Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

R.J.ペッカネン他編　2024年の日本の総選挙
McElwain, Kenneth M. / Pekkanen, R. J. / Smith, D. M. (eds.), Japan Decides 2024: The Japanese General Election. 356 pp. 2025:11 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <756-696>
ISBN 978-3-031-98796-0 paper ¥10,028.- (税込) EUR 39.99

This edited volume is the fifth in the Japan Decides series and the premier venue for scholarly research on the 2024 general election for the Japanese House of Representatives. The 2024 election was historic, with Japan's long-ruling LDP suffering its second worst showing at the ballot box since it was founded. The volume features a broad range of scholarship from top researchers in Japan, the United States, and Europe. After an introduction that sets the stage, the second section analyzes political parties, including the LDP, CDP, Komeito, and Ishin. The third section explores the campaign, and features chapters on the policy positions of candidates, social media, public opinion, party manifestos, and turnout. The fourth section analyzes the major policy issues surrounding the election, including the Unification Church and money scandals, women's representation, LGBTQ+ rights, childcare, macroeconomics and inflation, and Japan's role in the global economy. The conclusion synthesizes the original research in the volume's chapters to provide a coherent overall explanation for understanding the election in both historical and comparative perspective.

藤吉圭二編　ガバナンス、無知、アーカイブズ－現代日本社会における重要な情報の共有
Fujiyoshi, Keiji (ed.), Governance, Ignorance, and Archives: Sharing Critical Information in Contemporary Japanese Society. 116 pp. 2025:12 (Springer, GW) <756-749>
ISBN 978-981-9519-61-3 hard ¥32,600.- (税込) EUR 129.99

Taking Japan as a heuristic example, this book explores the significance of neatly kept and classified records and archives to maintain a democratic society. Japan adopted constitutional monarchy as a state system in the nineteenth century and then amended it to become a democracy in the twentieth century. How the evaluation of public and governmental records has and has not changed for almost a century is an indication of the maturity of democracy in Japan. How and to what extent the records of the government are disclosed to and shared with the public are among the fundamental criteria to assess the quality and maturity of democracy in a society. From this point of view, the book examines the current status of records and archives management in several spheres of Japanese society, with some international comparative studies as well. On the one hand, Japan is a society that has attached great importance to written documents, which is evident when one sees how carefully ordinary people kept diverse kinds of documents even in the pre-modern period. On the other hand, the public at large has long been indifferent to the records and archives that serve as fundamental infrastructure to keep the governance of society transparent and accountable. By examining those contradictory aspects of the attitudes toward records and archives in Japanese society, this book provides the key elements of management of critical information for a democratic society.

J.O.ズルエタ編　日本におけるフィリピン人とフィリピンにおける日本人
Zulueta, Johanna O. (ed.), Disrupted Mobilities: Filipinos in Japan and Japanese in the Philippines. 260 pp. 2025:12 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <756-752>
ISBN 978-981-9502-56-1 hard ¥35,108.- (税込) EUR 139.99

This volume chronicles migrant lives in Japan and the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, it focuses on the Japanese in the Philippines and the Filipinos in Japan, making it a valuable resource for those doing research on migrations between these two countries, and/or about migrations in Asia, in general. Analyzing data gathered through interviews, surveys, content analyses, and ethnographies, the authors meticulously present critical findings and narrate migrants' experiences of COVID-19. While the world has now eased back into a "state of normality," the significant societal changes that have occurred cannot be denied. Hence, the book argues that it is imperative for the public to be informed how various types of migrants have experienced the pandemic, leading them to explore innovative ways to adapt to conditions during this health crisis. The chapters in this volume are important in informing not only scholars studying migration, but also policy-makers, NGOs, and the general public, as to how non-citizens in these two countries have grappled with the challenges posed by the pandemic. It will also be a valuable resource for communities and governments around the world as they prepare for similar health crises in the near future.

廣野桂子、矢口和宏編　大地震後の復興期と再生の段階－東日本大震災の経験
Hirono, Keiko Nosse / Yaguchi, Kazuhiro (eds.), Reconstruction Period and the Stages of Regeneration After a Great Earthquake: Experience from the Great East Japan Earthquake. (New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives 83) 122 pp. 2025:10 (Springer, GW) <756-129>
ISBN 978-981-9688-21-0 hard ¥27,584.- (税込) EUR 109.99

This is the first book to present concrete ideas and suggestions for reconstruction and creation of a region after a great earthquake, which the authors of each chapter formulated from their analyses and experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake. In this book, analyses of the reconstruction period and stages of regeneration after a very large earthquake are many-sided and are derived from the points of view of economics, mental health, social business, interregional risk-sharing system, city planning, housing, and industrial revival, as existing problems in the Tohoku area 7 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake. These problems are both "hard" (city reconstruction, housing, industrial regeneration) and "soft" (mental health care and quality of life). Several methods of analysis useful for research are provided, such as a means of estimating consumers' evaluation of earthquake-proof conversion of housing and a way to capture risk sharing of firms theoretically. Most of the authors of this book were university staffs in the Tohoku area at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, did research in the Tohoku area, or were born in the area; thus they have extensive knowledge about the region and the effects of the Great Earthquake. For those reasons, the recommendations given in this book are concrete, realistic, and effective in problem solving.

S.アヴェネル著　戦後日本史－復興、繁栄、変容
Avenell, Simon, A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation. 277 pp. 2025:8 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-752>
ISBN 978-0-8248-9868-7 hard ¥18,139.- (税込) US$ 85.00
ISBN 978-0-8248-9869-4 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00 *

This sweeping history tells the story of contemporary Japan from its defeat in the Asia-Pacific War in 1945 until the early decades of the new millennium. How did the Japanese people deal with the collapse of its empire and the American-led occupation? What factors played into Japan's remarkable economic recovery and stunning affluence? How did democracy develop under the new pacifist constitution and long-term conservative rule? And how did Japanese society and culture reflect the extraordinary demographic transformations of the era? After a concise recap of events prior to 1945, historian Simon Avenell traces the country's early postwar recovery, its striking economic growth, the political and social struggles of the citizenry, the legacies of colonial empire and militarism, the profound demographic changes wrought by urbanization and affluence, the impact of regional and global entanglements, and the flowering of postwar culture. The content chapters are augmented by an introduction exploring the diverse historical interpretations of the era and its major themes, along with an epilogue pondering the prospects for Japan's postwar condition at our contemporary moment. The lively narrative is supported by a wealth of images, charts, tables, primary sources, and cutting-edge research. Drawing on recent historiography, the book presents Japan's postwar history both as a distinctive phase in the country's modern experience, as well as an era with deep connections to developments before 1945. A History of Postwar Japan will appeal to a broad readership, including undergraduates and general readers who want a comprehensive and compelling narrative of Japan's contemporary history.

日本における4つの動物保護のパラダイム
Brecher, W. Puck, Loving and Loathing Wildlife in Japan: Four Animal Conservation Paradigms. 277 pp. 2025:12 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-753>
ISBN 979-88-8070-200-8 hard ¥14,938.- (税込) US$ 70.00

日本人女性と離婚の文学的物語
Sokolsky, Anne (ed.), Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce. 277 pp. 2025:11 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-756>
ISBN 979-88-8070-152-0 hard ¥14,938.- (税込) US$ 70.00

The various words for "divorce" in Japanese-rien, enkiri, fufu wakare, rikon-reflect how the socially constructed institutions of marriage and family, along with their dissolutions, have been understood in Japanese history and jurisprudence. Employing a broad definition of divorce as the end of a romantic union sanctioned by law, social custom, or mutual agreement, Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce explores the shifting attitudes toward divorce in literature by women from the Heian (794-1185) to Heisei (1989-2019) periods. The collection features writing by iconic authors such as Tamura Toshiko (1884-1945), Uno Chiyo (1897-1996), and Tsushima Yuko (1947-2016), who used divorce as a literary device to enable their female protagonists to take bold steps toward new lives. A coda explores more contemporary views on marriage, divorce, and romantic love in the work of novelists Itoyama Akiko (1966-) and Kawakami Mieko (1976-) and poet Saihate Tahi (1986-). A wide-ranging introduction provides an overview of the historical, legal, and literary significance of divorce in Japan. The translated texts, appearing in English for the first time, are accompanied by essays introducing the authors and offering brief analyses. Bold Breaks will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese literature and culture, particularly those interested in gender issues and family social practices, and will enrich the growing conversation on marriage and divorce across cultures and eras.

