Anthropology of Japan - Essay Example

Anthropology of Japan Introduction The morally and socially changing e form and understanding of places has had no much appeal beyond geography in particular and certainly not within modern social science, in general. Agnew argued that this has had much to do with the normative association of fields such as political science and sociology with nation-state building and the adoption of a scientific imagination. However, it has tended to cause much greater importance in modern way of motivations and preferences of individual persons, and social groups. This is more than just to the historical-geographical context from which group and individual motivation is derived. Secondly, the taken-for-granted political ideology that has long afflicted the emerging social sciences practitioners meant that the nation-state has become regarded as not simply the main but the only geographic unit of account. Indeed, to the extent that geography now meant anything at all, it was an accounting of facts about this or that state with respect to resources, cultural characteristics, and commercial possibilities. Potential geographic entities other than state territories could have no role in a modern world in which the nation-state is the highest form of political and social organization (Agnew). The paper would research on bombing and peace in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, the writings on the paper would reflect what has been discussed in class. A static view of a place as naturally associated with traditional or pre-capitalist society has become enshrined in much modern social science. Living in place, from such point of view mentioned, is a similar character to step into Kinkade Thomas painting and enjoying sociability without self-affectionate of a global community long since it was lost. Today, place takes on a misty glow as a concept whose shelf life has long since run out. This putting place in the past has made it next to impossible to argue the merits of place as a concept with any sort of theoretical equivalence to those such as class, status, nation, state, and firm. Only as location, and that of diminishing impact, has the term kept up much of any significance. In Hiroshima, a museum was constructed after the atomic bomb attack and it has a message that it communicates to people. Those people who visit the place are being educated by including both the politics and science of the atom that was used to attack the city. The outcome is raised awareness of potential hazards and whether from destruction of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The horror of any fight disturbs a lot, but the height of the destruction that is indiscriminative from atomic bombs and their subsequent effects are extremely chilling. If at all such atomic weapons are in existence, innocent populations are always under threat of being attacked by the thermonuclear. However, the people who reside in Hiroshima believe that what was experienced in their city as well as Nagasaki can never happen. In addition, since the year 1968, the Hiroshima city mayors have always sent telegrams to protest nuclear weapons testing to governments. Lately, it was sent to United States on July 2011. Recently, however, and in response to the crises of both conventional and radical social thought in the face of such trends as globalization and the collapse of the established socialist regimes in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, some signs of interest in reviving the concept for what it might offer in new circumstances have appeared on the horizon. It can be first turned to some big theoretical initiatives found in fields such as geography that provide various means of involving the two actual meanings of a place, bringing place and space altogether. This is prior to investigating some experientially accustomed methods capable of making a more persuasive case for the theoretical application of place. Finally, in radical social science, places have been undergoing practically devaluation and this is because capitalism has been reducing place to locations and at the same time converting use-values into exchange-values, an affiliated commoditization has disconnected persons from self-creations in place. In this perspective, a geographical alienation of people from the world around them has been the kiss of death for place (Agnew 21). Nagasaki had two munitions manufactures, which are Mitsubishi and another, and these two factories had good organization structure as well as its production and the Japan Navy supervised it. In addition, Nagasaki was well known of its development history in medicine. During the 17th century, Tokugawa authority Shogunate shut down its doors at the expense of foreign nations and prohibited transportation of human as well transactions that involves commerce with other nations, except Nagasaki. Nagasaki was the city that was only allowed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to have communication with the Dutch and China (Tani 16). Therefore, Nagasaki City had the chance to have close relations and contacts with the advancing European knowledge about medicine and science. Confusing places and society are widespread among the social sciences. However, this reflects clearly an underlying ambiguity in the language of a community as it has developed among the social sciences. So far, the intellectual devaluation of a place has been associated with contributory factors such as the political and historical related factors (Agnew 17). A place can be used in a variety of ways, but its meaning can be specified more clearly inform of the dimensions that tend to occur again across the different theoretical positions that can be critically examined. The first dimension is the place as a location or a site in the space where an activity or object