Dr Peter Matanle

BA (Cambridge), MA (Essex), PhD (Sheffield)

matanle photo

p.matanle@sheffield.ac.uk

Profile

Peter Matanle is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies and Taught Postgraduate Tutor at SEAS, and Director of the White Rose East Asia Centre's Research Cluster on Social Change and Transition in East Asia. He joined the School of East Asian Studies in 2001 after working as Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Niigata University in Japan.

Peter's research interests are in the social and cultural geography of development. Within this broad area 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
Rural 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 scholarly journals, including Japan Forum, Social Science Japan Journal, Organization, Asian Business & Management, and Local Environment. He has peer reviewed research for Japan Forum, Social Science Japan Journal, Sociology, The Sociological Quarterly, Contemporary Japan, and Environmental Politics, as well as the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Council, and Routledge.

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, and small research grants from the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, GB-Sasakawa Foundation, British Association for Japanese Studies, White Rose East Asia Centre, and Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.

Current Research

Dr Matanle is pursuing a number of related research themes, most of which involve international collaborations with colleagues in Europe and Japan. The first, beginning in 2004, is with Professor Kenji Matsui of Niigata University in Japan, and is an investigation of Japanese and British white collar employees' work values and orientations. In 2005 Peter also began working with Professor Yasuyuki Sato, also of Niigata University, on depopulation and socioeconomic decline in rural Niigata Prefecture. This research has been extended into Dr. Matanle founding the 'Shrinking Regions Research Group' in 2008, comprised of 18 scholars based in 8 countries, and which is examining the impacts and implications of depopulation in East Asia and Europe, and the effectiveness of state and local responses.

Peter has also recently begun work with Dr Hendrik Meyer-Ohle of the National University of Singapore on changing patterns of development in Japan's rural retail industries, and with Dr Leo McCann of Manchester Business School on the theory of gender representation in Japanese popular culture.

In the future, Peter plans to research the relationship between demographic change and resource consumption in Japan's rural regions, focusing on the relative impacts of depopulation on spatial arrangements and energy demand.

Other Projects and Interests

Peter has an interest in internet communications and the publishing industry. He is the founder and publishing editor of both the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies and Paulownia Press Limited. The former recently celebrated its tenth year in continuous publication and has published around 200 refereed articles, discussion papers and reviews, while the latter has published three volumes on the oral history of World War II in Asia and reconciliation between Japan and its former enemies.

In addition to these interests, Dr Matanle led the redevelopment of the British Association for Japanese Studies website and, as a part of this, the 'Discover Japanese Studies' project. The latter is a set of web and CD-based materials designed to inform secondary school students about Japanese studies as a potential subject of study at university. The 'Discover Japanese Studies' materials are generously supported by grants raised by Dr Matanle from the British Association for Japanese Studies, the GB-Sasakawa Foundation, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Japan Foundation, Japan Airlines, and the Embassy of Japan in the UK.

For more information and access to research and other materials, please visit Dr. Matanle's homepage.

Media Expertise

Dr Matanle has experience of both press and broadcasting, having been interviewed by BBC Radio, the New York Times and the Financial Times, having written for the Guardian online edition, 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.

Teaching

Currently Dr Matanle teaches on the following modules.

EAS142 Environment and Society in East Asia
EAS6212 Work and Organization in East Asia
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.

Teaching Philosophy

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 transformation 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.

In order 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.

Research Supervision

Peter Matanle is currently supervising four 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, Kuniko, Generating Equal Employment Opportunities: The Work and Life of Female Managers in Japanese Companies (Degree awarded in 2009)

In Progress

FLYNN, Stephen, The U-I-J-Turn Phenomenon in Japan's Regions (Part-Time Remote Location, Commenced: 2010)
MCDONALD, Darren, Managing Workforce Diversity in Japanese Companies (Part-Time Remote Location, Commenced: 2006)
WOOZLEY, Ian, Human Resource Management in Japanese Multi-National Companies (Co-Supervision, Leeds University WREAC Scholar, Commenced: 2008)

Visiting Fellowships

Dr. Matanle has been invited to teach and research at various international institutions, including the following.

