An Anthropologist in Japan

An Anthropologist in Japan is a highly personal narrative which provides unique insights into many elements of Japanese life. Joy Hendry tells the story of a nine-month period of fieldwork in a Japanese seaside town. She originally set out to study politeness, but a variety of unpredicatable events occur dramatically change the direction of her research. The anthropologist has to dela with a suicide, a volcanic erruption, and the problem of her young son's friendship with the son of a powerful local gangster. This volume exemplifies how much of anthropological knowledge is a product of chance and how moments of insight can be embedded in a mass of everyday activity. The disturbing and disordered appears alongside the nea and the beautiful, and the vignettes here illuminate the education system, religious beliefs, politics, the family and the neighbourhood in modern Japan. An Anthropologist in Japan is reflexive anthropology in action. It demonstrates how ethnographic fieldwork can uniquely provide a deep understanding of lnguitica nd cultural difference.

ISBN 0415195748   Pages 184 ISBN13 9780415195744 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd   Weight (grammes) 386 Imprint Routledge   Published in London Format Paperback   Series title ASA Research Methods in Social Anthropology Publication date 04 Feb 1999   Height (mm) 216 Library of Congress 98035095   Width (mm) 138 DEWEY 301.0952   Spine width (mm) 11 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

		List of illustrations
		Preface
Pt. I		Settling in and making contacts		1
1		Arrival ... and an invitation		3
2		The neighbourhood: a 'world of blossom and willow'		9
3		The hospital ... and a strange encounter		16
4		The school ... and a fight		23
5		A pilgrims' trail		30
6		Shiroyama, the Satomi legend and a new look at power		36
Pt. II		Events to attend		43
7		Wrapping the body: two local festivals		45
8		The housewives' 'Club for Life'		53
9		Cubs, sports and a shock		60
10		Suicide, funerals and the well-wrapped gift		67
11		Paper walls and flowers at the bank		73
Pt. III		The role of experts		81
12		A foreigner at the 'Culture Festival'		83
13		'Your Japanese is psychological torture'		91
14		A volcanic eruption		98
15		Tennis and the 'surreal' dinner		103
16		Concerts, cakes and spiritual communication		110
Pt. IV		Building a framework for analysis		119
17		New Year: shrine, mochi and a tea ceremony		121
18		Valentine's Day, and the 6th years pick on Hamish		129
19		The gang-leader's wife		135
20		Unwrapping the argument		141
		More...

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