TY - BOOK ID - 80824162 TI - Undermining the Japanese miracle PY - 1994 SN - 9780511586095 9780521450096 9780521114943 0511883811 0511586094 0521450098 0521114942 PB - Cambridge Cambridge University Press DB - UniCat KW - Coal mines and mining KW - Coal mining KW - Collieries KW - Energy industries KW - Mines and mineral resources KW - Chikuho-machi (Japan) KW - Economic conditions. KW - Social conditions. KW - Social life and customs. KW - E-books KW - Social Sciences KW - Anthropology UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:80824162 AB - This book, first published in 1995, is about the underside of Japan's economic miracle. It is an account of people who have been forgotten in Japan's push to industrialise in the post-war era: the coal-miners of Chikuho on Japan's southernmost island. The dirty and neglected character of Chikuho is in stark contrast with Japan's prevailing image as an international leader in technology and an affluent, socially cohesive country. As coal industries in industrialised nations around the world are closed down, regions like Chikuho embody the concept of underdevelopment within highly developed societies. Matthew Allen challenges the concepts of industrial harmony, economic foresight, cultural homogeneity and caring political management that dominate much of the literature on Japan. He describes how the people of the coalfields see themselves, providing insights into an aspect of Japanese society that is rarely encountered. ER -