Synopses & Reviews
Texture - the quality that makes a text 'hang together' as a text - is a key focus of investigation in discourse analysis. This volume provides a systematic overview of recent research on textual resources that are used to construct texture, and on the ways in which these resources are deployed differently in different text types. Theme is the major resource that is explored in the first part of this book. The opening papers set out the current understanding of Theme and explore aspects of the concept that remain controversial in the field. This is followed by an examination of thematic choices in a range of text types. Issues raised include the different kinds of meanings appearing in Theme that are particularly significant for each genre, the ways in which these relate to the broader socio-cultural context, and the ways in which thematic choices interact with other kinds of texturing. In the second part of the collection, the scope widens to include an examination of other resources, particularly the contribution to texture made by patterns of interpersonal choices, in Theme and more broadly, across texts as a whole. The volume closes with an overview and illustration of a methodological approach by which our understanding of texturing can be further extended.In this extraordinary collection of writings, covering the period from 1878 to 1989, a wide range of Japanese visitors to the United States offer their vivid, and sometimes surprising perspectives on Americans and American society. Peter Duus and Kenji Hasegawa have selected essays and articles by Japanese from many walks of life: writers and academics, bureaucrats and priests, politicians and journalists, businessmen, philanthropists, artists. Their views often reflect power relations between America and Japan, particularly during the wartime and postwar periods, but all of them dealt with common themes--America's origins, its ethnic diversity, its social conformity, its peculiar gender relations, its vast wealth, and its cultural arrogance--making clear that while Japanese observers often regarded the U.S. as a mentor, they rarely saw it as a role model.
Synopsis
In this extraordinary collection of writings, covering the period from 1878 to 1989, a wide range of Japanese visitors to the United States offer their vivid, and sometimes surprising perspectives on Americans and American society. Peter Duus and Kenji Hasegawa have selected essays and articles by Japanese from many walks of life: writers and academics, bureaucrats and priests, politicians and journalists, businessmen, philanthropists, artists. Their views often reflect power relations between America and Japan, particularly during the wartime and postwar periods, but all of them dealt with common themesand#151;Americaand#8217;s origins, its ethnic diversity, its social conformity, its peculiar gender relations, its vast wealth, and its cultural arroganceand#151;making clear that while Japanese observers often regarded the U.S. as a mentor, they rarely saw it as a role model.
Synopsis
and#147;
Rediscovering America makes available in English for the first time a varied sampling of writings about the United States by Japanese observers from many different walks of life.and#8221; and#150; Robert Tierney, author of
Tropics of Savagery: The Culture of Japanese Empire in Comparative Frameand#147;Rediscovering America is a splendid collection of Japanese writings on "the American century," covering the period from 1868 to 1989 (from the Meiji to the Showa eras in Japanese calendar). Many of the issues raised by the authors are still heard today,and#8221; and#150; Akira Iriye, author of Across the Pacific: An Inner History of American-East Asian Relations
About the Author
Peter Duus is Professor Emeritus of History at Stanford University. He is the author of The Japanese Discovery of America: A Brief History with Documents; The Japanese Wartime Empire; Modern Japan; and The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895and#150;1910 (UC Press). Kenji Hasegawa is Assistant Professor of History at Yokohama National University.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Illusion and Disillusion
