<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This paper seeks to analyse the iconographic and iconological significance of the 2009 exhibition Art Project concerning Important Historical Issues of the Country (Guójiā zhòngdà lìshǐ tícái měishù chuàngzuò gōngchéng). The exhibition was set up on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and was part of a series of cultural, artistic and literary activities at that time. Created and promoted by the Ministry of Finance, Culture and Propaganda, the exhibition set out the artists’ mission as the presentation of the great history and ‘great national spirit’ (wěidà mínzú jīngshén) of the people of China and ‘the cultivation and spreading of the national spirit’ (péiyǎng hé hóngyáng mínzú jīngshén). This was realised through the media of oil painting, sculpture and traditional Chinese painting, with oil paintings, as the traditional tool of representation, taking up the biggest part of the exhibition. Based on Erwin Panofsky’s arthistorical method of the three-stage model, the text explores and displays the iconographical and iconological meaning of one representative painting: The March of the Volunteers.</abstract>

Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting Between Iconography and Iconology: A Case Study from the People’s Republic of China’s 60th Anniversary Exhibition

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This paper examines magical realism in Okinawa bungaku (Okinawan literature) with a special focus on the literary works of Medoruma Shun. The central research questions are what kind of Okinawan realities these magical-realistic texts point towards and which real problems thus become obvious. Against the theoretical background regarding the discussions on magical realism in literary science, qualitative analyses of the two short stories ‘Akai yashi no ha’ (1992) and ‘Umukaji tō chiritei’ (1999) are conducted. The findings of these analyses show that the narrative mode of magical realism is used to point towards post-colonial power relations and to express a political critique of contemporary relationships with mainland Japan and the United States from an Okinawan point of view.</abstract>

Fantastic Realities: Magical Realism in Contemporary Okinawan Fiction

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The Asian financial crisis marked a turning point in financial development in East Asia that brought the development of bond markets within the focus of policy-makers. This paper tracks the benefits of an advanced bond market, the current state of the East Asian corporate and government bond markets and their rapid evolution since the Asian crisis. Subsequently, a multivariate model is used to determine the endogenous economic and institutional factors that drove growth in the region’s bond markets. The following findings may be noted: (1) growth in the government bond market was driven by the monetary sterilisation efforts of East Asian central banks in order to cope with excessive liquidity, (2) the government bond market may crowd out the corporate bond market, and (3) the corporate bond market grew particularly strongly during the global financial crisis.</abstract>

The Theory and Empirics of Financial Development in the East Asian Bond Markets

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Since the end of the 1990s the Japanese government and local authorities have made a series of efforts to reduce the number of homeless people in Japan, which had dramatically increased in public places. The Special Law on Temporary Measures to Support the Self-Sufficiency of Homeless People, enacted in 2002, became the foundation for nationwide countermeasures, and switched the aim of homeless support towards a self-sufficient life. This research focuses on homeless self-sufficiency support centres in Ōsaka city, which help homeless individuals to find a way back into a self-sufficient life through job assistance. It aims to establish if this kind of welfare facility is capable of rebuilding social networks or providing clients with the necessary skills to do so. This question is addressed through a detailed description of the facility, the support it offers and an analysis of the social networks of former clients based on qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey. The results show that in the support offered by the facility, social networks are not considered to be a crucial factor for escaping homelessness and are therefore not targeted. Although some former clients are able to rebuild social networks around the workplace, these networks have only a minor role in mutual support.</abstract>

Social Networks of Homeless People under the Influence of Homeless Self-Sufficiency Support Centres in Japan

