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Japan was the first non-Western nation to compete with the Western powers at their own game. The country’s rise to a major player on the stage of Western music has been equally spectacular. The connection between these two developments, however, has never been explored. How did making music make Japan modern? How did Japan make music that originated in Europe its own? And what happened to Japan’s traditional music in the process? Music and the Making of Modern Japan answers these questions. Discussing musical modernization in the context of globalization and nation-building, Margaret Mehl argues that, far from being a side-show, music was part of the action on centre stage. Making music became an important vehicle for empowering the people of Japan to join in the shaping of the modern world. In only fifty years, from the 1870s to the early 1920s, Japanese people laid the foundations for the country’s post-war rise as a musical as well as an economic power. Meanwhile, new types of popular song, fuelled by the growing global record industry, successfully blended inspiration from the West with musical characteristics perceived as Japanese. Music and the Making of Modern Japan represents a fresh contribution to historical research on making music as a major cultural, social, and political force.

In recent years, cultural appropriation has been a hot topic, that people like to claim, whenever they feel offended because of their ethnicity or lack of understanding from others about their culture. It is a concept, that is usually being used, when a majority group misuse something from a minority group. It seems like, that whenever a minority group, especially in the USA feel offended, they use cultural appropriation as a reason. But what does cultural appropriation actually mean and is the concept being used correctly? At the Boston Museum of Fine Arts there was an incident back in the summer of 2015, where they held a special exhibition about Japonism which was meant to be an appreciation of Japan and their culture. In this exhibition the guests could also try on a kimono. The exhibition was inspired by the same exhibition held in Japan and the museum expected it to be a popular one, but instead it caused demonstrations among Asian-Americans who felt violated, offended and that it was racism towards Asia. The exhibition showed (according to the demonstrators), that the museum supported orientalism, cultural appropriation and the exclusion of Asians in America. However, the Japanese in the USA actually appreciated the exhibition. In this paper, I have tried to find the meaning of the concept that is cultural appropriation. Is it always negative or can it be a positive thing? I used the incident at Boston Museum of Fine Arts in order to find a solution and conclusion of what is cultural appropriation. By using critical discourse analysis, I have used James O. Young definition of cultural appropriation as well as Dianne Lalonde, Bruce Ziff and Pratima Rao. Edward Said is also used in this paper, as he is the one who came up with the theory that is orientalism. By using this case at Boston Museum of Fine Arts and these theorists I conclude, that cultural appropriation is not necessarily supposed to be a negative concept and that Edward Said’s theory on orienta

This thesis seeks to understand how Japan’s relationship with cannabis has evolved throughout the last couple of centuries. It will explore the vast history of cannabis in Japan and how it has been used for clothing, religious purposes and medicine. It will include voices from the Japanese people from interviews about their opinions on cannabis, both positive and negative. The thesis will also examine the different effects medicinal cannabis has on human health along with how recreational cannabis use affects the human mind and body, while making it clear how the strict Japanese Cannabis Control Law from 1948 has made research on cannabis in Japan extremely difficult. Lastly, the thesis will look at the differences between tobacco, alcohol and cannabis as stimulants, since tobacco and alcohol are legal in most countries but are known to cause major health issues at the same time. The thesis has found, that while cannabis has had a long history in Japan being used as material for clothing and in religious context, nowadays the Cannabis Control Law has had a big impact on how the Japanese perceive cannabis, namely in a negative way. Despite this, there are signs that their views are beginning to change, following changes in cannabis regulations worldwide. The thesis has also found, that these changes are a result of the recent scientific research made on cannabis, which has found, that medicinal cannabis has immense therapeutic potential. In regards to cannabis as a stimulant, research has also found that it is a lot less likely to cause serious health issues, including cancer, and is less addictive compared to tobacco and alcohol, which are used on a daily basis worldwide, especially in Japan. The thesis therefore suggests, that the therapeutic potential of cannabis should be considered by the Japanese government, as it has been by many other developed countries.