japansociety
Japan Book Review

Volume 1 No. 2 March 2006

Editor: Sean Curtin
Managing Editor: Clare Barclay
elcome to the second edition of Japan Book Review. In
this issue we have some sharply contrasting books,
starting off with a look at how the latest developments
in risk management are sustaining Japanese capitalism and thenturning in the opposite direction to chart the decline of the left inJapanese politics. The next two books span the spectrum of history
from the shinkansen, icon of Japanese modernity, to the prehistoric
Jomon period. The regular memoirs section features a personalaccount of life in prewar Shanghai and Tokyo. We also examine abook on the development of a remote Japanese outpost that was
eventually swallowed up by an expanding metropolis.

W

For those still hungry for more quality reviews, check out our
website that now boasts over 40 reviews and is being expanding
with new material every week.
New reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews.html
Archive reviews: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews_archive.html

Contents(1) Risk Management and Innovation in
Japan, Britain and the United States(2) The Left in the Shaping of Japanese
Democracy: Essays in honour of J.A.A.
Stockwin(3) Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbolof Modern Japan(4) Jomon Reflections: Forager life and culture in the prehistoric Japanese archipelago(5) That Last Glorious Summer 1939:
Shanghai - Japan(6) Culture, Community and Change in a
SapporoNeighborhood,
1925-1988

Risk Management and Innovation in
Japan, Britain and the United States,
Edited by Ruth Taplin
Routledge, 182 pages including index, ISBN 0-415-36806-5
Review by Sean CurtinThis groundbreaking book offers fresh insights andanalysis on the distinctive ways business in Japan, the UnitedStates and the United Kingdom responds to risk andinnovation. Assessing and managing risk is becoming
increasingly important to both domestic and international
companies, especially in Japan where firms are struggling tokeep pace with the fast moving global environment. Several
chapters focus on Japan, particularly those by Anthony
Trenton, a legal specialist in intellectual property law, andMasatoshi Kuratomi, the Development Bank of Japan's UK
representative. This very timely collection of research papers,
edited by Professor Ruth Taplin the director of the Centre forJapanese and East Asia Studies, emphasizes the need for astrong cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to risk
management (RM) in today's rough and tumble global market.
She observes, "In a globalized world it is becoming imperative
to understand the variations in risk taken at a cultural level,
which affect business decisions profoundly."

japansociety

Japan Book Review: March 2006

Until recently, Japan was classified as a prime example of asociety which was highly risk adverse, a trait strongly
reflected in the agonizingly slow decision making processesof both its domestic and international enterprises. By
European, and most definitely American, standards, thetypical Japanese boardroom takes far too long to makemanagement decisions. However, emerging risks, therelentless tempo of the global market and the rising economic
might of China are all forcing a radical rethink on a reluctant
Japan.
Professor Taplin argues that to survive companies, "mustinnovate at a previously unparalleled rate and in the context
of greater uncertainty." To thrive firms have to make theirproducts and services more competitive and add value. A
business must understand how to both manage and protect
risk, innovation and intellectual property (IP). As thepercentage of a company's assets represented by intangibles isconstantly rising, essential innovation and the corresponding
exposure to risk are becoming inextricably linked to IP related
issues.
The typical Japanese firm is also finding its assets becoming
less and less tangible, while the breakneck velocity of global
information technology is making a cautious and prolonged
decision-making approach obsolete.
Japanese business is facing a simple choice: markedly
elevate the importance of risk management (RM) or faceextinction. Where domestic models cannot be modified tomeet this challenge, innovative non-Japanese constructs are
rapidly being adopted. This process is significantly reshaping
business strategies. A similarly dramatic transformation has
already occurred in the way Japanese companies handle
intellectual property rights (see Exploiting Patent Rights anda New Climate for Innovation in Japan, 2003, also edited by
Ruth Taplin) and it appears RM is now following a similar
trajectory path.
The Development Bank of Japan's (DBJ) Masatoshi
Kuratomi describes some of the emerging strategies Tokyo is
adopting to tackle the new RM challenges. He details how thestate is using government institutes like the DBJ to cope with
the RM transition phase. For example, private financial
institutions and the DBJ are assisting small and medium size
enterprises to deal with the risks of re-starting bankrupt
businesses by utilizing their IP for bridging loans andleverage purposes.
The various chapters of the book convincingly argue thatboth Japan and Europe must substantially change theirapproach to RM if companies want to prosper in an
increasingly complex global market. The heightenedawareness of risk in both Japan and Europe is also creating agreater demand, and lucrative opportunities, for insurance
services which match these newly emerging needs. Whilebanking has already undergone a substantive metamorphosis
in the last decade, insurance has somewhat lagged behind andis only now adapting to the new realities of the shifting global
landscape.
Underling the financial sector's interest in this cutting-edge
book, it was launched at Lloyds of London on 1 November
2005 with a keynote speech delivered by Lord Levene,
chairman of the UK insurance giant Lloyds. He emphasized
the importance of addressing emerging risk and how this waschanging the insurance industry. Some of the authors,2

