Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 1369-1465 - ISSN (Online) 1468-2680 Published by Oxford University Press[425 journals]
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First page: jyaf011 Abstract: Since 2002, the Institute of Social Science (ISS) of the University of Tokyo has partnered with Oxford University Press (OUP) to award the ISS–OUP Prize to the author of the best article published in Social Science Japan Journal (SSJJ) each year. The prize includes £250 worth of books from OUP and a year’s subscription to SSJJ. With the author’s consent, the winning paper may be translated into Japanese and published in the Institute’s Shakai Kagaku Kenkyū (The Journal of Social Science). After soliciting recommendations from SSJJ’s International Editorial Board, the SSJJ Editorial Board selects the article that makes the most significant contribution to research on modern Japan. The main criteria are (a) originality of the research theme, (b) excellence of theoretical framework and empirical data, and (c) contribution to future studies in the field. PubDate: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf011 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf003 Abstract: AbstractThis article applies multilateral negotiation theory (especially the role of the state and coalition formation) to the negotiation process for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which was signed in November 2020. Until now, RCEP negotiations have been analysed as competitive leadership contest between China and Japan that took place in the context of the US-China rivalry. However, there are limits to what can be learned by treating the RCEP agreement as nothing more than the product of negotiations within an oppositional structure. To begin with, Japan’s trade policies remain mercantilistic, and Asia’s regionalism is still weakly institutionalized. In other words, participants in RCEP talks had goals other than greatly liberalizing trade and institutionalizing the regional framework. In addition, the RCEP negotiations ground to a halt when Japan and China were unable to garner sufficient support by using coercive leadership. When Japan and China switched to applying shared leadership based on acceptance of certain protectionist policies, they increased their support among other nations and an agreement was reached. PubDate: Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf003 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf006 Abstract: AbstractThe (hi)story of the Buraku minority group in Japan is complex and fragmented, variously tied to living space or profession, the Edo-era mibun caste system or post-liberation migration, personal identification, or family lineage. Japan’s Buraku-focused museums are charged with delineating this multi-layered (hi)story, particularly as it relates to discrimination, a focal point in Buraku notions of identity. Through quantitative content analysis, this paper reveals significant regional differences in where Japan’s Buraku-focused museums locate the root of this discrimination, demonstrating that stigma in western Japan and eastern Japan is attached to Buraku neighborhoods and professions, respectively. This divergence often results in reification of this identity fragmentation. However, occasionally museums demonstrate an intersectional perspective including both space-based and profession-based understandings of Burakuness, hinting at opportunities for richer curatorial storytelling. This research also indicates that the museums in both regions see their educational role as a spiritual one, “purifying” these stigmas. Leveraging this commonality for interregional dialogue may provide further opportunities for intersectional engagement. This paper contributes to Japanese Studies literature by connecting regional understandings of Buraku discrimination to contemporary discontinuities in Buraku identity perception. It also contributes to museum literature by highlighting the importance of considering regional differences in intersectional curatorial practice. PubDate: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf006 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf005 Abstract: Kakusareta Shōtoku Taishi: Kingendai Nihon no gishi to okaruto bunka (Shōtoku Taishi Veiled: Alternative Histories and Occulture in Modern Japan) by KlautauOrion. Tokyo: Chikuma Shinsho, 2024, 272 pp., ¥1,012 (ISBN 978-4-480-07621-2) PubDate: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf005 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf007 Abstract: SSJJ and the wider Japanese studies community mourn the loss of a pioneering scholar and friend, Takashi Inoguchi, who passed away on 27 November 2024. PubDate: Thu, 06 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf007 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyae037 Abstract: AbstractFor Japan, a latecomer maritime nation, establishing a navy and training its officers were both necessary and obvious tasks. This study examines the structure of the naval officer corps as a professional group by analysing the processes of selection, education, and assignment. European officer corps were traditionally expected to be composed of individuals from the ‘officer-capable class’. By contrast, the Japanese navy, from its inception, prioritized ability over ascribed status. Officer candidates, therefore, underwent rigorous entrance examinations, and at the Naval Academy, cadets faced competitive testing. In the early years of the navy, class rank at graduation held little significance; however, since the 1900s, it began to strongly influence officers’ careers. Furthermore, factors such as graduation from the Naval War College also played a significant role in