Politics Matters

Hong Kong's public health services gradually developed since the 1950s. They are mainly funded by taxes, supplemented by minimal user fees. In the late 1980s, the government recognized the limitations of this financing model and has subsequently proposed alternative methods of funding. Their proposals have been rejected by various stakeholders, who represent different, and even conflicting, values and interests; and eventually can only end up with a limited voluntary health insurance scheme. This chapter describes the development of health services and the debates that have surrounded health financing since the late 1980s. It shows that the health finance debate in Hong Kong is not a simple issue that can be tackled by rational planning; instead, it is a complex consequence of welfare politics in an increasingly mobilized society.

Foreign Aid and Family at Risk

This chapter uses the case study of Myanmar to examine how the foreign aid policy should have supported families facing risks. The chapter addresses the issue of poverty, which continues to be the gravest risk in the developing countries. Family could be the cause of poverty as well as the solution of poverty in foreign aid policy discussion. The situation of poverty and migration as risk management tools is examined. Interviews of migrant workers in Thailand and Japan were conducted. There is also a discussion about the developments of Myanmar and foreign aid and how the international community has inadequately responded to the democratization of Myanmar and to the needs of its people.

Socio-Cultural Barriers of Female Ex-Combatants' Social Re-Integration in Sri Lanka

This chapter identifies the post-conflict social barriers to the social reintegration of female ex-combatants. This study refers to the case of Sri Lanka concerning the conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in 2009. During the conflict, the LTTE actively recruited female combatants, and women consisted of a significant number of the entire LTTE combatants. However, after the end of the conflict and even today, many of them are rejected by the community. First of all, the LTTE was fighting for Tamil's independence, but Tamil's community has expressed mixed opinions toward the LTTE. Second, female ex-combatants were then and are now a divergence from the gender norms of their society. Third, from their roles in the conflict, female ex-combatants experienced an indelible change in their ideas through the conflict and observed themselves as capable of being independent women. Consequently, they felt a high level of resistance to returning to traditional gender roles.

Terrains of Myths and Devotion

How do religious imaginings and practices reconstitute the environment and situate communities in the surrounding space? What can religious institutions tell us about the historical interplays among myths, societal formations, and terrains of the earth? This chapter inquires these questions with a case study from preindustrial Japan. The Buddhist monastery of Kôyasan in the mountains of Kii province in western Japan enjoyed historical prominence both on political and spiritual terms. In the late medieval era (14th to 16th centuries), it presided as a landholding overlord and ruled large estates in the plains below. As a site of popular devotion, it developed in the early modern era (or Tokugawa, ca. 1600-1867) a transregional network of worshippers who sought its ritual services that promised salvation in the afterlife. What, then, propelled Kôyasan to its historical prominence? By contextualizing clerical practices with the mythical landscape of the monastery, the chapter uncovers how Kôyasan's success was undergirded by the ritual reconstitution of the land and soil.

Interpretation and Reconstruction of Environment, Aesthetics, and Politics in Japan

The tradition of Japanese thinking on environment has developed in close interaction with both Asian and Western influences. However, Japanese society has constantly created new ideas and representations of reality that reflect the actual environment and changes in society. This chapter analyses the continued transformation of Japanese society and ideological constructions especially in the areas of environment and aesthetics. In particular, it is worthwhile to analyse the changing relationship to environment as it is depicted in Japanese art and thought. However, artistic expression is also vulnerable to the ideological construction of past and present, and, as always with expression, ideas and depiction of ideas do not only stem directly from reality, such as physical nature, or experiences of people, but may also be part of a political or ideological agenda to reconstruct the past or present.

Landscapes and Local Identity

This chapter is the first part of an exploration into the history and meaning of landscapes, based on a case study of the “must-see” scenic spots or Eight Views (bajing 八景) of Linfen County in the south of China's Shanxi province. County histories not only include poems and travel accounts describing these places, but often also, from the 18th century onwards, images representing them. They are thus well-documented places, which makes it possible to trace fragments of their history and draw conclusions about the relationship between humans and their physical environment. This part of the study focuses on how the physical environment interlocked with the historical heritage of a place to form a cultural landscape that gave identity and meaning to a place and its people.

Social Risk Discourse and Japan

In terms of risk society, Japan is following the rest of its peers in entering the world risk society, but in a selective way of ignoring some parts of the discourse. This chapter will show how long of a process it was for the concepts of risk society, reflexivity, and individualization to enter Japanese social and political discourses. As a result, the public policies in many areas have lacked in direction and coordination. In Japan, the risk discourses have often failed to go much beyond the security risks and natural hazards. However, there has also been new research on social risks, such as on so-called new risks-associated individualization and with family and work. The common theme is that traditional social institutions are eroding while both individualization and traditional (family-based) values coexist. However, the enormous significance of environmental risks for the future has, unfortunately, not been taken seriously enough in social and political discourses in Japan and, consequently, the public policy responses reflect these weaknesses.

Food Safety Concerns in Tokushima

This chapter offers a qualitative examination of the perceptions of food safety and purchasing practices of members from two consumer co-operatives in contemporary rural Japan. Few studies have focused on the impact of the Fukushima nuclear accident on consumers residing far from contaminated areas. A common view is that geographical proximity and the elapse of time determine the degree of consumer concern about radioactivity: fears diminish with distance and time. However, some scholars argue that distance from Fukushima is exacerbating unfounded fears about radioactive contamination of foods and therefore consumers continue to avoid purchasing Fukushima produce. These 'avoiders' tend to be portrayed in unflattering terms. This study explores a sample of consumer responses to Fukushima produce, sources of trust, and the role of the co-operative.

Migrant Care Workers, Skill Regimes, and Transnational Subjects in East Asia

This chapter discusses the concept of skills in care work and demonstrates how it has been discursively constructed in Japan and Taiwan. The kind of work that the migrant care workers undertake is differentiated according to the migration-care nexus resulting in very different kind of tasks these migrants are required to perform. Secondly, the global care labor market is unevenly constructed with different requirements and conditions. The migrant care workers are differentiated according to the capital they possess and what they acquire in their migration process. What became apparent is that unlike skilled work where people can step-up their career by gaining skills and in some cases permanent residence, care labor market in East Asia does not lead to unilateral development of careers. The global care labor market expanded the opportunity for migrants, but it is not only uneven but also precarious and migrants expect short-term return without great expectations for career development.

Narratives of Child Care in Public Policy in Japan

The repositioning of certain phenomena as issues and selectiveness and prioritization when adding specific issues into policy agenda are not always accompanied by scientific evidence. Much has been spoken and written about childcare, family, and the reconciliation of work and family issues by the media, critiques, scholars, and citizens for decades in Japan. Still, many years passed before public policy started any serious attempt to make a proper response. Despite substantial public attention, some issues were not immediately meant to be major agendas for public policy, unlike others. Implicit or explicit priority or selectiveness when making policy agendas for specific issues does matter in daily life.