Japan and Global Migration brings together current research on foreign workers and households from a variety of different perspectives. This influx has had a substantial impact on Japan's economic, social and political landscape. The book asks three major questions: whether the recent wave of migration constitutes a new multicultural age challenging Japan's identity as homogenous society; how foreign workers confront the many difficulties living in Japan; how Japanese society is both resisting and accommodating the growing presence of foreign workers in their communities.
This book contains the most up to date, original data on Japanese migrant culture available. Its inescapable conclusion is that the multicultural age has finally come to Japan; the question is whether foreign workers will be legally and socially assimilated into the fabric of Japanese society or will continue to be treated as temporary entrants with limited civil rights. The book is written with postgraduate students in Asian studies, Japanese studies, political science, sociology, anthropology and migration studies, in mind.

This book explores how and why civic spaces are used by different communities in Asia and what role urban governance and public participation play in the support or demise of communities. Using case studies of contemporary city life throughout, the contributors provide insights into the importance and value of civic space, arguing that civic spaces provide not only the physical sites for civil society to function autonomously; but also provide a sense of place in the form of identity, meaning, memory, history and linkages with the wider world. Each chapter focuses on the production of and access to civic spaces in a particular Asian city, as well as examples of successes and failures that can inform urban policy regarding inclusive, tolerant and socially vibrant city life through focused attention on the provision and continuity of civic space. This book is designed to provide information to policymakers, researchers and students of the developing world regarding the importance and value of civic space in terms of creating and supporting urban communities. As such, The Politics of Civic Space in Asia will be an invaluable resource for those interested in urban planning, urban design, public policy and political science, as well as Asian studies more generally.

Globalization, the City and Civil Society in Pacific Asia presents a detailed examination of the underlying issues of urban life in the Far East. Leading authorities on globalization and politics in the region cover key themes of continuity and change: relationships between civil society and the production of urban spaces. Chapters focus on various types of 'civic spaces' that provide spaces for life that are autonomous from state and capital ten case studies explore a wide variety of contexts ranging from spaces where lower classes congregated in ancient Chinese cities to cyberspaces of the contemporary internet the history and role of civil society in social and political philosophies of societies in the Pacific Asia region tendencies and issues related to specific types of civic spaces in a given city. Several studies find that great stress has been placed on long-standing community and civic spaces common themes, patterns and issues as well as singularities of each particular context. In this way it can contribute to the broader (mostly Western) literature on society and space the future of cities in Pacific Asia from the perspective of civic space. Can civic spaces be routinely created rather than appropriated through civil society-state-economy struggles? Most research on globalization and civil society has focused on the West, this unique book brings together a tight analysis and a series of ten case studies on Pacific Asian countries. It also theorizes and empirically explores the relationships between civil society and the production of urban spaces.

This book explores how and why civic spaces are used by different communities in Asia and what role urban governance and public participation play in the support or demise of communities. Using case studies of contemporary city life throughout, the contributors provide insights into the importance and value of civic space, arguing that civic spaces provide not only the physical sites for civil society to function autonomously; but also provide a sense of place in the form of identity, meaning, memory, history and linkages with the wider world. Each chapter focuses on the production of and access to civic spaces in a particular Asian city, as well as examples of successes and failures that can inform urban policy regarding inclusive, tolerant and socially vibrant city life through focused attention on the provision and continuity of civic space. This book is designed to provide information to policymakers, researchers and students of the developing world regarding the importance and value of civic space in terms of creating and supporting urban communities. As such, The Politics of Civic Space in Asia will be an invaluable resource for those interested in urban planning, urban design, public policy and political science, as well as Asian studies more generally.

Globalization, the City and Civil Society in Pacific Asia presents a detailed examination of the underlying issues of urban life in the Far East.

Leading authorities on globalization and politics in the region cover key themes of continuity and change:

• relationships between civil society and the production of urban spaces. Chapters focus on various types of 'civic spaces' that provide spaces for life that are autonomous from state and capital
• ten case studies explore a wide variety of contexts ranging from spaces where lower classes congregated in ancient Chinese cities to cyberspaces of the contemporary internet
• the history and role of civil society in social and political philosophies of societies in the Pacific Asia region
• tendencies and issues related to specific types of civic spaces in a given city. Several studies find that great stress has been placed on long-standing community and civic spaces
• common themes, patterns and issues as well as singularities of each particular context. In this way it can contribute to the broader (mostly Western) literature on society and space
• the future of cities in Pacific Asia from the perspective of civic space. Can civic spaces be routinely created rather than appropriated through civil society-state-economy struggles?

Most research on globalization and civil society has focused on the West, this unique book brings together a tight analysis and a series of ten case studies on Pacific Asian countries. It also theorizes and empirically explores the relationships between civil society and the production of urban spaces.