including Professor Gerry Dickenson, Vice Secretary Generalof the Geneva Association, and editor Professor Ruth Taplin,also spoke about the importance of developments occurring inTokyo, Washington and London and their wider implications
on international markets.
Globalization is transforming risk management from a once
fairly narrowly focused speciality, traditionally anchored ininsurance, into an important multi-disciplined field, spanninginternational law, finance, intellectual property rights,
technology, engineering, inter-cultural studies and beyond.
This comprehensive work also examines RM standards,
emerging risks, the managing of risks in a variety of sectors(including marketing, banking, venture capital, insurance andpatents), and the way RM has evolved within a range oforganizations.
The book also reminds us that planet Earth is awash with avast spectrum of domestic and international risks that canseriously affect business. Local threats encompass everythingfrom a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina to man-madecatastrophes like a Chernobyl meltdown. On the global front
there are a host even more potential destructive threats like apandemic caused by bird flu, HIV/AIDS, global warming, asuperweed spawned from GM technology and terrorism, interalia. The breakneck speed of the global bandwagon is
amplifying the potential danger adding another dimension torisk management.
You may have thought that risk management was a dull
subject, but reading this thought-provoking collection of
essays will probably make you reconsider.
A different version of this review originally appeared in
Asia Times Online, http://www.atimes.com, and isrepublished with permission.

Reviews List
The following new reviews are available on our website
www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews

Author

Title

ReviewerJ.E Hoare &Susan Pares

North Korea in the 21stCentury, An interpretative
guide,

Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Geoffrey Bownas

Japanese Journeys - Writingsand Recollections,

Mike Barrett

Sukehiro
Hirakawa

Japan's Love-Hate Relationshipwith the West,

Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Sir Cecil BouchierSpitfires in Japan: From
Farnbourough to the Far East

Ian NishHans Brinckmann

Magatama Doodle

Hazuki Saisho

Ben-Ami Shillony

Enigma of the Emperors: Sacred Sir Hugh Cortazzi
Subservience in Japanese
History

Harald Fuess

Sean Curtin
Divorce in Japan: Family,
Gender, and the State, 1600-2000

Rikki Kersten &David Williams

The Left in the Shaping ofJapanese Democracy: Essays inhonour of J.A.A. Stockwin

Sir Hugh Cortazzi

John Carpenter

Hokusai and His Age

Sir Hugh Cortazzi

japansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

The Left in the
Shaping ofJapanese
Democracy: Essays
in honour of
J.A.A. Stockwin,
Edited by Rikki Kersten andDavid Williams
Routledge, 2006, soft back(ISBN10: 0-415-334345-7) andhardback (ISBN10: 0-41533434-9)
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
This festschrift was presented to Professor Arthur Stockwin
at a reception at Daiwa House in London on 21 February 2006
as a tribute from former graduate students on his retirement as
Professor at the Nissan Institute at Oxford. As Rikki Kersten in
her tribute at the beginning of this book states Arthur
Stockwin has made a singular contribution to the study ofmodern Japanese politics. He has asserted: "the ongoing
importance of understanding Japan in the post-Cold War,
unipolar world. The facile dismissal of Japan as a nation of
relevance on the basis of economic performance alone is not
merely wrong, but as Arthur tells us, it would make us missone of the most exciting periods in the history of political
reform in Japan."

Kersten in her essay "Painting the Emperor red: the Emperor
and the socialists in the 1930s" concludes: "The Left were selfdeceived, in that they came to believe that the Emperor would,
in a fashion, represent their cause. The political utility ofEmperor made him a chameleon, and red was only one of themany colours he wore."
Part II "The Metamorphosis of the left in post-war Japan"
begins with an interesting essay on "The rise and fall of
Nikkyoso" by Robert Aspinall which is a good summary of theactivities and attitudes of one of the most political left-wing
Japanese unions. He notes the dichotomy in the Ministry of
Education which wanted on the one hand to impose
nationalistic policies but at the same time was being urged toencourage greater individualism. The other essays in this partby Koichi Nakano and Sarah Hyde and two of the essays inpart III by Leonard Schoppa and Junji Banno also provide
useful analyses of the development of the opposition in
Japanese politics and of the decline of socialism.
The two articles by David Williams, co-editor of this book,seem out of place in a festschrift. He quickly lost me in his firstarticle on "Japanese evasion of sovereignty." The second
entitled "After Abu Ghraib: American empire, the left-wing
intellectual and Japanese Studies" reads like an anti-American
rant, which would be more appropriate for a polemical
pamphlet than for a scholarly book. It also reminds us that
extreme 'left' and extreme 'right' often have much in common.

