The Japanese Numbers Game provides a general study of the whole field of Japanese popular numeracy. It introduces the reader to a world of numbers in which fortune-telling, the abacus, games involving numbers as well as curious numerical names (of both people and places) illustrate a popular obsession with systems of counting, calculation and forecasting. Thomas Crump meticulously explores the cultural roots of attitudes toward numbers and suggests the contemporary implications of a culture in which mechanical numeracy (and number obsession) is commonplace but the highest levels of academic mathematics still fall short of world standards. Crump's analysis of this cultural phenomenon moves beyond generalization to reveal the often contradictory love affair between the Japanese and the number system.
Author(s): T Crump
Series: Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 1992
Language: English
Pages: 224
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of figures......Page 7
List of tables......Page 8
General editor's preface......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
The numerical paradox......Page 16
Numbers in the written and spoken language......Page 29
Alternative number systems......Page 48
The culture of numbers......Page 61
What's in a Japanese name?......Page 78
Fortune-telling......Page 91
Time......Page 111
The spatial world of numbers......Page 129
The Japanese abacus......Page 141
Games;ancient and modern......Page 154
The ecology of numbers;past and present......Page 170
Notes......Page 178
References......Page 211
Index......Page 217
