Japanese Sense of Self [Paperback]

This book looks at how the Japanese see themselves and others and challenges many Western assumptions about Japanese society.Demonstrating the Japanese ability to reconcile opposition within their community, this presentation of the idea of the self as interactive with society challenges previous simplistic comparisons between Western individualism and non-Western collectivism.Demonstrating the Japanese ability to reconcile opposition within their community, this presentation of the idea of the self as interactive with society challenges previous simplistic comparisons between Western individualism and non-Western collectivism.Nancy Rosenberger's book challenges previous simplistic comparisons between Western individualism and non-Western collectivism: the idea, as exemplified by the Japanese, of the self as interactive with society. Through their observations of Japanese life, the authors explain how the Japanese define themselves and communicate with those around them. They discuss what Westerners view as oppositions within the Japanese community and demonstrate how the Japanese reconcile one with the other. The Japanese emerge as complex and multi-faceted, vulnerable to outside influences, but strong enough to determine their own destinies.List figures; List of contributors; Preface; 1. Introduction Nancy Rosenberger; 2. Japanese preschools and the pedagogy of selfhood Joseph Tobin; 3. Multiple selves: the aesthetics and politics of artisanal identities Dorinne Kondo; 4. The tree in summer, the tree in winter: movement of self in Japan Nancy Rosenberger; 5. Identification of the self in relation to the environment Augustin Berque; 6. Self in Japanese culture Takie Lebra; 7. The reference of other orientation Tamkami Kuwayama; 8. Kehjime: how indexing self and social life defines its organisation Jane Bachnik; Index.'An ambitious formulation, with all the attendant excitement of originality & This book & takes its place as a contribution to ongoing anthropologicallã#