Book review: Precarious Japan by Anne Allison

"Precarious Japan." Anne Allison. Duke University Press. 2013. --- In an era of irregular labour, nagging recession, nuclear contamination, and a shrinking population, Japan is facing precarious times. How the Japanese experience insecurity in their daily and social lives is the subject of Precarious Japan. Moving between the structural conditions of socioeconomic life and the ways people are making do, or not, Anne Allison chronicles the loss of home affecting many Japanese, not only in the literal sense but also in the figurative sense of not belonging. Sneha Krishnan finds that this is an excellent primer not only on contemporary politics and society in Japan but also in the study of socio-economic instability around the world.