Ideas and practices concerning sleep and night-time are constantly changing and widely varied in different cultures and societies. What we do during the day and night is the result of much political struggle. Trade unions, political parties, entrepreneurs, leaders and schools boards, all have an interest in questions of timing for the opening and closing of shops, the starting hours of schools and factories, and the number of hours people have to work and sleep. By drawing together comparative case studies from countries in both Asia and Europe, Night-time and Sleep in Asia and the West allows the reader to track the differences in the cultural importance given to the night, and to compare the ways in which the challenges and opportunities of modernity have been played out in the East and the West.

Japan's gender roles are in turmoil. Traditional life courses for men and women are still presented as role models, but there is an increasing range of gender choices for those uncomfortable with convention. This collection of studies from the University of Cambridge provides fascinating insights into the diversity of gendered images, identities, and life-styles in contemporary Japan - from manga girls to herbivore boys, from absent fathers to transgender people. (Series: Japanese Studies / Japanologie - Vol. 3)