Housing in Postwar Japan - A Social History

Housing in Postwar Japan - A Social History PDF Author: Ann Waswo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136860908
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Radical changes in the design of housing in post-war Japan had numerous effects on the Japanese people. Public policy toward housing provision and the effects of escalating land prices in Tokyo and a few other very large cities in the country from the mid- to late 1970s onward are examined, but it is dwellings themselves and the slow but steady shift from a floor-sitting to a chair-sitting housing culture in urban and suburban parts of the country that figure most prominently in the discussion. Central to the book is the author's translation of an account written by Kyoko Sasaki, an observant wife and mother, about the housing she and her growing family experienced during the 1960s, and subsequent chapters explore some of the issues that flow from her account. Chief among these are the small size and generally poor quality of the private-sector housing that Japanese of fairly ordinary means could afford to occupy in the early postwar years, the new design initiatives undertaken at about that time by public-sector housing providers and the diffusion of at least some of their initiatives to the housing sector as a whole, and the adjustments that the occupants of housing had to, or chose to, make as the dwellings available to them as renters or as owners changed in character. Attention is also paid to the structural requirements of dwellings and attitudes toward dwellings of diverse types in a country prone to earthquakes.

Housing in Postwar Japan - A Social History

Housing in Postwar Japan - A Social History PDF Author: Ann Waswo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136860908
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book

Book Description
Radical changes in the design of housing in post-war Japan had numerous effects on the Japanese people. Public policy toward housing provision and the effects of escalating land prices in Tokyo and a few other very large cities in the country from the mid- to late 1970s onward are examined, but it is dwellings themselves and the slow but steady shift from a floor-sitting to a chair-sitting housing culture in urban and suburban parts of the country that figure most prominently in the discussion. Central to the book is the author's translation of an account written by Kyoko Sasaki, an observant wife and mother, about the housing she and her growing family experienced during the 1960s, and subsequent chapters explore some of the issues that flow from her account. Chief among these are the small size and generally poor quality of the private-sector housing that Japanese of fairly ordinary means could afford to occupy in the early postwar years, the new design initiatives undertaken at about that time by public-sector housing providers and the diffusion of at least some of their initiatives to the housing sector as a whole, and the adjustments that the occupants of housing had to, or chose to, make as the dwellings available to them as renters or as owners changed in character. Attention is also paid to the structural requirements of dwellings and attitudes toward dwellings of diverse types in a country prone to earthquakes.

Dissecting the Danchi

Dissecting the Danchi PDF Author: Tatiana Knoroz
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981168460X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The book is the first to explore the history and political significance of the Japanese public housing program. In the 1960s, as Japan's postwar economy boomed, architects and urban planners inspired equally by Western modernism and Soviet ideas of housing as a basic right created new cityscapes to house populations turned into refugees by the war. Over time, as Japan's society aged and the economy began to stagnate, these structures have become a burden on society. In this closely researched monograph on the conditions of Japanese housing, Tatiana Knoroz sheds unexpected light on the rise and fall of the idea of social democracy in Japan which will be of interest to historians, architects, and scholars of Asian economic modernization.

The Life We Longed for

The Life We Longed for PDF Author: Laura Neitzel
Publisher: Merwinasia
ISBN: 9781937385873
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Life We Longed For examines high-rise housing projects called danchi that were built during Japan's years of "high speed economic growth" (1955-1972) to house aspiring middle-class families migrating to urban areas. Due to their modern designs and the well-documented lifestyles of their inhabitants, the danchi quickly entered the social imagination as a "life to long for" and ultimately helped to redefine the parameters of middle-class aspirations after World War II. The book also discusses the extensive critique of danchi life, which warned that the emphasis on "privacy" and rampant consumerism was destructive of traditional family and community values. Ultimately, the danchi lifestyle served as a powerful "middle-class dream" which shaped the materiality and ideology of postwar everyday life, both for better and for worse.

Housing and Social Transition in Japan

Housing and Social Transition in Japan PDF Author: Yosuke Hirayama
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134176309
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Bringing together a number of perspectives on the Japanese housing system, Housing and Social Transition in Japan provides a comprehensive, challenging and theoretically developed account of the dynamic role of the housing system during a period of unprecedented social and economic change in one of the most enigmatic social, political, and economic systems of the modern world. While Japan demonstrates many of the characteristics of some western housing and social systems, including mass homeownership and consumption-based lifestyles, extensive economic growth and rapid urban modernization has been achieved in balance with traditional social values and the maintenance of the family system. Helpfully divided into three sections, Housing and Social Transition in Japan: explores the dynamics of the development of the housing system in post-war Japan deals with social issues related to housing in terms of social aging, family relations, gender and inequality addresses the Japanese housing system and social change in relation to comparative and theoretical frameworks. As well as providing challenges and insights for the academic community at large, this book also provides a good introduction to the study of Japan and its housing, economic, social and welfare system generally.

Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan

Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan PDF Author: Margarita Estevez-Abe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139471929
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book explains how postwar Japan managed to achieve a highly egalitarian form of capitalism despite meager social spending. Estevez-Abe develops an institutional, rational-choice model to solve this puzzle. She shows how Japan's electoral system generated incentives that led political actors to protect various groups that lost out in market competition. She explains how Japan's postwar welfare state relied upon various alternatives to orthodox social spending programs. The initial postwar success of Japan's political economy has given way to periods of crisis and reform. This book follows this story up to the present day. Estevez-Abe shows how the current electoral system renders obsolete the old form of social protection. She argues that institutionally Japan now resembles Britain and predicts that Japan's welfare system will also come to resemble Britain's. Japan thus faces a more market-oriented society and less equality.

