License to play
Subtitle: the ludic in Japanese culture
By: Michal Daliot-Bul
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 186
ISBN-13: 9780824839406
Subjects: Social life and customs; Play; Leisure; History
Description: "Play is one of the most powerful cultural forces in contemporary Japan and in other late modern societies. In this notable contribution to our understanding of play, Michal Daliot-Bul explores the intricate and dynamic transformations of culture and play (asobi) in Japan. Along the way, she takes readers on a theoretically informed journey to better comprehend what makes play a significant cultural function, asking such questions as "How can we explain the dialectics between play as a biological instinct and play as a culturally specific activity? What defines the best player? How is creativity related to play? What is the difference between play and playfulness? Are some cultures more play-oriented than others, and if so, why?" Daliot-Bul argues that the cultural meaning of play and its influence on sociocultural life are not inherent properties of a fixed, universal behavior called play but rather are conditioned by changing cultural contexts and competing social ideologies. Spanning Japan's premodern period to the twenty-first century, the extent and expressions of play described in this book become thought-provoking lenses through which to view Japanese social dynamics and cultural complexities. As she approaches the post-industrialized 1970s in Japan, Daliot-Bul's narrative also explores urban consumer culture as a system for organizing daily life, the tension between institutional and contemporary popular cultures, the production of new gender identities, and the cultural construction of urban space." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-177)and index.
Table of contents: title: The linguistic concept of "play" in Japanese; title: Play as a formative element of culture; title: The otherness of play; title: The rules of the game, or, how to become the best player; title: Creativity in play; title: Contested meanings of play.