The essays in this groundbreaking book explore the meanings of manhood in Japan from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. Recreating Japanese Men examines a broad range of attitudes regarding properly masculine pursuits and modes of behavior. It charts breakdowns in traditional and conventional societal roles and the resulting crises of masculinity. Contributors address key questions about Japanese manhood ranging from icons such as the samurai to marginal men including hermaphrodites, robots, techno-geeks, rock climbers, shop clerks, soldiers, shoguns, and more. In addition to bringing historical evidence to bear on definitions of masculinity, contributors provide fresh analyses on the ways contemporary modes and styles of masculinity have affected Japanese men’s sense of gender as authentic and stable.

“Recreating Japanese Men is a wonderful and invaluable book. Its interdisciplinary mix of essays opens the door to a new world of scholarship on masculinity in Japan." —David L. Howell, Harvard University “By considering a wide variety of alternative masculinities throughout Japanese history, these essays reveal the tensions, conflicts and overlapping between competing masculine and feminine ideals and practices in surprising ways.” —Robert A. Nye, Oregon State University “This gallery of striking but also subtle images of Japanese masculinity both reinforces old and reveals new historical understandings of Japanese political and military institutions, social divisions, and cultural anxieties. Essential reading in both Japan and masculinity studies.“ --Gary Cross, author of Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity.

The sixteen chapters in this volume treat men as well as women, theories of sexuality as well as gender prescriptions, and same-sex as well as heterosexual relations in the period from 1868 to the present. Together, these essays construct a history informed by the idea that gender matters because it was part of the experience of people and because it often has been a central feature in the construction of modern ideologies, discourses, and institutions. Separately, each chapter examines how Japanese have (en)gendered their ideas, institutions, and society.

What images come to mind when the words "Asians," "Asian Americans" and "African Americans" are mentioned? Do the images revolve around negative racial stereotypes of the various groups, beginning with a portrait of African Americans, as "noncitizens," and as "discredited outlaws," as noted by Nobel Prize Laureate Toni Morrison in her categorization of "race talk"? Conversely, when images of Asians are conjured, is what comes to mind a picture of pig-tailed Chinese immigrants, along with recent Asian newcomers, eager to maintain social distance from discredited black outlaws? Do the images, which the groups often carry of one another, extend to their histories of shared diminished racial status and stereotyping, recalling a period in history when a significant segment of African American men were mocked as "George," "Sam" and "Rastus," and Chinese immigrants were ridiculed as "John." How have these images shaped relations between the groups? Are there elements of commonality between Blacks and Asians in America? What historical forces have shaped their interactions? This volume, edited by Hazel M. McFerson, brings together a diverse group of scholars to address these questions. Their chapters are as diverse as their backgrounds, yet they all contribute without pessimism or naivete to a view of the varied interactions, which symbolized the crossings, commonality and conflict between Asians and African Americans during different periods, and to their prospects for future interactions. This book is divided into three parts. Part I examines relations dating from the mid-18th century to the late 1940s. Part II of the book examines contemporary issues and explores changes in Asian and Asian American communities and outlooks often characterized by "race talk and social distance" from African Americans. Part III of the book focuses on the international dimension of Asian/African American interactions and crossings. The book concludes with an assessment of the implications for contemporary economic interests and solidarity in Africa and Asia today.

In her political treatise, "Hitori kangae" ("Solitary Thoughts", 1818), Tadano Makuzu (1763-1825) presents her observations and critiques of the intellectual and socio-political landscapes of the late Tokugawa period (1600-1868). It is especially the (samurai) woman's perspective that makes Makuzu's treatise such a rich source of, often implicit, information on the late Tokugawa period (1600-1868). The biographical details of Makuzu's life and family are given social and historical context in terms of her self-conscious status as a samurai woman. Through close analysis of Makuzu's philosophical and autobiographical writings, Dr. Gramlich-Oka reveals Makuzu to have been a natural product of the variety of intellectual schools and circles of her time. In extending Makuzu's unique critique of the intellectual's lack of concern with women to contemporary intellectual history, the author carves a new path in incorporating gender into intellectual history and biography writing.

Japanese fiction is just now getting the attention it deserves in the English-speaking world. This study, a rich history of the evolving role of women fiction writers in Japanese, provides annotations for 300 translated works of fiction by 97 Japanese women writers from the 1890s through the 1990s. More than 600 annotations of articles, books, and reviews chronicle women writers in Japanese society, while bibliographical sources provide coverage of their lives with an immediacy not possible in general sources. An informative time line covers the key historical, political and economic events, as well as the people that shaped the contours of women's lives. An index of issues addressed in the fiction helps readers identify appropriate works dealing with subjects such as aging, the effects of the Atomic bomb, attitudes towards the family system, discrimination against "burakumin," the lifestyle of "shinjinrui" (those born after 1960), or roles of artists and women. A 100-page glossary providing definitions, background information and suggestions for future reading and research is included. Scholars, teachers, and students of Japanese literature, comparative literature, and women's studies will find this work to be an invaluable reference tool. The material will also be of interest to those in other fields such as history, sociology, education, and political science who are interested in comparing cultures and societies.