Strand, Kendra, An Unfamiliar Place: Poetry, Power, and the Travel Diary in Medieval Japan. 277 pp. 2025:10 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-757>
ISBN 978-0-8248-9762-8 hard ¥14,938.- (税込) US$ 70.00

In mid-fourteenth-century Japan, amid decades of civil unrest caused by a violent rivalry over imperial succession, three men embarked on journeys that would lead them to reimagine their world: the second Ashikaga shogun and general Yoshiakira (1330-1367), the Buddhist lay priest Sokyu (ca. 1350), and the statesman Nijo Yoshimoto (1320-1388). All three shared elite social status, political connections, and a deep engagement with poetry. Yoshiakira traveled from Kyoto to Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka to pray for poetic skill; Sokyu left his home in Kyushu and wandered for three years across Honshu, visiting sites celebrated in traditional waka poetry; and Yoshimoto, after fleeing an attack on his home in Kyoto, found refuge in distant Ojima and comfort in composing poetry surrounded by "the scene of an unfamiliar place." Their memoirs, written within a decade of each other, offer important insights into how their worldviews-formed by centuries of canonical literature and court traditions-were increasingly challenged by their encounters with new situations and territory, landscapes they would capture from perspectives of absence and erasure. An Unfamiliar Place examines how these three traveler-poets used both literal and metaphorical "unfamiliar places" as sites of expressive power, to not only explore novel ways of existing in and moving through the world, but also reassess their assumptions about the social and cultural significance of geographic space.

吉田三郎著、D.C.ウッド編訳『男鹿寒風山麓農民日録』
Yoshida, Saburo, Diary of a Farmer at the Foot of Mt. Kanpu: Living Off the Land in Northern Japan, 1935-1936. Tr., ed., & annotated by D. C. Wood. 277 pp. 2025:8 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-759>
ISBN 978-0-8248-9802-1 hard ¥14,938.- (税込) US$ 70.00

On March 13, 1935, in a small village on the craggy Oga Peninsula in northeastern Japan, an industrious vegetable farmer named Yoshida Saburo began writing a one-year chronicle of his life and community, having received the assignment from Tokyo financier Shibusawa Keizo, a passionate folklore enthusiast and ethnological research supporter. In his diary, Yoshida reports meticulous discussions of farming and village life, providing thorough documentation of his family's meals, daily itemized tallies of income and expenditures, plus crop and household financial data going back seven years. His coverage of folkways, customs, and superstitions give insight into traditions and faith, while illuminating his progressivism that is further highlighted by critiques of other farmers' methods. Yoshida reveals a microcosm populated by unsympathetic landlords, destitute tenant farmers, disenfranchised young men, vulnerable young women, and increasingly covetous villagers amidst poverty, all within a contracting economy and a growing imperialist state. Yet it is not an isolated world; the village is strongly connected to the outside at the local and regional levels, and to the state. Yoshida's chronicle is representative of the living conditions of at least sixty percent of Japan's population in the 1930s, shedding light on an important period in the country's modern history-an era that was the culmination of seven decades of political and economic development, with rising rural poverty exacerbated by a clash between feudalism and capitalism. In the historical record, Yoshida himself is a rare and valuable link between the farmer of the early modern period and that of the early postwar era. His diary was published in 1938 by the Attic Museum (which was founded by Shibusawa), complete with 160 illustrations, including photographs taken by the author, before slipping into semilegendary status. This annotated and amended English version, containing more than twenty new photographs, allows the world to vicariously experience a tiny farming village in prewar Japan through Yoshida's precise documentation.For his translation of the diary, Donald C. Wood received the 2022-2023 Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize, awarded by the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University in New York.

R.シャープリー、加藤久美著　日本におけるツーリズムと困難な歴史
Sharpley, Richard / Kato, Kumi, Tourism and Difficult Histories in Japan. (Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility) 266 pp. 2025:12 (Routledge, UK) <755-464>
ISBN 978-1-032-60880-8 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

This book explores the relationship between tourism and difficult histories in Japan. More specifically, it considers the manner in which places associated with past dark events are presented and interpreted for tourists. In so doing, it seeks to identify the extent to which tourism contributes to enhancing mutual understanding as a stated objective of Japanese tourism policy.The book presents a range of tourist destinations which offer the opportunity to consider dark events in Japanese history in the context of broader contemporary debates surrounding how such events should be remembered and the contribution of these tourist destinations to peace and reconciliation. Case studies include both well- and lesser-known destinations related to the Pacific War, from a comparison of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace/Atomic Bomb Museums to an island where poison gas was manufactured, and a former copper mine at which prisoners of war worked during 1944-5. Other case studies focus on disaster sites, contentious industrial heritage, controversial Hansen's disease (leprosy) sanatoria, and more.This significant volume contributes to an understanding of the relationship between tourism and difficult histories in Japan. This will appeal widely across disciplines, including Tourism, Asian Studies, Geography, War & Reconciliation studies, Peace studies, and International Relations.

新井京著　法による引き延ばされた占領－沖縄における暫定性のアーキテクチャ
Arai, Kyo, Prolonged Occupation Through Law: Architecture of Provisionality in Okinawa. 240 pp. 2025:12 (Routledge, UK) <755-492>
ISBN 978-1-032-90707-9 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

This book examines the law of occupation, including the legal issues surrounding any forms of military occupation and similar domination of territory and people abroad. It achieves this through a comprehensive analysis of the legal basis of the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.The book begins with a discussion of the legal frameworks under international and U.S. law relating to the occupation and other forms of administration of foreign soil. It then examines the drafting process of various 'constitutional' orders issued by the U.S. military for Okinawa during and after World War Two. Covering the whole period of the U.S. administration, the book captures the formation of highly contested legal arguments for external governance during the transition period of 1949-1957, as well as the institutional reforms under the Kennedy administration in the 1960s. The analysis of legal developments contextualizes the Okinawa issue in the current legal discourse on foreign occupation, self-determination and post-colonialism. The theoretical implications of residual sovereignty and its effect on the relationship between the Japanese government and the people of Okinawa in the modern day are also discussed.Examining the factors that facilitated the military rule of Okinawa by the U.S. in the context of international law development, this book will interest scholars of international law, international relations, postcolonial studies, and Asian studies.

Faure, Bernard, From Stars to Stones: Gods of Medieval Japan. Volume 4. 277 pp. 2025:12 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-142>
ISBN 978-0-8248-9978-3 hard ¥19,206.- (税込) US$ 90.00

Written by one of the leading scholars of Japanese religion, From Stars to Stones is the fourth installment of a multivolume project that promises to be a milestone in our understanding of the mythico-ritual system of esoteric Buddhism-specifically the nature and roles of deities in the religious world of medieval Japan and beyond. Bernard Faure introduces readers to medieval Japanese religiosity and shows the centrality of the gods in religious discourse and ritual; in doing so he moves away from the usual textual, historical, and sociological approaches that constitute the "method" of current religious studies. Throughout, he engages theoretical insights drawn from structuralism, post-structuralism, and Actor-Network Theory to retrieve the "implicit pantheon" (as opposed to the "explicit orthodox pantheon") of esoteric Japanese Buddhism (Mikkyo). In volumes one and two, The Fluid Pantheon and Predators and Protectors, Faure argued against a polarity or dichotomy between buddhas and kami by emphasizing the existence of deities that did not belong to either category, and he rejected the retrospective notion of "hybridity." In volume three, Rage and Ravage, Faure made a similar case about the reified distinction between gods and demons to show that, due to the fluid nature of the Japanese pantheon, these terms do not represent stable identities: gods can become demons, and demons are sometimes deified. Moving from the deities of the Earth and the dialectic of autochthony to the theme of embryology, volume four, From Stars to Stones, is organized around a deity (or an aspect of it) identified as "placenta kojin" (ena kojin) and the network or nebula it forms with a few divinities-often personalizations of one or more of its aspects. If Rage and Ravage brought us back to earth, this book is a return to the womb and to the matrix of Japanese religion, which in turns opens up to the stars. It shows how mythological notions influenced (and in returned were transformed by) medieval Japanese religion and the performing arts (geino). From Stars to Stones and its companion volumes should persuade readers that the gods constituted a central part of medieval Japanese religion and that the latter cannot be reduced to a simplistic confrontation, parallelism, or complementarity between some monolithic teachings known as "Buddhism" and "Shinto." Once these reductionist labels and categories are discarded, a new and fascinating religious landscape begins to unfold.