assignments. Academic achievement and educational background came to be interpreted as indicators of officers’ competence and professionalism, leading to the establishment of internal rankings within groups. Thus, the naval officer corps became an intricate and unstable structure, comprising both military ranks and an additional hierarchy: that of academic careerism. The ‘best officers’—those with higher graduation ranks from the academy and the college degree—who lacked awareness of the officer corps’ underlying instability, planned the Hawaii Operation and constituted the highest leadership during the Pacific War. PubDate: Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae037 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf004 Abstract: AbstractScholars have long investigated the impact of flexible work arrangements (FWA) on job satisfaction. However, in recent years, many workplaces have abruptly introduced telework as a form of FWA in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, only to later call workers back to offices as the pandemic subsides. This trend is particularly prevalent in societies with inflexible work cultures like Japan. Nevertheless, we know little about how telework affects job satisfaction unequally among workers during and after the pandemic. Using the nationwide survey dataset collected by the Government of Japan’s Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2023, this study examines heterogeneous associations between telework and job satisfaction. Propensity score matching analyses based on the counterfactual framework show that the average effect of telework is substantially positive in both 2020 and 2023, but its magnitude decreases by over two-thirds during this period. Nonetheless, female nonregular workers experienced a larger psychological return on telework in 2023 despite its null effect in 2020. Male nonregular workers also see a high telework effect on job satisfaction in 2020 and 2023, whereas the effect size among their regular counterparts declines to near zero. These findings suggest that, in postpandemic Japan, (1) regular workers, particularly men, do not gain psychological benefits from telework under the traditional work culture requiring them to be present in the office, but (2) telework underpins job satisfaction of relatively precarious workers with less job security and benefits; and thus (3) the expanded usage of telework may help mitigate labor stratification in worker well-being. PubDate: Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf004 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf002 Abstract: AbstractThis article examines the discursive strategies and institutional context that led the Abe administration to change Japan’s migrant admission policy. For the past thirty years, Japan officially refused to admit migrant workers and instead relied on a side-door policy. However, in 2018, the Japanese government introduced the Specified Skilled Worker Program, marking the first official migrant worker program in post-war Japan. Key factors behind Japan’s reluctance to admit migrants and its reliance on the side-door policy include the pivotal roles of the bureaucracy, institutional constraints, and negative public perceptions of migrants. To overcome these obstacles, the Abe administration employed top-down decision-making within institutional frameworks and used discourses such as the ‘utilisation of foreign human resources’ to justify the reform while framing it as ‘not an immigration policy’ to ensure its legitimacy. Additionally, the discourse surrounding ‘competition for human resources’ and Japan as ‘a chosen country’ motivated the policy reform by emphasising the need to enhance national competitiveness. Drawing on the framework of discursive institutionalism, this article demonstrates that discourses in specific institutional contexts play a critical role in explaining the shift in Japan’s migrant admission policy and reflect changing national identifications. PubDate: Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf002 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyae033 Abstract: AbstractThe 2018 reform is a dam break in Japan’s immigration policy. Previously, for decades, the opening of the Japanese labour market for lower-qualified foreign workers was discussed without any comprehensive reform despite far-reaching proposals. This article discusses this change from a persistent standstill to comprehensive reform by analysing comparatively the frames and institutional setting in earlier immigration debates around 1970, around 1990, and around 2005 with the debate in the late 2010s. It argues that the persistent stalemate on the most hotly debated issue of immigration policy was due to the diversity of frames with very different policy implications and an institutional fragmentation in policy-making without any pivotal policy entrepreneur. The comprehensive reform of 2018 is the result of a window of opportunity by the conjuncture of a declining security frame as the main counterargument and by the centralization of decision-making in the core executive in the later years of the second term of Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (2012–20) on the level of institutional setting. Abe and his entourage were reluctant policy entrepreneurs who only realized the 2018 reform because of pressure and the absence of any other policy option. Still, they fundamentally changed the framework in Japanese immigration policy. PubDate: Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae033 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyae036 Abstract: AbstractThis study examines changes in the association between social policy performance and trust in government, focusing on