Transcending Self and Other Through Akogare [Desire] : The English Language and the Internationalization of Higher Education in Japan

In this far-reaching new study of the internationalization of Japanese Higher Education, Chisato Nonaka uses __akogare__ as both an analytical lens and the object of enquiry, and ultimately reconceptualises it as the creation of a space where individuals negotiate and transcend their ethnic, national, racial, gender or linguistic identities. Contents Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Preface Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Akogare and My Study Participants 3. Akogare in Academic Literature and the Akogare 4. Methodology 5. Akogare and Gender 6. Akogare and Precarious ‘Japan’ 7. Akogare and Japanese Higher Education Today 8. Conclusion and Future Implications Appendix A: Questionnaire for Japanese University Students Appendix B: Questionnaire for Japanese University Faculty Appendix C: Visual and Textual Aids for Akogare Appendix D: Questionnaire/Interview Participants (Faculty: m = 35, f = 22) Appendix E: Questionnaire/Interview Participants (Students: m = 30, f = 45) Appendix F: The Students’ Choice of Ideal Mother Country (with Reasons) and Overseas Experience Appendix G: Face-To-Face Interview Participants’ (Students) Responses to the Miyamoto Case/Japaneseness Ideals and Overseas Experience Appendix H: Notes on Recruiting Study Participants Appendix I: Notes on Methods and Analysis Used References Index The Japanese concept of akogare has become well known in TESOL-related literature in recent years, usually in the context of interracial sexual desire. In this far-reaching new study of the internationalization of Japanese Higher Education, Chisato Nonaka uses akogare as both an analytical lens and the object of enquiry, and ultimately reconceptualises it as the creation of a space where individuals negotiate and transcend their ethnic, national, racial, gender or linguistic identities. The book innovatively engages with the often controversial binary of Japanese/non-Japanese, and demonstrates how Japan (often thought of as a homogenous nation) may be at a critical crossroads where long-held assumptions about a singular ‘Japanese identity’ no longer hold true. The book has profound implications for how ‘internationalization’ can mean more than just the use of English.