陶波著　賀川豊彦とその世界　1888～1960年
Tao, Bo, Cooperative Evangelist: Kagawa Toyohiko and His World, 1888-1960. 277 pp. 2025:8 (U. Hawai'i Pr., US) <755-204>
ISBN 978-0-8248-9968-4 hard ¥15,364.- (税込) US$ 72.00 *

Cooperative Evangelist uncovers the extraordinary world of a Japanese man who was once described as the "Saint Francis" or the "Gandhi" of Japan. A renowned religious figure on the world stage, Kagawa Toyohiko (1888-1960) received wide acclaim for his work as a street preacher in the slums of Kobe as well as his espousal of nonviolent methods of social reform. His reputation as a pacifist figure, however, rested uneasily with his wartime actions, which became increasingly supportive of the Japanese government and its expansionist policies. Reluctant to speak up against Japan's increasing aggression in the late 1930s, he emerged as a full-blown apologist during the Pacific War, appearing on several Radio Tokyo broadcasts as a propagandist defending the interests of state. Adopting a transnational approach that accounts for the rapid flow of information between Japan and the United States, Bo Tao examines the career of Kagawa as it unfolded within the context of the war, imperialism, and economic depression of the early to mid-twentieth century. Using official documents and personal correspondence that have received scant attention in previous works, Tao reveals, for the first time at this level of detail, the extent of Kagawa's cooperative relationship with the Japanese government, as well as the ways in which his idealized image was carefully constructed by his ardent missionary supporters. This book provides a window into the global dimensions of broader cultural shifts during the interwar period, such as the rise of Christian internationalism and the Depression-era popularity of cooperative economics. Offering a holistic and nuanced exploration of the tensions resulting from Kagawa's hybrid identity as a Japanese Christian, Cooperative Evangelist adds a new layer to our understanding of religion, empire, and politics in the shaping of social and international relations.

Y.ウィダラヘスティ著　よりよい生活を夢見る－インドネシア人移民労働者の日本への旅路
Widarahesty, Yusy, Dreaming of a Better Life: Journeys of Indonesian Migrant Workers to Japan. 210 pp. 2025:10 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <754-264>
ISBN 978-981-9691-55-5 hard ¥30,092.- (税込) EUR 119.99

This book delves into a developing area of Japan's labor migration studies, providing comprehensive insights to unveil the complexity of Japan's Technical Intern Trainee Program (TITP), not only from the perspective of the receiving country but particularly from that of the sending country. In doing so, the book focuses on Indonesia's participation in the TITP. With this, the book investigates the roles of various actors, including the Indonesian government, the supervising organization, the Indonesian community, alumni, and the trainees themselves. It examines, through three different (but interlocking) stages, (1) the pre-departure stage, (2) on-the-program stage, and (3) post-program stage. To achieve this, the book draws upon extensive fieldwork, including in-depth interviews where the main part of the book is the result of ethnographic fieldwork, netnography, interviews, and participant observation of the relevant parties to gauge what issues/problems they are aware of. Fieldwork was conducted on/off sites and also with current and former alumni of the technical trainee program in Indonesia as well as interviews with the stakeholders, such as policymakers from Japan and, particularly in Indonesia, and the supervising organization (kumiai/kanridantai).

〔英訳〕小川真如著　日本のコメ問題
Ogawa, Masayuki, Japan's Rice Problem. 184 pp. 2025 (CABI Pub., UK) <753-287>
ISBN 978-1-80062-707-9 hard ¥27,692.- (税込) GB￡ 95.00 *

In recent years there has been much debate in Japan over rice, which is considered the "staple food" of the Japanese people. Certain agricultural policies and traditional attitudes, the aging of farming communities and the lack of successors have become major problems, leading to the overproduction of rice and falling prices. Agricultural policy has been forced to respond to these problems. This book summarizes the changing relationship between the Japanese people and rice over the past half century, pointing out four turning points. The book then discusses in detail the "rice paddy glut" as the most recent rice problem in Japan. The book also points out that a "fifth tipping point " will come in the near future, when there will be an excess of farmland, and suggests ways to deal with this problem. Similar problems could be on the horizon in the future for developing countries that have invested heavily in increasing rice production.

〔英訳〕太宰春台著　政治経済学に関する著作－『経済録』と『経済録拾遺』
Shundai, Dazai, Dazai Shundai: Writings on Political Economy. Ed. & tr. by P. Flueckiger. (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) 300 pp. 2025:10 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <753-243>
ISBN 978-1-316-51032-2 hard ¥14,575.- (税込) GB￡ 50.00
ISBN 978-1-316-64972-5 paper ¥6,118.- (税込) GB￡ 20.99

Dazai Shundai (1680-1747) is a critical figure in Japanese political thought, who developed his philosophy in response to a perceived crisis in the status of the ruling samurai class, of which he was a member. This volume introduces sections from his most significant work of political thought, Keizairoku (1729), and its addendum Keizairoku shui (1744). Extracts present Shundai's program of political and economic reform, as he grappled with the upheavals and opportunities accompanying the breakdown of feudal agrarianism and the emergence of a modern commercial economy. While Shundai accepted the inevitability of this economic transition, his vision of political economy remained conservative, with a focus on strengthening samurai-class supremacy. Peter Flueckiger offers a critical introduction to Shundai's ideas, exploring the nuances of his engagement with Confucian thought, and extensive annotations provide further textual and historical context. This volume thus demonstrates how Shundai's writings prefaced increasingly ambitious theories of state-managed economic growth in early modern and modern Japan.

秋元大輔著　現代日本の政治と政策分析－防衛、領土、貿易
Akimoto, Daisuke, Contemporary Japanese Politics and Policy Analysis: Its Defense, Territory and Trade. 144 pp. 2025:11 (Routledge, UK) <753-1159>
ISBN 978-1-041-10939-6 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

This book examines Japan's defense technology, unresolved territorial disputes with neighboring countries, and its trade policy. The author:? analyses Japan's cutting-edge defense technologies, including space, cyberspace, and electromagnetic domains, cross-domain operations, and Multi Domain Defense Force;? traces the history and future trajectories of Japan's territorial disputes with Russia, South Korea, and China and political actors who have shaped Japan's foreign policies toward the resolution of the Northern Islands/Kurile Islands, the Takeshima/Dokdo Islands, and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands;? studies Japan's policy towards free trade frameworks, especially, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, also known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP);? investigates policy implications of political actors for decision-making processes in the government? uses case studies to substantiate the applicability of policy analysis method in the study of contemporary Japanese politics. This book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in Japanese politics, Japanese studies, and Asian studies, and international relations.

Veloza-Franco, Daniel, The Agency of Local Actors in Cultural Diplomacy: Japan in Spanish-Speaking Audiences. 263 pp. 2025:8 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <753-1160>
ISBN 978-3-031-97414-4 hard ¥35,108.- (税込) EUR 139.99

This book analyses local actors' agency in implementing official cultural diplomacy (CD) activities, using Japan as a case to show how the nation is presented to Spanish-speaking audiences. Drawing on qualitative methods, the book argues that CD activities undergo a process of localisation, whereby local actors strategically adapt and modify official narratives. This localisation highlights both the agency of local actors and a gap -little explored in the CD literature-between official diplomatic narratives and their actual manifestation at the local level. The book further explains why these narrative adjustments occur and how they foster deeper audience engagement, dialogue, and mutual understanding.

