New times in modern Japan / Stefan Tanaka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tanaka, Stefan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japan--History--Meiji period, 1868-1912.

Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (237 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

New Times in Modern Japan concerns the transformation of time--the reckoning of time--during Japan's Meiji period, specifically from around 1870 to 1900. Time literally changed as the archipelago synchronized with the Western imperialists' reckoning of time. The solar calendar and clock became standard timekeeping devices, and society adapted to the abstractions inherent in modern notions of time. This set off a cascade of changes that completely reconfigured how humans interacted with each other and with their environment--a process whose analysis carries implications for other non-Western societies as well. By examining topics ranging from geology, ghosts, childhood, art history, and architecture to nature as a whole, Stefan Tanaka explores how changing conceptions of time destabilized inherited knowledge and practices and ultimately facilitated the reconfiguration of the archipelago's heterogeneous communities into the liberal-capitalist nation-state, Japan. However, this revolutionary transformation--where, in the words of Lewis Mumford, "the clock, not the steam engine," is the key mechanism of the industrial age--has received little more than a footnote in the history of Japan. This book's innovative focus on time not only shifts attention away from debates about the failure (or success) of "modernization" toward how individuals interact with the overlay of abstract concepts upon their lives; it also illuminates the roles of history as discourse and as practice in this reconfiguration of society. In doing so, it will influence discussions about modernity well beyond the borders of Japan.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prelude

Chapter 1. Discovery of Pasts

Chapter 2. "Nothing Is the Way It Should Be"

Chapter 3. Naturalization of Nation: Essential Time

Chapter 4. Naturalization of Nation: Chronological Time

Chapter 5. Socialization of Society

Chapter 6. Socialization of Nature: Museumification

Epilogue

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-217) and index.

ISBN:

9786612129575

9781282129573

1282129570

9781400826247

1400826241

OCLC:

369298945