Introducing a broad range of data, methods and theories, this book shows how the interaction of local traditions and global flows has shaped the way sport in Japan has been understood ever since the country opened for cultural exchanges with the western world. Taking into account the great variety of cultural, social, political, and economic relationships and processes that affect cultural globalization, it argues in favor of a variety of approaches and multi-disciplinary analysis from the fields of sociology, anthropology, management studies, political science, cultural studies, and history.

Wolfram Manzenreiter is a Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna.

Introduction: Researching Sport and the Political Economy of the Body in Japan Part One: Configurations of Modernity: Sport, the Body and the Nation 1. Modern Bodies, Capital Cities: The Institutionalization of Sport in Late Nation States 2. Creating Space: Urbanity and Modernity in the Japanese Sport Landscape 3. Sport, Body Control and National Discipline in Prewar and Wartime Japan Part Two: New Roles, New Faces: Sport in the Service of Various Masters 4. Sport and Gender in the Japanese Classroom 5. How to Sell a Public Good: The Current State of Sport Supply in Japan 6. Sport and Challenges of the Aged Society in Japan 7. Health, Lifestyle Risks and the Japanese Obesity Crisis 8. The World Cup Comes to Town: Critical Investigation of the Political Economy of Sport Mega-Events Part Three: Global Dimensions: Sport and Geo-Politics of the Body 9. The Global Game in the Service of Japan's Foreign Diplomacy 10. Sport, Spectacles and Subalternity: Positioning East Asia in World Sports 11. Japan, Asia and the New International Division of Sport Apparel Labour. Epilogue: Japanese Sport and Global Body Culture.