CFP, Japan Studies Review

Steven Heine Discussion

The Japan Studies Review (JSR) is an annual peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the joint efforts of the Asian Studies Program at Florida International University. JSR remains an outlet for publications related to Southern Japan Seminar events that encourages submissions from a wide range of scholars in the field. The 2018 issue (Volume XXII) features five articles branching into different aspects of Japanese studies.

This year’s journal begins with an analytical study by Giancarla Unser-Schutz titled, “How to Fit in: Naming Strategies among Foreign Residents of Japan,” highlighting how foreigners living in Japan adapt their names and the multifaceted difficulties they experience with the way their names are treated. The second article titled, “Youth Nationalism in Japan during the Lost Decades” by Zeying Wu, explores Japanese youth experiences during the economic growth of the 1970s–1980s and the stagnation of the 1990s, while addressing how experiences during the Lost Decades shaped their national identity with distinct political undertones. A third article, “Narratives of the Early Stage of American Occupation in Okinawa” by So Mizoguchi, delves into comparative studies of the early stage of occupation that emphasizes how tales of postwar Okinawa are distinguished from those of mainland Japan. Furthermore, Noboru Tomonari in “Mikuni Rentarō’s Novel and Coming Out as Burakumin,” discusses Rentarō’s biography as one of the most versatile actors of Japanese cinema and his work The Portrait of Rie, mainly to express his identity and discourse on buraku as a significant part of minority history in modern Japan. Finally, “Bureaucracy Meets Catastrophe: Global Innovations from Two Decades of Research” by Margaret Takeda, Ray Jones, and Marilyn Helms is an intricate collective study that reviews emerging themes from recent studies on global disaster management by focusing on important natural catastrophes in Japan and elsewhere.

In addition, there are two essays included in this issue. Joan Torres-Pou presents the intertextuality of two Central American writers’ travelogues, namely Enrique Gómez Carrillo and Arturo Ambrogi, written in the West but marked by unique preconceived Eurocentric visions of Japan and a sense of Otherness. The second essay by Kinko Ito summarizes the oral history of a young Ainu mother known as Tomoyo Fujiwara, comprised of a series of interviews sharing her personal experiences while living in contemporary Japan. There are three book reviews. Kimura Kiyotaka’s Shōbōgenzō zenbon kaidoku [Deciphering the Shōbōgenzō Fascicles] is reviewed by Eitan Bolokan; Mark Ravina’s Understanding Japan: A Cultural History is reviewed by Daniel Métraux; and Steven E. Gump reviews Matt Goulding’s Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels through Japan’s Food Culture.

JSR is now planning the next two issues and invites submissions, whether articles, essays, or book reviews, on topics dealing with Japan or comparative studies.  Submissions can be sent as email attachment to asian@fiu.edu. The editor, Dr. Steven Heine, and members of the editorial board will referee all submissions.

Please visit our website for submission requirements at http://www.asian.fiu.edu/jsr. PDF versions of the current along with past volumes are available online.