Japanese Feminist Philosophy

El conocimiento de los debates feministas en y de Japón en los estudios realizados en nuestro contexto cercano e idioma común se empezaron a construir y a desarrollar sobre algunos presupuestos hoy en día ya controvertibles. La historia de las mujeres japonesas ha sido habitualmente difundida como un apéndice dentro de la ya, de suyo, inclusión condicionada de los estudios de área en el panorama académico hispanohablante. En consecuencia, el conocimiento del feminismo japonés ha quedado arrinconado y, en parte por (...) ello, desconocido, al conectarse unidireccionalmente con el proceso de formación del Japón moderno y en una clave casi exclusivamente localista. Historiográficamente, tal y como señala Andrea Germer (2003), el desarrollo del campo de estudio dedicado a la historia de las mujeres en Japón puede dividirse en cinco fases temporales: el primer período que recoge el final del siglo xix (década 1880) e inicio del siglo pasado hasta 1945; la segunda fase que iría de 1945 a 1960; la tercera, en la década de 1970, la cuarta en 1980, y la quinta y última, iniciada en 1990 y, en principio, no clausurada. Esa es la clásica, pero siempre contestada, clasificación historiográfica de las llamadas «olas feministas ». Y, sin embargo, como plantea la autora, tras esas secas periodizaciones, se esconden «puntos fluidos de transición» (Germer, 2003). Este es un segundo aspecto remarcable, pues en gran parte de los estudios realizados no se ha prestado suficiente atención a esa fluidez y continua transición. Mirar hacia lo transitivo –como aquello que se transfiere a y desde Japón en una perspectiva global– y lo transformativo, no solo quedarse en procesos estáticos, contribuirá a encontrar y estudiar, para pensar con ellos, fenómenos no suficientemente estudiados. Fenómenos a nivel teórico y conceptual, así como prácticas y movimientos sociales y políticos que desbordan su entendimiento en la simple ubicación en un área geográfica restringida. (shrink)

La investigadora Montserrat Crespín Perales, de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, hace en esta entrevista un repaso sobre el impacto que supuso la adopción de políticas que fomentasen el concepto de “Womenomics” en Japón. Crespín, además, examina cómo la mejora de las condiciones laborales de las mujeres fue identificado por Abe como un factor clave para la recuperación económica del país y cómo continúa siendo uno de los grandes retos a los que se enfrenta el país para salir de la (...) crisis provocada por el COVID19. Esta entrevista forma parte del especial “El legado de Shinzo Abe”, en el que varios expertos analizan las principales contribuciones del ex primer ministro japonés, prestando especial atención a tres pilares de su mandato (Diplomacia y Relaciones Internacionales; Abenomics y Womenomics). (shrink)

La investigadora Montserrat Crespín Perales, de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, hace en esta entrevista un repaso sobre el impacto que supuso la adopción de políticas que fomentasen el concepto de “Womenomics” en Japón. Crespín, además, examina cómo la mejora de las condiciones laborales de las mujeres fue identificado por Abe como un factor clave para la recuperación económica del país y cómo continúa siendo uno de los grandes retos a los que se enfrenta el país para salir de la (...) crisis provocada por el COVID19. Esta entrevista forma parte del especial “El legado de Shinzo Abe”, en el que varios expertos analizan las principales contribuciones del ex primer ministro japonés, prestando especial atención a tres pilares de su mandato (Diplomacia y Relaciones Internacionales; Abenomics y Womenomics). (shrink)

‘Gender ’ is a troublesome loanword in Japan. While this term has been prevalent in feminist and scholarly circles, it has evoked confusion in the government and stimulated a backlash from the ultra-conservatives against gender equality. Japanese reactionaries have attacked the concept of gender because of their anxiety about cultural destruction – I thus call them the ‘old guard’. Focusing on a dispute over the term ‘gender’ between feminists and the old guard, this paper examines the changes in the term's (...) usage and meanings in the Japanese political context. I first shed light on Japan's reaction to the newly arrived term ‘gender’, outlining different attitudes towards gender between the feminist/scholarly circles and the government. Secondly, I discuss the old guard's condemnation of the concept of gender, in which they distort its significance in order to diminish its positive impact on society. I then scrutinize the old guard's reasons behind their attack on the concept of gender. My findings reveal that the old guard, whose political cause is to protect traditional Japanese culture, asserts that gender equality damages this culture. Moreover, I refute their emphasis on Japan's uniqueness, demonstrating that Japanese women's traditional virtues under the patriarchal family system are not peculiar to Japan. To gauge how the concept of gender has been interpreted politically, I highlight legislative debates about the term ‘gender’. In doing so, I elucidate the extent to which the concept of gender has infiltrated Japanese society through the dispute.Export citation Request permission. (shrink)

Japanese bioethics has created a variety of important ideas that have not yet been reflected on mainstream bioethics discourses in the English-speaking world, which include “the swaying of the confused self” in the field of feminism, “inner eugenic thought” concerning disability, and “human relationship-oriented approaches to brain death.” In this paper, I will examine them more closely, and consider what bioethics in Japan can contribute to the development of an international discussion on philosophy of life.

