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On the question of how voters perceive party positions, much of the existing literature has not adequately considered the case of a multidimensional policy space. Since the ideological cues related to each issue differ in a policy space of multiple dimensions, it is possible that each individual favors different dimensional cues. To test this hypothesis, this paper focuses on Japan’s 2012 Lower House election, which took place in a two-dimensional policy space. An analysis of how voters position the three major parties relative to each other reveals that there is actually heterogeneity in the voter perception of the policy space. Further, using a mixed logit model, we find that demographic factors and political attitudes explain this heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle managers are facing major workplace pressures in an era of widespread corporate and public sector restructuring in Japan, USA and UK. This paper, based on interviews with senior/HR managers and middle managers in 30 large organizations, suggests that middle managers today face heavy workloads and limited promotion prospects. More significantly, the central task of middle management is changing from managing subordinates in hierarchies towards managing projects in flattened organizations. These changes are in accordance with a new organizational ideology that continues to influence change in public and private organizations in co-ordinated or free market economies. While this ideology has spread rapidly, it has not managed to achieve hegemony. Organizations can be difficult to change and bureaucratic elements will persist despite the changes. The Japanese co-ordinated model and the US and UK free market model are both subject to similar pressures, but the actual organizational changes work themselves out in different ways because of differing institutional arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that the analysis of racism in Japan can be advanced by taking note of theoretical arguments produced in the context of studies of European racisms. Specifically, the paper discusses the relationship between racism and nationalism, and argues that this relationship can be understood only if the ideological character of the notion of 'race' is recognised. The significance of racist ideology in the discourses of the state during the period of the Japanese colonial empire is analysed and some implications of this analysis for the situation of minority populations in contemporary Japan are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationships between nation branding, authenticity, language and their ideologies by considering two themes. First, how language ideologies and language practices texture the transnational production, distribution and viewing of subtitled television drama. Second, the extent and ways by which subtitled television dramas, in languages other than English, brand the nation to which they are associated. Using the context of increasing exports of Danish television drama to other nations, the article draws its empirical material from fieldwork interactions with industry professionals and viewers in Japan to consider both themes. The article proposes that there are different intensities by which Danish television dramas brand Denmark and the Nordic region; it discusses the implications of the use of English, and how branding the nation involves processes that are intrinsically fragile and require symbiotic relations with other languages and other nations to be successful. This article forms part of the Theorizing Media in Nation Branding Special Issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]