Yasunosuke Gonda
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese sociologist and film theorist who played an important role in the study of popular entertainment and helped pioneer statistical studies of everyday life in Japan.
area of Tokyo
, Gonda was early attracted to the socialism
of Isoo Abe, and his early political activities earned expulsion from Waseda High School. He later studied at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
and Tokyo University where he was influenced by German statistical sociology. His first book, The Principles and Applications of the Moving Pictures (Katsudō shashin no genri oyobi ōyō), was published in 1914, and was the first full-length monograph in Japan studying the medium of cinema. His later research on lower class life and popular play focused on how popular culture was generated from the bottom up and challenged top-down notions of national or modern culture.
Career
Born in the KandaKanda
-People:*Aika Kanda, a Japanese announcer of NHK*Hiroyuki Kanda, a top Japanese chef, and his eponymous Kanda restaurant in Roppongi, one of only 8 restaurants in Japan to earn 3 Michelin stars*Masaki Kanda, a Japanese actor...
area of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Gonda was early attracted to the socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
of Isoo Abe, and his early political activities earned expulsion from Waseda High School. He later studied at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
TUFS is a specialized institution only in foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies, thus it is not as well-known as other big universities such as University of Tokyo and Kyoto University...
and Tokyo University where he was influenced by German statistical sociology. His first book, The Principles and Applications of the Moving Pictures (Katsudō shashin no genri oyobi ōyō), was published in 1914, and was the first full-length monograph in Japan studying the medium of cinema. His later research on lower class life and popular play focused on how popular culture was generated from the bottom up and challenged top-down notions of national or modern culture.
Further reading
- Harootunian, H. D. (2001). Overcome by Modernity. Princeton University Press.
- Silverberg, Miriam (1992). "Constructing the Japanese Ethnography of Modernity," Journal of Asian Studies 51.1 (February 1992): pp. 30-54.