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Precarious Japan

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Precarious Japan

By: Anne Allison
Narrated by: Colleen Patrick
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About this listen

In an era of irregular labor, nagging recession, nuclear contamination, and a shrinking population, Japan is facing precarious times. How the Japanese experience insecurity in their daily and social lives is the subject of Precarious Japan. Tacking between the structural conditions of socioeconomic life and the ways people are making do, or not, Anne Allison chronicles the loss of home affecting many Japanese, not only in the literal sense but also in the figurative sense of not belonging. Until the collapse of Japan's economic bubble in 1991, lifelong employment and a secure income were within reach of most Japanese men, enabling them to maintain their families in a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Now, as fewer and fewer people are able to find full-time work, hope turns to hopelessness and security gives way to a pervasive unease. Yet some Japanese are getting by, partly by reconceiving notions of home, family, and togetherness.

©2013 Duke University Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks Anthropology Asia Japan Social Sciences Socialism Capitalism Employment Imperial Japan

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Critic reviews

" Precarious Japan is a forward-thinking commentary on the current state of Japan, detailing a progressive history from the economic collapse in 1991 to how the country functions today in a modern, post-earthquake society…. For those wondering just how precarious Japan's future really is, this book is a good place to start." ( Japan Times)
" Precarious Japan is a model of new modes of conceptualizing sociocultural theory. Here the theory is sober, mature, aspirational, hopeful, gracious. It pushes up against the limits of thinking categorically, of thinking that lived phenomena simply, magically, derive their force from the categorical-from identities, borders, inclusions and exclusions, ideals writ large." (Kathleen Stewart, author of Ordinary Affects)
All stars
Most relevant

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I have learned a lot from this book, but I found it very repetitive.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I was not aware of the hikikomori phenomenon and the way precarity manifests itself in Japan.

How could the performance have been better?

Chose a different narrator. The way she breaks the sentences for emphasis is irritating, horrendous. The discourse simply stops making sense.

Could you see Precarious Japan being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

N/A

Horrendously read

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