Takes an interdisciplinary perspective on the formation of the modern Japanese nation-state. This study traces the idea of women's and men's gendered contributions to the nation and the state through contemporary concepts of citizenship, ethnicity, sexuality, work and everyday life.
Bringing together international scholars from various disciplines, this book focuses on the gendering of the modern Japanese nation-state from the late nineteenth century to the present, through contemporary concepts of citizenship, ethnicity, sexuality, work and everyday life. The development of the modern nation-state happened simultaneously with the development of a masculine/feminine binary opposition, and references to gender relations are deeply embedded in concepts of nationalism. This book makes an important contribution to studies on formation of modern nation-states and will interest students and scholars of Japanese history, gender studies and political science.
"Gender, Nation, and State in Modern Japan offers richly complex views of the forces and individuals shaping modern Japan. This volume will surely inspire conversation on the gendered politics of Japan as well as other nation-states for years to come."
Jan Bardsley University of North Carolina at Chapel HillJapan Forum, 27:3, 411-414
"In general, the reader comes away from this book with a much more complex picture of the roles and positions of women and men from the beginning of the Meiji Era up to post-bubble economically struggling 2000s Japan. Much of the literature that considers the development of modern nation-states does not take into account the gendering of the processes involved. What is presented as unbiased and gender neutral is in fact highly gendered-it is usually based on the experiences andstories of particular men. This book does a wonderful job of addressing the gap in the literature to inform us of the complexities of how women and men were affected and exploited in various anddifferent ways in Japan's pursuit of modernity."
Emma Dalton LaTrobe University
Social Science Japan Journal, vol 19, no 1, January 2016 109
"This is a volume no student of gender or of the historical formation of the modern Japanese nation-state should fail to read? The editors do an excellent job of rendering the translated chapters into accessible English. This volume will be of interest both to scholars and to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of Japanese gender studies and political history."
Barbara Molony, Santa Clara University,
Journal of Japanese Studies
