Japanese Studies From Pre History To 1990

Globalizing the Prehistory of Japan

This iconoclastic work on the prehistory of Japan and of South East Asia challenges entrenched views on the origins of Japanese society and identity. The social changes that took place in Japan in the time-period when the Jomon culture was replaced by the Yayoi culture were of exceptional magnitude, going far beyond those of the so-called Neolithic Revolution in other parts of the world. They included not only a new way of life based on wet-rice agriculture but also the introduction of metalworking in both bronze and iron, and furthermore a new architecture functionally and ritually linked to rice cultivation, a new religion, and a hierarchical society characterized by a belief in the divinity of the ruler. Because of its immense and enduring impact the Yayoi period has generally been seen as the very foundation of Japanese civilization and identity. In contrast to the common assumption that all the Yayoi innovations came from China and Korea, this work combines exciting new scientific evidence from such different fields as rice genetics, DNA and historical linguistics to show that the major elements of Yayoi civilization actually came, not from the north, but from the south.

Japanese Studies from Pre-History to 1990

The Postwar Development of Japanese Studies in the United States

The present volume documents the postwar history of United States scholarship on Japan. A careful selection of North American scholars under the general editorship of Helen Hardacre (Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society at Harvard University) shows that a range of factors have directed Japanese studies in the United States since 1945. Among these factors are social and political change in Japan and the United States, shifts in dominant scholarly concerns about Japan, and changing evaluations of area studies. The work consists of twelve essays in a wide variety of fields: history, art, religion, literature, anthropology, political science, and law. Each essay chronicles postwar scholarship in its particular discipline and provides a useful bibliography to serve further reference. The general aim of the volume is to put current debates in historical perspective and to help assess the field's achievements. It identifies areas requiring more work and charts directions for the future.