Geoff

I don't recall the posting but I did have a busman's holiday in Japan in 1989 and got to work on excavations in Tokyo.  Broad observations about that and visiting other sites would include:

* Japanese heritage legislation is very strict with requirements to investigate and capture archaeological information, which resulted in the year I was there in 11,000+ archaeological reports being published, as local monograph series for museums and local archaeological agencies etc.  The level of investigation is unbelievable.  characteristically dig sites are covered in blue builder's plastic, and on any train trip there are glimpses iof this appearing all over the place.  Invariably they are excavations being carried out in advance of development.

There is only one instance brought to mind of a site where development was diverted because of its archaeological potential being demonstrated, and that was for the former Royal Palace site at Nara, next to the modern city centre.  This has now become a national research centre for archaeology.  Everywhere else the pressure for land is so intense that archaeology is carried out as salvage with no expectation of susbtantial retention of sites in situ.

Archaeologically, the people I worked with were meticulous and superb excavators.  The project I took part in was in Hino City, a part of western Tokyo, that had decided to open up the low-lying river flats for development.  Among the farmhouses, orchards and small suburban development the city council developed an infrastructure plan, with connections for rail and transport corridors and major service supply routes, and the smaller local road network.  As land became available for purchase it was surveyed and often excavated.  By the time I was there most of a vast area of about 10 square kilometres had had some investigation.  then as individual blocks were made available for development appropriate archaeological work took place in advance of development.  This was done by the city council - most have teams of archaeologists, supported by very well skilled and resourced volunteer groups, predominantly women.  The planning timeframe was conceived of in decades, with no discomfort or concern that, if necessary, every metre of that development area would eventually be excvaated archaeologically.

Japanese archaeology has also extended into Asia, with a strong push to find the roots of Buddhism, which has overtones similar to the western fascination with biblical lands.  Television and public utilities seeemed to be major sponsors, but corporate Japan also thought it was a 'safe' investment, and played well with the dominant ideology of tracing the uniqueness of Japanese culture.

If there was a downside to Japanese archaeology it was that the CRM imperative generated an enormous amount of data, so that archaeologists complained that they copuld not remain up with the literature of even a small region.  The debate between culture-historical and processual archaeology was there, but it appeared that the vanguard of processualism was still in thegraduate school stage and had not taken over the teaching generation.  There was also the problem of storing literally tons and tons of material.

I've seen very little in English about Japanese CRM based archaeology, but I do remember an article in an old Arch. Review from Cambridge that discussed some of the issues.

Denis Gojak

>>> geoff carver <[log in to unmask]> 06/08 5:09 am >>>
apologies for cross-posting

someone made a comment recently about japanese archaeology, but i've gone and
deleted the message from my list - i also thought others out there might
have answers, leads or other interesting bits to say about
        - japanese excavation methods, or maybe websites where i might find some
info?
        - rumours i've heard that japanese auto firms sometimes sponsor
excavations in other se asian countries as some sort of public relations thing?
websites/urls?

geoff carver
http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/ 
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