The celebration of violence: A live‐fire demonstration carried out by Japan's contemporary military

Abstract

In this article we analyze an annual live‐fire exercise held by Japan's Self‐Defense Forces for the general public. On the basis of our analysis, we suggest that anthropologists seriously examine the military establishments of technologically advanced societies. If anthropologists want to understand violent acts, we need to study the perpetrators of such acts and not only their victims. In most of the scholarly literature, violence is seen as anomalous and disruptive—as the reverse of social order. In contrast, we demonstrate how violence can also be understood as an object of fascination, enjoyment, and celebration. We show how the link between violence and the military is variously concealed, naturalized, or blurred in events such as the live‐fire exercise.

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