Changement identitaire et revendications regionalistes du Kansai au Japon.
详细信息
文摘
In recent times,we hear more and more the word "Kansai" to designate the Japanese region of Kinki literally the neighborhood of the capital). This thesis proposes to analyze the emergence of this regional entity and its cultural discourse to compensate for the lack of previous research on the socio-cultural variety and the regionalism of Japan. In the current situation,on one hand,some wish to consider Japan as a homogenous entity,and on the other hand,Japan it-self considers its people as homogenous. Historically,these views were refuted several times by researchers and organisms. In the meantime,the regional variation becomes less and less clearly observable because of the urbanization,the progress made in transportation systems,the internal migration and the development of mass media. It is in this post-industrial era however that the regionalist discourse of Kansai emerged. In this context,this study focuses on the cultural discourse regarding the region and the people of Kansai,that is the Kinki region,where were situated the old capitals and the cradle of the Yamato state,and on which one observes an alteration and a transformation of its description starting at the Tokugawa era. Since Meiji era,the spatial integration of the Japanese archipelago has become inseparable from the emergence of the so-called "modern" state. In addition,a division between Western Japan Kansai) and Eastern Japan continues to exist for their differences in customs,linguistic variations and mentality: a dichotomy better represented by the current opposition between the cities of Osaka and Tokyo. Today,Japan experiences a continual centralization around Tokyo and the balance of power on the economic level is being undermined. I examine the emergence of the Kansai entity by analyzing its economic and social context,from the arrival of the phenomenon the Kansai people call jibanchinka the "land subsidence" of Kansai) until the recent demands for the introduction of a quasi-federalism system called doshu-sei in the context of unbalanced regional development of Japan. Resting on my investigation carried out in Kansai,I argue that their regionalist aspiration exists,but does not stand for the homogeneity of the region as a whole. Rather,they ground on its position as an antithesis to the centralizing approach they perceive as being rather Tokyoite in nature. Their discourse inevitably emphasizes the variety existing within the region itself,while underlining the fact that this is what constitutes the Kansai.