Editorial

Social Science Japan Journal (SSJJ) is proud to announce that we have been accepted for listing in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) as of February 2009. The SSCI is an interdisciplinary citation index compiled by Thomson Reuters, covering over 1,950 of the world's leading social sciences journals in 50 disciplines. SSJJ is listed in the ‘Area Studies’ category, and its inclusion in this prestigious index establishes SSJJ as one of the leading journals in its field in the world. The mission of SSJJ is to introduce the best original research on contemporary Japanese society to the English-language academic community. We publish high-quality papers in a wide range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, education, law, modern history, political science, and sociology. SSJJ solicits general papers, survey articles, review essays, and book reviews. Recent general papers published in the journal have examined such issues as jobless youth, employment policies for the disabled, corporate governance, the yakuza (Japanese mafia), nationalism, and political reforms. SSJJ maintains a high-level of quality and originality through a rigorous double-blind peer review process, which requires three to four international external referees for all general paper submissions.