Japanese History » not homework

The Gender Gap in Japan: bad

jdresner — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:17:04 +0000

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.

History of “The Pill” and the “little blue pill” in Japan

jdresner — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:51:03 +0000

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 may have found it…

jdresner — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:08:13 +0000

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.

New Medieval Sources online: Harvard Law Scrolls

jdresner — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:35:39 +0000

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.

Samurai Arms and Armor as Art

jdresner — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:28:55 +0000

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

International Divorce in Japan: an overview

jdresner — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:05:33 +0000

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.

Ask and ye shall be answered: Mystery Circles on Samurai Armor

jdresner — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:22:34 +0000

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.

Shrine Ropes

jdresner — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:26:34 +0000

In the Amaterasu eclipse story, the gods use a rope to draw her out of the cave. Ropes have a long tradition in Shinto as symbols of divinity and authority. Often you see ropes as part of Shinto shrines, as in this sacred tree:

You see a similar rope as part of the ceremonial garb worn by Sumo Yokozuna — the title is usually translated “Grand Champion” but literally means “horizontal rope”!

There are some truly extraordinary shrine ropes, though, created as part of massive community festivals:

Per Capital Alcohol Consumption

jdresner — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:28:11 +0000

The answer to a question we had about drinking habits. According to the WHO, the US and Japan are roughly equal in per capita alcohol consumption.

Current Crisis Comparisons

jdresner — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:32:38 +0000

Japan Focus has a long discussion of differing views of the Japanese economic slowdown and our own. My own, shorter, take on this from a year ago is here.

Japan Focus also has a long discussion of Japanese discourses on WWII and the US-Japan relationship. It’s fairly raw stuff, and very long. If you do read it, make sure you get through the whole thing: just reading the first parts without the rest would be too depressing (also a false impression).