Programme - SOAS University of London

Transcription

British Association for Japanese Studies
The British Association for Japanese Studies is a UK-based association of scholars
and researchers dedicated to the development of Japanese Studies. Our aim
is to promote teaching and research on Japan by coordinating events such as
academic conferences and circulating information about the field.
www.bajs.org.uk
Japan Research Centre
The Japan Research Centre (JRC) has been the forum for Japan -related research
activities at SOAS since 1978. The JRC develops and coordinates academic
research and teaching, drawing upon the expertise of the Japan specialists who
are based in various departments throughout the School.
www.soas.ac.uk/jrc
PROGRAMME DISCLAIMER: The speakers, topics and times are correct at the time of publishing. However,
in the event of unforeseen circumstances, the organisers reserve the right to alter or delete items from the
conference programme.
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 2
Support
The BAJS Annual Lecture 2015 has been kindly supported by the Japan
Foundation.
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Share your comments and photos using #BAJS2015
@SOASCentres
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 /Japan.SOAS
4
Contents
Activity
Page
Timetable
6
Floor plan
10
Notes
11
Day 1 Abstracts
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
13
14
21
29
37
Day 2 Abstracts
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
45
46
52
58
64
Participants (Names of attendees)
71
JRC Events
73
Connect with us
75
Room
SESSION 1
9:15 - 11:00
SESSION 2
11:30 - 13:15
B104
Japanese Literature in broader contexts
New Critical Angles in Japanese Literary Studies
Tom Rigault
Motoko Akashi
Jonathan Dil
Olga Zaberezhnaia
Karolina Broma-Smenda
Fusako Innami
Anna Dobrovolska
B111
Masculinities in Flux in Contemporary Japan
Ronald Saladin
Brigitte Steger
Constanze Noack
Emma Cook
Hiroko Umegaki-Costantini
G3
The Sinoscript and Literate Vernacular in
Ancient and Medieval Japan
Torquil Duthie
Brian Steininger
Jennifer Guest
4426
Party Politics, Nationalism and Politicians in
Japan
Arthur Stockwin
Phoebe Holdgrün
Kristin Roebuck
4429
BGLT
Independent Panel - Religion and Martial Arts
BREAK 11:00 - 11:30 in Brunei Gallery Suite
REGISTRATION from 8:30 in Brunei Gallery Suite
Thursday 10 September 2015
Sessions 1 & Session 2
Resilience and Fragmentation at Work: Lifetime
Employment in 21st
Century Japan
Peter Matanle
Arjan Keizer
Helen Macnaughtan
Historic perceptions and presentations of Japanese art in Europe and the US
Rosina Buckland
Minami Eguchi
Maho Suzuki
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay
Normalizing Japan’s Foreign Relations
Minzhao Wang
Karol Zakowski
Wei Huang
Olga Dobrinskaya
Religion and Power: authority and ontology in
premodern Japan
John LoBreglio
Chris Harding
Anna Seabourne
Julian Wayne
Ian Astley
Mikael Bauer
Philip Garrett
Empire, Colonial Development & Remote
Islands
New Scholarship on Old Perspectives:
Diplomacy and Empire
Steven Ivings
Sumiyo Nishizaki
Sergey Tolstoguzov
Andrea Revelant
Sigfrid Östberg
Jing Sun
Sessions 3 & Session 4
SESSION 4
16:15 - 18:00
B104
Japanese Language in historical and cultural
context
Issues in Contemporary
Japanese language
Thomas McAuley
Mária Ildikó Farkas
Nadeschda Bachem
Matteo Fabbretti
Carolyn Wright & Sanae Saito (joint paper)
Mayuko Inagawa
Nataliia Kutafeva
Gender and Employment
HRM and Demography
B111
G3
4426
4429
Jeff Kingston
