Making Japan's national game : a cultural history of baseball in Japan / Blair Williams.
| Author/creator | Williams, Blair author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Durham, North Carolina : Carolina Academic Press, 2021. |
| Description | xxx, 189 pages : illustrations ; 15 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Machine generated contents note: ch. One Developing an Athletic Culture in the New Japanese State -- Introduction -- The Meiji Era and the Introduction of Baseball in Japan -- Installing a Westernized Physical Education System in Japan -- The Amherst Program and the Creation of a Japanese Athletic Culture -- Budo Martial Arts within the Context of Western Physical Education -- Conclusion -- ch. Two Bushido Baseball -- Introduction -- The Reimagining of the Samurai -- Inoue Testsujiro and the Emergence of Imperial Bushido -- Questioning Bushido and Masochism: The Hagakure -- Baseball's Emergence in the Home of Imperial Bushido Philosophy -- The First Baseball Game Between Japanese and American Players -- Conclusion -- ch. Three Imperial Baseball -- Introduction -- Baseball in Taiwan -- Baseball in Korea -- Baseball in Dalian -- Japanese Baseball on Tour -- Conclusion -- ch. Four The Koshien Tournament -- Introduction -- The "Baseball Evils" Debate -- The Making of a Japanese Game: The "Koshien" High School Baseball Tournament -- The Transformative Power of Baseball Bushido -- Conclusion -- ch. Five The Era of Athletic Mega-Events -- Introduction -- The Era of Mega-Events in Japan's Empire -- Athletic Mega-Events and Imperial Bushido -- The Meiji Jingu Taikai -- The Manchurian Undokai and Olympic Committee -- Conclusion -- ch. Six Baseball during the Fifteen Years War -- Introduction -- Government Intervention in School Baseball -- Babe Ruth's Tour of Japan in the Context of Fascism -- The Creation of the Japanese Baseball Federation -- Japanese Athletics in the "Time of Crisis" -- Baseball During Total War -- Conclusion -- Interlude -- An Empire in Ruins -- The Stabilizing Force of Baseball -- ch. Seven Baseball in the Aftermath of Total War -- Introduction -- A Nation Passes Time: The Resumption of Baseball in Occupied Japan -- The Resumption of Baseball in Japan -- School Physical Education under Democracy and Demilitarization -- One Out Baseball -- Social Physical Education under Democratization and Demilitarization -- Educating About the Democracy through Baseball Magazines -- Provisions of Equipment and Space -- Conclusion -- ch. Eight The Cold War and the Reverse Course: Rearming Japan without Resurrecting Bushido Philosophy -- Introduction -- The Cold War -- Olympic-Style Games during the Reverse Course -- Conclusion -- ch. Nine Baseball's Cold Warriors -- Introduction -- The Collapse of the Japanese Baseball Federation and Creation of Nippon Professional Baseball -- Baseball Takes Occupation into Extra Innings -- The Baseball Exchange Students -- Baseball in the Physical Culture Project and Seinendan Youth -- How Does One Pitch an Atom? Baseball's Role in Atoms for Peace -- Conclusion -- ch. Ten The Severance of Baseball Communities -- Introduction -- Major League Baseball Surveys Nippon Professional Baseball -- NPB Breaks Its Bond With MLB: The "Stanka Problem" -- The "Murakami Problem" -- Conclusion -- ch. Eleven Nihonjinron and The Power of Minorities in NPB in the 1960s -- 1970s -- Introduction -- The Homerun Gap: Batting Power and Ethnic Identity in Cold War Japan -- Oh Sadaharu -- Baseball and Nihonjinron Discourse in the 1960s and 1970s -- The Power of Minorities in the NPB -- Conclusion -- ch. Twelve The Japanese Baseball Community in the Post-Cold War Context -- Introduction -- The Long Reach of the 1988 Seoul Olympics -- Japanese Internationalist Nationalism and Sports -- Major League Baseball's Internationalist Nationalism -- NPB Free Agency as Protectionism -- The Unsettling of Japan's Global Position in the 1990s -- Turning a Weakness into a Strength: Baseball Diplomacy in the 2000s -- Conclusion. |
| Abstract | "Making Japan's National Game illuminates the history of the Japanese baseball community and its contributions to national and imperial identity throughout the twentieth century. In Japan, baseball transcended its origins as the American "national pastime," and the sport became integrated with fundamental concepts of Japanese culture and society. In examining baseball's ascent as Japan's most popular and widespread sport, we can understand better how athletic culture connected people throughout discrete eras of Japanese history. This book investigates the Japanese baseball community's relationship with three categories of nationalism: bushidō ("the way of the warrior"), nihonjinron ("theories of the Japanese"), and kokusaika ("internationalization"). This approach reveals the power of historical imagery in modernity, such as comparisons between contemporary baseball players and the extinct warrior class of pre-modern Japan, the samurai. Therefore, this book is more than an examination of the history of sport within a nation: it is also an examination of how history and traditions interact with modern society"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Williams, Blair, Making Japan's national game Durham, North Carolina : Carolina Academic Press, 2020. 9781531015329 |
| Genre/form | History. |
| ISBN | 9781531015312 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 153101531X |
| ISBN | (ebook) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | General Stacks | GV863.77 .A1 B53 2021 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |