Heritage is a social construction rooted in modern and contemporary societies. It is commonly a positive assessment of many elements of the physical and human environment (e.g. ecosystems and landscapes, monuments, customs, gender norms, religious practices, gastronomy, and livelihoods). Heritage and tourism are strongly related to each other in that heritage gives rise to tourist attractions and activities, and tourism enhances the designation of heritage sites. Non-human animals (hereaft...

Over the last fifteen years local citizens' movements have spread rapidly throughout Japan. Created with the aim of improving the quality of the local environment, and of environmental management processes, such activities are widely referred to as machizukuri, and represent an important development in local politics and urban management in Japan.This volume examines the growth and nature of such civil society participation in local urban and environmental governance, rais...

The changing patterns of Japanese tourism and the views of the Japanese tourist since the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, are given an in-depth historical, geographical, economic and social analysis in this book. As well as providing a case study for the purpose of investigating the changing face of global tourism from the 19th to the 21st Century, this account of Japanese tourism explores both domestic social relations and international geographical, political and economic relations, especial...

This book moves the discussion of affirmative action beyond the United States to other countries that have had similar policies, often for a longer time than Americans have. It also moves the discussion beyond the theories, principles, and laws that have been so often debated to the actual empirical consequences of affirmative action in the United States and in India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Both common patterns and national differences are examined. Much of what...

Worlding Cities is the first serious examination of Asian urbanism to highlight the connections between different Asian models and practices of urbanization. It includes important contributions from a respected group of scholars across a range of generations, disciplines, and sites of study.Describes the new theoretical framework of ‘worlding’Substantially expands and updates the themes of capital and cultureIncludes a unique collection of authors...

Twenty years ago India was still generally thought of as an archetypal developing country, home to the largest number of poor people of any country in the world, and beset by problems of low economic growth, casteism and violent religious conflict. Now India is being feted as an economic power-house which might well become the second largest economy in the world before the middle of this century. Its democratic traditions, moreover, remain broadly intact.How and why has this histor...

Reclaiming Chinese Society analyses the mechanisms, processes and actors producing a wide spectrum of social and cultural changes in reform China. Contrary to most literature that emphasizes economic and political processes at the expense of Chinese society, this volume argues for the centrality of the social in understanding Chinese development.Each of the eleven chapters addresses one type of grassroots activism, covering feminist activism, civic environmentalism, religi...

How is democracy made real? How does an undemocratic country create new institutions and transform its polity such that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? These are some of the most pressing questions of our times, and they are the central inquiry of Building Democracy in Japan. Using the Japanese experience as starting point, this book develops a new approach to the study of democratization that examines state-society interactions as a country ...

Globalisation and Women in the Japanese Workforce contributes to the debate about the impact of globalisation upon women. It examines the effect of restructuring upon women's employment in Japan and describes the actions women are taking individually and collectively to campaign for change in their working environment and the laws and practices regulating it.

A number of large-scale transformations have shaped the economy, polity and society of India over the past quarter century. This book provides a detailed account of three that are of particular importance: the advent of liberal economic reform, the ascendance of Hindu cultural nationalism, and the empowerment of historically subordinate classes through popular democratic mobilizations.Filling a gap in existing literature, the book goes beyond looking at the transformations in isola...

Bringing together leading planning and urban scholars, and including fascinating international case studies, this unique book investigates urban planning across the world and in different cultures.

How is the relationship between the Japanese state and Japanese society mediated by the press? Does the pervasive system of press clubs, and the regulations underlying them, alter or even censor the way news is reported in Japan? Who benefits from the press club system? And who loses? Here Laurie Anne Freeman examines the subtle, highly interconnected relationship between journalists and news sources in Japan.Beginning with a historical overview of the relationship between the pres...