is located and which relates to other sites or locations because of interaction, movement, and diffusion between them. A city or another settlement is often thought of this way as always part of a system of places with mobility inherent in the relations between them (Agnew 12). The city of Hiroshima is situated specifically at the western side of the main Japan Island. Hiroshima has a flat and open field that is located in the center, and it faces the sea in the southern part, as well with low hilly places in the northern. In addition, Hiroshima was among the largest City in the Western part of Japan, and its population was approximated to be around 340,000 before the dropping of the atomic bomb. In addition, before the war Hiroshima city was the center of the western military in Japan, with a majority of institution headquarters that are related to military. Therefore, Hiroshima City was designed for Military, and it is approximated that about 40,000 people were engaged in Military activities (Tani 22). Second is the view of a place through a series of locales or settings where every-day-life activities take place. Here the location is not just the mere address but also the place where of social life and environmental transformation is taking place. Examples would be such social settings from everyday life as working place, homes, shopping malls, worshipping places, vehicles, whose structuring of social interaction assists to forge values, attitudes and behaviors(Jordan 4). Some places with particular events are not importantly tied to some locations and at the same time cannot be fixed or permanently. However, in Nagasaki during the starting periods, majority of research work were only field studies that was carried out by Pathology Department in the mainland of Republic of China, Internal Medicine, Bacteriology, as well as Dermatology of Nagasaki Medical College. However, on the of month August, the year of 1945, an atomic bomb attack was launched in the city of Nagasaki. Because of these, all the facilities that belong to institutions within Nagasaki, as well as research tools, were destroyed, and the Medical College came down. Afterward, the development of medical institutions and their research operations failed (Matsunari 12). The third dimension is a place as sense identification with a place as a unique community, landscape, and moral order. In this construction, every place is particular and, thus, singular. A strong sense of “belonging” to a place, either consciously or as shown through everyday behavior such as participating in place related affairs, would be indicative of a sense of place. However, this need is neither totalistic, in the sense of excluding other objects of affection or identity nor reactionary and exclusionary. Arguably, however, some sense of place (with a locality, nation-state, or world) is a prerequisite for social solidarity and collective action. In relation to above discussion, Nagasaki is located in the northwestern side of Kyushu, the Island in the western part of the Japan only main island. The city central business district is open and close to features such as the high hills, in the other three directions is surrounding the sea that is in the southern part. However, before the dropping of the atomic bomb during the year 1945, Nagasaki was approximated to have a population close to 240,000.During the war period, the city became a zone that is fortified (Tani 17). In addition, the train station of Hiroshima was brought down and burnt completely. Houses that had collapsed and electrical fire caused severe damage as well as blocking majority of the roads that get in and outside the city. As a result, buses, train, and various vehicles were not able to the roads and rails respectively (Tani 20). During the day, the atomic bomb was launched the injured majority of casualties were being transported and carried by the relief train that had begun from a station situated about 1.4 km from the Hiroshima city center. It was reported that approximately 8,493 casualties were taken to surrounding hospitals in the city and within eight facilities as well as five more towns, villages, and cities including other districts under prefects, for instance, Fukuoka (Nozawa 15). Conclusion In conclusion, from the analysis done by the atomic bomb attack on the two cities, it appears that Nagasaki was less damaged yet it was the place with strong atomic bomb compared to Hiroshima. However, there were crucial geographical factors that resulted in different effects in relation to those who were affected. Mobilization and systematic organization of rescuing and relief staffs, maintenance of transport facilities that function, and advanced in medical knowledge, as well as public awareness regarding to disaster management, may have led to minimal deaths and although with high number of people who survived. In addition, it can be concluded that the devaluation of a place can be influenced by politics and sociology. Moreover, the devaluation of a certain place can be attributed to social science in the form of Marxian political economy. Work Cited Agnew, John. "Place and Politics: The Geographical Mediation of State and." (1987): 14-57. Agnew, John. "The Devaluation of Place in Social Sciences." The Power of Place: Bringing Together Geographical and Sociological Imaginations (1989): 8-25. Jordan, Sand. House and Modern Space: Dwelling and the Space of Modern Japan. (2003) Matsunari, Nakao. "Survey on the Nurses Activity during the Nagasaki Atomic Bombing." Health Sciences Res. 22(2) (2010): 9-15. Nozawa, Matsunari. "Individual Testimonies on Nursing Care after Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima in 1945." International Nursing 22(2) (2008): 13-19. Tani, Matsuo. "Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima." Hiroshima Peace Science 29(2) (2007): 1-25. Read More