Dr Peter Matanle
School of East Asian Studies
Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies
Full contact details
School of East Asian Studies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
葫芦影业
S3 7RA
- Profile
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Dr. Peter Matanle joined SEAS in 2001 after working as Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Niigata University in Japan. His research is in the social and cultural geography of East Asian development, and within this his focus has been on the following:
- The theory and practice of permanent employment in large organizations,
- Work and its representation in popular culture, and
- Population, environment, and regional development in post-industrial society.
Peter has published widely in the above fields, including four books, chapters in edited volumes, and peer reviewed articles in leading Area Studies and disciplinary scholarly journals, including Japan Forum, Social Science Japan Journal, Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Organization, Asian Business & Management, Local Environment, and Gender, Work and Organization.
Since embarking on his research in the mid-1990s, Peter has received research funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, GB-Sasakawa Foundation, British Association for Japanese Studies, White Rose East Asia Centre, and Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
- Qualifications
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BA & MA (Cambridge), MA (Essex), PhD (葫芦影业)
- Research interests
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Currently Dr Matanle is working on a co-authored monograph on Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan, as well as researching the relationship between demographic change and resource consumption in Japan's rural regions, focusing on the spatial impacts of depopulation on energy demand. He hopes soon to begin work on a new project on depopulation and degrowth under environmental breakdown.
- Publications
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Books
- Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century: Contemporary Responses to Depopulation and Socioeconomic Decline. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.
- Japanese Capitalism and Modernity In a Global Era: Re-Fabricating Lifetime Employment Relations. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
Edited books
- Researching Twenty-first Century Japan: New Directions and Approaches for the Electronic Age. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan. Basingsoke, UK: PalgraveMacmillan.
- East Asia Research Review: Proceedings of the First UK Post-Graduate Conference in East Asian Studies. Colchester, Essex: British Association for Japanese Studies.
Journal articles
- Localising and Globalising the Depopulation Dividend: Theory and Evidence from Three Countries in Three World Regions. Journal of Area Studies, 1(1), 1-28.
- . Japan Forum.
- Confronting the Olympic paradox : modernity and environment at a crossroads in downtown Tokyo. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 18(4).
- Imagining disasters in the era of climate change : is Japan’s seawall a new Maginot Line?. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 17(13), 1-29.
- Searching for a Depopulation Dividend in the 21st Century: Perspectives from Japan, Spain and New Zealand. Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, 83(1), E1-E6.
- Revisiting the First and Second Sexism in Japan. The Newsletter(82), 14-14.
- Depopulation Dividend for a Shrinking Japan. AsiaGlobal Online.
- Towards an Asia-Pacific ‘Depopulation Dividend’ in the 21st Century: Regional Growth and Shrinkage in Japan and New Zealand. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 15(6).
- . Japan Forum, 28(3), 362-363.
- . Japan Forum, 28(3), 385-393.
- . Gender, Work and Organization.
- Post-disaster recovery in ageing and declining communities: The Great East Japan disaster of 11 March 2011. Geography, 98(2), 68-76.
- . Local Environment, 16(9), 823-847.
- . SOC SCI JPN J, 13(2), 187-210.
- イギリスにおける高齢者福祉: シェフィールド市のボランティア組織の活動を中心に (Caring for Older People in the UK: An Analysis of Local Volunteer Organisation Contributions in 葫芦影业). Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyū: Studies in Humanities, 127, 1-27.
- . SOC SCI JPN J, 13(2), 183-185.
- . ORGANIZATION, 15(5), 639-664.
- . ASIAN BUS MANAG, 6(4), 431-449.
- . Japanstudien, 18(1), 149-180.
- . Japan Forum, 18(2), 229-254.
- Organic Sources for the Revitalization of Rural Japan: The Craft Potters of Sado, 18, 149-180.
- Driving the Modern Dream: Contemporary Japanese Modernity in Theoretical Perspective. Hōsei Riron, 33(4), 103-150.
