{"title":"Series: SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a rich exploration of Japan’s evolving cultural, historical, and social landscapes. This series provides in-depth perspectives on contemporary issues through scholarly yet accessible works, covering fields from history and philosophy to arts and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders will find a nuanced understanding of Japan’s modern identity, engaging with topics that intersect with politics, society, and creative expression. Ideal for those seeking thoughtful analysis and fresh insights into Japan’s place in the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-translocal-island-of-okinawa-by-dr-shinnosuke-takahashi-9781350411562","title":"The Translocal Island of Okinawa","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Translocal Island of Okinawa\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the underrepresented memories, visions and actions involved in the making of Okinawan resistance against its subordinated status under the US-Japan security system, beyond the narrowly defined political, cultural and geographical borders of locality. As Okinawa’s base politics is a problem deeply rooted in the context of East Asia, so is the history of the people’s protest movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe issue examined in this book is the arbitrary distinction of scale between 'local', which tends to be employed for a particular territory demarcated by a cohesive culture, and 'regional', a larger area that consists of myriad localities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLocality, Shinnosuke Takahashi argues, is neither self-evident, fixed nor homogenous but is established through historical processes that involve interaction, conflict and negotiation of individuals and communities across territorial and cultural boundaries. This book reveals the novel concept of Okinawa as a translocal island, which offers a way to understand locality in the context of Okinawan activism as a product of multiple cultural and human flows. This stands in contrast to the conventional way of framing the local community as fixed, internally cohesive and rigidly bordered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt makes an exciting contribution to the field of modern Japanese and East Asian studies by stimulating discussions on the richness and scale of local civic activism that is increasingly becoming a key political feature of the East Asian region.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471832826092,"sku":"9781350411562","price":65.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/bad0285809f25ab07c9f5155baf28f23.jpg?v=1775693959"},{"product_id":"haruki-murakami-and-the-search-for-self-therapy-by-associate-professor-jonathan-dil-9781350270589","title":"Haruki Murakami and the Search for Self-Therapy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHaruki Murakami and the Search for Self-Therapy\u003c\/em\u003e by Associate Professor Jonathan Dil explores the global literary phenomenon that is Haruki Murakami. Murakami has mentioned that he started writing fiction as a means of self-therapy, though he has not elaborated much on what drove him to seek this self-therapy. This book proposes that understanding why Murakami writes, alongside how he writes, allows readers to gain deeper insights into what he writes. In essence, Murakami’s fiction can be read as a quest for self-therapy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the course of five chapters, which delve into Murakami’s fourteen novels to date, this book suggests that there are four significant therapeutic threads woven through his fiction. These threads trace back to his personal traumas—most notably his estrangement from his late father and the passing of a former girlfriend. Importantly, these personal experiences have been transformed into literary fiction that transcends their origins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe first thread examines how melancholia must be navigated for mourning and healing to occur. The second thread considers how symbolic acts of sacrifice can contribute to healing intergenerational trauma. The third thread explores how individuals with avoidant attachment styles can begin to open themselves to love once more. The fourth thread discusses how individuation can serve as a response to nihilism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMeticulously researched and written with sensitivity, \u003cem\u003eHaruki Murakami and the Search for Self-Therapy\u003c\/em\u003e offers a sophisticated examination of Murakami’s published novels as an evolving therapeutic project. This work will be invaluable to scholars of Japanese literature and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47596542558444,"sku":"9781350270589","price":136.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781350270589-haruki-murakami-and-the-search-for-self-therapy.jpg?v=1777929964"},{"product_id":"contesting-memorial-spaces-of-japans-empire-9781350324640","title":"Contesting Memorial Spaces of Japan's Empire","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOngoing arguments over how histories are honoured – as evidenced by the conflict between South Korea and Japan over the opening of Tokyo’s Heritage Information Centre in June 2020 – reveal the extent to which heritage processes enable states to assert legitimacy and power on a global stage.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere, \u003ci\u003eContesting Memorial Spaces of Japan’s Empire\u003c\/i\u003e shines a timely spotlight on the complicated histories and disputed legacies of various sites associated with Japan’s empire in Asia and the Pacific.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBringing together a team of international scholars, this transnational study sees contested memorial spaces as windows for us to explore how borders are created, moved and altered in everyday life. From the Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall in Guam and the Puppet Emperor Palace in China to Japan’s Ainu Museum and the Cowra War Cemetery in Australia, the diverse range of case studies examined here foreground the complex relationship Japan and its neighbours have with their imperial past. These cases reveal how these relations stand at the intersection of individual actions, societal choices, and memory collectives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn doing so, this innovative collection of essays bridges history, geography, and heritage studies to provide an invaluable new approach to the study of imperial conflict and memory politics in modern Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47933933912300,"sku":"9781350324640","price":133.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781350324640-contesting-memorial-spaces-of-japan-s-empire.jpg?v=1783885611"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/series-soas-studies-in-modern-and-contemporary-japan.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}