Challenging the boundaries of citizenship: Transnational activism in contemporary Japan

This chapter explores the visions of citizenship beyond (and often in conflict with) national state citizenship-what people might call the citizenships of civil society or, simply, post-national citizenship. It discusses the Japanese social movements in relation to theoretical and terminological aspects of citizenship, especially the demarcation between national state citizenship and citizenship in civil society and the role of transnationalism. The chapter then discusses two quintessential post-war social movements in which transnationalism had a decisive impact on activists conceptualization of post-national citizenship: the peace and anti-war movement and the environmental movement. The peace and anti-war movement in post-war Japan provides a useful insight into the emergence of a post-national model and vision of performative citizenship as well as the ways transnational interaction has transformed that model and vision. The historical development of the contemporary environmental movement in Japan provides another useful angle on the emergence and transformation-through transnational activism-of post-national shimin citizenship.