Chapters
- In Ganseforth S & Jentzsch H (Ed.), Rethinking Locality in Japan (pp. 263-277). Abingdon: Routledge.
- , Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan (pp. 291-303). Routledge
- Japan and the environment: Industrial pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan (pp. 291-303).
- Understanding the Dynamics of Regional Growth and Shrinkage in 21st Century Japan: Towards the Achievement of an Asia-Pacific 'Depopulation Dividend' In Chiavacci D & Hommerich C (Ed.), Social Inequality in Post-Growth Japan: Transformation during Economic and Demographic Stagnation (pp. 213-230). London and New York: Routledge.
- Sarariiman manga ni miru danjo no raifu kōsu: ‘Shima Kōsaku’ ‘Sarariiman Kintarō’ siriisu kara no kōsatsu (Understanding men’s and women’s life courses through salaryman manga: Case studies from the Shima Kosaku and Salaryman Kintaro series) In Tanaka H, Godzik M & Iwata-Weickgennant K (Ed.), Raifu kōsu sentaku no yukue: Nihon to doitsu no shigoto - kazoku - sumai (The future of the Life Course: Work, Family and Living in Japan and Germany) (pp. 103-132). Tokyo: Shinyosha.
- Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan: Stability and Resilience Under Pressure in the Japanese Management System In Horn SA (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives in Japanese Human Resource Management (pp. 15-44). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang GmbH.
- Shrinking Sado: Education, Employment and the Decline of Japan’s Rural Regions In Oswald P (Ed.), Shrinking cities Complete Works 3: Japan Berlin, Germany: Büro Philipp Oswalt.
- Beyond Lifetime Employment? Re-Fabricating Japan's Employment Culture In Matanle P & Lunsing W (Ed.), Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan (pp. 58-78). Basingstoke, UK: PalgraveMacmillan.
- イギリス：イギリスの資本主義?日本の資本主義 (Igirisu: Igirisu no shihonshugi nihon no shihonshugi - Great Britain: Japanese Capitalism - British Capitalism) In Kudo A, Kikkawa T & Hook GD (Ed.), 現代日本企業 3 グロウバルレビュー (Gendai nihon kigyō 3: gurōbaru rebiu (The contemporary Japanese enterprise 3: Global review) (pp. 143-166). Tokyo, Japan: Yūhikaku.
Book reviews
- . Japanese Studies, 37(3), 395-396.
- HARD TIMES IN THE HOMETOWN: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan. PACIFIC AFFAIRS, 86(3), 644-647.
- . Relations industrielles, 66(4), 692-692.
- The new community firm: Employment, governance and management reform in Japan. BRIT J IND RELAT, 46(3), 563-564.
- . Asian Business & Management, 2(1), 177-179.
Conference proceedings papers
- From Outside-in to Inside-out: The Emergence of Capitalist Modernity in Japan. Anglo-Japanese Academy Workshop Proceedings (pp 449-455). Tokyo
- Coping with Modernity: Man and Company in Contemporary Japan. East Asia Research Review: Proceedings of the First UK Post-Graduate Conference in East Asian Studies, Vol. 1 (pp 1-12). Colchester, Essex, 30 July 1999 - 31 July 1999.
- East Asia Research Review: Proceedings of the First Post-Graduate Conference in East Asian Studies. East Asia Research Review, Vol. 1 (pp 1-101). Colchester, Essex, 30 July 1999 - 31 July 1999.
Reports
- Ageing and Depopulation in Japan: Understanding the Consequences for East and Southeast Asia in the 21st Century
Website content
- Towards a Definition of the ‘Depopulation Dividend’. Retrieved from
- Why the 2020 Olympics won’t solve Japan’s problems. Retrieved from
- Breaking the Circle of Human Disconnection through Cultural Exchange Programmes.
- Japan’s depopulation dividend: searching for an alternative to growth at all costs.
- America’s New Best Friend: The UK vs Japan.
- Fukushima - The Triple Disaster and Its Triple Lessons: What can be learned about regulation, planning, and communication in an unfolding emergency?.