Sugiyama Shigeru, and#147;On Relations among Nationsand#8221; (1878)
Shiba Shiro, and#147;Strange Encounters with Beautiful Womenand#8221; (1885and#150;1887)
Inoue Enryo, and#147;Religion in Americaand#8221; (1889)
Uchimura Kanzo, and#147;First Impressions of Christendomand#8221; (1893)
Kotoku Shusui, and#147;Letters from San Franciscoand#8221; (1905and#150;1906)
2. Students and Immigrants
Katayama Sen, and#147;Advice on Going to Americaand#8221; (1901)
Noguchi Yonejiro, and#147;My Life in Californiaand#8221; (1911)
Aoyama Tetsushiro, and#147;Home Life in Americaand#8221; (1916)
Sasaki Shigetsu, and#147;Excluded Japanese and Exclusionist Americansand#8221; (1920)
Anonymous, and#147;The Soul of Americaand#8221; (1921)
Shibusawa Eiichi, and#147;On the Anti-Japanese Movement in Americaand#8221; (1924)
3. Modan America
Ashida Hitoshi, and#147;America on the Riseand#8221; (1925)
Maida Minoru, and#147;The Characteristics and Peculiarities of the Americansand#8221; (1925)
Abe Isoo, and#147;Baseball and the American Characterand#8221; (1925)
Noguchi Yonejiro, and#147;American High Societyand#8221; (1925)
Sasaki Shigetsu, and#147;The Troublesome American Womanand#8221; (1927)
Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke, and#147;Motion Pictures: The Americanization Machineand#8221; (1929)
Kiyosawa Kiyoshi, and#147;America, the Land of Speedand#8221; (1929)
4. The American Enemy
Konoe Fumimaro, and#147;My Impressions of Washington and New Yorkand#8221; (1934)
Kada Tetsuji, and#147;American Perspectives on Japan, and Vice Versaand#8221; (1941)
Sawada Ken, and#147;On the History of American Imperialismand#8221; (1941)
Muneo Matsuji, and#147;Americaand#8217;s Race Problemand#8221; (1941)
Miyake Daisuke, and#147;Remembering American Baseballand#8221; (1941)
Matsushita Masatoshi, and#147;The American Home Frontand#8221; (1942)
Nakano Goro, and#147;The Will to Annihilate the American Enemyand#8221; (1943)
Sakanishi Shiho, and#147;Why Do Americans Break the Law?and#8221; (1944)
Roundtable Discussion: and#147;Grasping the Reality of the American Enemyand#8221; (1944)
5. The American Occupiers
Home Ministry, and#147;Illegal Behavior by American Soldiersand#8221; (1945)
Kagawa Toyohiko, and#147;Whence the American Sense of Morality?and#8221; (1945)
Ito Michio, and#147;Culture and the Arts in Americaand#8221; (1945)
Asahi shinbun, and#147;Remembering General MacArthurand#8221; (1951)
Symposium, and#147;What We Have Gained from America and What We Have Lostand#8221; (1952)
Sato Tadao, and#147;What Is America to Us?and#8221; (1967)
6. America Ascendant
Ishigaki Ayako, and#147;The American Housewifeand#8221; (1951)
Goto Yonosuke, and#147;The Dynamic Logic of American Capitalismand#8221; (1956)
Tsuru Shigeto, and#147;America after Fourteen Yearsand#8221; (1956)
Oda Makoto, and#147;The Other Side of American Societyand#8221; (1961)
Yasuoka Shotaro, and#147;Living in Nashvilleand#8221; (1960and#150;1961)
Eto Jun, and#147;America as I See Itand#8221; (1963)
Eto Jun, and#147;The Old Face of Americaand#8221; (1964)
Oe Kenzaburo, and#147;Dealing with Pearl Harborand#8221; (1967)
7. America in Decline
Oda Makoto, and#147;Americans: Between War and Peaceand#8221; (1965)
Honda Katsuichi, and#147;Traveling through the Deep Southand#8221; (1970)
Kirishima Yoko, and#147;The Lonely Americanand#8221; (1971)
Yoshida Ruiko, and#147;Hot Days in Harlemand#8221; (1972)
Kosaka Masataka, and#147;A Proposal for Encouraging Americaand#8221; (1980)
Shimomura Mitsuko, and#147;Glorious America, Where Are You?and#8221; (1980)
Saeki Shoichi, and#147;Rediscovering Americaand#8217;s Dynamic Societyand#8221; (1987)
Yomota Inuhiko, and#147;Koreans in New Yorkand#8221; (1989)
Morita Akio, and#147;The Trouble with the American Economyand#8221; (1989)
Notes