This book examines the place of body practices and the management of emotions in Japanese preschools. Early childhood socialization is explored as a set of 'body projects': a series of practices undertaken (over time) to design the body according to prevailing cultural definitions and images. The concept 'body projects' allows us to understand how the body is, at one and the same time, a malleable material capable of being fashioned in a certain manner, an entity which represents social relations and notions, and an embodiment of affective attitudes and stances towards the world.