Consumption and material culture have recently re-entered anthropological debate. Objects are no longer regarded as mere "things" and are recognised as being freighted with symbolic meaning and as constituting the essential elements of exchange in gift and commodity relationships. This is one of the first applications of these analyses to contemporary East Asian societies.
Navigating within the context of Japanese studies, contributors examine a range of topics, including: the role of objects in the educational socialisation of young children, the transformation of everyday objects through the process of commodification, the culture of the collection and display of antiques and artefacts, the material dimensions of sexuality and the presentation of the body, and more.
The book locates Japan within the current debates and demonstrates the place of the material in social relationships and cultural patterning in Japan's complex and fast changing society.
