Happiness and the Good Life in Japan

279 Pages·2017·3.079 MB·English

by  Wolfram Manzenreiter, Barbara Holthus

Happiness and the Good Life in Japan
Contemporary Japan is in a state of transition, caused by the forces of glo-
balization that are derailing its ailing economy, stalemating the political
establishment and generating alternative lifestyles and possibilities of the self.
Amongst this nascent change, Japanese society is confronted with new chal-
lenges to answer the fundamental question of how to live a good life of
meaning, purpose and value. This book, based on extensive fieldwork and
original research, considers how specific groups of Japanese people view and
strive for the pursuit of happiness. It examines the importance of relation-
ships, family, identity, community and self-fulfilment, amongst other factors.
The book demonstrates how the act of balancing social norms and agency is
at the root of the growing diversityof experiencing happiness in Japan today.
Wolfram Manzenreiter is Professor of Japanese Studies, Department of East
Asian Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Barbara Holthus is Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian
Studies, Japanese Studies section, at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Japan Anthropology Workshop Series
Series editor:
Joy Hendry, Oxford Brookes University
Editorial Board:
Pamela Asquith, University of Alberta
Eyal Ben Ari, Kinneret Academic College, Sea of Galilee
ChristophBrumann,MaxPlanckInstituteforSocialAnthropology,
Munich
Henry Johnson, Otago University
Hirochika Nakamaki, the Suita City Museum
Kirsten Refsing, University of Copenhagen
Founder Member of the Editorial Board:
Jan van Bremen, University of Leiden
Ascetic Practices in Japanese Religion
Tullio Federico Lobetti
Japanese Tree Burial
Ecology, Kinship and the Culture of Death
Sébastien Penmellen Boret
Japan’s Ainu Minority in Tokyo
Diasporic Indigeneity and Urban Politics
Mark K. Watson
The First European Description of Japan, 1585
ACritical English-Language Edition of Striking Contrasts in the Customs of
Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J.
Translated, edited and annotated by Richard K. Danford, Robin D. Gill, and
Daniel T. Reff.
The Japanese Family
Touch, Intimacy and Feeling
Diana Tahhan
Happiness and the Good Life in Japan
Edited by Wolfram Manzenreiter and Barbara Holthus
Happiness and the Good Life
in Japan
Edited by
Wolfram Manzenreiter and
Barbara Holthus
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mi Economic
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Firstpublished2017
byRoutledge
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Contents
List of figures vii
Preface viii
Series Editor’s preface x
List of contributors xii
1 Introduction: Happiness in Japan through the
anthropological lens 1
WOLFRAMMANZENREITERANDBARBARAHOLTHUS
PARTI
Family, intimacy and friendship 23
2 More than just nakayoshi: Marital intimacy as a key to
personal happiness 25
DALITBLOCH
3 Physical intimacy and happiness in Japan: Sexless marriages and
parent-child co-sleeping 41
YOSHIEMORIKI
4 Happiness and unconventional life choices: Views of single
women in Japan 53
LYNNENAKANO
5 Friendships, marriage and happiness in contemporary Japan 67
LAURADALES
6 Grandfathering in contemporary Japan: Altruistic and
self-serving means to happiness 86
HIROKOUMEGAKI-COSTANTINI
vi Contents
7 Japanese gays, the closet and the culture-dependent concept
of happiness 106
ERICKLAURENT
PARTII
Self and community 123
8 Makers and doers: Using actor-network theory to explore
happiness in Japan’s invisible civil society 125
PATRICIAG.STEINHOFF
9 Dimensions of happiness for young political activists: A case
study of “Greens Japan” members 144
PHOEBES.HOLDGRÜN
10 Livingandworkingforthemoment:Motivations,aspirationsand
-
experiences of disaster volunteers in Tohoku 162
SUSANNEKLIEN
11 “A really warm place”: Well-being, place, and the experiences of
buraku youth 181
CHRISTOPHERBONDY
12 “My life is Taiyo- Ko-muten”: On the relationship between
organized football fandom and happiness in Japan 195
MARTINLIESER
13 The midnight community, or under-the-counter happiness 211
ˇ ˇ ˇ
CARMENSAPUNARUTAMAS¸ ANDADRIANO.TAMAS¸
PARTIII
Conclusions 225
14 Happiness in neoliberal Japan 227
GORDONMATHEWS
15 Conclusion: Happiness as abalancing act between agency and
social structure 243
BARBARAHOLTHUSANDWOLFRAMMANZENREITER
Index 256
fi
List of gures
10.1 Volunteers taking abreak from lining up shells on ropes 163
10.2 Ishinomaki: Restaurant for volunteers 171
10.3 Ishinomaki: Restaurant for volunteers 172
13.1 One night at Bardis 217
Preface
Editing a book, as well as writing for it, is only one of the many tasks that
belongtoourjobdescriptionasacademics.Itisbyfarnottheeasiestone–great
ideassometimesnolongerlookthatgreatwhencladinwords and forced into
structure;wordsdonot come easily,andbehindeverywell-craftedexpressionis
lurkingthesuspicionthatthephrasecouldhavebeen better placed; publishers
are hesitant to publish edited volumes these days, are reluctant to accept
unusual projects but gladly leave the tedious labor of copy editing, indexing
and marketing to authors; and daily work routines are always overruling the
demand for time and attention that a long-term project such as this book
actuallyneeds.Forallthesereasons,havingfinishedabookprojectisasource
ofeminentjoy,makingauthorsandeditorshappyatlast.Thatthebooktopic
itself is about happiness, as in this particular case, is fitting.
Just as happiness is a collaborative project, a book like this one would not
have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of many others. We
wanttotaketheopportunitytoexpressourgratitudetoalltheparticipantsin
the sociology and anthropology sections at the 2014 European Association
for Japanese Studies conference in Ljubljana. Our call for papers for a three-
daysessiononhappinessandwell-beinginJapantriggeredanincrediblylarge
number of submissions. We finally accepted more than 60 to be presented at
the conference, and some of them have been included in this volume. Our
thanks to all of our authors, for being patient and willing to respond to our
requests for reworking. It was a pleasure working with you and we are
thankful for what we have learnt through the collaboration.
We also want to thank the editors of the Japan Anthropology Workshop
Series (JAWS), and in particular its founder Joy Hendry, who not only con-
tributed a paper to the Ljubljana meeting but also encouraged us to publish
with the series. Thanks are due also to the editorial board for its encourage-
ment and helpful suggestions, to Peter Sowden from Routledge for his
enthusiasm and his collaborative spirit. We also want to thank the Facultyof
Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna, for supporting this
project with funding for conference travel and editorial assistance. Thanks to
Ada Brant for her valuable support in language clarification. Many thanks
also to Sebastian Polak-Rottmann for compiling the index.
Preface ix
Most thanks as always go to our families, whom we selfishly deserted for
too many hours, days andweekswhile working on this book. It is toyou and
thehappinesswederivefrombeingwithyouthatwededicatethispublication.
Wolfram Manzenreiter and Barbara Holthus
Vienna, August 2016