Machiko Osawa
Sayako Ono
Kuniko Ishiguro
Art and Art History - Independent Papers
Naoko Gunji
Stephanie Su
Mami Fujiwara
Monika Hinkel
Anti-Nuclear and Peace Movements
Beata Bochorodycz
Hiroe Saruya
Space and memory in contemporary Japanese
religion
Erica Baffelli
Aike Rots
Tatsuma Padoan
Paulina Kolata
BGLT
BREAK 15:45-16:15 in Brunei Gallery Suite
SESSION 3
14:00 - 15:45
LUNCH 13:15 -14:00 in Brunei Gallery Suite
Room
Philippe Debroux
Darren McDonald
Daisuke Wakisaka
Japonisme and Beyond: its influences in the
Artistic Creation of Spain
Ramon Vega
Yayoi Kawamura
Muriel Gomez
Pilar Cabanas
The Self-Defense Forces and Japan
Garren Mulloy
Tam Mito & Craig Mark
Thomas French
Film & Media - Independent Papers
Anya Benson
Leena Eerolainen
Christopher Hood
Akiko Nagata
Rethinking the “Postwar” inJapan: Beyond U.S.Japanese Encounters
Deokhyo Choi
Sherzod Muminov
Griseldis Kirsch
Aaron William Moore
Friday 11 September 2015
Session 1 & Session 2
Room
SESSION 1
9:00 - 10:45
SESSION 2
11:00 - 12:45
B104
Education
Contemporary Japanese Philosophy: From
Its Reception of Western Philosophical
Ideas
to Its Original Formation
Yuki Imoto
Sachiko Horiguchi
Robert Aspinall
G3
Business and Finance
Craft and Commerce
Yoshikatsu Shinozawa
Ka Wai (Victoria) Mak
Haruo Horaguchi
Roddy McDougall
Yoshika Yajima
Waiyee Loh
Sheila Cliffe
Herbeth Fondeville
The Current Status of Translation Studies
in Japan –
The Perspective of Literary Translation
Research
Nana Sato-Rossberg
Atsuko Hayakawa
Azusa Omura
Lisa Pääjärvi
4429
BGLT
Japanese Film - discourses past
and present
Chris Perkins
Maria Roemer
Lauri Kitsnik
Lee Hyunseon
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Defining the Role of the Political Journalist
in Meiji Japan: Observations of an
Emergent Mass-Media Phenomenon
Alistair Swale
Koichiro Matsuda
Kaoru Iokibe
LUNCH 12:45 -13:30 in Brunei Gallery Suite
B111
BREAK 10:45 - 11:00 in Brunei Gallery Suite
REGISTRATION from 8:30 in Brunei Gallery Suite
Brice Fauconnier
Pierre Bonneels
Takeshi Morisato
Yu Inutsuka
KEYNOTE LECTURE
Theorizing the Theory Complex in the
Japanese Film World
Aaron Gerow
8
Session 3 & Session 4
Room
SESSION 3
13:30 - 15:15
SESSION 4
15:30 - 18:00
B104
Post 3:11 Japan
Independent Panel Contemporary Social Issues
Saeko Kimura
Susanne Auerbach
Grappling with Precarity: Gender, Labor,
and Neoliberal
Japan
Sharon Kinsella
Amanda Robinson
Michelle Ho
Marco Pellitteri
G3
Childhood envisioned and experienced in
wartime Japan,
1931–1945
L. Halliday Piel
Sharalyn Orbaugh
Harald Salomon
4429
Thematizing social issues in Japanese
culture
Annette Thorsen Vilslev
Reiko Abe Auestad
Gitte Marianne Hansen
Gunhild Borggreen
BGLT
Consuming ‘Cool Japan’ - genres, issues
and challenges
Nicolas Garvizu
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
Laura Montero-Plata
William H. Kelly
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 BREAK 15:15 - 15:30/15:45 in Brunei Gallery Suite
B111
Anna Vainio
Kenji Suzuki
Japanese Law and the Rhetoric of Legal
Orientalism: Contesting
the Terrain
Giorgio F. Colombo
Fabiana Marinaro
Dimitri Vanoverbeke
Lawrence Repeta
War Veterans and Disability in
Modern Japan
Tetsuya Fujiwara
Mai Yamashita
Toru Imajoh
The Japanese Other in Catalan Paratexts:
Literary, Translated
and Visual Images
Alba Serra-Vilella
Jordi Mas López
M. Teresa Rodríguez-Navarro
Social/Political Criticism in Edo period
Popular Culture Discourse
Andrew Gerstle
Jennifer Preston
Allessandro Bianchi
9
AN
R
PL
O
Brunei Gallery
O
FL
1st FLOOR