Arthur has covered a wide spectrum in his study ofJapanese politics and his books such as Governing Japan:
Divided Politics in a Major Economy and The Dictionary ofModern Japanese Politics will remain invaluable to students
for a long time.
Arthur who had not seen the book in advance but knew that
it was devoted to the left in Japanese politics gave thosepresent a masterly if inevitably brief expose of the way inwhich the opposition to the Liberal Democratic Party had
developed over the last sixty years. In this he made someinteresting comparisons with Britain reminding his audienceof the importance for a healthy parliamentary democracy of
having a potentially electable opposition party. He noted thatthe Democratic Party was an amorphous coalition which
posed little threat to LDP dominance. In the past the various
left wing parties had at least been able to ensure that the LDP
did not get its way all the time.
It is perhaps a pity that this festschrift is devoted primarily
to the 'left' in Japanese politics but Arthur did ensure in his
writings that the opposition parties were not just written off bypolitical scientists as irrelevant. So the choice of theme for the
symposium on which this volume is based is understandable.

Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to
Symbol of Modern Japan,
by Christopher P. Hood
Routledge, 2006, 288 pages, ISBN 0415320526

Inevitably in a volume which covers themes from the late
Meiji to the present day the essays are of varying quality andinterest to the non-expert reader. The first part is devoted to"Left-wing thought from the Russian Revolution to the war on
terrorism." The essays in this section by Christopher GotoJones and Rikki Kersten draw particular attention to the anticapitalist trends in the pre-war Japanese army and theinfluence this had on Japanese left-wing thinkers. Rikki

japansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

Review by Sean CurtinThis book comprehensively covers just about every
conceivable aspect of the shinkansen, linking its development
to social and economic changes in Japan. According to theauthor, the bullet train is not just an international symbol ofmodern Japan but the image of its sleek form hurtling passed3

Mt. Fuji has become a national icon. Despite this elevatedstatus, the outside world knows relatively little about how the
network actually functions or what impact it has on Japanesesociety. These are the dark areas Dr. Christopher Hood isdetermined to illuminate with his meticulously researched,fact-packed book, which is constructed to the same highspecifications as the phenomenally efficient transportation
system it describes.
The book represents about five years of formal research,"many more years of informal study" and appears to be thefulfillment of a boy Hood ambition. The pages radiate anamazing spectrum of data, much of it appearing in English forthe first time, and offer some first class insights into the innerworkings of the system. The book benefits from the "incredible
access to all of the shinkansen-operating companies, as well asother companies in the shinkansen business" which the author
penetrated during his years of research.
After an introductory chapter, the journey proper
commences with a detailed history of the shinkansen from its
genesis during the Pacific War to its birth in 1964. We aretreated to a wealth of facts about the various train types andline development, which smoothly propels us on to chapter 3.
Here the train's astonishing success is analyzed from a numberof perspectives, and the author argues that the shinkansen has
evolved from being merely a means of transportation into a
potent symbol of Japanese modernity and a significant
national icon. He observes: "the shinkansen can and has
played an important role in the development of Japan's image
domestically and internationally." Elaborating on this theory,
he adds: "it is important to stress that the shinkansen is not
only involved in the creation of new culture, but is also
reflecting the evolution of Japan's society and culture."
The fourth chapter comprehensive analyzes theshinkansen's vital role in national and regional economic
development, exploring the fascinating interface between
money and politics. The train's powerful supporters are
profiled, but for once its largely impotent, and often
overlooked, detractors are also examined along with theirenvironmental concerns.
Shinkansen funding and the crucial question of the
network's actual financial viability dominate the landscape ofthe next chapter. It is densely populated with charts, statistics
and figures to backup the analysis, but it also contains a
number of great shinkansen shots, which skillfully break up
the monotony of the monetary data.
Chapter six examines how the system functions, looking at
the human element of the equation. The men and women who
run the system are the shinkansen's indispensable human"software" without which it could not function. The system's
national unity myth takes a battering as the different regionaland corporate cultures which make up the shinkansen
universe are carefully placed under the microscope, revealing
clear regional variations in everything from management tomarketing.
The penultimate chapter, entitled "Mirror of Japan,"
attempts to demonstrate how the shinkansen reflects andinfluences Japanese society. Dr. Hood argues that in many
respects the relationship between society and the bullet train"is not one-way and that the shinkansen may have a role toplay in promoting further changes in society or evenmaintaining the status-quo and traditions of old." Armed with4