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This paper reassesses the history of psychiatry in Japan through application of the theory of disciplinary power by Michel Foucault. The society of the early Meiji era (1868-1912) is defined as a disciplinary society within the scope of discourses on punishment and general social reforms. By focussing on a close reading of both canonical and marginalised fragments of psychiatric texts, this analysis reveals their constitutive character for the establishment of psychiatric discourses. These texts, rooted in biological psychiatry, are shown to stress the hazard that mental illness presented to the nation. Recourse to juridical problems, which derive from enacting a European model of law, provides an explanation for the necessity of psychiatry as a social institution. The key point is to identify a discursive break between two major legal acts dealing with the confinement of the mentally ill: the Mental Patients Custody Act of 1900 and the Mental Hospital Act of 1919. The first deals mainly with administrative issues, while the latter was formed under the influence of an emerging psychiatric power. The Mental Hospital Act refines the disciplinary network operating in the social space, while blurring the discursive fissure between traditional care and psychiatric techniques.</abstract>

For Body, Mind and the Nation: An Archaeology of Modern Japanese Psychiatry

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This paper attempts to bring to light a little-known genre of ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints), the awate-e (hysteria pictures). This genre of polychrome ukiyo-e (nishiki-e) belongs among caricatures because it treats current events in a satirical way. The Namamugi incident (September 14, 1862), when samurai of the Satsuma domain killed one British merchant and injured two, led to the emergence of the awate-e. The British Crown demanded reparations for those killed. While the shogunate postponed payment, British warships gathered in the Bay of Edo to exert pressure. The danger of war was real and the cities of Yokohama and Edo were considered the main targets of a British attack. Many people moved to rural areas or at least sent their families and belongings away. This led to an increased demand for transport, houses, and land in the countryside. Hardly anybody remaining in the cities spent time in the pleasure quarters or bought luxury goods. The results were dramatic for people in those trades. This situation is satirised in the awate-e. Starting with the question ‘Why is the Geisha hitting the Westerner?’, this paper explores the genre of awate-e and its relevance for historical and ukiyo-e research by studying 21 awate-e as primary sources. It reveals a negative appraisal of Westerners, of people leaving the danger zone, and of professions in high demand. The producers of awate-e are biased towards people staying in areas become dangerous, professions suddenly grown poor, and the foreigners-out policy of the Emperor.</abstract>

Why is the Geisha Hitting the Westerner? The Japanese Woodblock Print Genre of awate-e

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 1 (January 2022)

Volume 13 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)

Volume 12 (2020): Issue 1 (December 2020)

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 1 (December 2019)

Volume 10 (2018): Issue 1 (December 2018)

Volume 9 (2017): Issue 1 (December 2017)

Volume 8 (2016): Issue 1 (December 2016)

Volume 7 (2015): Issue 1 (December 2015)

Volume 6 (2014): Issue 1 (December 2014)

Volume 5 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014)

Volume 4 (2013): Issue 1 (June 2013)

Volume 3 (2012): Issue 1 (March 2012)

Volume 2 (2011): Issue 1 (December 2011)

Volume 1 (2011): Issue 1 (March 2011)

Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies

 What commenced in 2009 with the chief aim to provide a platform to disseminate pioneering research especially by emerging scholars of the University of Vienna, over the years became an increasingly attractive venue for the scholarship of the international East Asianist community. With its move to De Gruyter Open starting with Volume 10, the Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies (VJEAS), while still embracing the early philosophy at its core, has internationalised its profile.  VJEAS addresses international scholars from the wider field of East Asian Studies focusing on issues past and/or present related to the Greater China region, the Koreas, Japan, and Vietnam. Submissions may draw on the full scale of methodologies, theories, and approaches found in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. In every issue of VJEAS readers will find a rich diversity of cutting-edge research by both emerging and established international scholars.  Editorial Policy  The Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies (VJEAS) publishes original research related to any subject in the field of East Asian Studies, involving Greater China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Vietnam. Manuscript submissions must not be previously published or under consideration by another publisher or journal. The authors of the papers published in VJEAS are solely responsible for the contents of their papers. All manuscript submissions will undergo rigorous peer review conducted by appropriate specialists. VJEAS is published once every year in early October.  "Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies" is a double-blind peer reviewed journal. The journal does not have any article processing charges (APCs) or article submission charges.  Rejection Rate:   66%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 