The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap report “assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities.” The United States ranked 31st out of 134; Japan ranked 75th, flanked by the Czech Republic and the Gambia. In Japan’s defense, that’s better than the last two years. The Country Report highlights are fascinating, a neat snapshot of current social data.
In honor of the current health-care reform debate in this country, Roy Berman at MutantfrogTravelogue recounts the history of birth control and erectile dysfunction medicine in Japan
I’ve been looking for a good book on rural life in Western societies in the modern era to use as a counterpoint to the Suye Mura books: this classic social history of rural France in the 19th and early 20th centuries looks like what I need.
Harvard University’s Law Library has put 22 Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi period documents online. The online exhibit includes a discussion by Professor Mikael Adolphson [pdf] about how to read and interpret these materials.
There’s a review in the NYTimes about an exhibit at the Met: arms and armor of the samurai. For some commentary and criticism of a similar exhibit from San Francisco, see here
Joe Jones at MutantFrog Travelogue (don’t let the name fool you, it’s a fantastic blog about Japanese culture, politics and history) has an excellent overview of the law and demographics of divorce and child custody in Japan, especially when foreigners are involved. Jones is a lawyer, with extensive international experience. The topic has come up because of a fairly prominent ongoing dispute between a Japanese woman and her dual-citizenship former husband over child custody, involving both US and Japanese law. You can find details in the links of Jones’ post.
A new traveling exhibit on Jomon-era “dogu” sculptures highlights the evolving debates about culture and physical remains, etc.
One of the beautiful things about the internet is that if you ask for help, often you can get it. I posed the question about the mysterious circular gear on the medieval samurai to my blog audience, and got an answer very quickly: they are spare bow string spools. The best picture I’ve been able to find of a “tsurumaki” online is this ebay auction, where you can clearly see the groove around the edge which holds the string.
In the discussion today the “Five Colors” of Buddhism came up, and I mentioned the Tibetan Mandalas. If you look at this sand-painting mandala done at PSU last year, you’ll see the five colors:
Note the border around the edge: White, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, over and over (clockwise). You can see the same colors in this hand drum. As near as I can tell, the five colors predates most of the explanations offered for their meanings — which is to say, there are lots of different explanations, because everyone seems to be making up new rationalizations for an old practice.
Lady Nijo, in her Confessions, cites a visit to “Atsuta Shrine, in Owari.” Owari is now Aichi Prefecture and the city is called Nagoya. Atsuta Shrine still exists and is a major attraction, with their annual festival serving as a kind of city celebration.
