded as enigmatic or illogical. He utilizes his skills as a scholar and his knowledge of the inner workings of the Japanese political system to highlight the commonalities of Japanese and Western political practices while at the same time explaining what sets Japan apart. Curtis rejects the notion that cultural distinctiveness and consensus are the defining elements of Japan's political decision making, emphasizing instead the competition among and the profound influence of individuals operating within particular institutional contexts on the development of Japan's politics. The discussions featured here -- as they survey both the detailed events and the broad structures shaping the mercurial Japanese political scene of the 1990s -- draw on extensive conversations with virtually all of the decade's political leaders and focus on the interactions among specific politicians as they struggle for political power. The Logic of Japanese Politics covers such important political developments as • the Liberal Democratic Party's egress from power in 1993, after reigning for nearly four decades, and their crushing defeat in the "voters' revolt" of the 1998 upper-house election; • the formation of the 1993 seven party coalition government led by prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa and its collapse eight months later; • the historic electoral reform of 1994 which replaced the electoral system operative since the adoption of universal manhood suffrage in 1925; and • the decline of machine politics and the rise of the mutohaso -- the floating, nonparty voter. Scrutinizing and interpreting a complex and changing political system, this multi-layered chronicle reveals the dynamics of democracy at work -- Japanese-style. In the process, The Logic of Japanese Politics not only offers a fascinating picture of Japanese politics and politicians but also provides a framework for understanding Japan's attempts to surmount its present problems, and helps readers gain insight into Japan's future.