Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen

The Major in Global Japan Studies is also a Major in Sociology and Anthropology with reference to Japanese society and with a focus on the intersection of the local-global context. Few societies, including Japan, can be fully understood without considering how social phenomena intercept with their global contexts. In this study program, we take account of the historical, socio-political and economic changes but focus on contemporary social issues and people's actual social practices. To be able to do so students will learn from social anthropological research methodologies and studies, which are based on long-term and in-depth empirical research. Such studies provide insights into actual social practices. We consider for example the extent to which human emotions (at the core of our experience) are socially constructed, and how what may be thought of as `normal` and `natural` behavior link to particular socially constructed moralities and hierarchies of power. Understanding normalized behavior and implicit rules are key to understanding human societies including wider issues of conflict and peace.

While we take wider structural analyses into account, our focus is on analyzing how actual norms and attitudes are practiced by people in their everyday, embodied, symbolic and ritualized behavior, and how such behavior and `common sense` link to power hierarchies of gender and race, lived morality and implicit rules, norms, and values. In this way, we link the micro and the macro to understand the formation, change and continuous construction of identity within the modern Japanese nation-state while studying how this `national project` always mediates its own domestic concerns and politics while intercepting with global politics and narratives.

Japan is a diverse place, and issues of identity run through everything we study - gender, popular culture, consumption, schooling and class, migration, work and political cultures, public and moral sensibilities, politics and protest movements, religion and media and so on. We do so by asking questions that may at first appear simple such as - “what does it mean to be a morally good person in Japan”, and “how and why does that differ for women and men” and “with what consequences”; or “how may senses of moral being intertwine with consumer behavior, work ethics or political protest movements”. We consider Japanese religious movements and the complex concept of `religion` and its equally complex idea of the `secular` and the specific ways they become central to modern political ideas about identity and what becomes considered Japanese culture. We consider how mainstream, tabloid and social media play into constructing particular realities about and for people; and the extent to which such `realities` are confirmed or contested. We also look at Japan in a geopolitical context, in relation to the US, China, and South Korea, and consider the use of historical memory and discourses of Pacifism in relation to Japan's role in the world today (Seminar 2). Seminar 2 will end with a field trip to Okinawa in early February (for those who wish to attend).

The Major is taught in English and we use English in class discussions, but Japanese can be used outside of class. Japanese resources can also be used but must be discussed in English.

In terms 3 and 4, we begin by looking at wider flows and processes of current nationalism and populist politics, gender, and race, while the student will in term 3 also develop their own research theme, and work on designing a research project to go on to undertake interviews or fieldwork as appropriate. This research will become the basis for their graduation thesis. Students in the past have researched themes such as Working Culture, Homelessness and Masculinity, School Lunch and Disciplining Morality, Youth Suicide and Media, Class, Migration and Inequality, Issues of Religion and Faith, Gender and Relationships.

In this course, students will develop their ability to consider and discuss topics philosophically, and cultivate their ability to interact and create in order to think appropriately about the various problems we face. We believe that these skills are essential for practicing good value creation in any situation or field. In the exercises, we plan to consult with the students and refer to literature related to contemporary analytic philosophy, which is the specialty of the faculty member in charge (examples of topics: good and evil, justice and injustice, compassion and other virtues, philosophy and science/religion, existence, knowledge, faith, suicide/suicide, and etc.) In addition, numerous tutorials will be conducted by faculty and students, emphasizing the process of thorough conversation and discussion until students "get it" and "clearly get it".

Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen, Ph.D. (Social Anthropology, SOAS, University of London). Anne Mette's (first name) research focuses on Japanese politics, political cultures, political engagement, and social movements, as well as Japanese religion and popular culture. She has also had a long-standing interest in Social Theory (Intellectual History) and Theory in Anthropology and Sociology, and Comparative Cultures. She has undertaken long-term first-hand research on various topics in Japanese politics, particularly in relation to the political party Komeito. Her current research focuses on issues related to politics and emotions, debates about security, Japanese pacifism, and trust in politics, and debates within so-called Critical Religion that look as conceptualization of the ‘secular’ and the ‘religious’ in state-formation in a Japanese context.