Mark Williams

Stephen Turnbull

Lars Vargö

Michael Wert

Karl Friday

M. Antoni J. Ucerler

Margaret Mehl

James E. Ketelaar

Oleg Benesch

Naoki Sakai

Constantine N. Vaporis

Pia Moberg

Anne Walthall

Roger Goodman

Dick Stegewerns

Anne E. Imamura

John Lie

Kosaku Yoshino

Inken Prohl

Jaqueline Berndt

Thomas D. Conlan

Elisabet Yanagisawa Avén

Natasha Bennett

Kristina Fridh

Blaine Brownell

James L. Huffman

Peter Nosco

John Breen

Christal Whelan

In Japan, the study of nihonjinron became popular after the Second World War in an attempt to explain the uniqueness of the country s culture and character. Some of the essays in this volume deal with these issues and explore aspects of the Japanese quest for a national identity. Today Japan is one of the world s largest economies, but it is facing enormous challenges on a social, cultural, financial and political level. 

These challenges are highlighted and analysed in this e-book through themes and topics from Japanese history: identity, architecture, religion, manga, Christianity in Japan, the Samurais and many other subjects.