日本の生活におけるクイアの親密性と文化的異議
Tamagawa, Masami, Queer Intimacies and Cultural Dissent in Japanese Life: Quiet Subversion. 300 pp. 2025:12 (Routledge, UK) <753-1290>
ISBN 978-1-032-98143-7 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00
ISBN 978-1-032-95464-6 paper ¥11,656.- (税込) GB￡ 39.99

Queer Intimacies and Cultural Dissent in Japanese Life: Quiet Subversion offers an intimate cartography of LGBTQ+ expression across contemporary Japan.Featuring over 100 profiles of activists, artists, politicians, scholars, theologians, manga creators, and media figures, this book introduces "quiet subversion" as a methodological framework for understanding how dissent operates through ambiguity, relational care, satire, and refusal. Writing as both a scholar and tojisha (insider), the author analyses personal testimonies, cultural texts, and public interventions to document the strategies that sustain queer life under social constraints. Moving beyond conventional survey approaches, the book presents firsthand accounts of how LGBTQ+ individuals navigate Japanese social structures while creating spaces for authentic expression.Queer Intimacies and Cultural Dissent in Japanese Life: Quiet Subversion is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students in Queer Studies, Asian Studies, and Media Studies, as well as researchers exploring the intersections of identity, resistance, and cultural production in contemporary Japan.

M.G.シェフタル著　ナガサキ
Sheftall, M. G., Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses. (Embers 2) 2025 (Dutton, US) <251-57387>
ISBN 978-0-593-47228-6 hard ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00 *

日本のプロ野球の舞台裏
Fitts, Robert K., In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball. 277 pp. 2025:11 (U. Nebraska Pr., US) <752-737>
ISBN 978-1-4962-4407-9 hard ¥7,884.- (税込) US$ 36.95

Baseball is the national pastime of both the United States and Japan, but the two countries approach and play the game differently both on the field and away from it. To shed light on these differences and help fans gain a greater appreciation for Nippon Professional Baseball, Robert K. Fitts turns to the true experts, the people who play, oversee, promote, and watch the game, to find out what makes Japanese baseball special. In the Japanese Ballpark features engaging interviews with twenty-six baseball personalities to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the game. Fitts speaks with participants in the games such as players, managers, and an umpire; support staff including an interpreter, trainer, and data analyst; front office personal such as an owner, general and assistant managers, and marketing directors; ballpark workers including cheerleaders, a mascot, beer vendor, and usher; and professionals who surround the sport, such as baseball writers, a player agent, and a sports card dealer; as well as a league commissioner. Through their personal experiences, these individuals reveal the inner workings of the Japanese game and explain the cultural aspects that make Nippon Professional Baseball different from Major League Baseball.In the Japanese Ballpark features interviews with Bobby Valentine, Trey Hillman, Matt Murton, Robert Whiting, Marty Kuehnert, Tomoko Namba, Ambassador Ryozo Kato, and many others. Their experiences and insights provide inside knowledge to make the fan experience more enjoyable, for both those watching a Japanese game for the first time and well as for seasoned followers.

I.ホルカ他編　鉄のカーテンの裏での文学的・芸術的な日本
Holca, Irina / Sipos, George T. (eds.), Literary and Artistic Japan Behind the Iron Curtain. (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series 124) 272 pp. 2026 (Routledge, UK) <752-738>
ISBN 978-1-041-01927-5 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00 *

This book examines the public perception, scholarly reception, and critical analysis of Japan through translations of its literature and artistic endeavors within the temporal frame and geopolitical confines of the countries that were either occupied or left under the influence of the Soviet Union after World War II.By engaging with literary translations from Japanese into languages such as Romanian, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, German, and Slovenian, alongside art exhibits and performance shows focused on Japan, this book provides an original contribution to the field of Japanese studies in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet space. In addition, by offering a multifaceted, multilingual, and multicultural approach to the diverse realities of countries from the former communist bloc, the book sheds light on the unique relationships they created with literary and artistic Japan, as well as the unique ways in which they attempted to lift the Iron Curtain and gaze at the Asian Other, a subject of both fascination and identification.Approaching the subject of Japanese culture through the unique lens of former communist bloc nations, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese studies and Japanese literature, particularly in the context of translations.

P.ヒューズ著　日本におけるクイアの移民とドラァグ
Hughes, Phillip, Queer Migration and Drag in Japan: Queering Identity, Participation and Belonging. 238 pp. 2025:11 (Routledge, UK) <752-739>
ISBN 978-1-032-69147-3 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

Queer Migration and Drag in Japan: Queering Identity, Participation and Belonging explores how queer migration intersects with drag performance in Japan, illuminating the intricate interplay between gender, embodiment, and identity.The book follows migrant drag artists as they build lives and stages in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Drawing on interviews, ethnography, and collaborative tojisha research, the book explores questions of identity and belonging, and traces how performers - by shifting between insider and outsider positions - reclaim the "gaijin" (foreigner) label, navigate rigid work-family structures, and build coalitions linking Japan's bars to a booming global drag economy. It offers a fresh, accessible entry point into urgent debates about identity, belonging, and demographic change in contemporary Japan.Queer Migration and Drag in Japan: Queering Identity, Participation and Belonging is ideal for both students and researchers in gender studies, migration, Japanese studies, and performance studies.

I.ニアリー著　添田と近現代日本の形成－北九州における権力、宗教、産業
Neary, Ian, Soeda and the Making of Modern Japan: Power, Religion and Industry in Northern Kyushu. 246 pp. 2025 (Routledge, uk) <752-741>
ISBN 978-90-485-6367-8 hard ¥32,356.- (税込) GB￡ 111.00 *

Soeda's story provides insights into the last thousand years of Japanese history. It was the location of a strategically important castle, Ganjakuj., from the twelfth century until its destruction by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587. Ganjakuj. controlled access to Mt Hiko which was the most important Shugend. monastic community in Kyushu until its dissolution in the 1870s. Coal mines in Soeda in the first half of the twentieth century owned by the Kurauchi family drove the modernization of the town and contributed to the industrialization of the country. During the Pacific war, these mines employed Korean labourers and Allied POWs. The town continued to contribute to national economic growth in the 1950s but, following the switch to oil as the main source of energy, its coal mines closed in the 1960s. For forty years between 1971-2010, Mayor Yamamoto Fumio sheltered the town from the worst impact of being 'left behind', yet the town continues to seek a new identity in the twenty-first century.

Tagsold, Christian, Turning Gardens in Japan into Japanese Gardens: Nation, Nature, Heritage, and Modernity since the 1890s. 252 pp. 2025:6 (Amsterdam U. Pr., NE) <752-742>
ISBN 978-90-485-6379-1 hard ¥32,356.- (税込) GB￡ 111.00

In the mid nineteenth century, as Japan rapidly modernized, garden building declined in popularity. Only in the late nineteenth century did a new class of political and business leaders revive interest in horticulture, seeking garden designs that broke away from established patterns. As a result, these innovative gardens were largely overlooked by early Japanese garden historians and excluded from the canon they sought to establish. In recent years, both scholars and the public have begun to reexamine and appreciate these gardens and their creators. Now recognized as part of Japan's national heritage, these sites are being integrated into the history of Japanese horticulture. Christian Tagsold's book examines this rediscovery, unraveling the complex dynamics of nature, heritage, nationhood, and modernity in Japan through the lens of these gardens.

Dobson, Hugo / Narita, Karin / Rose, Caroline, Former Prime Ministers in Japan: Power, Influence and the Role of Informal Politics. 208 pp. 2025:10 (Bristol U. Pr., UK) <752-677>
ISBN 978-1-5292-0683-8 paper ¥5,826.- (税込) GB￡ 19.99

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Despite growing international interest in the position and power of the Japanese prime minister, there is little existing research on what happens after these figures leave office. Examining both pre-war and post-war Japan, this book investigates what Japanese prime ministers have done after stepping down and what influence they have continued to exert. Based on research in English and Japanese including biographies, memoirs and interviews, the book examines the specific activities former prime ministers engage in, assessing their motivations and the effect of informal politics in Japan on their successes and failures. Ultimately, the book answers the simple but often unanswered question of 'where are they now' and writes the unwritten post-resignation biographies of Japan's prime ministers.

