scholarly journals A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

1916 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 600
Author(s):  
K. Asakawa ◽  
F. Brinkley
Keyword(s):  
Japanese People ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
History Of

Write Your Mother

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda C. Seaman
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Japanese Women ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pregnancy And Childbirth ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Second Wave

This chapter traces the literary history of Japanese women writing about pregnancy and childbirth, focusing on two key figures in this development. The first is Meiji-era poet Yosano Akiko whose works explored her experiences as an expectant mother and highlighted the unsettling aspects of pregnancy. While Yosano’s works permitted the literary treatment of formerly taboo issues, later writers rejected her lead, instead treating pregnancy as the prelude to motherhood, as a quasi-sacred moment. This persisted until the 1960s and 70s, when writers influenced by second-wave feminism challenged patriarchal society, rejecting the roles of wife and mother. The second was Tsushima Yuko, whose novels and stories explored alternative, mother-centered family models. Since then, writing about pregnancy rests on these two authors: on one side, treatments of pregnancy that emphasize the alien and the disquieting, and on the other, more ironic works, focusing upon the self-assertive and individualistic nature of childbearing.

Translating ‘Nation’

FORUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Mutsuko Tsuboi ◽  
Mino Saito
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Society ◽  
Japanese Text ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Translation Practice ◽  
Alternative Translation ◽  
Meiji Era

Abstract This article focuses on the Japanese words kokumin and minzoku, both of which are used to translate ‘nation’ into Japanese, and explores the dynamic aspects of translation practice in the process of Japan’s modernization in the mid-Meiji era (1868–1912). The kanji (Chinese characters) compounds kokumin (國民) and minzoku (民族) were both coined during the late nineteenth century during the introduction of Western concepts into Japanese society. Kokumin first appeared as a translation word at the predawn of Japan’s modernization period and, by the mid-Meiji era, when the alternative translation minzoku emerged, kokumin was relatively widespread. This paper analyzes texts written by leading intellectuals and journalists in Japan at the time and attempts to contextualize them within their sociocultural and historical background. The analysis indicates that the rise of nationalism around the mid-Meiji era, Japan’s achievement in establishing a modern state and its involvement in territorial expansion in East Asia beginning with the Sino-Japanese war (1894–1895), as well as its simultaneous struggle to unify the Japanese people as kokumin, were crucial aspects in determining the use of the alternative translation, minzoku.

The Construction of Regionalism in Modern Japan: Kodera Kenkichi and his “Treatise on Greater Asianism” (1916)

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1261-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
SVEN SAALER
Keyword(s):  
Lower House ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Japan ◽  
Japanese Diet

Around a century ago, in his “The Ideals of the East”, Okakura Tenshin (Kakuzô) proclaimed that “Asia is one”. This phrase, quoted repeatedly ever since, has been interpreted as representative of the ideology of Pan-Asianism (Han-Ajiashugi) or Asianism (Ajiashugi) in Japan. However, Okakura's writings were not widely read in Japan during the Meiji era and his originally English writings were translated into Japanese only in the 1930s. It must have been other authors that defined Pan-Asianism as a comprehensive ideology and brought this ideology closer to politics, a sphere where pan-Asian approaches were mostly rejected until the 1910s. This paper introduces the writings of Kodera Kenkichi (1877–1949), a politician and long-time member of the Lower House of the Imperial Japanese Diet, and identifies his “Treatise on Greater Asianism” (1916) as a central work in the history of the ideology of Asianism in modern Japan.

Meiji Bunka-Shi 6: Shukyo-Hen. (Cultural History of the Meiji Era, Vol. 6: Religion)

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Schiffer ◽  
Kishimoto Hideo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
History Of

Fluidity and diversity of Japanese communities in London

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuko Miyake ◽  
Noriko Iwasaki
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Meiji Era ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This paper explores the reality of ‘Japanese communities’ in London and the interrelation between language and identity. First, we trace the history of the Japanese community to around the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868–1912), when Japan emerged from national isolation. We then focus on one of the ‘communities’ established around the start of the 21st century by work-related and independent relocation. We present the life stories of two women who independently resided in London and shed light on the fluid nature of language maintenance and negotiation of identities. Through the close analysis of these personal experiences, we elucidate the complex reality of individuals who may be otherwise collectively understood as members of Japanese communities. These stories highlight the heterogeneity of the Japanese individuals in London, and therefore lead us to question the discursively constructed images of the ‘Japanese communities’- and the nature and importance of ‘language maintenance’.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document