This book argues that sound – as it is created, transmitted, and perceived – plays a key role in the constitution of space and community in contemporary Japan. The book examines how sonic practices reflect politics, aesthetics, and ethics, with transformative effects on human relations. From right-wing sound trucks to left-wing protests, from early 20th century jazz cafes to contemporary avant-garde art forms, from the sounds of U.S. military presence to exuberant performances organized in opposition, the book, rich in ethnographic detail, contributes to sensory anthropology and the anthropology of contemporary Japan.

This book argues that sound – as it is created, transmitted, and perceived – plays a key role in the constitution of space and community in contemporary Japan. The book examines how sonic practices reflect politics, aesthetics, and ethics, with transformative effects on human relations. From right-wing sound trucks to left-wing protests, from early 20th century jazz cafes to contemporary avant-garde art forms, from the sounds of U.S. military presence to exuberant performances organized in opposition, the book, rich in ethnographic detail, contributes to sensory anthropology and the anthropology of contemporary Japan. Joseph D. Hankins received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2009 and is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. His research investigates the politics and aesthetics of stigmatized labor in Japan.Carolyn S. Stevens holds degrees in anthropology from Harvard and Columbia, and is Professor in Japanese Studies and Director of the Japanese Studies Centre at Monash University, Australia. She is the author ofOn the Margins of Japanese Society, Japanese Popular Music and Disability in Japan (all published by Routledge).