Organizations hold steady, individuals are held accountable (scapegoats, ritualistic)

Looking for something out of the ordinary to read this summer? This story appeared today via Linkedin.

It is about scandal in organizations or Japanese society: perpetrator apologizes, is banned, finally is rehabilitated. But the organization continues they same as before they scandal.

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Here is the link to the 35-minute interview with Dr. Igor Prusa, author of "Scandal in Japan: Transgression, Performance and Ritual" (Routledge, 2024): 

Beyond Harmony: What Japanese Scandals Reveal About Us All with Dr. Igor Prusa

Blurb from interview summary page:

These performances—featuring deep bowing, tears, and formal apologies—serve as a form of scapegoating that temporarily satisfies society's need for justice while protecting corrupt systems.
... ...
While Japan maintains its traditional rituals, figures like Donald Trump have disrupted Western scandal narratives by refusing expected contrition, instead transforming potential disgrace into demonstrations of strength. 

Social isolation (hikikomori) of shut-ins & one program's responses in central Japan

Something like 1.5 million people around the Japanese islands isolate themselves from general social interaction by some estimates. This news story describes a school/training program in the middle of the country for people ages 14 to 46 who seek structure and guidance to return in some way to independent living in wider society.

Outside of Japan, too, other countries are recognizing a similar phenomenon of social isolation. So the approach detailed in this story may be of interest outside of the Japanese context.

Usually the online Japan-Times only shows 1 or 2 paragraphs, unless you subscribe.

But this article if for everyone to read. So they do not block the full text.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/05/31/lifestyle/hikikomori-shut-ins-rehabilitation-nagano/

clips of 1920s to 1980 film recording in Japan

Via the Travel Film Archive, search string "Japan" gives many results

https://www.travelfilmarchive.com/results.php

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Bits of Life In Japan

Length: 3:22     Year: 1921     Sound: Silent

Description: A visit with an all female orchestra in Japan in the 1920's by Burton Holmes

Rice Growing in Fujiyama

Length: 03:12     1920s     Sound: Silent 

Description: Growing rice in Fujiyama, Japan in the 1920s.

Nikko Temples, Kyoto, Japan

Length: 13:59     1920     Sound: Silent

Description: Street scenes in Kyoto and the shrines and temples of Nikkō, Japan.

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Japan In Cherry Blossom Time

Length: 6:56     Year: 1932

Description: A tour of Japan in the 1930's

The Island Empire

Length: 7:09     Year: 1932

Description: A tour of Japan in the 1930's

New York World's Fair

Length: 9.32     Year: 1939     Sound: Silent

Description: A tour of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair

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Farmers and Fishermen of Japan

Length: 9:00     1950s

Description: Farming and fishing in a small Japanese village at the foot of Mt Fuji

Japan

Length: 7:55     Year: 1953

Description: A film about Japan in the 1950's from the Carl Dudley series This World of Ours.

Japan's Rising Sun

Length: 35:01     Year: 1953     Sound: Silent

Description: A silent travel lecture film made by Mrs Deane Dickason about Japan in 1953.

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New Horizons - Japan

Length: 13:04     Year: 1960

Description: A Pan Am tour of Japan in the 1960s. Narration is in German.

Journey Through Tokyo

Length: 21:30     1960s

Description: A journey through Tokyo in the 1960s.

Japan- An Independent Nation

Length: 23:49     Year: 1980

Description: Explores the cultural, agricultural and industrialization of Japan, from traditional cultural practices to the nation's ever increasing modernization.

radio story "Japan Rail & shinkansen safety during earthquakes"

about 4 minutes (disaster prevention system), https://theworld.org/stories/2025/02/06/how-japan-keeps-its-trains-safe-from-earthquakes

How Japan keeps its trains safe from earthquakes Japan experiences more earthquakes than any country. But its transit system remains remarkably safe. The bullet train, for example, has never seen a death or serious injury due to an earthquake or tsunami. Japan may offer lessons to other countries as climate change causes more natural disasters globally. theworld.org

drone 360 snowy view in south central Echizen-city (Fukui-ken), rural west Japan

February 2025 fresh blanket of snow in Hokuriku after recent wintry weather: Thanks to the blanket of white, many of the buildings and lanes stand out. The snow certainly adds a new dimension to verbal portraits of a place. And like any still photo, it captures a specific moment in time, making it possible to revisit again and again in future generations, thus contributing to a long-term view for understanding a place and its people.

He flies a DJI-Mini as his UAV, https://tinyurl.com/snowy2025daihoji

arranging marriages in Japan

crossposting from Media Anthropology, MediAnth, listserv

Erika Alpert answers questions about her book, The Relationship People, posted by Robert Marshall.

https://campanthropology.org/2025/01/20/erika-alpert-on-her-book-the-relationship-people/ 

Press blurb: 

Japan has often been portrayed as a mysterious, sexless, troubled land. Birth rates and marriage rates have been decreasing for decades, and national surveys show that Japanese people are simply having less sex overall. But Japan is not so different from anywhere else—it's simply on the leading edge of worldwide demographic shifts. Because of rigid norms around gender, marriage, childbearing, and work, and relatively strict immigration policies, Japan is also experiencing these shifts more acutely. In The Relationship People, Erika R. Alpert starts by exploring some of the factors that have contributed to later and less marriage and childbearing in Japan and elsewhere. Alpert then goes on to explore the disjuncture between what Japanese singles report as preventing them from getting married and popularly proposed solutions to this problem. Japanese singles point to economic factors, such as low income, as one of their most significant barriers to marriage. However, much of the popular discourse aimed at Japanese singles elides these economic concerns; instead, it encourages them to exert more personal effort to meet people in order to get married. These "marriage activities" (konkatsu) may take the form of signing up with a professional matchmaker, using an online dating site, or going to singles' parties. By examining konkatsu from the perspective of matchmakers, clients, and online daters, Alpert looks at the linguistic processes of connection that underpin konkatsu and its successes—or more often, failures. Institutions of matchmaking and technological structures such as databases and online profiles give shape to the ways singles connect. As this research shows, understanding this linguistic connective tissue enables us to answer questions about what constitutes "attractive" and "marriageable" in Japan, what kind of consciousness konkatsu is supposed to instill in singles, and what role Japan's various partner matching industries might be able to play in alleviating the country's demographic crisis.