John Breen (scholar)

Breen was awarded his BA at the University of Cambridge in 1979. He earned a Ph.D. in 1993 at Cambridge.

From 1985 through 2008, Breen was a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader in Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is currently Professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies.^[2] He is also Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Japan Review.^[3]

Breen's critical examination of religious practices in Japan has been informed by his historical research. Historicity is construed as a fundamental component of Breen's view of Shinto.^[4]

Breen's work on Shinto is influenced by the writings of Toshio Kuroda.^[4] As most contemporary historians, he holds a more moderate position. While Kuroda denied Shinto was more than a japanized version of Buddhism, Breen and Teeuwen argue there was a pre-modern, indigenous tradition of worship, mythology and shrines, even if indeed Shinto as an organized religion was yet to be born.^[5]

Breen has also written articles in English and Japanese and a book in Japanese on the transformation of the imperial institution in the 19th century.

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about John Breen, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 30 publications in 1 language and 1,000+ library holding.^[6]

Books

• Japanese simplified (1987)
• Japan and Christianity: Impacts and Responses (1996) (edited with Mark Williams)
• Japanese in Three Months (1997)
• Shinto in History: Ways of the kami (2000) (edited with Mark Teeuwen)
• Inoue Nobutaka et al., Shintō: a short history (2002) (co-translated and adapted with Mark Teeuwen)
• Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past (2008) (edited)
• A New History of Shinto (2010) (co-authored with Mark Teeuwen)
• "Girei to kenryoku: tennno no Meiji ishin" (2010)

Book chapters (recent chapters in English only)

• “Popes, bishops, and war criminals: reflections on Catholics and Yasukuni in post-war Japan,” in Michael Bathgate ed., Course Reader 10: “Religion in modern Asia: Tradition, state and society,” The Asia Pacific Journal; Japan Focus
• “The nation’s shrine: conflict and commemoration at Yasukuni, modern Japan’s shrine to the war dead,” in Tsang, Rachel and Eric Taylor Woods eds. The cultural politics of nationalism and nation-building: ritual and performance in the forging of nations" (2014)
• “Yasukuni shrine: ritual and memory,” in Sven Saaler & Justin Aukema eds., Course Reader 7: “The Politics of Memory in Japan and East Asia,” The Asia Pacific Journal; Japan Focus (2013)
• “’Fine words indeed’: Yasukuni and the narrative fetishism of war,” Inken Prohl and John Nelson eds., Handbook of contemporary Japanese religions (2012)
• “Shinto,” in Helmut Anheier, Mark Jurgensmeyer ed., Encyclopedia of Global Studies (2012)
• “Voices of rage: six paths to the problem of Yasukuni,” in Roy Starrs ed., Politics and religion in modern Japan: red sun, white lotus (2012)
• “Mourning and violence in the Land of Peace: Reflections on Yasukuni,” in Breen and Yamada eds. Understanding contemporary Japan (2011)

Articles (recent articles in English only)

• “Resurrecting the sacred land of Japan: the state of Shinto in the 21st century,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 37, 2 (2010)
• “’Shinto is the great way of the universe’: historical notes on Shinto-Christian negotiations,” Japan Mission Journal, 63, 4 (2009)
• “’The danger is ever present’: Catholic critiques of Yasukuni shrine in post-war Japan,’ Japan Mission Journal, 63, 2 (2009)

• Rambelli, Fabio. "Dismantling stereotypes surrounding Japan's sacred entities," Japan Times. July 15, 2001; book review excerpted from Monumenta Nipponica, 56:2.