The origin of ethnography in Japan

The many changes that have taken place in Japan as a result of the period of rapid economic growth - including the imbalance in development of primary and secondary industry; the tremendous expansion of heavy industry accompanied by the gradual decay of agriculture; the failure to establish a healthy productivity cycle; the destruction of the natural environment and traditional patterns of life and especially the emergence and rapid growth of social apathy due to the lack of a firmly-established base on which to build the burgeoning supra-modern 'popular society' - have renewed interest in the work of Yanagita Kunio (1872-1962), generally known as the founder of ethnography in Japan.