Dear All,

We are pleased to announce that the newest issue of Contemporary Japan is now available online:

Volume 36 Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcoj20/36/1?nav=tocList

Volume 36 Issue 1 features a Special Section, two original research articles, a current topic commentary, and four book reviews. The issue begins with Barbara Geilhorn's introduction to the Special Section: "Art and Regional Revitalization - Case Studies from Japan", followed by four papers examining to what extent art festivals, exhibitions, installations and theater can "create new types of social, cultural and economic capital" in rural communities. Issues covered include socially engaged art, censorship, and rural revitalization strategies (Eimi Tagore), art tourism, island revitalization, and national development plans (Carolin Funck and Meng Qu), how "yosomono" (outsider) artists can transform abandoned houses (akiya) into community resources (Anemone Platz), and art as a form of heterotopic place-making that can cross rural/city boundaries (Peter Eckersall and Tom Looser).

The research articles examine women's political activism after 3.11 (Rosemary Dawood), the depiction of women in organized crime narratives and manga (Erik Ropers), and the origins and development of military conscription insurance in pre-war Japan (YingYing Jiang). The Current Topic Commentary examines the media dramaturgy of the Johnny & Associates sex abuse scandal (Igor Prusa). Lastly, the book review section includes Yuki Asahina's review of Jeffrey Hall's Japan's nationalist right in the internet age, Florian Coulmas' review of Ryozo Yoshino's Cultural manifold analysis on national character, Gabriele Vogt's review of Gracia Liu-Farrer's Immigrant Japan, and Timothy Benedict's review of Adam J. Lyon's Karma and Punishment.

Please explore the articles through the links below.

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Editorial
Message from the Editor-in-Chief
Franz Waldenberger
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2330769

Special Section: Art and Regional Revitalization - Case Studies from Japan

Introduction to the Special Section
Barbara Geilhorn  
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2322262

Art festivals in Japan: Fueling revitalization, tourism, and self-censorship
Eimi Tagore
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2312762  

Art tourism and paradigms of island revitalization in Japan
Carolin Funck and Meng Qu
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2306112

From social issue to art site and beyond - reassessing rural akiya kominka
Anemone Platz
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2314331  

Performance enacting mobility and shifting borders - the global countryside?
Peter Eckersall and Tom Looser
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2024.2315374   

 

Research Articles

Motherhood discourses and political activism in post-3.11 movements in Japan
Rosemary Soliman Dawood
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2022.2066988

Narrating against dominance: Women and organized crime in Japanese discourse and popular culture
Erik Ropers
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2022.2083336

Conscription insurance in pre-war Japan - Private enterprise and national interest
YingYing Jiang
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2022.2133667

Current Topic Commentary
The Johnny's sex abuse scandal and the role of media in Japan
Igor Prusa
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2023.2290369

 

Book Reviews
Japan's nationalist right in the internet age: Online media and grassroots conservative activism, by Jeffrey Hall, Routledge, 2021.
Reviewed by Yuki Asahina
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2021.1953774

Cultural manifold analysis on national character, by Ryozo Yoshino, Springer, 2021.
Reviewed by Florian Coulmas
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2021.1989132

Immigrant Japan: mobility and belonging in an ethno-nationalist society, by Gracia Liu-Farrer, Cornell University Press, 2020.
Reviewed by Gabriele Vogt
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2021.1988195

Karma and punishment: Prison chaplaincy in Japan, by Adam J. Lyons, Harvard University Asia Center, 2021.
Reviewed by Timothy Benedict
https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2022.2074127

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We extend an open invitation for all interested scholars to submit their work to Contemporary Japan. We are a Scopus-indexed journal with 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 your readership, submissions, and feedback.

With best wishes,

Isaac Gagné
Managing Editor, Contemporary Japan (me@contemporary-japan.org)
Principal Researcher, German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ)