Multicultural Japan
Subtitle: Palaeolithic to Postmodern (Contemporary Japanese Society)
Contributors: Donald Denoon (Editor); Mark Hudson (Editor); Gavan McCormack (Editor); Tessa Morris-Suzuki (Editor)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: September 13, 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780521550673
Subjects: Ethnography; Social & cultural anthropology; Japan; Congresses; Culture; Japan - History; Social Science; History - General History; History: World; Anthropology - General; Asia - Japan; Japan--Civilization--Foreign influences--Congresses; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural; Sociology - General; Civilization; Foreign influences
First sentence: Several models have been proposed to explain the origins of the modern Japanese people.
Description: This book challenges the conventional view of Japanese society as being monocultural and homogeneous. Unique for its historical breadth and interdisciplinary orientation, Multicultural Japan extends from the prehistoric phase to the present. It challenges the notion that Japan's monoculture is being challenged only because of internationalisation, arguing that cultural diversity has always existed in Japan.

It is a timely and provocative discussion of identity politics around the question of 'Japaneseness'. The book is critical of the myth of uniqueness and a 'pure' blood tradition, and the Japanese reluctance to consider the past. Yet its spirit is constructive, arguing that no multicultural future can be created until Japan's multi-cultural past is discovered. Its contributors, about half of whom are Japanese, form an impressive team.