片田さおり、古賀慶著　日本の大戦略
Katada, Saori N. / Koga, Kei, Japan's Grand Strategy: Liminal Power in an Uncertain World. (Oxford Studies in Grand Strategy) 272 pp. 2025:12 (Oxford U. Pr., UK) <752-678>
ISBN 978-0-19-887262-7 hard ¥28,858.- (税込) GB￡ 99.00

As a liminal state with contrasting identities, Japan often struggles to define its consistent strategic objective due to its fluctuating power status and social role in international relations. In this volume Katada and Koga employ a historical institutionalist approach to examine the evolution of Japan's grand strategy as a liminal power from the Meiji period, starting in 1868, to the present. The authors explore four historical and contemporary "critical junctures" as key determinants of the shifts in Japan's grand strategies: the Meiji era, the inter-war era between World War I and II, the Cold War era, and the Post-Cold War/Indo-Pacific era. In particular, they focus on the contemporary era during which Japan has established its Indo-Pacific grand strategy featuring a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific." As the strategic environment changed in each period, the authors examine how a window of opportunity opened that offered Japan's core decision-makers a chance to construct - or reconstruct - the country's grand strategy. The Oxford Studies in Grand Strategy is a major new series of cutting-edge monographs that examine the grand strategies of states, and those intergovernmental organizations and nonstate actors who credibly aspire to sovereignty. Books concentrate on the contemporary aspects of grand strategy, while paying due respect to the historical antecedents of a nation's grand strategy and their relevance for a leadership's current choices. The series is pluralistic in terms of theory and method, and maintains a broad view of the ways, means, and ends that undergird a grand strategy. Analytical and explanatory in contribution, books in the series feature a rigorous analysis of the interaction between domestic factors and global forces and provide a clear understanding of how that interaction shapes a grand strategy's formulation, codification, and implementation. Series Editors: Thierry Balzacq (Sciences Po, Paris), Peter Dombrowski (US Naval War College), and Simon Reich (Rutgers University, Newark)

国連人権条約システム－韓国と日本の勧告の実施
Won, Yoomin, The UN Human Rights Treaty System: Implementation of Recommendations in South Korea and Japan. (Law and Change) 240 pp. 2025:10 (Routledge, UK) <752-400>
ISBN 978-1-032-65609-0 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

Through a use of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, Won provides a nuanced analysis and discussion of the factors and domestic processes influencing the implementation of United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) recommendations in South Korea and Japan, as well as across the globe.Won's research entangles the theoretical debate on whether the UN human rights treaty system is effective in prompting the implementation of HRC recommendations. Her findings, based on interviews with activists, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other practitioners in Korea and Japan, point to the complex interplay of treaty bodies, state parties, and civil society organizations in human rights implementation. In addition, Won creates a novel empirical dataset to assess the key variables associated with improvement in human rights action across 103 countries. The findings suggest that human rights treaties matter not only to countries with high levels of democracy, but authoritarian regimes.A unique empirical analysis of international human rights action as driven by UN recommendations, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of international law, human rights, and international relations, as well as human rights lawyers and the NGO Human Rights Communities.

日本における食育と農村部の弾力性
Assmann, Stephanie, Food Education and Rural Resilience in Japan: Nourishing National Identity. (Consumption and Sustainability in Asia) 202 pp. 2025:8 (Amsterdam U. Pr., NE) <752-205>
ISBN 978-94-6298-524-7 hard ¥29,150.- (税込) GB￡ 100.00 *

Food education initiatives exist worldwide, but Japan remains unique with its food education law known as shokuiku. The country's impressive health metrics - high life expectancies, low obesity, and affordable health care - often lead observers to praise this approach. This book presents a more nuanced analysis. First, it challenges the assumption that food education is wholly a "good thing" by exposing underlying power mechanisms. Through food diagrams, food fairs, and school lunch programs, government ministries promote both nationalism and traditional gender roles. Second, it explores how food education operates in Japan's rural regions, where educators champion resilience and food self-sufficiency to alleviate depopulation and economic decline. This emphasis on local food persisted even in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Using Foucault's concept of governmentality, historical contextualization, and extensive fieldwork in rural Japan, this study reveals the complex political agenda driving food education in a non-Western society.

〔英語版〕服部龍二著『広田弘毅－「悲劇の宰相」の実像』
Hattori, Ryuji, War and Diplomacy in Modern Japan: Prime Minister Koki Hirota and His Times. 189 pp. 2025:8 (Springer, GW) <751-800>
ISBN 978-981-9653-09-6 hard ¥12,536.- (税込) EUR 49.99

This open access book examines the life and work of Koki Hirota, who served as Japan's foreign minister and prime minister from 1933 to 1938 - the period that saw the final Japanese diplomatic attempts at achieving a modus vivendi with China before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It looks at the failed attempts to prevent that war from evolving into a protracted conflict. Hirota's actions and inactions during this time resulted in a death sentence at the Tokyo Trials following the end of the Second World War, making him the only civilian official to meet such a fate. Hirota is seen as a martyr-like figure in Japan, but this book counters this public image by showing how, despite initially championing a cooperative relationship with China as foreign and prime minister, he continually acquiesced to the military's demands before being swept away by the rise of populist politics that followed early Japanese success in the Second Sino-Japanese War. As the first biography of Hirota to be published in English, this book provides an in-depth account of Sino-Japanese relations and Japanese diplomacy during this critical period and examines the ultimate failure of the civilian government to check the adventurism of the Japanese army. It is relevant to historians of Japan, and to those interested in diplomatic history, and the Second World War - as well as scholars working in various areas of contemporary East Asian politics.

小笠原みどり著　植民地の監視－日本帝国における身分証明と管理の技術
Ogasawara, Midori, Colonial Surveillance: Technologies of Identification and Control in Japan's Empire. 277 pp. 2026:1 (Stanford U. Pr., US) <751-801>
ISBN 978-1-5036-4424-3 hard ¥25,608.- (税込) US$ 120.00
ISBN 978-1-5036-4471-7 paper ¥6,402.- (税込) US$ 30.00

In order to compete with Western powers, Japan began to rapidly modernize its governing institutions, in the process creating a national population registration and identification bureaucracy, the Koseki system, in 1871. A few decades later, when Japan began to extract natural resources from and militarize Northeast China during its colonial expansion, new identification technologies were introduced to control a growing population of colonial subjects. Against the historical backdrop of these pioneering identification systems in Japan, Midori Ogasawara invites readers to delve into the little-known genealogy of modern-day identification systems, and the colonial roots of the surveillance technologies that saturate our digital lives today. Based on archival research in Japan and China, as well as interviews with the families of Chinese survivors of Japanese colonialism, this book explores the emergence of Japanese identification systems and the transformation of identification techniques in its colonies and occupied areas. Taking a historical and sociological perspective informed by surveillance studies, Ogasawara shows how biometric identification became a powerful means of population control and racialization of ethnic others, a process that helped the Japanese government to classify the Chinese as "desirable" or "undesirable" and to reduce whole persons to mere resources. Tracing it from the Koseki system to colonial surveillance in Northeast China, Ogasawara uncovers the troubling history of identification technology in modern Japan.