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)

Publications

Authored and Edited Books

Iles, T. and Matanle, P. (eds) (2012) Researching Twenty-First Century Japan: New Approaches and Directions for the Electronic Age, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Matanle, P., Rausch, A.S., with the Shrinking Regions Research Group (2011) Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century: Contemporary Responses to Depopulation and Socioeconomic Decline, Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.

Matanle, P. and Lunsing, W. (eds) (2006) Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan, Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan.
(Reviewed by the Far Eastern Economic Review, Pacific Affairs, Work and Organizations, Japanese Studies, Japan Forum, and Journal of Japanese Studies).

Matanle, P. (2003) Japanese Capitalism and Modernity in a Global Era: Re-fabricating Lifetime Employment Relations, London and New York, RoutledgeCurzon.
(Reviewed by Organization, and Asia Pacific Business Review).
Research supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (Research Studentship no: 960836)

Matanle, P. (ed) (1999) East Asia Research Review: Proceedings of the First Post-Graduate Conference in East Asian Studies, Colchester, Essex: British Association for Japanese Studies.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Matanle, P. (2011) The Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown: Towards the (Re)construction of a Safe, Sustainable and Compassion Society in Japan's Shrinking Regions, Local Environment, 16 (9): 823-847.

Matanle, P. and Sato, Y. (2010) Coming Soon to a City Near You! Learning to Live 'Beyond Growth' in Japan's Shrinking Regions, Social Science Japan Journal, 13 (2): 187-210.
Research supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee (Grant no: 390 1107).

Sato, Y. and Matanle, P. (2010) Igirisu ni okeru kōreisha fukushi - shefiirudo-shi no borantia soshiki wo chūshin ni (Caring for Older People in the UK: An Analysis of the Contributions of Volunteer Organizations in Sheffield), Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyū: Studies in Humanities, Faculty of Humanities, Niigata University, 127: 1-27.

Matanle, P., McCann, L., and Ashmore, D-J (2008) Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga, Organization, 15 (5): 639-64.

Matanle, P. (2007) Forty Years on: Researching the Globalization of the Japanese Firm in the UK, Asian Business & Management, 6 (4): 431-449.

Matanle, P. (2006) Organic Sources for the Revitalization of Rural Japan: The Craft Potters of Sado, Japanstudien, 18: 149-180.

Matanle, P. (2006) The Habit of a Lifetime? Japanese and British University Students' Attitudes to Permanent Employment, Japan Forum, 18 (2): 229-254.
Research supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Postdoctoral Fellowship no: P04026)

Matanle, P. (2001) Driving the Modern Dream, Hōsei Riron, 33 (4): 103-150.

Book Chapters

Matanle, P. and Matsui, K. (2011) Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan: Stability and Resilience Under Pressure in the Japanese Management System, in S. Horn (ed.) Emerging Perspectives in Japanese Human Resource Management, Wirtschaftspsychologie, Band 15, Berlin: Peter Lang: 15-45.

Matanle, P. (2008) Shrinking Sado: Education, Employment and the Decline of Japan’s Rural Regions, Chapter 6 in P. Oswalt (ed.) Shrinking Cities - Complete Works 3 Japan, Available at: http://www.schrumpfendestaedte.de/fileadmin/shrink/downloads/pdfs/CWJapan_Kapitel6.pdf

Matanle, P. (2006) Beyond Lifetime Employment? Re-fabricating Japan's Employment Culture, in Matanle, P. and Lunsing, W. (eds) Perspectives on Work, Employment and Society in Japan, Basingstoke: PalgraveMacMillan: 58-78.

Matanle, P. (2005) Igirisu: Igirisu no shihonshugi - Nihon no shihonshugi (Great Britain: British Capitalism - Japanese Capitalism), in Kubo, Akira, Kikkawa, Takeo, and Hook, Glenn D. (eds) Gendai Nihon Kigyō 3: Gurōbaru Rebiū (The Contemporary Japanese Enterprise Vol. 3: Global Review), Tokyo: Yūhikaku: 143-166.

