![]() Keywords: alternative space, social movement, empowerment, play, Japan, precarity.ĭespite rising inequality and an increasingly precarious labour market since the bursting of its ‘bubble-economy’ in the early 1990s, Japan is often said to have produced little in the way of public protest, at least until 2003, when the upsurge of anti-war protests served to catalyze the precarity and ‘anti-poverty’ campaigns that quickly became a visible presence in ensuing years (Hayashi & McKnight 2005). To understand how play can contribute to empowerment, I argue that we need to question definitions of play in terms of its separation from perceived social reality in favour of a definition of play as a pleasurable and mutual responding in relation to the social environment. Only the third successfully combines the three tasks, in large measure through its skilful use of the play-element. To examine how movements may relate to this difficulty, the article looks at three Japanese movements with NAM, New Start/New Start Kansai and the circle of activists around the Amateur Riot/Great Pauper Rebellion as central organizations or groups. Such spaces face a variety of tasks – providing a refuge for subaltern groups, instilling hope that change is possible, and consolidating alternative space itself – which easily enter into conflict with each other. The article examines the role played by alternative spaces – spaces created within movements and designed to lack the oppressive features of mainstream society – in facilitating such empowerment. Since the 1990s, social movements have emerged in Japan that stand out by their aspiration to reach out to and empower subaltern groups, such as freeters, NEET and social withdrawers. ![]()
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