若林晴子他編　ラトガース大学が日本と出会う－19世紀末のトランスパシフィックなネットワーク
Wakabayashi, Haruko / Perrone, Fernanda (eds.), Rutgers Meets Japan: A Trans-Pacific Network of the Late Nineteenth Century. (CERES: Rutgers Studies in History) 314 pp. 2026:1 (Rutgers U. Pr., US) <751-802>
ISBN 978-1-9788-3911-3 hard ¥32,010.- (税込) US$ 150.00
ISBN 978-1-9788-3910-6 paper ¥12,793.- (税込) US$ 59.95

In 1867 Kusakabe Taro, a young samurai from Fukui, Japan, began studying at Rutgers as its first foreign student. Three years later, in 1870, his former tutor, friend, and Rutgers graduate, William Elliot Griffis, left for Japan to teach English and Science for three and a half years. The year 2020 marked the 150th anniversary of two landmark events in the history of the Rutgers-Japan relationship: the untimely death of Kusakabe only weeks before his graduation, and his friend Griffis' departure to Japan. Griffis and Kusakabe were only a small piece of a vast transnational network of leading modernizers of Japan in the 1860s and 70s. The Japanese students in New Brunswick were young and innovative men of samurai and aristocratic lineage, who were sent by reform-minded leaders of Japan, which was undergoing a dramatic transformation. They came to New Brunswick seeking Western knowledge that was much needed for the modernization of a newly forming nation. New Brunswick became the hub of a network of Japanese nationals that extended to the major cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, and from there to the smaller towns of New England. Once in New Brunswick, these Japanese students were embraced by Protestant ministers, educators, and missionaries-both men and women-whose network encompassed Rutgers College and the neighboring New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and which stretched to Dutch Reformed parishes throughout the Eastern seaboard, and westward as far as the Dutch enclave of Holland, Michigan. Meanwhile, the American teachers and missionaries who left for Japan became part of a network of reformist leaders and Japanese returnees that extended to schools, colleges, and missions in Japan, and formed the foundations of Japan's modern educational system. Through contributions from scholars and archivists in the U.S., Canada, and Japan, Rutgers Meets Japan aims to reconstruct the early Rutgers-Japan connections and examine the role and impact of this transnational network on Japan and the U.S. in the late nineteenth century.

日本の宇宙プログラムの歴史
Wijeyeratne, Subodhana, The Islands and the Stars: A History of Japan's Space Programs. 277 pp. 2026:1 (Stanford U. Pr., US) <751-336>
ISBN 978-1-5036-4414-4 hard ¥29,876.- (税込) US$ 140.00
ISBN 978-1-5036-4478-6 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is among the six largest national space agencies in the world, along with China's CNSA, US's NASA, and Russia's Roscosmos. JAXA's budget is more than $1 billion USD-bigger than France or Germany individually, and more than that of Italy, India, Canada, and the UK combined. And yet, Japan's significant contributions have largely been absent in the history of space exploration, and space exploration largely absent in the history of technology in Japan. The Island and the Stars corrects this conspicuous oversight. Through meticulous archival research in Japanese and anglophone archives, Subodhana Wijeyeratne examines the history of Japan's space exploration efforts over nearly a century. Wijeyeratne traces the evolution of Japan's space program from its early origins in the 1920s, through the postwar period of rapid technological innovation, to the consolidation of its various institutional elements into JAXA in 2003. He situates Japan's space programs within the broader history of the country's postwar recovery, economic growth, and cultural identity, while also considering their place within global trends in space exploration. Through this narrative, Wijeyeratne not only illuminates Japan's centrality to the global history of science and technology, but also offers insights into the future of global space exploration, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices and perspectives in the quest to understand our place in the cosmos.

平田篤胤とその協力者たち
Walthall, Anne, In the Presence of Gods and Spirits: Hirata Atsutane and His Collaborators. (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies) 288 pp. 2025:8 (U. Michigan Pr., US) <751-209>
ISBN 978-0-472-07757-1 hard ¥21,340.- (税込) US$ 100.00 *
ISBN 978-0-472-05757-3 paper ¥7,458.- (税込) US$ 34.95 *

In the Presence of Gods and Spirits brings to life the early nineteenth-century Japanese religious leader and scholar Hirata Atsutane, whose fear of Russian incursion onto Japan's soil led him to redefine what it means to be Japanese. Atsutane advocated the study of the Way of the Gods, commonly known as Shinto, to explain what happens to the soul after death and to cultivate a Japanese identity centered on gods, spirits, and the emperor. His teachings would later attract thousands of followers and feed the movements that led to the Meiji Restoration. Drawing on the concept of material religion, Walthall demonstrates how Atsutane and his collaborators sought out knowledge of the unseen world and educated others, while seeking to bring themselves closer to the gods and spirits. This work showcases Atsutane and his community's legacy, which has had a profound influence on Japanese society, religious belief, and culture far beyond his lifetime.

Giannoulis, Elena (ed.), The Future of Humans and Emotional Machines: Narratives from Japanese Culture in the 21st Century. (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series) 250 pp. 2025:7 (Routledge, UK)
ISBN 978-1-032-94405-0 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00

This book explores human-machine interaction in Japan, providing a new focus on how and in what form people build affective bonds to new technologies.To gain insights into the feelings, identities, fears, and desires of people in our contemporary society, the book brings together perspectives from Japanese studies, cultural and literary studies, anthropology, robotics, philosophy, and game studies. Through such lenses it reveals how narratives about machines are not merely reflections of technological capabilities but, when it comes to emotional attachment, are deeply embedded in cultural practices and so-cial values. In addition to discussions by leading scholars in the field from around the world, the book includes two original literary contributions by award-winning Japanese authors, Yoko Tawada and Kei'ichiro Hirano, as well as interviews with Japanese roboticists, provid-ing readers with the rare opportunity to learn about the motivations and inspirations behind technological advances in human-machine interaction.Shedding light on the mutual influence of academics, producers, and artists in the field of the attachment to new technologies and encouraging a dialogue between them, this book will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of Japanese studies, cultural and literary studies and anthropology.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

日本の新しい大戦略を評価する
Ward, Robert, Evaluating Japan's New Grand Strategy. (Adelphi Series) 156 pp. 2025:5 (Routledge, UK) <750-798>
ISBN 978-1-041-10132-1 paper ¥4,952.- (税込) GB￡ 16.99 *

Geopolitical stresses in the Indo-Pacific are increasing and intensifying. These stresses derive from China's more assertive regional behaviour; growing alignments between China and Russia on the one hand and Russia and North Korea on the other; and most recently from the apparent recalibration of United States foreign policy under the second Trump administration. They have magnified Japan's significance as a strategic actor both in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.As such, it is of global importance whether Japan can meet the grand-strategic goals that it established in its 2022 National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defense Buildup Program. This Adelphi book evaluates Japan's new grand strategy, considering whether it and associated reforms are sufficiently robust to fulfil Japan's goal of ensuring its security even in the scenario of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

J.ヘンドリー他著　日本社会を理解する　第6版
Hendry, Joy / Cook, Emma E., Understanding Japanese Society. 6th ed. (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies) 372 pp. 2025:10 (Routledge, UK) <750-852>
ISBN 978-1-032-87085-4 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00
ISBN 978-1-032-87153-0 paper ¥11,656.- (税込) GB￡ 39.99 *

In this welcome new sixth edition of the bestselling textbook Understanding Japanese Society, Joy Hendry and Emma E. Cook take the reader into the heart of Japanese life.Providing a clear and accessible introduction to Japanese ways of thinking, which does not require any previous knowledge of the country, this book explores Japanese society through the worlds of home, work, play, health, religion, and ritual, covering a full range of life experiences, from childhood to old age. Fully updated, revised, and expanded with a brand new chapter on health and ageing, the sixth edition contains new material on:Experiences of the COVID-19 pandemicChanges in the family and LGBTQ experiencesIncreased interest in rural areas, the problems and opportunities of empty housesUse of technology and AI in different areas of lifeDiscussion of new kinds of criminal activity and an increase in elderly offendersEach chapter in this new edition also includes an exciting insert from scholars in the field, based on new and emerging research. This book will be invaluable to all students studying Japan. It will also enlighten tourists, travellers, and business people wishing to gain an understanding of Japanese people.

Jacobowitz, Seth / Moore, Aaron William (eds.), The Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke Reader: Mass Culture and Intermediality in Imperial Japan. (SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan) 304 pp. 2025:9 (Bloomsbury Academic, UK) <750-853>
ISBN 978-1-350-37815-5 hard ¥24,777.- (税込) GB￡ 85.00 *

This edited volume assembles a wide array of writings by Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke, one of 20th-century Japan's foremost intellectuals, translated for the first time into English. It begins with an introduction by the editors, Seth Jacobowitz and Aaron William Moore, that contextualizes Hirabayashi's significance as a non-doctrinaire Marxist cultural critic, visionary thinker, and much-beloved popular fiction writer. The 'Short Stories', features a selection of Hirabayashi's literary work, including science fiction ('The Artificial Human'), detective fiction ('This is How I Died!'), and more idiosyncratic works such as 'Demon at the Pulpit', an antitheist and anticlerical story.The 'Essays' provides a range of groundbreaking critical and theoretical tracts that address such topics as 'The Social Basis of Modernism', 'The Feminisation of Culture', 'Political Value and Artistic Value: A Re-Appraisal of Marxist Literary Theory', 'Film as a Mechanism of Americanization', 'The Technological Revolution in Literature and the Arts', and many more. Hirabayashi's systematic approach to cultural theory befitting the era of massification in the 1920s places him front and centre in the hothouse intellectual climate of pre-war Japan. It also affords striking parallels to the leading thinkers in Europe such as Walter Benjamin and Antonio Gramsci, thereby forming an integral part of the history of global modernity.

