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Railway Time and Rubber Time

The paradox in the Japanese conception of time

Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA. yt33{at}cornell.edu

This article addresses the co-existence of rigid punctuality and a rubber-like flexibility in the Japanese conception of time. It examines how the clock and social norms shape the everyday use of time related to railways, work, and appointments in Japan. It demonstrates that multiple discourses of time and the complicated interactions among them create temporal complexity in which the seeming contradiction between rigidity and flexibility is compromised. The data derive from long-term participant-observation research among Japanese in Japan and abroad.

Key Words: appointments • Japan • railways • social relationships • time

Time & Society, Vol. 15, No. 2-3, 177-195 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0961463X06066950


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