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現代日本のトイレ文化の特質と占領期日本の衛生問題

Research Project

Project/Area Number 18F18775
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section外国
Research Field Sociology
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

佐藤 健二  東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 教授 (50162425)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) SZCZYGIEL MARTA  東京大学, 人文社会系研究科, 外国人特別研究員
Project Period (FY) 2018-11-09 – 2021-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
Budget Amount *help
¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Keywordstoilet culture / material culture / human waste management / トイレ文化 / ウォッシュレット / 衛生 / 文化社会学 / 日本研究 / 文化比較論
Outline of Annual Research Achievements

Japanese high-tech toilets are an international sensation. My hypothesis was that the key to understanding material culture of Japanese high-tech toilets may be found in propaganda materials from the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan. I conducted mostly document analysis: from literary sources, newspaper articles to official documents.
I was able to disseminate findings of my research through many presentations at international conferences which improved the visibility of my research in academia as well as represented The University of Tokyo and Japan.
And I published four articles during the fellowship and managed to edit a special issue of a Journal of Japanese studies. Regarding significant results, I improved the theory of a fecal habitus in the article “Cultural Origins of Japan’s Premodern Night Soil Collection System” published in the Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
“Understanding Relatively High Social Visibility of Excrement in Japan” published in Silva Iaponicarum is the first article to address the ambiguity of the excretory experience in Japan: on one hand, the country has the most advanced toilets in the world, but on the other, there are many symbolic manifestations of excrement (e.g. commentaries on bowel movement on TV or poop-shaped merchandise). I explain this phenomenon as dichotomy between the notion and practice of defecation: in Japan’s modern fecal habitus, the notion remained the same as in the original one, while the practice adapted the Western one.

Research Progress Status

令和2年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Strategy for Future Research Activity

令和2年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Report

(3 results)
  • 2020 Annual Research Report
  • 2019 Annual Research Report
  • 2018 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (13 results)

All 2020 2019 2018

All Journal Article (4 results) (of which Peer Reviewed: 2 results) Presentation (9 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results,  Invited: 2 results)

  • [Journal Article] 西洋での小便器の由来は一体何?2020

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Journal Title

      NPO Japan Toilet Labo. Annual Report

      Volume: 19 Pages: 5-9

    • NAID

      40022349949

    • Related Report
      2020 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] Cultural Origins of Japan’s Premodern Night Soil Collection System2020

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Journal Title

      Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

      Volume: 3(1): 4 Pages: 1-13

    • Related Report
      2020 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] Understanding Relatively High Social Visibility of Excrement in Japan.2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Journal Title

      Silva Iaponicarum

      Volume: fasc. 60/61 Pages: 94-135

    • DOI

      10.14746/sijp.2019.60/61.5

    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] Transforming Taboos: Challenging Hegemonic Prohibitions in Japan’s Past and Present2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta and Maura Stephens-Chu
    • Journal Title

      Silva Iaponicarum

      Volume: fasc. 60/61 Pages: 9-14

    • DOI

      10.14746/sijp.2019.60/61.1

    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Presentation] Is poo a taboo in Japan? Examination of Japan's toilet culture.2020

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      Hokkaido University
    • Related Report
      2020 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] 海外からみた日本のトイレ文化2020

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      NPO 法人日本トイレ研究
    • Related Report
      2020 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] 海外からみた日本のトイレ文化.2020

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      NPO法人日本トイレ研究会
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Potty Politics: Decoding Material Culture of Japanese Public Toilets2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      American Anthropological Association. Vancouver, November
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Ambiguity of Excretory Practice in Japan: Sociological Analysis.2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      Asian Studies Conference Japan
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Cultural Origins of Human Waste Management: Western, Japanese, Indian Examples2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      Society for East Asian Anthropology Regional Conference
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Science in Everyday Life: Sociological Approach to Japanese High-tech Toilets.2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta
    • Organizer
      JSPS Science Dialogue at Nirayama High School. Nirayama
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] “Japan, the Washlet country” - Exegesis of Japanese High-tech Toilets.2019

    • Author(s)
      Szczygiel, Marta.
    • Organizer
      The Fifteenth Conference of the Nordic Association for the Study of Contemporary Japanese Society.
    • Related Report
      2019 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Modernity Comes with a Flush: Adaptation of Western Toilet Technology in Meiji Japan2018

    • Author(s)
      Marta Szczygiel
    • Organizer
      The IAJS Thematic Conference 2018: The West in Japanese Imagination/Japan in Western Imagination
    • Related Report
      2018 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

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Published: 2018-11-12   Modified: 2024-03-26  

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