the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination policy implemented by Japan’s central government. Data from the Online Panel Survey of Stratification and Social Psychology (SSPW2021-Panel) were analyzed using two-way fixed effects regression models. The quadratic term of the COVID-19 vaccination rate at the prefecture level had statistically significant effects on the evaluation of the central government’s infection control policies and trust in the central government. This implies that the relative deprivation experienced by unvaccinated individuals weakened trust in the central government in the early stage, and the decline in the number of unvaccinated individuals strengthened trust in the central government in the latter stage. Thus, this paper finds that even if a social policy meets people’s demands, its implementation may temporally damage the government’s reputation through relative deprivation. PubDate: Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae036 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyae034 Abstract: AbstractWhile previous studies have examined the link between maternal employment status and child development, the results remain inconclusive, and the underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. A potential explanation for the mixed findings is the omission of mothers’ return home time from work, a factor that has yet to be tested in the literature. To address this gap, this study examines the relationship between mothers’ time of returning home and their children’s locus of control using a nationwide child–parent survey in Japan. The results of the entropy balancing method demonstrate that the daughters of mothers who return after 7 p.m. are more likely to believe that they lack control over their life outcomes, whereas this effect is not observed for mothers who return home by 7 p.m. This relationship is mediated by the deterioration of family relationships. Consistent with prior research, the negative association is more pronounced in households with higher socioeconomic status, while it is mitigated when fathers return home early or when children cohabit with their grandparents, highlighting the importance of caregiving by all family members. Given the increasing number of married women in full-time and managerial positions and the diffusion of teleworking, these findings are relevant for policymakers. PubDate: Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae034 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyaf001 Abstract: AbstractScholars contend that Japanese firms hold white-collar foreign workers to a high bar for assimilation. This model of the ethnocentric firm suggests that Japan’s growing number of foreign-educated white-collar migrants should face steep labor market penalties compared to migrants educated in Japan because they have had fewer opportunities to familiarize themselves with Japanese working styles and norms. We test this hypothesis using a sample of 546 Asian white-collar foreign workers. However, we find that, robust to controls for compositional differences in the foreign- and Japan-educated migrant populations, foreign-educated migrants earn more. Since wage penalties for foreign degrees are ubiquitous in other national contexts, this finding counterintuitively implies that, at least in evaluation and rewards, Japanese firms may be less ethnocentric than the global norm. PubDate: Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyaf001 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2025)
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First page: jyae030 Abstract: AbstractIn Japan, the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded amidst a heated debate about the country’s ‘working style’, work–life balance (or lack thereof), and a growing recognition of the urgent need for comprehensive change in the prevailing work culture. This article proposes that the crisis acted as a double-edged ‘revealer’. As such, it simultaneously raised employees' hopes that the crisis would trigger change in the masculine corporate warrior culture, while exposing the deeply entrenched impediments to this desired change. Beginning with the public debate about the crisis as a potential trigger for change in the so-called ‘Japanese’ work culture, which has also fuelled hopes for change, the article examines the narratives of employees forced into new forms of flexible working by the COVID-19 pandemic. These female and male accounts shed light on gendered experiences of work, and perceptions of what constitutes the ‘Japanese’ ideal worker. The accounts also reveal a growing and troubling awareness of the barriers to change in the culture of work. PubDate: Fri, 06 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae030 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae032 Abstract: Shinran to Marukusu shugi: tōsō, ideorogi, fuhensei (Shinran and Marxism: Struggle, Ideology, Universality) by KondōShuntarō Kyoto: Hozokan, 2021, 544 pp., ¥7,500, (ISBN 978-4-8318-5565-7). PubDate: Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae032 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae031 Abstract: Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific by SolisMireya Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2023, 260 pp., $29.95 paper (ISBN 978-0-8157-3997-5). PubDate: Sat, 02 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae031 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae026 Abstract: Japan’s Prisoners of Conscience: Protest and Law During the Iraq War by RepetaLawrenceLondon: Routledge, 2022, 238 pp., $35.00 paper (ISBN 978-1-03-204626-6). PubDate: Sat, 26 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae026 