齋藤嘉臣著　戦後日本にイギリスのアイデアを投影する－プロパガンダ、文化交流、海外の情報政策　1945～75年－
Saito, Yoshiomi, Projecting British Ideas on Post-War Japan: Propaganda, Cultural Exchange and Overseas Information Policy, 1945-1975. (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia 202) 236 pp. 2026 (Routledge, UK) <750-855>
ISBN 978-1-032-97557-3 hard ¥42,267.- (税込) GB￡ 145.00 *

Drawing from a wide array of English and Japanese primary sources, Saito examines the pivotal role of Britain's overseas information policy in shaping post-war Anglo-Japanese relations.While the historiography of post-war Japan's international relations has predominantly centred on US-Japan relations, Britain's initiatives towards Japan have been largely overlooked. This book fills that lacuna by examining Britain's efforts to influence Japan through a dynamic interplay of the allied occupation, the Cold War, decolonisation, and post-war rapprochement between the two countries. It challenges the conventional view of Britain as a declining empire, showcasing its social and cultural influence, and examines its distinct perceptions of an emerging post-war Japan. Based on solid archival research, it provides readers with a nuanced and unique understanding of post-war Anglo-Japanese relations in the context of the cultural and propaganda dimensions of the Cold War, a field that remains underexplored.Offering an in-depth examination of Britain's information policy towards Japan, this book is a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and students interested in international history and cultural diplomacy, including those studying Anglo-Japanese relations and East Asian studies.

アイヌの過去、現在、未来
Watkins, Joe E., Indigenizing Japan: Ainu Past, Present, and Future. 264 pp. 2025:11 (U. Arizona Pr., US) <750-857>
ISBN 978-0-8165-5598-7 hard ¥21,340.- (税込) US$ 100.00
ISBN 978-0-8165-5597-0 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00

In Indigenizing Japan, archaeologist Joe E. Watkins provides a comprehensive look at the rich history and cultural resilience of the Ainu, the Indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan, tracing their journey from ancient times to their contemporary struggles for recognition. Relaying the deep history of the islands of Japan, Watkins tells the archaeological story from the earliest arrivals some 40,000 years ago to 16,000 years ago when local cultures began utilizing pottery and stone tools. About 2,300 years ago, another group of people immigrated from the Korean peninsula into the Japanese archipelago, bringing wet rice agriculture with them. They intermarried with the people who were there, forming the basis of the contemporary Japanese majority culture. As the Japanese state developed on the central Islands of Honshu, Ryukyu, and Shikoku, the people of Hokkaido continued developing along a different trajectory with minimal interaction with the mainland until colonization in the mid-nineteenth century, when the people known as the Ainu came under Japanese governmental policy. Watkins's insightful analysis highlights the Ainu's enduring spirit and their resurgence as part of the global Indigenous movement. Key events such as the 1997 Nibutani Dam case and the 2007 recognition of the Ainu as Japan's Indigenous people are explored in depth, showcasing the Ainu's ongoing fight for cultural preservation and self-determination. By situating the Ainu's experiences within broader global colonial histories, Indigenizing Japan underscores the shared struggles and resilience of Indigenous communities worldwide.

I.Reader他著　現代日本における無宗教について
Reader, Ian / Chilson, Clark, On Being Nonreligious in Contemporary Japan: Decline, Antipathy, and Aversion to Institutions. 278 pp. 2025:7 (Bloomsbury Academic, UK) <750-135>
ISBN 978-1-350-54149-8 hard ¥24,777.- (税込) GB￡ 85.00 *

Challenging the notion of the nonreligious in Japan being religious through tradition and institution, this book demonstrates how negativity and antipathy for religion relate to religious decline in Japan today. Why do most Japanese say they are 'nonreligious' (mushukyo)? Since the 1990s, scholars have answered this key question for understanding religion in contemporary Japan as follows: although the Japanese say they are nonreligious because they do not identify with a particular religious tradition or institution, they are in fact religious through their traditional practices; New Year's visits to shinto Shrines, Buddhist mortuary rites and festivals (matsuri) are typically seen as customs rather than as religious.Challenging this answer, this book argues that many Japanese say they are nonreligious because they actually dislike religion and want to distance themselves from it. To support this argument, the book explores how religion is in decline in Japan today. Demonstrating how negative images of religion are produced in the mainstream media, in popular culture, and by various groups and people, this book also explores specific case studies such as anti-cult organizations, lawyers, government agencies, intellectuals, and religious organizations.Ian Reader and Clark Chilson argue that popular negative images and perceptions about religion create an 'ecology of dislike', which encourages disassociation from religion and exacerbates problems for religions today. Overall, this book provides a new perspective on religion in contemporary Japan that has implications for our understanding of secularization in the modern world.

マンガの最初の1世紀－いかにクリエイターとファンが日本の漫画を作ったか　1905～89年
Horbinski, Andrea, Manga's First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905-1989. 436 pp. 2025:10 (U. California Pr., US) <749-905>
ISBN 978-0-520-40398-7 hard ¥20,273.- (税込) US$ 95.00
ISBN 978-0-520-40399-4 paper ¥6,391.- (税込) US$ 29.95

A comprehensive English-language history of a beloved medium, Manga's First Century tells the story of the artists and fans who built a cultural juggernaut. Manga is the world's most popular style of comics. How did manga and anime-"moving manga"-become ubiquitous? Manga's First Century delves into the history and finds surprising answers. In fact, manga has always been a global phenomenon. Countering essentialist myths of manga's emergence from the deepest wells of Japanese art, author Andrea Horbinski shows it was born in the early 1900s, a hybrid form that crossed single-panel satirical cartoons popular in Europe and America with the Edo period's artistic legacy. As a medium, manga initially focused on political commentary, expanding to include social satire, children's comics, and proletarian art in the 1920s and 1930s. Manga's evolution into a medium embracing complex, long-form storytelling was likewise driven by creators and fans pushing publishers to accept new, radical expansions in manga's artistic and narrative practices. In the 1970s, innovative creators and fans empowered a new breed of fan-generated comics (dojinshi) and established robust audiences of adult, female, and queer manga readers, while nurturing generations of amateur and professional creators who continue to enrich and renew manga today.

Kief, I. Jonathan, Triangle Republics: Cross-Border Literary Transits Between the Cold War Koreas and Japan. 352 pp. 2025:9 (Columbia U. Pr., US) <749-906>
ISBN 978-0-231-21984-6 hard ¥29,876.- (税込) US$ 140.00 *
ISBN 978-0-231-21985-3 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00 *

In Korea, the end of the Second World War in 1945 brought both liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the division of the nation by the triumphant Allies. The peninsula was not only decoupled from its former colonial metropole but also carved up into two halves that were subsequently incorporated into the rival blocs of the emerging Cold War order. Although the two Koreas are typically seen as isolated from each other, texts continued to circulate between them-with the assistance of Korean diasporic and other colleagues in Japan-throughout the ensuing decades.I Jonathan Kief follows the triangular flow of texts linking North Korea, South Korea, and Japan from 1945 until the 1980s, revealing overlooked paths of interaction and exchange. He highlights the creative ways in which poets, playwrights, novelists, critics, and academics crossed boundaries of language, ideology, genre, and geography to challenge the stability of the Cold War. By showing how writers in North and South Korea engaged in dialogue via the mediation of a multiethnic set of colleagues in Japan, Triangle Republics offers a new perspective on this era, emphasizing its vibrant, dynamic, and interconnected nature.