- Does a Shrinking Population Help to Solve Climate Change?.
- Why Japan can't (or won't) stop using fossil fuels any time soon.
- Rethinking Japan's Lifetime Employment for the 21st Century.
- Achieving the 21st Century ‘Depopulation Dividend’: Japan as the World’s Research Laboratory for a More Sustainable Future.
Theses / Dissertations
- A study on the nature of capitalist modernity in contemporary Japan Man and company under restructuring and globalisation. University of 葫芦影业.
Datasets
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- Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century: Contemporary Responses to Depopulation and Socioeconomic Decline. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.
- Research group
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SEAS research cluster
Movement(s), Economy and Development in East Asia
ESG in East Asia: The 'S' Factor
University of 葫芦影业 Research Institutes
Visiting fellowships
Doshisha University, Kyoto, Visiting Research Fellow (2010-11)
Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen, Visiting Lecturer (Erasmus Exchange 2009)
Japan Zentrum, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Visiting Lecturer (Erasmus Exchange 2007)
Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Niigata University, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2004-06)
Doshisha University, Kyoto, Visiting Graduate Research Fellow (1999-2000)
Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, Visiting Graduate Research Fellow (1998)
- Teaching interests
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I firmly believe that education should be a transformative process, for students as well as lecturers; that we all learn from and grow as a result of the challenges that teaching and learning bring to each participant. In order for that to occur, students and lecturers should be open to information and experiences that may contradict and challenge received understandings.
I hope that students will come to my class wanting to discover something new about the world, to confront themselves and their preconceived ideas, and wishing to use their education for the benefit of themselves and others.
To accommodate students' different learning styles and needs, I like to vary the mode of deliver of my teaching through a mixture of lectures, seminars, group and individual work, and analysis of visual materials.
I expect students to read in depth and be familiar with the most up-to-date scholarly debates not only in preparation for their classes and assessments, but to to use these as the basis for developing their own ideas and frameworks for thinking about the world.
I want all my students to feel comfortable about expressing their thoughts freely and confidently, and to participate as an active member of a dynamic scholarly community.
- Teaching activities
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Currently Dr Matanle teaches on the following modules:
- EAS21005 Environment and Development of the Japanese Islands
- EAS6149/6158 Media and Public Communication in Japan
In addition, Peter contributes to postgraduate research training in the University's Doctoral Training Programme and has been awarded European Union teaching mobility grants to teach in Germany at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and Duisburg-Essen University under the Erasmus Mundus programme.
Research supervision
Peter Matanle is currently supervising six PhD candidates. He welcomes applications from prospective research students in the fields of the sociology of work and regional studies in Japan.
PhD Theses Supervised
Completed
- ISHIGURO, K., Generating Equal Employment Opportunities: The Work and Life of Female Managers in Japanese Companies
- HARTLEY, R., Japan’s hegemony in Southeast Asia (Second supervisor)
- RICHMOND, A., Japanese horror film reception
- WALKER, A., Buddhism and rural living in Japan (MPHil)
In progress
- ESTAMPADOR, S., The JET Programme and Japan’s soft power.
- HORN, R., The internationalization of Japanese higher education (Second supervisor).
- MCDONALD, D., Managing Workforce Diversity in Japanese Companies.
- VAINIO, A., The role of NGOs in post-tsunami recovery.
- AVCI, Y., State and Everyday Politics of Undocumented Immigrants: The Case of Undocumented Turkish Immigrants in Japan
- WANG, J., Public Private Partnerships in recovery after 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake
- Media expertise
Dr Matanle has experience of both press and broadcasting, having been interviewed by the BBC, the New York Times and the Financial Times, written for the Guardian online, and having appeared as an invited foreign discussant by Japan's national broadcaster NHK to a studio debate on Japan's 'lifetime employment system’.
Peter is available to media organisations to talk about work, employment and regional society in Japan and the UK. Please contact him either by telephone or e-mail to arrange an interview.
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