This dissertation discusses “waste” and related concepts such as sanitation, hygiene, and recycling as a lens through which to analyze the incorporation of women into the nation-state (josei no... Show moreThis dissertation discusses “waste” and related concepts such as sanitation, hygiene, and recycling as a lens through which to analyze the incorporation of women into the nation-state (josei no kokuminka) in modern Japan (from 1868 to the present). During the state-led “modernization” of the Meiji period (1868-1912), a new ideology of the home (katei) began to emerge which placed women at the center of family life, as a housewife who supported her husband and raised her children. This “feminization and privatization of the home” excluded domestic activities, and the women who engaged in them, from the public sphere, though the home as a private and intimate space was celebrated as such in national discourse. The connection between women and the state, which had previously been only through their husbands and children, became a direct relationship after the First World War once the state realized the importance of the household to national policies. This creation of a direct relationship between women and the state through women’s domestic duties signified the incorporation of women into the nation-state. Waste represents an ideal site to examine the relationship between women and the nation-state because of its connection to both the home and the state. Show less
This is a study of the mandalas that depict the teachings of the Liqujing (Guiding Principle Scripture), which was translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by the Esoteric Buddhist master Amoghavajra ... Show moreThis is a study of the mandalas that depict the teachings of the Liqujing (Guiding Principle Scripture), which was translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by the Esoteric Buddhist master Amoghavajra (705–774). These mandalas were prescribed in his Liqushi (Explanation on the Guiding Principle Scripture). Amoghavajra considered this scripture, its commentaries, and mandalas to be crucial works in a new Esoteric Buddhist system he called the Yoga of the Adamantine Crown. I examine the set called the Liqujing shibahui mantuluo (Mandalas of the Eighteen Assemblies of the Guiding Principle Scripture) in Kyoto’s Daigo Temple. The Shingon school claims that the iconography is based upon Amoghavajra’s Liqushi. A systematic investigation of the Liqushi, the mandalas it prescribes and the iconography of the Daigoji set has not been done by Asian or Western scholars. I assign responsibility for the iconographical and iconological changes seen in the Daigoji set to the transmission of the Chinese master Faquan (c. 800–870), whose transmission has not yet been studied. I investigate the transmissions of Amoghavajra and the Chinese Esoteric Buddhist masters who followed him, especially Faquan. Such an investigation reveals the concerns of these masters and the Chinese assimilation and transformation of Indian Esoteric Buddhism. Show less
This study focuses on the life, exploits and ideology of Guru Wuguang (1818-2000), an eclectic and influential Taiwanese Buddhist figure who studied Daoist alchemy, multiple forms of Chinese,... Show moreThis study focuses on the life, exploits and ideology of Guru Wuguang (1818-2000), an eclectic and influential Taiwanese Buddhist figure who studied Daoist alchemy, multiple forms of Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as biology, thermodynamics, philosophy, theology, and occulture. This is done in order to understand what happens when a tradition ‘purified’ from its ‘mythical’ elements reincorporates itself in the tension between its ‘enchanted’ past and ‘scientific’ present. Wuguang is famous throughout the Chinese-speaking Buddhist world for resurrecting Zhenyan, a school of esoteric Buddhism said to have flourished in China during the Tang Dynasty. The academic community has largely ignored Wuguang, making this the first in-depth exploration of this figure, whose influence is truly global. Building upon David McMahan’s work on Buddhist modernism, Jason Josephson’s secular-religious-superstitious trinary, scholarly discourse concerning Weberian disenchantment, and employing the Religious Economy Model, I argue that Wuguang’s teachings represent an intentionally reenchanted form of Buddhist modernism aimed at harmonizing magic with modern science and philosophy. While scholarly discourse on Asian magic in the modern world has been confined to popular religion, this study additionally focuses on ‘High-Church Buddhism’ by analyzing Wuguang’s magico-scientific interpretation of complex Buddhist doctrine. Show less
This dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early... Show moreThis dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and has shown how the material cultures of late Ming China and Momoyama/early Edo Japan became inextricably linked with the West. Multiple sources provided new and unexpected documentary and material evidence of this trade by the Iberian Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, and the trading companies formed in the Northern Netherlands/Dutch Republic and England. They also informed us about the commercial networks through which these Asian goods circulated, and the way in which they were acquired, used and appreciated in the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English societies in Western Europe, and in the multi-ethnic societies of the colonies in the New World. Some new finds relate to the use of porcelain in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, the terminology employed in northwestern Europe to refer to Kraak porcelain, and the Japanese lacquer objects made in European shapes for the Dutch and English trading companies earlier than in Chinese porcelain. This study provides a better understanding of the intercultural exchanges that occurred between the East and West at the time. Show less
Since the 1980s, a migration has started from the Japanese community in Brazil "back" to Japan. This movement has been studied in recent publications as an interesting example of "return migration"... Show moreSince the 1980s, a migration has started from the Japanese community in Brazil "back" to Japan. This movement has been studied in recent publications as an interesting example of "return migration". This dissertation is based on interviews with migrants of the first and second generation, conducted between 2003 and 2010 in Kandatsu and surroundings. This ethnographic field research shows that the concept of “return” does not properly describe the migration of Japanese Brazilians to Japan, because it is rather a circular movement between the two countries. Moreover, it appears that the identity of these people is an ambivalent dynamic and strategic entity. The study provides important information about the motivation of the migrants, their experiences in Japan, and the challenges they face within and outside the family. It is a very heterogeneous group. Differences in cultural background, appearance, affinity with Japanese culture and Japanese language skills are decisive for the integration process. Within this process migrants handle different strategies that ultimately lead either to a permanent establishment in Japan or a decision to return temporarily or permanently to Brazil. Crucial to the integration process is the success of the Japanese-Brazilian children in Japanese schools. Show less
At the time of the first missed opportunity under Gorbachev in 1986-88, the Cold War rigidity in relations still deeply affected how Japan and the Soviet Union dealt with one another. The relations... Show moreAt the time of the first missed opportunity under Gorbachev in 1986-88, the Cold War rigidity in relations still deeply affected how Japan and the Soviet Union dealt with one another. The relations may been manipulated by Russian political forces not desiring an improvement, but there was corresponding structural weakness on the Japanese side as well. At the second missed opportunity under Gorbachev in 1989, some structural rigidity on the part of Japanese policy makers hampered faster development of the relationship. At the time, the author felt that he made the right decision, but retrospectively he questions whether, had he or the Japanese leadership been more emancipated from Cold War thinking, they might not have been able to produce a different outcome: a more content-rich Gorbachev visit earlier 1991. Concerning the third missed opportunity under Yeltsin in 1992, the author, who did not take part in it, contends very seriously that there was a failure in policy choices on the Japanese side, and that policy makers did not fulfill their responsibility at that point. There is no evidence that other policy makers learned from the experience under Gorbachev and tried to adopt a more realistic policy for Japan to achieve its goal. At the fourth missed opportunity under Yeltsin in 1997-98, the Japanese side learned lessons from past mistakes and did not hesitate to propose a courageous proposal to break the impasse. President Yeltsin was impressed by this proposal, but the Russian side as a whole did not accept it as a basis for negotiations. Nevertheless, recognition on both sides of the need for some mutual concession soared in those years. Before the fifth missed opportunity, awareness of past failures was very much at the forefront of the author__s mind. The negotiations with President Putin began, and the author very consciously tried to fulfill the responsibility of grasping the opportunity as it opened out in front of him in 2000-01. The negotiations proceeded unexpectedly fast and effectively, and then were suddenly crushed because of Japan__s domestic issue. The author did not expect the fifth window of opportunity to close in this way. Individual responsibility was fulfilled in negotiating with the Russians, but it failed to overcome domestic constraint. Show less
