Wolfram Manzenreiter

There is more to Japanese sport than sumo, karate and baseball. This study of social sport in Japan pursues a comprehensive approach towards sport as a distinctive cultural sphere at the intersection of body culture, political economy, and cultural globalization. Bridging the gap between Bourdieu and Foucault, it explains the significance of the body as a field of action and a topic of discourse in molding subject and society in modern Japan. More specifically, it provides answers to questions such as how and to what purposes are politics of the body articulated in Japan, particularly in the realm of sport? What is the agenda of state actors that develop politics aiming at the body, and to what degree are political and societal objectives impacted by commercial and non-political actors? How are political decisions on the allocation of resources made, and what are their consequences for sporting opportunities and practices of the body in general? Without neglecting the significance of sport spectatorship, this study takes a particular angle by looking at sport as a field of practice, pain and pleasure.

There is more to Japanese sport than sumo, karate and baseball. This study of social sport in Japan pursues a comprehensive approach towards sport as a distinctive cultural sphere at the intersection of body culture, political economy, and cultural globalization. Bridging the gap between Bourdieu and Foucault, it explains the significance of the body as a field of action and a topic of discourse in molding subject and society in modern Japan. More specifically, it provides answers to questions such as how and to what purposes are politics of the body articulated in Japan, particularly in the realm of sport? What is the agenda of state actors that develop politics aiming at the body, and to what degree are political and societal objectives impacted by commercial and non-political actors? How are political decisions on the allocation of resources made, and what are their consequences for sporting opportunities and practices of the body in general? Without neglecting the significance of sport spectatorship, this study takes a particular angle by looking at sport as a field of practice, pain and pleasure.

Global popular culture and big business have revolutionised the East in a generation. Football, Sport of the masses and now commercial super power, has travelled with this tide of change in the East in its own right. The development of football as a major participatory sport in Japan, Korea and China makes it an ideal case study for analysis of the complex relationship between sport, culture, society and economy in the East. Football is also a useful entry point for examination of the phenomena of increasing globalisation, and this theme is widely discussed. This broad ranging collection of essays includes:- Social change and national identity- Women's football and gender traditions - Finance and investment in football- The development of professional football- Football and the media- Football Fans, 'hooligans' and soccer supporter culture

Global popular culture and big business have revolutionised the East in a generation. Football, Sport of the masses and now commercial super power, has travelled with this tide of change in the East in its own right. The development of football as a major participatory sport in Japan, Korea and China makes it an ideal case study for analysis of the complex relationship between sport, culture, society and economy in the East. Football is also a useful entry point for examination of the phenomena of increasing globalisation, and this theme is widely discussed. This broad ranging collection of essays includes:- Social change and national identity- Women's football and gender traditions - Finance and investment in football- The development of professional football- Football and the media- Football Fans, 'hooligans' and soccer supporter culture