Dear All,



Greetings from Contemporary Japan!



I wish to announce that the newest issue of Contemporary Japan is available online:

Volume 32, Issue 1 (March 2020)

Special Issue: Governing death and dying in Japan and its colonies - From state control to self-optimization

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcoj20/32/1?nav=tocList



This Special Issue of CJ, featuring guest editors Juljan Biontino, Dorothea Mladenova, and Celia Spoden, ranges from Japan's colonialist past in Korea and Taiwan to Japan's contemporary struggles with aging and death. Bringing together historical, ethnographic, and sociological disciplinary approaches from scholars working across Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, German, and English academic registers, this Special Issue highlights the productive potentials of CJ's interdisciplinary scope while also expanding the conceptual construction of the "object" of Japanese Studies. This issue also features the English translation of the 2019 VSJF Prize-winning paper for best German social science publication on Japan, on the topic of press freedoms and alternative media in contemporary Japan.



Table of Contents:

Message from the Editor

Franz Waldenberger

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1717057



Special Issue: Governing death and dying in Japan and its colonies - From state control to self-optimization

"Introduction to special issue"

Juljan Biontino, Dorothea Mladenova, & Celia Spoden

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1717153



"Changes in funerary rites and burial practices in Modern Korea (1876-1945)"

Juljan Biontino

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1717131



"Graveyard geomancy in Korea under Japanese rule - Focusing on the 1930s"

Ri-Hye Han

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1716143



"The 'improvement of funeral ceremonies' movement and the creation of 'modern' Japanese subjects in Taiwan during Japanese rule"

Chizuru Tainaka

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2019.1709137



"Deciding one's own death in advance: Biopower, living wills, and resistance to a legislation of death with dignity in Japan"

Celia Spoden

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1714279


"Governing through kodokushi. Japan's lonely deaths and their impact on community self-government"

Nils Dahl

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2019.1680512


"Optimizing one's own death: The Shūkatsu industry and the enterprising self in a hyper-aged society"

Dorothea Mladenova

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1717105



VSJF Prize Paper

"Smartphones versus NHK? Mobilization strategies of the Japanese anti-nuclear movement under Abe's restrictive media policy"

Anna Wiemann

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1718393



Book Reviews

Intimacy and reproduction in contemporary Japan, by Genaro Castro-Vázquez (Routledge 2017)

Nora Kottmann

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2019.1621716



An anthropology of the machine: Tokyo's commuter train network, by Michael Fisch (University of Chicago Press 2019)

Florian Purkarthofer

https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2019.1603823

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We invite you all to explore the broad range of original research articles and book reviews. We also invite all interested scholars to submit their work to Contemporary Japan. We are a Scopus-indexed journal, and we feature rolling submissions, a double-blind peer-review process, advanced access (online first) publishing, and language support for non-native English speakers. We also continue to accept proposals for special issues. Instructions for submission can be found here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rcoj20&page=instructions

We look forward to hearing from you!



With Best Wishes,



Isaac Gagné

Managing Editor, Contemporary Japan

me@contemporary-japan.org



Franz Waldenberger

Editor-in-Chief, Contemporary Japan