Housing in Post-Growth Society

Housing in Post-Growth Society PDF Author: Yosuke Hirayama
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351619454
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
In a globalising world, many mature economies share post-growth characteristics such as low economic growth, low fertility, declining and ageing of the population and increasing social stratification. Japan stands at the forefront of such social change in the East Asian region as well as in the Global North. It is in this context of ‘post-growth society’ that housing issues are examined, using the experiences of Japan at the leading edge of social transition in the region. The post-war housing system was developed during the golden age of economy and welfare, when upward social trajectories such as increasing population, high-speed economic growth with rising real incomes, housing construction driven by high demands, increasing rates of home ownership supported by generous government subsidies generated new housing opportunities and accompanying issues. As we have entered the post-growth phase of socio-economic development, however, it requires a re-examination of such structure, policy and debates. This volume explores what roles housing plays in the reorganisation and reconstruction of economic processes, social policy development, ideology and identity, and intergenerational relations. The volume offers a greater understanding of the characteristics of post-growth society – changing demography, economy and society – in relation to housing. It considers how a definitive shift to the post-growth period has produced new housing issues including risks as well as opportunities. Through analysis of the impact on five different areas: post-crisis economy, urban and regional variations, young adults and housing pathways, fertility and housing, and ageing and housing wealth, the authors use policy and institutions as overarching analytical tools to examine the contemporary housing issues in a post-growth context. It also considers any relevance from the Japanese experiences in the wider regional and global context. This original book will be of great interest to academics and students as well as policy makers and practitioners internationally in the fields of housing studies, urban studies, social policy, sociology, political economy, comparative analysis, and East Asian Studies.

A History of Japan

A History of Japan PDF Author: Conrad Totman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119022355
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 720

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Book Description
This is an updated edition of Conrad Totman’s authoritativehistory of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present day. The first edition was widely praised for combiningsophistication and accessibility. Covers a wide range of subjects, including geology, climate,agriculture, government and politics, culture, literature, media,foreign relations, imperialism, and industrialism. Updated to include an epilogue on Japan today andtomorrow. Now includes more on women in history and more on internationalrelations. Bibliographical listings have been updated and enlarged.

Japan'S Postwar History

Japan'S Postwar History PDF Author: Gary D Allinson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000947033
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
First Published in 1997. This comprehensive survey of Japan's post-war history integrates analysis of political, economic, and social topics. It presents the rapid, complex and sometimes contradictory evolution of Japan in an enviably clear style and provides an unrivalled textbook for students seeking a balanced and accessible introduction to modern Japan. The outcome of nearly 30 years’ experience of teaching, researching, and writing Japanese history, Japan's Post-war History offers an analysis of political relationships, institutions and behaviour at local, national and inter­national levels. Economic aspects of Japan's recent history receive equal attention and the dramatic changes that have taken place in the agricultural, manufacturing and service industries are examined within the context of Japan's role as an international trading power. Material standards of living, the behaviour of Japanese as consumers, and the gradual shift in the role of women are also investigated. Given the deep-seated continuities between pre- and post-war Japan, the book also examines in detail the thirteen years before 1945 which imparted many legacies that have profoundly influenced contemporary Japan.

Mass Housing

Mass Housing PDF Author: Miles Glendinning
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147422928X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 689

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Book Description
Shortlisted for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 2021 (The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain) "It will become the standard work on the subject." Literary Review This major work provides the first comprehensive history of one of modernism's most defining and controversial architectural legacies: the 20th-century drive to provide 'homes for the people'. Vast programmes of mass housing – high-rise, low-rise, state-funded, and built in the modernist style – became a truly global phenomenon, leaving a legacy which has suffered waves of disillusionment in the West but which is now seeing a dramatic, 21st-century renaissance in the booming, crowded cities of East Asia. Providing a global approach to the history of Modernist mass-housing production, this authoritative study combines architectural history with the broader social, political, cultural aspects of mass housing – particularly the 'mass' politics of power and state-building throughout the 20th century. Exploring the relationship between built form, ideology, and political intervention, it shows how mass housing not only reflected the transnational ideals of the Modernist project, but also became a central legitimizing pillar of nation-states worldwide. In a compelling narrative which likens the spread of mass housing to a 'Hundred Years War' of successive campaigns and retreats, it traces the history around the globe from Europe via the USA, Soviet Union and a network of international outposts, to its ultimate, optimistic resurgence in China and the East – where it asks: Are we facing a new dawn for mass housing, or another 'great housing failure' in the making?

Governing Japan

Governing Japan PDF Author: J. A. A. Stockwin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405154160
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This fourth edition provides an in-depth, up-to-date, chronological analysis of Japan’s current political system and the contributions of its leaders. It emphasizes why Japan and its politics matters in a global society. Ideal for college courses on Japanese or comparative politics as well as for those interested in Japanese war memory, constitutional revision, and Japan’s relationship with the US, China, and North and South Korea Investigates the divided aspects existing below the veneer of consensus in Japanese politics Explores conflicts between power-hungry political groups as well as fundamental differences regarding Japan’s constitution, the interpretation of Japanese actions in the Asia-Pacific War, and Japan’s place in today’s world Advocates a system that readily permits changes of party in power for the present system dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party Examines the extreme statements of high profile politicians to determine whether a "nationalist resurgence” in Japan is real or not Sheds light on the official incompetence and the spectacular rise of civil society following the Kobe earthquake Features numerous Japanese sources