帝国から冷戦までの日本における人種と優生学
Roebuck, Kristin, Japan Reborn: Race and Eugenics from Empire to Cold War. 320 pp. 2025:11 (Columbia U. Pr., US) <749-909>
ISBN 978-0-231-20438-5 hard ¥29,876.- (税込) US$ 140.00
ISBN 978-0-231-20439-2 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00

At the peak of imperial expansion in World War II, Japan touted itself as a multiracial paradise. The state, eugenicists, and media supported intermarriage and adoption as tools of empire, encouraging "blood mixing" to fuse diverse populations into one harmonious family. Yet after defeat in World War II, a chorus of Japanese policy makers, journalists, and activists railed against Japanese women who consorted with occupying American men and their mixed-race children. Why did Japan embrace "mixed blood" as an authoritarian empire yet turn to xenophobic racial nationalism as a postwar democracy?Tracing changing views of the "mixed blood" child, Japan Reborn reveals how notions of racial mixture and purity reshaped Japanese identity. Kristin Roebuck unravels the politics of sex and reproduction in Japan from the invasion of Manchuria in the 1930s to the dawn of US-Japan alliance in the 1950s, uncovering eugenic ideas and policies that policed the boundaries of kinship and country. She shows how the trauma of defeat sparked an abhorrence of interracial sex and caused a profound devolution in the social status of "mixed" children and their Japanese mothers. She also unpacks how Japan's postwar identity crisis put pressure on the United States to bring Japanese brides and "mixed blood" children into the Cold War American family. Shedding light on the sexual and racial tensions of empire, occupation, and the Cold War, this book offers new ways to understand the shifting terrain of Japanese nationalism and international relations.

〔英訳〕佐伯有清著　最後の遣唐使
Saeki, Arikiyo, The Last Japanese Embassy to Tang China. Tr. by J. A. Fogel. 420 pp. 2025:11 (Hong Kong U. Pr., CC) <749-910>
ISBN 978-988-237-383-9 hard ¥10,670.- (税込) US$ 50.00

福岡、釜山、帝国の地域の盛衰
Shepherd, Hannah, The Narrowing Sea: Fukuoka, Pusan, and the Rise and Fall of an Imperial Region. (Asia Pacific Modern) 390 pp. 2025:12 (U. California Pr., US) <749-911>
ISBN 978-0-520-40528-8 hard ¥20,273.- (税込) US$ 95.00
ISBN 978-0-520-40529-5 paper ¥7,458.- (税込) US$ 34.95

In The Narrowing Sea, Hannah Shepherd examines the shared histories of Pusan and Fukuoka over the eight decades from Japan's forced opening of Korea's ports in 1876 to the end of the Korean War in 1953. One city was Korean, the other Japanese; one was a burgeoning colonial port, the other a provincial city buoyed by imperial expansion. Wars, colonization, and capitalist industrialization forged intimate connections between the two, knitting together an imperial region that transcended its maritime boundaries. Drawing on both Japanese and Korean archives, and emphasizing the concept of imperial urbanization, Shepherd challenges traditional views of empire and urban growth and shows how local networks, migration, and capital flows shaped the region's exploitative and uneven geographies. The waters between Fukuoka and Pusan narrowed through intensified interactions that continued even after the end of empire, creating enduring legacies for the postwar and postcolonial eras.

帝国主義の交渉－村上直次郎のアーカイブの外交
Tremml-Werner, Birgit, Negotiating Imperialism: Murakami Naojiro's Archival Diplomacy. 300 pp. 2025:11 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <749-912>
ISBN 978-1-009-64080-0 hard ¥26,235.- (税込) GB￡ 90.00

In this study of Japan's imperial historiography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Birgit Tremml-Werner examines the use of history to promote expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Focussing on historian-diplomat Murakami Naojiro, she highlights the impact of the archive and translation in knowledge creation. Combining empirical examples including early modern diplomatic missions to Europe, indigenous Taiwanese history, colonial education and post-war cultural diplomacy, this work emphasizes how the past is represented in the intertwined environments of history and memory. She argues that the Japanese case also reveals wider questions around the myth-making of nation states, and the extent to which 'historiographical violence' has silenced the voices of actors, including Indigenous peoples and women, within the archival record. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

西岡八郎、江崎雄治、小池司朗、山内昌和著　日本の公式な地域別将来推計人口
Nishioka, Hachiro / Esaki, Yuji / Koike, Shiro / Yamauchi, Masakazu, The Official Regional Population Projections of Japan: Methodologies and Results. (Population Studies of Japan) 99 pp. 2025:5 (Springer, GW) <749-250>
ISBN 978-981-9629-40-4 paper ¥12,536.- (税込) EUR 49.99

This book focuses on the official regional population projections of Japan and examines its methodologies and results, written in English, by Japanese pioneers in this field for readers who are non-Japanese. In 2018, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) issued Regional Population Projections for Japan: 2015-2045 (translated title), the only official projection actually released by the Japanese government. Obviously, the population development in the future contains essential information for regional societies. It serves not only for looking at the future of regional societies, but also as a basis for policy plans of local governments, private organizations, and other stakeholders. This present publication incorporates newer findings in the projections methods and the analysis of projection results. Population projection requires looking at three major elements: fertility, mortality, and migration. The migration factor is the most important, so the migration model is given the sharpest focus here. The text explains in an easy-to-understand manner what kinds of assumptions and models were used to produce this work. In addition, it considers the population changes of a future Japanese society in two categories, metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of the country. At the same time, the book analyzes the demographic mechanisms of population change and aging by prefecture, and the regional distribution and growth patterns of the foreign population by prefecture and municipality.

1960年代日本における政治の美学的批判
Noonan, Patrick, Age of Disaffection: The Aesthetic Critique of Politics in 1960s Japan. 288 pp. 2025:8 (Columbia U. Pr., US) <749-102>
ISBN 978-0-231-22049-1 hard ¥29,876.- (税込) US$ 140.00 *
ISBN 978-0-231-22048-4 paper ¥7,469.- (税込) US$ 35.00 *

The 1960s in Japan have long been understood as a period of radical political engagement. But as political movements from Old Left Communism to New Left revolts appeared to fail in their efforts to revolutionize Japanese society, artists and intellectuals came to reject the ideals of postwar politics. Instead, they advocated withdrawing from political participation and making self-transformation the grounds for social change.This provocative book uncovers a paradox at the heart of the 1960s: how political disillusionment became the basis for a new form of politics-a politics of the self. Examining aesthetic criticism, popular literature, avant-garde art, cinema, and political theory, Patrick Noonan argues that cultural producers in 1960s Japan cultivated what he calls an "ethos of disaffection" toward revolutionary politics and postwar society. Departing from approaches that define politics as contestation, Age of Disaffection foregrounds cultivation, or the production of ways of feeling and relating to the world in efforts to redefine the political. It presents an unorthodox account of the 1960s: withdrawal from political activity developed not as the decade ended but as it was unfolding. Noonan reveals how Japanese artists and intellectuals in this period confronted a crucial question that continues to vex efforts at radical change today: transform institutions or alter how people relate to themselves and others?

R.ハッチンソン他編　近現代日本文学ハンドブック　第2版
Hutchinson, Rachael / Morton, Leith Douglas (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature. 2nd ed. 468 pp. 2025:8 (Routledge, UK)
ISBN 978-1-032-82152-8 hard ¥67,045.- (税込) GB￡ 230.00

This new 2nd edition of the Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature provides a comprehensive survey of the field of modern Japanese literature and gives readers an overview of how we study Japanese literature today.Including sections on space and time, gender and sexuality, politics, war memory, national and colonial identities and the production and dissemination of literature, the Handbook examines the ways in which it is possible to read modern Japanese literature and situate it in relation to critical theory. It also features updated and brand-new chapters addressing the works of internationally renowned writers such as Futabatei Shimei and Murakami Haruki and defines the way writers produce literature in modern Japan, as well as how those works have been read and understood by different readers in different time periods.Written by an international team of experts, the Handbook examines modes of literary production such as fiction, poetry, and critical essays as distinct forms of expression that nonetheless are closely interrelated and as such it will be a vital resource for students and scholars of Japanese Literature, literature in translation and modern and contemporary literature.