1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910825069203321

Autore

Sekine Kae

Titolo

The contradictions of neoliberal agri-food : corporations, resistance, and disasters in Japan / / Kae Sekine and Alessandro Bonanno ; cover design by Than Saffel ; book design by Than Saffel ; cover image by Kae Sekine

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Morgantown, [West Virginia] : , : West Virginia University Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

1-943665-20-6

1-943665-21-4

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (249 p.)

Collana

Rural Studies Series

Classificazione

SOC055000POL033000NAT023000

Disciplina

338.10952

Soggetti

Food supply - Political aspects - Japan

Agriculture - Economic aspects - Japan

Neoliberalism - Japan

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover ; Contents ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; 1. Agri-Food in Japan: A Literature Review ; 2. Agriculture and Fisheries in Japan from the Post-World War II High Fordism to the Neoliberal Era (1945-2010) ; 3. Neoliberal Agri-Food Policies in the Aftermath of the 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown ; 4. Evolution of Corporate Agri-Food Industrial Policies in Japan: The Cases of Dole Japan, Kagome, IBM, and Sendai Suisan ; 5. Dole Japan's Agricultural Production ; 6. Corporate Agri-Food Industrial Strategies in the Aftermath of the Disasters

7. Fisheries and the Special Zone for Reconstruction 8. Agri-Food Corporations, the State, Resistance, and Disaster Reconstruction under Neoliberalism ; 9. Neoliberalism in Japanese Agri-Food: A Systemic Crisis ; References ; Index ; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z

Sommario/riassunto

"Employing original fieldwork, historical analysis, and sociological theory, Sekine and Bonanno probe how Japan's food and agriculture sectors have been shaped by the global push toward privatization and



corporate power, known in the social science literature as neoliberalism. They also examine related changes that have occurred after the triple disaster of March 2011 (the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor), noting that reconstruction policy has favored deregulation and the reduction of social welfare.  Sekine and Bonanno stress the incompatibility of the requirements of neoliberalism with the structural and cultural conditions of Japanese agri-food. Local farmers' and fishermen's emphasis on community collective management of natural resources, they argue, clashes with neoliberalism's focus on individualism and competitiveness. The authors conclude by pointing out the resulting fundamental contradiction: The lack of recognition of this incompatibility allows the continuous implementation of market solutions to problems that originate in these very market mechanisms"--