With Singapore serving as the subject of exploration, The Hard State, Soft City of Singapore explores the purview of imaginative representations of the city. Alongside the physical structures and associated practices that make up our lived environment, and conceptualized space engineered into material form by bureaucrats, experts and commercial interests, a perceptual layer of space is conjured out of people's everyday life experiences. While such imaginative projections may not be as tangible as its functional designations, they are nonetheless equally vital and palpable. The richness of its inhabitants' memories, aspirations and meaningful interpretations challenges the reduction of Singapore as a Generic City. Taking the imaginative field as the point of departure, the forms and modes of intellectual and creative articulations of Singapore's urban condition probe the resilience of cities and the people who reside in them, through the images they convey or evoke as a means for collective expressions of human agency in placemaking.

This book examines the active role of urban citizens in constructing alternative urban spaces as tangible resistance towards capitalist production of urban spaces that continue to encroach various neighborhoods, lanes, commons, public land and other spaces of community life and livelihoods. The collection of narratives presented here brings together research from ten different Asian cities and re-theorises the city from the perspective of ordinary people facing moments of crisis, contestations, and cooperative quests to create alternative spaces to those being produced under prevailing urban processes. The chapters accent the exercise of human agency through daily practices in the production of urban space and the intention is not one of creating a romantic or utopian vision of what a city "by and for the people" ought to be. Rather, it is to place people in the centre as mediators of city-making with discontents about current conditions and desires for a better life.

This book explores the leading role that cities can play in shaping progressive policies in collaboration with various stakeholders. It examines the timing of such shifts to progressivity in cities, the interactions that enable progressive actions to be developed and sustained, and the challenges and constraints facing progressive cities. The book approaches the themes using an array of methods to investigate how progressive city governments emerge, what constitutes a "progressive city" in terms of governance institutions, processes and outcomes and whether progressive cities are destined to be ephemeral or if they can be sustained over time. With its focus on the emerging role of local governments in shaping city futures, this book is useful for students, academics, government official and policy makers interested in geography, sociology, urban planning, public policy, political economy, social movements, participatory democracy and Asian and European studies.

This edited book approaches the threat and impact of environmental disasters on Asia's urban populations from a governance perspective. It adopts a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary approach to disaster governance that emphasises the importance of multiple stakeholders in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters and their cascading impacts in Asia's cities. The contributors to this volume take a broad view of the multifaceted causalities and the interconnected threats and vulnerabilities of environmental disasters in urbanising Asia. As such, the book is an invitation to advance scholarship in the search for more effective, comprehensive and inclusive disaster preparedness agendas, recovery programs and development priorities.

This edited book approaches the threat and impact of environmental disasters on Asia's urban populations from a governance perspective. It adopts a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary approach to disaster governance that emphasises the importance of multiple stakeholders in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters and their cascading impacts in Asia's cities. The contributors to this volume take a broad view of the multifaceted causalities and the interconnected threats and vulnerabilities of environmental disasters in urbanising Asia. As such, the book is an invitation to advance scholarship in the search for more effective, comprehensive and inclusive disaster preparedness agendas, recovery programs and development priorities.

The global age of migration is fast becoming a permanent feature of Japanese life, impacting the country's economic, social, and political landscape. The twelve essays collected here bring together the most up-to-date, original research on foreign workers and households from a variety of perspectives. Throughout, three key questions are addressed: Does the recent wave of migration constitute a new multicultural age that challenges Japan's identity us a homogenous society? How do foreign workers confront the many difficulties of living in Japan? How is Japanese society both resisting and accommodating the growing presence of foreign workers in its communities? Japan and Global Migration is a much-needed and timely contribution to the literature on Japan and cultural difference and required reading for anyone concerned with the future of Japanese society.

This book explores the role of culture in the urban transformation of Asian cities. Departing from the strictly economic treatment of urbanization that has tended to dominate urban geography, Culture and the City in East Asia demonstrates how the pervasive influence of culture has effected Asian urbanization, using both comparative analysis and individual studies of major cities of the region: Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo, Hanoi, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Southeast Asia contains four urban conglomerates of the sort that this study characterizes as Mega-Urban Regions - Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh. These locations are examined in this book, along with Taipei and Shanghai. Because the administrative boundaries of the cities at the core of these zones do not include the entire urban area, the significance of the broader urban community has largely escaped scholarly attention. The authors base their analysis on actual agglomeration size rather than administrative boundaries, and draw on unpublished census data to study the dynamics of these massive urban zones, considering area and population size as well as social and demographic patterns of change in core, inner and outer zones. They conclude that these mega-urban regions continue to increase their share of national populations, and zones immediately beyond the official metropolitan boundaries are where the most dramatic changes are occurring.