an intimidating arsenal of facts along with some fascinating
examples, he constructs a convincing case. In the process theauthor covers a very broad range of topics, spanning suicide tobamboo window covers on the 800-series shinkansen. He
concludes: "one can see that many different aspects ofJapanese society are reflected in the operations of theshinkansen and the passengers who use it. However, therelationship does not appear to be one-way, as the shinkansen
also appears to have a role in shaping the society around it."Just when you thought it was journey's end, we are whisked
off to Taiwan for a look at the train in other terrain. The jaunt
across the East China Sea is to ponder the shinkansen'sexportability and global potential. In this final chapter, Hoodreplicates his research framework on a smaller scale withimpressive results. While it seemed like an unorthodox way toconclude a book, the well-researched Taiwan comparisonsprove highly enlightening.
As the book glides to a precision halt, the author sums up
his case: "The shinkansen is clearly much more than a meansof transportation. It is a symbol that has captured theimagination of the Japanese people." Even if one does notagree with every aspect of his analysis or the premise that theshinkansen is a national icon, taken as a whole it is still
extremely difficult to fault this excellently researched andwell-argued book.
Dr. Hood appears to have enjoyed his research, confessing
to: "some very unforgettable moments, such as taking thefamous shot of shinkansen passing Mt Fuji, shinkansen
passing through the tea fields in Shizuoka at a very wellknown spot amongst Japanese railway enthusiasts, andspending about an hour next to a tunnel on the Sanyo
Shinkansen observing the effects of shinkansen entering andexiting tunnels." He likens these snap-taking experiences to:"the thrill that hunters get when shooting their target."Not surprisingly, the book is packet full of some great
shinkansen shots, which are sadly published in black andwhite. This problem is remedied at the following website,where the images can be viewed in full colour:
www.hood-online.co.uk/shinkansen/
While the author insists he is purely a researcher and not a
train enthusiast, reading this energetic book one cannot help
but feel that perhaps somewhere deep inside him there might
be a repressed train-spotter bursting to get out. Equally, it
could be his genuine zeal for the subject just translates into apassionate dynamism on the page. I mention this not as a
criticism, on the contrary, at times his writing style is so
engaging that it gives the book a far wider appeal than its
academic confines allow and hopefully it will one day appear
in a form that can be appreciated by a much wider readership.
In conclusion, this book masterfully illuminates a host ofinterconnected gray zones that have impeded proper
understanding of the shinkansen system and its socioeconomic impact. This highly readable book makes asignificant contribution not just to Japanese studies but also to
the field of transport studies.

japansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

was a highly significant development of human technology
for the prehistoric inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago andimplied a change from a nomadic to a sedentary existence.
According to radiocarbon dating pottery fragments found inJapanese sites are the oldest dated pottery in the world. This
does not necessarily mean that pottery was invented in Japan
although this seems possible.
From the outset pottery in Japan was used for cooking andstorage of food and liquids. It "enabled a dramatic increase in
the range and quantity of food that could be prepared andconsumed" (page 22). One example is shellfish which could be
opened after cooking. Meat could also be boiled in pots rather
than roasted over heated stones.

Jomon Reflections: Forager life andculture in the prehistoric Japanesearchipelago
by Tatsuo Kobayashi
Edited by Simon Kaner and Oki Nakamura
Global Oriental,2004, 256 pages, ISBN 1-901903-73-7
Oxbow Books, Oxford and The David Brown Book Company,
Oakville, Connecticut 2004, (published with assistance from The
Japan Foundation and The Sainsbury Institute for the Study ofJapanese Arts and Cultures), ISBN 1-84217-088-0 (hardback) and 185217-141-0 (softback), 240 pages including endnotes, bibliography
and index.
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
The Jomon period in the prehistory of Japan lasted from thethirteenth century BC to the end of the first millennium BC.
Following the Palaeolithic period it preceded the Neolithic,
called in Japan the Yayoi period. The Jomon peoples werebasically hunter-gatherers but developed village communities
and learnt how to make pottery for cooking, food storage andceremonial purposes. This made them similar to Neolithic andBronze Age peoples, although they never developed any formof metal working. Jomon culture was very long lasting
covering some 12,000 years, but it naturally changed over themillennia.
Archaeologists have found Jomon sites in many parts ofJapan and many pots which have helped them to reconstruct a
picture, if somewhat hazy, of the culture which the Jomon
peoples developed and which was in many ways moreadvanced than that of other peoples elsewhere in Asia of that
time.
This book sets out the results of archaeological research on
this lengthy period in Japan. It is copiously illustrated in colour
and the text includes explanatory diagrams. The bookemphasises that Jomon was "a time of considerable cultural
creativity, established on stable ecological and social
foundations" (page 2).
The invention of pottery, which began in the earliest stages,

japansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

A particular characteristic of Jomon pottery is that much of
it is decorated with cord markings. These were so prominentthat the period was called after them. Archaeologists
concluded that the cord-marks were made as a result "ofrolling/rotating the cord and pressing it on to the surface of thepot."
In chapter three the various stages in the development ofJomon pottery are outlined although the forms and designs
were never static. Some of the early vessels made alreadyshowed considerable elegance and artistry as for instance a
deep vase with a rim of four pointed and outward-splayedwings (page 38, figure 3.13). The full potential of Jomon
pottery was achieved in the middle to final periods.
In the middle period pots began to be used for burial urns
and lamps suggesting more ritual and ceremonial uses.
Archaeologists have termed this "the application stage." Fine
examples of this stage are those illustrated on page 44 (a deep
pot with "dagger" motifs) and two on page 46 (one a deep pot
with "dancers" and another in "arabesque style").
In the following chapter "The lands of Jomon Japan" adescription is given of the different areas in Japan where someseventy major styles developed. One of the most striking wasthat of the so-called "Flame" pots which were produced in an
extensive area along the Japan Sea coast. Fine examples ofsuch pots are illustrated on pages 61 and 67. The period inwhich this style of pots was created was relatively short. In lateJomon period pots with lids began to be made.
In chapter five the types of foods and drink consumed by
the Jomon people are described. It seems clear that while
agriculture was not practiced nut bearing trees were
cultivated. Acorns, which are not edible unless the tannic acid
which they contain is removed, were an important source of
nourishment in the winter months. The process to remove
tannic acids is a labour intensive one and shows the extent of
the development of Jomon society. Nuts were apparently
ground with stones and made into dumplings which wereboiled or baked.
Dogs were some of the first domesticated animals but it also
seems, not least from the pottery figurine illustrated on page87, that boars may also have been domesticated. Other
materials used in the late Jomon period included asphalt andlacquer. Sophisticated examples of the latter are illustrated on
page 90.
In chapter six on "settlement and society" the book analyses
the types of houses, including pit dwellings, and villages used
by Jomon people.

5

The final two chapters discuss what is known about
religious practices and attitudes of the various peoples in the
different settlements. Dependence on nature is reflected in thenumber of phallic shaped stones. The first clay figurines weremade without faces (see for instance the standing figurine
illustrated on page 147). Some later figurines such as those
illustrated on page 152 had goggle eyes and moresophisticated shapes. The exact role of the figurines in Jomon
culture is the subject of much speculation amongarchaeologists.

rare period of history, it was the time when a large Jewish
community of more than 30,000 population existed a shortdistance outside Nagasaki.

Three and five seem to have been important numbers for
the Jomon peoples; interestingly three, five and seven are still
important for Japanese today.

By keeping a journal every day, apparently the bright teenage
girl remembered almost everything. It is her gift of recollecting
the past that makes this book a superb page-turner. In the earlypart of the book, to take an example, she speaks of a
Frenchman whom she and her family met on a boat in
Setonaikai. His mother runs a Maison de Couture in Tokyo,
whose customers include Alice Grew, the wife of the wellknown US Ambassador, Joseph C. Grew. She then tells us what
she heard on the boat from the Frenchman: Alice Grew was a
granddaughter of Commodore Perry.

The seasons were naturally very important in earlysocieties and the solstices seem to have had a special place inthe calendar. A photograph at the bottom of page 187 shows
the bases of six wooden posts for a large Jomon building
which were found at a site in Northern Japan. Kobayashi
Tatsuo, the Japanese archaeologist and author of this study
shows in the upper photograph on this page how the
midwinter sun sets between the two lines of posts. This
photograph provides a fitting image for the cover of thisinteresting and informative book.

