Representations of Japanese Nature : Mediating the Ineffable (Japan Anthropology Workshop Series)

Scholars have long recognised that “nature” is mediated, constructed and represented by culture, as also is technology, nature’s “unnatural” counterpart. This book explores how changes, potential and actual, in conceptualizations of nature and technology are mediated and represented in Japan. It considers Japanese reactions to natural disasters, examines the tensions between traditional ways of life, rooted in nature, and the technologies of modernity, and discusses various art forms and literature which focus on nature and technology. Overall, the book assesses how far Japanese people see Japan itself as being in harmony with, or at odds with, nature.