Wolfram Manzenreiter is Professor of Japanese Studies, Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Barbara Holthus is Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies section, at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Although Japan's economy is not growing, and its political system is similarly viewed as stagnating, there is a great deal of interest in Japan in studying and measuring happiness. This focus on happiness represents a refreshingly different view as to what is the purpose of government, and of life - something other than achieving economic growth or political activism. This book, based on extensive original research, considers how the pursuit of happiness is viewed and is striven for in a variety of different situations in Japan. It examines relationships, family, identity, community and self-fulfilment among other subjects.

Part I: Introduction

1. Happiness in Japan through the anthropological lens

Part II: Family, Intimacy and Friendship

2. More than just nakayoshi: Marital intimacy as a key to personal happiness

3. Intimate relationships: Friendships, marriage and gender in Japan

4. Happiness and unconventional life choices: Views of single women in Japan

5. Physical intimacy and happiness in Japanese families: Sexless marriages and parent-child co-sleeping

6. Japanese gays, the closet and the culture-dependent concept of happiness

7. Grandfathering in contemporary Japan: Altruistic and self-serving means to happiness

Part III: Self and Community

8. Makers and doers: Using actor-network theory to explore happiness in Japan's invisible civil society

9. Dimensions of happiness for young political activists: A case study of "Greens Japan" members

10. Living and working for the moment: Motivations, aspirations and experiences of disaster volunteers in T¿hoku

11. "A really warm place": Well-being, place, and the experiences of buraku youth

12. "My life is Taiy¿ K¿muten": On the relationship between organized football fandom and happiness in Japan

13. The midnight community, or under-the-counter happiness

Part IV: Conclusions

14. Happiness in neoliberal Japan

15. Happiness as balancing act between agency and social structure