Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life
How has the Japanese government persuaded its citizens to save substantial portions of their incomes? And to care for the elderly within the family? How did the public come to support legalized prostitution as in the national interest? What roles have women's groups played in Japan's "economic miracle"? What actually unites the Japanese to achieve so many economic and social goals that have eluded other polities? Here Sheldon Garon helps us to understand this mobilizing spirit as he taps into...
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"Molding Japanese Minds shows how extensively and consistently the modern Japanese state has sought to manage social behavior. As with any superb work of history, one finishes this book with a renewed appreciation of the complexity of the human condition, for this is not a simple story of control from the top. Sheldon Garon's important contribution is to show us how social groups and individuals who were supposed to be on the receiving end of state policy often joined forces with political officials in ways that confound simple division between state and society."--Andrew Gordon, Harvard University"Molding Japanese Minds provides the best discussion I have seen of the intricate relationship between Japanese state institutions ad civil society. It covers one hundred years of moral suasion campaigns by the Japanese government on matters of gender, sexuality, welfare, and religion, casting doubt throughout on the utility of any conventional dichotomy between 'state' and 'society.' It thereby helps us to think in more creative ways about the complex social evolution of modern Japan."--T. J. Pempel, University of Washington"Sheldon Garon does exactly what needs to be done in the field of modern Japanese history: he focuses on the most important agency of the prewar Japanese developmental state, namely, the Ministry of Home Affairs. His case studies are marvelously done, magnificently researched, and very provocative."--Chalmers Johnson, Japan Policy Research Institute Patrick Smith - The Nation An excellent book. . . Garon has chosen his subject well and. . . he handles it with balance and authority.
List of IllustrationsAbbreviationsPrefaceSocial Management: An Introduction3Pt. 1State and Society Before 194523Ch. 1The Evolution of "Japanese-Style" Welfare25Ch. 2Defining Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy60Ch. 3The World's Oldest Debate? Regulating Prostitution and Illicit Sexuality88Ch. 4Integrating Women into Public Life: Women's Groups and the State115Pt. 2Social Management in Postwar Japan147Ch. 5Re-creating the Channels of Moral Suasion149Ch. 6Sexual Politics and the Feminization of Social Management178Ch. 7Managing Spiritual Life and Material Well-being206Epilogue231Notes239Bibliography273Interviews298Index299
\ The Nation - Patrick Smith\ An excellent book. . . Garon has chosen his subject well and. . . he handles it with balance and authority.\ \ \ \ \ Time Magazines Literary SupplementMolding Japanese Minds is history at its best; with a thorough command of original sources and scholarship, both in Japanese and other languages, Garon demonstrates that social policy was not solely government-or bureaucracy-driven.\ \ \ Times Literary Supplement\ Molding Japanese Minds is history at its best; with a thorough command of original sources and scholarship, both in Japanese and other languages, Garon demonstrates that social policy was not solely government-or bureaucracy-driven.\ \ \ \ \ The NationAn excellent book. . . Garon has chosen his subject well and. . . he handles it with balance and authority.\ — Patrick Smith\ \ \ \ \ Times Literary SupplementMolding Japanese Minds is history at its best; with a thorough command of original sources and scholarship, both in Japanese and other languages, Garon demonstrates that social policy was not solely government-or bureaucracy-driven.\ \ \ \ \ Ian Buruma. . .not long ago we were told that such things as high savings, low public welfare, reliance on family relations, sacrifice for the nation . . .accounted for the remarkable success of Asian economies. . . .Garon expertly dismantles this myth.\ \