That Last Glorious
Shanghai - Japan

Summer1939:

by Rena Krasno
Old China Hand Press, 2001, 177 pages, ISBN: 962-7872-17-2
Review by Tomohiko Taniguchi
The author's unusual talent brings the readers back to
Setonaikai (Seto Inland Sea) and Karatsu (in Saga Prefecture),
in the short summer of 1939, letting them see what she saw,
smell what she smelled, and feel the way that she felt towarda handsome young Japanese student she spent time with on
the beach. Readers will find themselves seeing pre-war Japanthrough the eyes of a 16-year old Jewish girl. If traversing
history is part of the joy of reading, then this small book is ashining jewel.
Before and during the war, Shanghai was the place of lastresort for "stateless refugees" escaping from tyranny inBolshevik Russia and from pogroms prevalent in Nazi
Germany. Nowhere else but Shanghai accepted Jews with nopassport, as it was a place no territorial sovereignty reigned. A

6In the summer of 1939, the passenger ship Asahi-marubrought Rena Krasno with her mother and younger sister tothis port town of Nagasaki, to spend what would turn out tobe their last glorious summer holiday. Remember that on thefirst of September that year Hitler started invading Poland,
igniting WWII.

The fault line drawn by the defeat of the war is so wide anddeep that many things that were part of the shared knowledge
for the contemporaries in pre-war Japan would, after the war,completely evaporate from the collective memories of theJapanese. The anecdote above on Mrs. Grew is one of those lost
memories. But what Rena, the sensitive teenage girlremembered most, and what Ms. Krasno the author wanted toremind the readers 69 years later, was about the people: how
they smiled, how they tried to communicate with her bysmiling, and that at dusk on the beach, the young boy Yorifumi
looked gentle, smart, and handsome, so much so that Rena….
In an e-mail sent to this reviewer, the author, who is 80 years
old and living in California, described her motive as follows:"My feeling is that the young people in Japan today somehow
miss some of the beauty and innocence of pre-war Japan. What
I wanted to share is the ambience of the country (and about)
the good simple people carried away by events." In the year
1939, not everything in Japan was painted black, gloomy, or
oppressive, whatever the conventional post-war wisdom may
have held to the contrary. "The good simple people" lived their
happy humble lives knowing nothing about what would occur
to them within the next six years. The places she visited may
have been filled with uniformed soldiers about to be sent
abroad, but they were also full of cheerful laughter, reserved
smiles and extremely cordial people. Wherever Rena went, shewould find everything kept clean and tidy, as if to evince that
the Japanese very much liked the way they lived, itself a stark
contrast to life in Shanghai. In sum, whilst in Japan, she felt
happy, refreshed, and was almost in love with the handsome
Japanese boy. This book has succeeded in mending one of thelost links, however small that may be, in the chain that isJapan's modern history.
Again, in her e-mail cited above, Rena Krasno also stated that"My love for your country has remained. I lived again in Japan
later with my husband and children from 1953-1961." Sheauthored an award winning children's book, Floating Lanterns
and Golden Shrines: Celebrating Japanese Festivals (PacificView Press, Berkeley, USA 2000). With the reviewed book as aprequel, she also wrote Strangers Always: A Jewish Family in
Wartime Shanghai (Pacific View Press 1992).
This review first appeared on the GLOCOM Platform and isreproduced with permission.

japansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

Culture, Community
and Change in a
Sapporo Neighborhood,
1925-1988: Hanayama
by John Mock
The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999, ISBN 07734-7974-0, 232 pages
Review by Sean Curtin
Less than half a century ago, a powerful sense of local
identity was an integral part of Japanese life. Today, the basic
composition of most communities has been significantly
altered by seismic population shifts, relentless urban
expansion and vastly improved transportation networks. By
blending contemporary ethnography with accounts of local
history, John Mock's new book attempts to convey some of themassive social changes which occurred in local Japanese living
patterns over a period of six decades. The mighty northern
island of Hokkaido forms the dramatic backdrop for Mock's
research.
Hokkaido already boasts an excellent body of English
language material on its indigenous Ainu people, who shaped
the island's landscape and history long before the arrival ofJapanese colonists. However, until the last decade, there has
been a definite deficit of research written in English on the
lives of the territory's non-Ainu, 'ordinary' citizens. One of
Mock's declared aims is to help redress this imbalance bypresenting the ethnographic history of Hanayama, a small
district of Hokkaido's bustling capital city, Sapporo.
Mock conducted his main research in Sapporo between
1975 and 1976, continuing intermittently up until about 1988.
During this period the social fabric of the Hanayama
neighbourhood underwent several metamorphoses. Mock hasgathered a solid body of oral history on the neighbourhood,but does not give us any precise details about how many
interviews were conducted. He claims that as an outsider, his
local informants tended to be more open with him than theywould be with an insider. This outsider status apparently
made him a safe person to confide in. He divides his analysis
of Hanayama into three phases, spanning 1925 to 1945, 1945 to1965 and 1965 to 1988. Each of these forms a separate andlengthy chapter.
To place Hanayama and Sapporo in their correct Japanesecontext, it is necessary to know something about the history of
Hokkaido itself. Mock supplies the background in his firstmain chapter, concentrating on the period up until 1925.
Present day Hokkaido retains its image of a peripheral frontier
territory, with many Japanese still regarding it as a somewhat'backward' and 'underdeveloped' region. Its geographicalseparation from the rest of Japan enhances the belief that it issomehow outside the orbit of mainstream Japanese life. This
physical isolation consolidates Sapporo's stature as theterritory's premier city, strengthening its claim to be the true
capital of the North. This regional dominance makes it apowerful magnet for rural migrants. Comparisons with otherprovincial capitals are difficult as Sapporo occupies a uniqueposition amongst major Japanese cities.
In the chapters on Hanayama, Mock gives us an even mix ofjapansociety Japan Book Review: March 2006

