Uncovering Japan’s Informal Politics
Tessa Morris-suzuki, emeritus professor of Japanese history at Australian National University, has written prolifically on diverse themes. Her latest work is an original and fascinating exploration of informal, grassroots politics in Japan since the 19th century.
Focusing on Nagano prefecture and case studies including communitarian activism, educational innovation, the New Village movement, craft and health co-operatives and post-war visions of economic development, she uncovers the invisible and neglected aspects of political life. Using the concept of “resonance” to show the originality of these Japanese experiments in political expression, she traces the cross-fertilization of ideas from the UK, India, Russia and China and thinkers as diverse as William Blake, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Petr Kropotkin and Rabindranath Tagore in shaping Japanese political thinking.
A mix of intellectual history, political analysis and anthropology, Japan’s Living Politics offers insights on how to offset the challenges of globalization and an excessive focus on economic growth, as well as the disruption of populism and exclusionary nationalism. Focusing on Japan’s neglected experience of informal politics (and beyond competing ideologies such as communism and capitalism), Morris-suzuki provides a positive transnational example of how individuals can find meaning in their personal and collective lives.
Morris-suzuki offers a mix of intellectual history, political analysis and anthropology.