A book review of an ethnographic monograph

JOSEPH JAY TOBIN , RE-MADE IN JAPAN

Re-Made in Japan , edited by Joseph Jay Tobin , is a collection of essays which study Japan 's post-World War II consumption habits and is predicated on the idea that if in Japan students study hard and workers work hard , it is equally true that pleasure seekers play hard and consumers consume hard (Tobin , 1992 ,

. 1 . In addition , the authors in this volume argue that Japanese consumerism borrows a great deal from the West but has given Western items and practices uniquely Japanese meanings , creating something

both exotic and familiar

Tobin , who received his doctorate in education from the University of Chicago and currently teaches at Arizona State University , specializes in the study of Japanese culture , ethnography , and the media 's effects (National Academy of Sciences . The book draws on each of these by examining how the Japanese , a nation well-known for its ability to borrow from other cultures , has borrowed Western consumption habits but is not simply aping the West . In addition , his contributors include a number of

Tobin argues against the widely-spread misconception that the Japanese can only imitate and lack the ability to create , maintaining that the Japanese [are] engaged in an ongoing creative synthesis of the exotic with the familiar , the foreign with the domestic , the modern with the traditional , the Western with the Japanese (Tobin , 1992 ,

. 4 . In the process , Western cultural artifacts and habits have had their meanings changed into something uniquely Japanese , demonstrating their active engagement with the West instead of passive acceptance of imposed ways . Consumption , Tobin implies , is as important as production in shaping national identity , and Japan 's habits have made it more dominant than submissive

The work also attacks the myth of cultural purity and authenticity which includes the manufacturing of authentic ' goods , rituals , and notions of history and community . To its credit , the book makes a concerted effort to avoid portraying the Japanese as a monolith . The thirteen authors here study both urban and rural Japanese , as well as questions of class and gender . Though Tobin concedes that many of the volume 's observations are truer of Tokyo than of Japan 's smaller cities and countryside , he shows that similar trends pervade the entire nation though they manifest more intensely in the capital

The book 's essays are all intriguing , though they vary in terms of how germane they are to the subjects Tobin addresses in his introduction Millie Creighton 's essay explores the manufacture and sale of Japaneseness ' promoted mainly by the depato (department store itself a Western import . These large stores fit Japan 's sense of hierarchy and are a major conduit for Western goods , though they also promote education and a sense of Japanese values . She writes : Depato long brokers of Western goods and customs , now also play the reverse role of re-educating a westernized consuming public of their own cultural heritage , real or imagined (Tobin , 1992 ,

. 54 . Also , James Stanlaw 's essay For Beautiful Human Life ' studies the large number of loanwords (nearly five thousand , mainly English-derived ) in the contemporary Japanese vocabulary , most of which refer to material objects or goods largely unfamiliar to pre-war Japan (Tobin , 1992 ,

br 61 ) and examines the process of how the Japanese have altered those words ' meanings beyond their original definitions , showing how the cultural interaction was not wholly one-sided

Scott Clark 's chapter on the Japanese bath - a traditional cultural practice which is now high-tech , with programmable water faucets and other accoutrements - also offers a good example of how foreign imports have been assimilated . More importantly , Clark studies how this traditional practice has been brought into modern consumer culture because it has assumed meaning as a self-identifier and status symbol among consumers . Even a high-tech bathing space can feel traditional ' says Clark , showing how moderns ' sense of tradition is fluid and views tradition through contemporary lenses . In addition many affluent Japanese patronized public bathing houses (though they have full bathrooms at home ) because bath houses have become a consumer item rife with connotations of high status , good taste , and community through sharing Japanese tradition . Clark comments , Bathing in Japan is , of course , much more than its mere material manifestations . It involves notions of status , purity , cleanliness , and bonding through naked association . [If this] is neglected , members begin to feel that something important us lacking from the communal relationship (Tobin , 1992 ,

. 102

Nancy Rosenberger 's essay demonstrates the relationship between gender and consumption of Western goods , which in Japan is a sort of code attesting to one 's affluence , status , and good taste , as well as the quality of one 's family . As she explains , magazine advertisements targeting Japanese housewives link Western interior design with Western-style relationships . In the housewives competition , the ultimate goal is the establishment of a feeling of `our house (Tobin 1992 ,

. 113 . Basically , she claims , Western design means a better family because it connotes closeness and emotional stability . Also , she adds , Decorating allows a woman to express the whims of her `spirit just as she is (Tobin , 1992 ,

. 114

Perhaps the strongest and most intriguing essay in this volume is Mary Yoko Brannen 's Bwana Mickey ' which uses Tokyo Disneyland as evidence that the Japanese , instead of subserviently borrowing Western culture without question or criticism , approach it shrewdly and treat it in a somewhat bemused , even condescending fashion . A near-identical copy of the southern California original , the park is not an example of the supposedly uncritical Japanese fascination with the West (indeed , the entire volume argues against that notion . Instead , Japanese visitors display their own sort of cultural imperialism , treating it as a quaint form of exotica , much like ethnic displays at world 's fairs a century ago treated people of color . Brannan claims , The Japanese view the Other dualistically : positive responses include everything from respect to condescending appreciation negative responses range from ridicule to outright omission ' Tobin , 1992 ,

. 227 . One sees a tradition of Western thought turned on its head , with the Japanese retaining their cultural sensibilities and viewing this American import not with wide-eyed awe , but as a form of quaint American campiness

Other essays work less effectively though they make for interesting reading . For example , William Kelly 's essay Tractors , Television , and Telephones ' is an interesting look at how those three inventions have altered rural Japanese life . While it explains the transforming effect on Japan 's countryside , it overlooks larger questions of consumption and cultural mingling and lacks a dynamic connection to Tobin 's arguments and to other essays in the book . Similarly , Diana Bethel 's chapter on homes for the elderly is a well-written piece of scholarship , but it seems out of place here as well . Dealing primarily with socialization patterns among residents of convalescent homes , the essay focuses more on their patterns of adaptation to structured living , as well as how men and women each claim and define physical space , while consumption habits are somewhat peripheral and not related to Japan 's synthesis of foreign goods and habits

Though not every work in this volume is equally effective , Re-Made in Japan is a useful work of cultural anthropology which studies cultural dialogue and synthesis . It shows how cultural change is a dialogue , in which even seemingly subordinate recipients of foreign cultural artifacts and practices apply their own sensibilities and selectively incorporate certain things into their own cultures , transforming the imports into something native ' For students of anthropology and cultural studies , this work has considerable value by providing models for studying the process of culture and the very nature of what makes something authentic

WORKS CITED

National Academy of Sciences (2006 . Joseph Tobin Biography . Retrieved 22 June 2006 from http /www7 .nationalacademies .org /core /Joseph_Tobin_Bio .html

Tobin , J .J (Ed (1992 . Re-Made in Japan . New Haven : Yale University Press

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