history and contemporary ethnography, revealing theenormous amounts of variation and complexity in over half acentury of community life. He takes us from Hanayama's
genesis as a small farming settlement, through its gradualabsorption into the nascent Sapporo. What was once a hardy
outpost was slowly transformed into a pleasantneighbourhood of the new city. As the juggernaut of
urbanization relentlessly picked up momentum, the social
identity of the community continually mutated, creating freshsocial networks as newcomers were assimilated.
Due to non-stop population influxes, the absorption process
became dysfunctional and the once unique local character was
slowly submerged under the ever-increasing weight of
migration into the area. Finally, Hanayama lost its cohesion asa social entity. In many respects, Hanayama's own local history
reflects some of the broader historical forces that have shaped
the rest of Hokkaido and Japan.
If there is one constant in the Hanayama story, it is that ofcontinual population expansion. It started life as part of asparsely manned five-farm settlement run by early colonial
militia. When Mock's account begins in 1925, the little outpost
had evolved into a small community comprising about 200
people. This grew to about 550 by 1965, and to 1,100 by 1975.
By the end of Mock's research in 1988, the population had
increased by another 500. This kind of spectacular growth has
been replicated throughout Japan, reminding us of the humble
origins of many modern Japanese cities.
Categorizing his subjects by age, gender and occupation,
Mock brings more clearly into focus some of the major socialchanges that have occurred in Hanayama, Sapporo and
Hokkaido. This helps the reader to better interpret thecomplex socio-economic forces that have shaped community
development on the island. As a by-product of faithfullyrecording Hanayama's past, Mock's research can also be used
to construct some possible evolutionary trajectories for social
life in districts of Hokkaido that currently retain their ruralcharacter. Some of Hanayama's extinct social practices, such as
the custom of neighbourhood introductions by new arrivals,
are still to be found in many rural areas. Hanayama's
developmental path indicates that such aspects of village life
may not survive the ravages of modernization.
Mock explains Hanayama's decline as a distinctive social
entity in terms of continuous migratory waves that eroded thepre-existent social patterns and customs.
Although outside the scope of Mock's thesis, this analysis
also offers several enlightening contrasts to the present
depopulation trends witnessed in most of Hokkaido's rural
towns. The voices of several rural migrants in the chorus of
Hanayama's oral history provide crucial insights into theirreasoning. Most complain of the socially restrictive life of rural
hamlets, which offer few opportunities. The lack of privacy inrural life and the lure of the more impersonal city encourages
many to leave their native towns and villages. Ironically, it isthe desire of those coming from closely-knit communities tolive less socially restrictive lives that eventually leads to thedecline of Hanayama's own social cohesiveness. Conversely,
many countryside communities have become more sociallyinterdependent as a result of massive population exodus.
The testimony of Hanayama's rural newcomers is extremely
useful as studies on rural depopulation generally tend to lackthe views of those who have already left.

