Handbook of Civil Society in Japan
9789048570294
354 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
Civil society in Japan is a large and multifaceted sphere with a diversity of actors pursuing various social, political, and economic objectives. The sphere has experienced major waves of transformation in the post-1945 era, especially in the 1990s when volunteering and nonprofit activities came to the forefront of political and popular attention. This handbook brings together twenty-one leading experts to provide comprehensive and up-to-date analyses of civil society in Japan. What is the history of Japanese civil society and how has it evolved in recent decades? Who have been the key participants and what are their objectives? How have international actors and conditions influenced civil society in Japan? More broadly, what do recent developments in Japanese civil society tell us about the condition of democracy, state-society relations, and the public sphere in the country? And how might Japanese civil society develop into the future? The contributions to the handbook offer innovative perspectives based on the most-recent fieldwork and data available. The handbook is divided into three sections: Institutions, Justice and Transnationalism. Topics include nonprofit organizations, volunteering, philanthropy, new media, gender, pacifism, nuclear power, territorial politics, international cooperation and transnational solidarity. The volume will be valuable for scholars in both research and teaching as well as essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the diversity and vibrancy of Japanese civil society today.
Author Bio
Simon Avenell is Professor of modern Japanese history at the Australian National University. He focuses on social, political, and intellectual developments after 1945. His books include Making Japanese Citizens (University of California Press, 2010), Transnational Japan in the Global Environmental Movement(University of Hawai’i Press, 2017), and Asia and Postwar Japan(Harvard University Press, 2022). In 2025 he will publish A History of Postwar Japan: Recovery, Prosperity, and Transformation (University of Hawai’i Press). He is currently conducting research on generational politics in contemporary Japan.
Akihiro Ogawa is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His core research interest lies in contemporary Japan and Asia, focusing on civil society. His research is widely published with more than 80 publications, and his most recent solo-authored monograph is Antinuclear Citizens: Sustainable Policy and Grassroots Activism in Post-Fukushima Japan (Stanford University Press, 2023). He chairs the Asian Civil Society Research Network (https://asiancivilsociety.com/), founded in 2017, and is currently working on legislative transparency with parliamentary monitoring organizations across Asia.
