On June 8 the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) sent a ten-page directive to all 86 national universities in Japan, apparently calling on them, inter alia, to abolish or reorganize their humanities and social sciences (HSS) departments. I use the word “apparently” because the wording of the letter is ambiguous. A former Ministry of Education official's Facebook posting in September is quoted on the European Association of Japanese Studies online forum asserting that the directive has been misinterpreted. The post refers to an article in Japanese by Kan Suzuki, Special Advisor to Japan's education minister. Kan acknowledges that MEXT failed to consult various stakeholders and that the new policy was not properly presented, but insists that the ministry is not moving to abolish HSS. Rather, he says, MEXT wants the national universities to concentrate on what they do best and develop survival strategies based on demographic trends.

When a very strong earthquake (magnitude 9.0) hit the Pacific ocean side of the northeastern part of the main island of Japan on March 11th (3.11) 2011, the accompanying huge tsunami wiped out many communities along the coast. Close to 20,000 people lost their lives, mainly due to the tsunami. Many who were stripped of their homes and livelihood continue to struggle to recover their ways of life.

Nagano Uheiji, a Meiji period architect, declared in 1907 that Yasukuni Shrine and Kudan Hill should be made into “Tokyo's Acropolis”. While his plans never came to fruition, it tells us a lot about how Yasukuni Shrine was both perceived and experienced during the Meiji period. In particular, it points to the role of the shrine as a center of entertainment, which contributed to its becoming a city landmark. But how are we to conceptualize the presence of entertainment alongside the performance of rituals coordinated by the state? The key to understanding how the carnivalesque atmosphere of these festivals fits into the history of the war shrine is to look at its political economy in order to see how the masses ‘offered’ their patronage.