7

As a countermeasure designed to staunch the rural peopleflow, many of Hokkaido's towns and villages launchedaggressive, and occasionally notorious, campaigns to stabilize
their populations and attract young women for local bachelors
to marry. This effort was also assisted by the national
government, which pumped millions of yen into countrysidedevelopment schemes. The testimony of Hanayama's rural
migrants gives us an insight into why such efforts weregenerally unsuccessful. This book sheds a little light on thecomplex dynamics that inextricably span the rural-urban
divide. Researchers studying contemporary rural Japan willfind this an excellent source of comparative material.
The present-day Hanayama is located near theentertainment district of Susukino, which is (in)famous for its
lively nightlife scene. This proximity was one of the factorsthat brought about rapid social change in this once tightly
woven community. A large influx of transitory workers
involved in the entertainment business accelerated theongoing destruction of the community's social networks.
Because of the neighbourhood's nearness to the Susukino
district, Mock also includes some interesting material on thebar hostess residents of Hanayama. This complements some ofhis earlier work on these women, making Mock somewhat of
an authority on such workers.
Mock's account of Hanayama only goes up to the end of theeighties, which was a relatively prosperous time for the
territory. Many of the island's chronic social and economic
ailments were hidden by the glare of the bubble economy
period. This explains why we hear very little of these issues inthe testimony presented in this book.
For well over a decade, however, the exceptionallyprecarious state of the regional economy has been exposed bya string of devastating financial calamities. The mostspectacular was the 1997 collapse of Hokkaido Takushoku
Bank, which was the prefecture's largest bank. This failure
shook the island economy to its core and led to an island-wide
chain reaction of bankruptcies from which Hokkaido is still
only partially recovered. The 2002 closure of the Taiheiyo Coal
Mine in Kushiro also represented a severe setback for theentire region as well as a social disaster for the mining
community.
Sapporo has weathered the long economic downturn
surprisingly well, retaining the vibrant metropolitan aura
described in Mock's book. Today, the city is home to over athird of the island's population. Practically everyone has arelative or two living somewhere within its ever-expanding
boundaries. Over the last decade the city's position as the locus
of Hokkaido's socio-economic life has been strengthened,making Mock's research even more valuable.
Despite the many good features of this work, there areseveral areas that need improvement. The most serious
weaknesses are the lack of detail about the methodology
behind the study and of a comprehensive explanation of thetheory underpinning the book's basic structure. Apart from avery brief paragraph at the end of the introduction, Mockreveals almost nothing about his research techniques. This
constantly leaves the reader wondering exactly what
information-gathering methods were used. Did the author use
questionnaires or surveys, for instance? Some of his
conclusions would seem to imply he might have, but thereader is just left guessing.

8

As mentioned, the basic structure of the analysis divides
Hanayama into three time phases, spanning 1925 to 1945, 1945
to 1965 and 1965 to 1988. It is not explained at the outset why
these parameters are established. Instead, explanations arescattered around the various chapters on each of the separate
phases. Explaining coherently the reasoning behind thedelineation of each of these time periods would have given thework much better clarity and greatly enhanced the overall
analysis.
Data presentation could also have been better. Of the 39
tables in the book, only six have sources and four of these arefrom an earlier work by another scholar. The layout of some of
the tables is poor, making it rather difficult to read the figurescorrectly. Tables 24 and 25 are good examples of this problem.
A few maps to illustrate the development of Hanayama
between 1965 and 1988 would also have made it easier tounderstand how the district grew. None of the oral accounts
given by the subjects has the date when it was recorded, whichmakes it difficult to put the comments into a clear context forhistorical analysis. This problem could easily have been
rectified with footnotes, which are absent from the entire
work.
Mock may have felt that footnotes might distract the reader,
but a few would certainly have helped. Some of the general
information is completely out of date and needs to be revised.
For example, Russia is continually referred to as the Soviet
Union, which ceased to exist in 1991. Since there are references
up to 1996, this oversight should have been rectified. A
reference to a shinkansen station in Sapporo (p. 3) ismystifying.
Editing and proofreading are other areas that need more
attention. There are inconsistencies in the spelling of Japanesenames, for example "Asahikawa" and "Asahigawa" arealternated throughout the book. Better proofreading would
have eliminated most of the numerous typos which pepper the
text. A few typing errors even sneak into the final paragraph ofthe conclusion, distracting attention from the author's
summation.
Despite these various shortcomings, this book is a welcome
contribution to the growing body of non-Ainu-related English
language research literature on Japan's most northerly
prefecture. It is certainly one of the most comprehensive
English language ethnographic studies on Hokkaido to appear
in recent years, offering an excellent introduction to the
dynamics that have shaped urban living patterns in Sapporo
and many other cities.
For those more familiar with Sapporo, Mock also shedssome light on the little known lifestyles of workers in theentertainment district. After reading this book, visiting thecity's Susukino area will never feel quite the same. With thiswork and his earlier research on Sapporo bar hostesses, Mockhas additionally made a major contribution to illuminating the
lives of women engaged in the murky entertainment world.