Japanese Corporate Transition in Time and Space

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Plates and Tables......Page 12
Note on Transliteration and Translation......Page 14
Acknowledgments......Page 16
JCars in Context......Page 18
Models of the Japanese Workplace......Page 23
The Workplace as Community......Page 25
Discursive Formation of Community......Page 26
Hierarchy in Action......Page 29
Organization of This Book......Page 30
Bodies and Knowledge......Page 34
Tsūkin (Commute)......Page 37
Kaisha (Company)......Page 39
Why Study JCars?......Page 41
Multiple Positions and Feelings......Page 42
Friendships, Worldview, Intersubjectivity, and Ethnography......Page 46
Techniques of Data Collection......Page 54
Inside the Office......Page 55
Outside the Office......Page 59
Email in Research Settings: As Method and Topic......Page 60
Summary of Methodology......Page 61
3 Gender Segregation and the Japanese Labor Market: Equal Employment Opportunity Law......Page 64
Salary Man and Office Lady......Page 65
Gender Segregation in the Japanese Labor Market......Page 67
Management Reforms in the 1970s: Utilizing Women's Power......Page 70
Women's Ratio of Participation in Various Professions, 1990–2005......Page 71
Exclusion from Employment in Large Companies......Page 72
Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL)......Page 75
Introduction of the Career Tracking System, EEOL (1986)......Page 76
EEOL Enacted (1997), Enforced (1999)......Page 79
The Company, Society, and EEOL......Page 81
Social and Structural Effects......Page 83
Restructuring in the Manufacturing Sector......Page 85
Implications of Restructuring......Page 86
Women's Status Reconsidered......Page 87
The Annual Business Plan and the Recruitment Project......Page 92
Firm Entry via Personal Connections: Quality of the Worker......Page 93
Recruiting Female Junior College Graduates......Page 96
Allocation to Departments: Suitability......Page 97
Recruiting Men......Page 98
Disabled Workers......Page 100
Experience of Positions in Clerical and Career Tracks......Page 105
Restructuring: Job Equality between Clerical and Career Track—Occupational Role......Page 109
Converting to the Career Track......Page 112
EEOL's Effects on Women's Long-Term Career Aspirations......Page 115
Women and Men's Talk of Male Careers......Page 117
Personality and Appearance of New Recruits......Page 120
Female Office Workers, Meaning, and Discourses......Page 127
Summary: Discourses of Status......Page 130
JCar's Social Structure = Nakane's Model......Page 134
Job Supervision......Page 137
Sister Tutelage......Page 139
Dōki Groups......Page 149
Summary: Ideals and Experience, Uniting Theory and Practice......Page 155
The Urban Commute......Page 162
Time, Work, Life Course......Page 163
Daily Regulation of Time......Page 164
Overtime: Cultural Meanings......Page 165
Loyalty of Junior Workers......Page 167
Self-Maintenance and Embodiment......Page 170
O-miyage......Page 173
O-chūgen and O-seibo......Page 175
Senpai no Ogori......Page 176
Organized Events......Page 177
Summary: Fostering a JCars Community......Page 178
Plate Section......Page 182
7 Spatial Practices and Hierarchy......Page 186
Characteristics of Hierarchy......Page 187
Relocation......Page 190
Global Hierarchy......Page 191
Office Parties......Page 192
Efficiency......Page 193
Surveillance......Page 194
Transparency......Page 195
Surveillance—Slipping Away......Page 197
Tea Making......Page 200
Cleaning Duties......Page 201
Exclusivity: Power among Women......Page 202
Smokers......Page 204
Refusal to Clean Desks and Ashtrays......Page 205
Summary: Hierarchy and the Different Production of Meanings......Page 206
8 Spatial Practices of Meēru and Bulletin Board......Page 210
Installation of IT Systems......Page 212
Practice of Economic Diversion......Page 215
Mēru: A Web of Activity......Page 218
Romance......Page 219
Friendships......Page 222
Demarcation through Embodied Practices......Page 224
Practices of Detection: Mēru Monitoring......Page 226
Seken......Page 228
The Disorderly Community......Page 232
Intermission......Page 236
Closing......Page 238
Impossibility of Closure......Page 246
Appendix 1 Brief Timeline of Multisited Fieldwork......Page 252
Appendix 2 A Graph to Show the Labor Force Participation Rate of Women by Country and Age Group, 1997......Page 253
Appendix 3 Uranai, Fortune Telling Based on One's Life Course......Page 254
J......Page 256
O......Page 257
Y......Page 258
Notes......Page 260
Selected Bibliography......Page 278
E......Page 302
M......Page 303
W......Page 304
Z......Page 305