Amorphization amid Fragmentation

last three decades, 1990–2020, which can be regarded as a crucial turning point in Japan’s history.
It first examines the marked paradigm changes that have occurred in Japanese studies. The paper
then endeavours to unravel how such alterations reflect the structural changes caused by the
penetration of neoliberalism, the decline of the manufacturing industry, and the expansion of
cultural capitalism. After illustrating how these forces have fragmented social relations, the paper
ends with a description of how Japanese society is becoming increasingly amorphous in its social
structures and value orientations. The paper attempts to cast the shifts of these three decades
into relief against the background of the previous three decades, 1960–1989, when Japan enjoyed
spectacular economic growth.