Abstract
This chapter explores the impact of neoliberalism on Japanese culture and economy. Japan serves as a strategic site of investigation not only because it fervently embraced neoliberalism from the 1980s to the 2000s but also because it has offered its own unique approaches in response to perceived “problems” at different times. Focusing on the sites of labor, education, and sport, the chapter contends that the casualization of labor and individualization of society are increasingly manifested while the Japanese practice of selective incorporation, through glocalization, remains prominent. For instance, youth and women largely embraced neoliberal values and attitudes in order to challenge the dominant ideological construct of “salarymen ideals.” However, the new values, systems, and practices associated with individual freedom and individuality were largely resisted by the extant inherited frameworks and regimental practices, including life-time employment in major corporations, rote memorization in school education systems, and collective orientation in bukatsudō (extracurricular school activity). Consequently, we contend that neoliberalism is constantly susceptible to the glocal conditions, and therefore there are no guarantees, nor any predetermined outcomes, for dominance within a context of the particular. Thus, the socio-cultural effects of neoliberalization need to be carefully examined for their glocality.