The objective of this paper is to consider some of the philosophical problems on gender in sport in terms of practical philosophy by examining previous studies on sports and gender in Japan. The previous studies of the Journal of Sport and Gender Studies, an institutional journal of the Japan Society for Sport and Gender Studies , and were reviewed to explain the characteristics and the limits of previous sports-gender studies in Japan to establish the parameters for a philosophical discussion of (...) sport-gender studies. A philosophical examination of the issues of affirmative actions, which is the least discussed topic among those listed in ‘JSGS’, is presented. By revealing fundamental problems in research on sports and gender in Japan, this study may potentially contribute to the resolution of multiple issues surrounding women in sports in Japan. Also, by exposing general and omnipresent problems, the study transcends the limited framework of sports in Japan, and can point to those common and overarching gender issues that need to be resolved around the world. (shrink)

A feminist viewpoint on globalized commercial surrogacy questions what best serves women’s needs/ends and whether the practice is good for women . My interest in this paper is to consider how a feminist account might address the practice of surrogacy in Japan, both domestically and in the transnational context. Japanese culture emphasizes traditional values, family heritage, and communitarian concerns over individual rights. Women’s equality, while formally recognized by the Japanese Constitution, is undercut by actual practices and recent court decisions . (...) In the context of assisted reproduction, Japan’s approach to the legal and moral issues raised by .. (shrink)

Since the global success of the Made in Italy brand in the 1980s, Japan has witnessed an Italian boom which has turned Italy in the last decade into the most loved foreign country in Japan, especially among women and youth. This popularity is unparalleled in intensity and duration, but had seen little academic investigation. This essay explores how the transnational space of Italianness takes form through cumulative encounters between emotional geographies of 'the West' articulated in Japan, as well as of (...) 'the East' in Italy. There is a focus on the fluid intersections with the lived experience and projections of both Japanese and Italians in contemporary Japan to issues of nation, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. (shrink)

The list of publications having to do with Japanese intellectual history in general and Kyoto School philosophy in particular has grown steadily over the past years, both inside and outside of Japan. This is due in no small part to the important contributions made by those whose papers are included in this volume, the proceedings of an international conference held in June 2009 at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Although much remains to be done if Japanese philosophy is to (...) shed its esoteric and exotic image in order to take its rightful place in the curriculum as one of the many valuable sources of philosophical reflection, the ongoing dialogue among veterans in the field and younger scholars reflected in these pages is as promising as it has ever been. (shrink)

Our paper explores several factors related to the relatively small percentage of women managers in organizations in Japan (especially in comparison to otherindustrialized nations) and examines the strategies of several major corporations that have incorporated diversity management into their corporate social responsibility programs to address problems of gender equity.

This study focused on cultural differences in the portrayal of gender in British and Japanese television advertisements. In all, 196 British advertisements were analyzed using a coding scheme based on established coding categories. Contrary to prediction, chi-square analyses showed less gender stereotyping in these advertisements than reported in previous British studies. Next, 228 Japanese advertisements were analyzed. It was found that Japanese advertisements showed a high degree of gender stereotyping as could be expected from Japan's high masculinity score. Analyses were (...) carried out for ‘visual’ and ‘aural’ characters, and for advertisements with both one and two central figures. Results for the aural and 2-central figure sub-samples were more significant. (shrink)

Women make up about ten per cent of the scientists and engineers in Japan. The aim of this essay is to make clear why, even in the year 2001, there are so few women in these disciplines. I will suggest that the socio-economic structure and gender ideology of Japan since the Second World War is responsible for this shortage which is often erroneously attributed to the cultural traditions of feudal Japan.

In the 1920s and early 30s, in progress of modernization and Westernization, Japanese culture was keenly seeking its identity, appropriate to the modern nation-state. Movement of renovation flourished in many "traditional" genres of Japanese music: introduction of Western musical instruments, musical forms, notational system etc. The tide of this "renovation" swept into the realm of shamisen music of geishas. Many intellectuals advocated that they wear Western dresses instead of Japanese kimono and play violin or mandolin instead of shamisen. And actually (...) there emerged many geisha girls singing their songs accompanied by Western instruments as piano. But this movement lasted not so long. These "modern" geishas, once intended to renovate irrational system of their community, were soon given exclusive contracts with big record companies and removed their name from the member list of geisha houses. Their "modern" songs with Western style has evolved into new genre kayo-kyoku , and, on the other hand, traditional genres like hauta and kouta, in which new songs had been constantly composed till then, became inert ones whose repertoire is not expanded any more. This change, derived from record industry, strongly influenced the condition of cultural identity of Japanese people. (shrink)