Matanle, P. (2002) From Outside-In to Inside-Out: The Emergence of Capitalist Modernity in Contemporary Japan, in Anglo-Japanese Academy Proceedings, International Center for Comparative Law and Politics, Tokyo: ICCLP Publications: 449-455.

Matanle, P. (1999) Coping with Modernity: Man and Company in Contemporary Japan, in Matanle, P. (ed) East Asia Research Review: Proceedings of the First UK Post-Graduate Conference in East Asian Studies, Colchester, Essex: British Association for Japanese Studies: 1-12.

Other Publications

Matanle, P. (2012) Preface, in Iles, T. and Matanle, P. (eds) Researching Twenty-First Century Japan: New Approaches and Directions for the Electronic Age, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Matanle, P. (2012) Japan's Shrinking Regions: Understanding Post-Industrial Change in East Asia, EastAsia@Sheffield, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, 20.

Matanle, P. (2011) Expatriate Games, Mind Your Language Blog, The Guardian (online), Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/apr/11/week

Matanle, P. (2010) Introduction: A special focus on shrinking regions, Social Science Japan Journal, 13 (2): 183-185.

Matanle, P. (2010) Topic: Learning to Live Beyond Growth in Japan's Shrinking Regions, Myriad Leaves, Japan Local Government Centre, London, July: 4-5.

Matanle, P. (2008) United Kingdom, Appendix – Country Reports/Statistical Analysis, Japanese Studies in Europe, Tokyo: Japan Foundation: 95-110.

Matanle, P. (2008) Japan's Shrinking Regions, EastAsia@Sheffield, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, 17: 5

Matanle, P. (2005) Source: Wikipedia, Asia Media Archives, UCLA Asia Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, 20 December, Available at: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=35944

Matanle, P. (2003) Go Back to School! JET Streams, JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme) Alumni Association Newsletter, Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, Tokyo, June.

Matanle, P. (1999) The Salaryman and Japan's Modernity, Social Science Japan Newsletter, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, 15: 36-39.

Recent International Conferences and Invited Lectures (Since 2008)

Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century: Contemporary Responses to Depopulation and Socioeconomic Decline, Cardiff Japanese Studies Centre, Cardiff University (2011).

Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century: Contemporary Responses to Depopulation and Socioeconomic Decline, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, National University of Singapore (2011).

Kintaro Ganbare! Representations of Work and Organization in Japanese ‘Salaryman’ Manga, Japan Studies Association of Australia Conference, University of Melbourne (2011).

Kintaro Ganbare! Representations of Work and Organization in Japanese ‘Salaryman’ Manga, Dōshisha University Business School, Kyoto (2011).

Depopulation and Environmental Risk: The Case of Japan’s Shrinking Regions, British Association for Japanese Studies Japan Chapter Conference, Hokkaido University, Japan (2011).

Depopulation and Environmental Risk: The Case of Japan’s Shrinking Regions, Shiga University, Japan (2011).

Kintaro Ganbare! Representations of Work and Organization in Japanese ‘Salaryman’ Manga, Deutsches Institut fur Japanstudien, Tokyo (2010).

Kintaro Ganbare! Representations of Work and Organization in Japanese ‘Salaryman’ Manga, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich (2010).

Coming Soon to a City Near You! Living 'Beyond Growth' in Japan's Shrinking Regions, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen (2009).

Women Under Pressure! Representations of Women Workers and their Organizations in Japanese Manga, Joint East Asian Studies Triennial Conference, University of Sheffield (2009).

Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield (2009).

Coming Soon to a City Near You! Population, Education and Community Stability in Japan's Regions, Japan Local Government Centre Japan Day Seminar, County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire (2008).

Managing International Research Collaboration, Sheffield Research Leaders Seminar, University of Sheffield (2008).

Markets Versus Organizations in the UK and Japan, European Association of Japanese Studies Triennial Conference, Lecce, Italy (2008).

Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga, Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford (2008).

Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga, Institute for Japanese Studies, University of Heidelberg (2008).

Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Bristol (2008).