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae027 Abstract: Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzō by Green. Michael J.New York: Columbia University Press, 2022, 328 pp., $35.00 paper (ISBN 978-0-231-20467-5). PubDate: Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae027 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae029 Abstract: Administering Affect: Pop-Culture Japan and the Politics of Anxiety by White. DanielStanford: Stanford University Press, 2022, 264 pp., $28.00 paper (ISBN: 978-1-5036-3219-6). PubDate: Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae029 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae024 Abstract: Nihon kishō gyōsei-shi no kenkyū: Tenkiyohō ni okeru kanryōsei to shakai (Building Expertise and Reputation: A History of the Japan Meteorological Agency) by WakabayashiYuTokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2019, 384 pp., ¥7,600 (ISBN 978-4-13-036272-6) PubDate: Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae024 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae011 Abstract: AbstractJapan experienced major reforms in its migration policy in 2018. This study aims to examine the novelty of the new migration policy by tracing the shift in the legal status of two “nonlabor” migrant workers: fourth-generation Japanese descendants (Nikkeijin) and technical interns. While fourth-generation young adults have been allowed to work in Japan since 2018, their rights are more restricted than those of third-generation Nikkeijin. Simultaneously, the government prepared a path for technical interns to upgrade their visas to specified skilled workers. The new migration policy is characterized by the convergence of the status of the two groups. Superficially, the reformed immigration program appears to signify a shift toward a more liberal immigration policy that allows previously excluded groups to settle in the country. A more important feature is the rise of the neoliberal meritocracy as a new principle of admission. Both groups have the potential to improve their legal status; however, long-term settlement is unattainable until they undergo rigorous selection. They are expected to overcome hurdles independently because the government is reluctant to provide commensurate support with higher demands for changes in legal status. PubDate: Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae011 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae025 Abstract: Building a New Economy: Japan’s Digital and Green Transformation by Hugh WhittakerD.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024, 272 pp., $115.00 (ISBN 978-0-19-889339-4). PubDate: Fri, 18 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae025 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae022 Abstract: AbstractImproved means of transportation play a vital role in accessing medical services, particularly in remote and ageing municipalities. In this study, we identify crucial attributes for improving access to medical services in the Shinhidaka and Urakawa municipalities in Japan. Using a randomised conjoint field experiment, we identify individuals’ preferences regarding the time and means of transportation to hospitals that can provide high-level medical services, along with additional tax payments to support these services. We find, inter alia, that respondents have the highest preference for reducing emergency ambulance transportation time to high-function hospitals. We also estimate the minimum average willingness to pay for these services; respondents are willing to pay at least JPY 60,000 (approximately USD 500) additional tax per year to the municipal government if the emergency transportation time to high-function hospitals is reduced. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into addressing the challenges of improving access to medical services in remote areas with an ageing population. PubDate: Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae022 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
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First page: jyae016 Abstract: AbstractDoes increased female representation in local politics and administration translate into increased childcare provisions' This question is important for examining subnational variations in welfare regimes and the degree of defamilization. Previous studies have shown that female representatives are interested in ‘women’s issues’ and influence the introduction and accessibility of policies that benefit women. However, there are significant research gaps. First, the analytical units are biased towards the national level. Second, few studies have simultaneously examined political and administrative representation. Third, the impact of sexism on gender representation remains overlooked. To address these gaps, this study focused on Japan, where female representation has increased in recent years and where society is moving away from sexist values. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of local female representation in politics and administration, particularly in municipalities where there is an increased demand for childcare services. A unique municipality-level dataset was created and a multilevel analysis was conducted. Surprisingly, the results did not provide significant evidence that increased local female representation correlates with increased local childcare provisions. While caution is warranted given that the sexism variable is prefecture-based, the results underscore the impact of sexism and female representation on the increase in childcare supply. PubDate: Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT DOI: 10.1093/ssjj/jyae016 Issue No:Vol. 28, No. 1 (2024)
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
