商品詳細

Since being chosen to stage the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998, and being the co-host with South Korea of the Football World Cup Finals in 2002, Japan is at the centre of world sporting interest. This text provides an historical, sociological and comparative introduction to sport in Japan. Often discussions of Japanese society and culture have been distorted by "Japanism", in which stereotypes of the culture - such as the assumption of a Japanese ethic of hard work - have been confirmed rather than investigated. This book examines, sociologically, contemporary social problems and issues relevant to sport and leisure processes and institutions, and looks at a case study of globalization and the struggle to define national identity through sport.