Rooms :
B111
B102
B104
Ladies & Gents Toilets are
available on all floors
GROUND FLOOR
Brunei Gallery Suite
(Registration, Refreshments)
LOWER GROUND FLOOR
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
(BGLT)
SOAS Main Building
4th FLOOR
Rooms :
4426
4429
GROUND FLOOR
G3
NOTES
NOTES
ABSTRACTS
Session 1
9:15 - 11:00
6 panels
Room
Session 1 Panels
B104
Tom Rigault
Motoko Akashi
Jonathan Dil
Ronald Saladin
Brigitte Steger
Constanze Noack
Emma Cook
Hiroko Umegaki-Costantini
B111
The Sinoscript and Literate Vernacular in Ancient and Medieval
Japan
G3
Torquil Duthie
Brian Steininger
Jennifer Guest
Party Politics, Nationalism and Politicians in Japan
4426
Arthur Stockwin
Phoebe Holdgrün
Kristin Roebuck
4429
John LoBreglio
Chris Harding
Anna Seabourne
Julian Wayne
Empire, Colonial Development & Remote Islands
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Steven Ivings
Sumiyo Nishizaki
14
Yoko Tawada’s “post 3/11 literature”
by Tom Rigault (PhD student)
(University of Berlin)
In an article, Mitsuyoshi Numano writes about “a new border in Japanese literature: a border that separates the literature before 3/11 from the
literature after 3/11”.1 3/11 refers of course to the disaster that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, as well as the nuclear catastrophe that followed.
The events that occurred on that day caused indeed innumerable literary responses, which even seem to shape a new movement of Japanese
literature, namely shinsaigo bungaku.2 Yoko Tawada reacted too, from Germany, in the aftermath of the disaster. She started by writing articles
in the German-speaking press, opened a “genpatsu” section on her website, and soon had produced various works (essay, short story, poetry,
novel, play…) both in Japanese and German, which share a common inspiration: Fukushima.
Topical as ever, Fukushima’s issue is still four years later at the core of Tawada’s work and we can say that it shapes a complex, whole new part
of it. Thus, it rightfully belongs to the “post-earthquake literature” theorized by Kimura.
3/11 seems to be a turning point in Tawada’s work as much as it is one for Japanese literature itself. Tawada’s peculiar way of writing, between
essay and fiction, is favourable to the display of an imagination challenged by the aporia of the disaster, together with a fierce criticism towards
Japan. Her work offers here a vision – futuristic, absurd and dystopian –, which differs from present accounts and descriptions of the disaster,
or recallings and rewritings of past ones.
Having recourse to Yoko Tawada’s Japanese and German works written after and about 3/11, this paper has two different goals: it tries to
determine Yoko Tawada’s place within the post-earthquake literature as a new trend of contemporary Japanese literature, and asks what place
Fukushima has taken inside Yoko Tawada’s work.
Celebrity Translators and their Translation Practices: Exploring the Variability of Murakami Haruki’s Translation Strategies
by Motoko Akashi
(University of East Anglia)
This paper analyses the translation strategies of celebrity Japanese novelist and translator, Haruki Murakami. Its analysis demonstrates how
Murakami, using his creativity as a writer, combines two opposite translation strategies in order to optimize the translation for the target
readership; one which conforms to target language norms and another which focuses on those of the source culture. It will also discuss the
relationship between Murakami’s translation strategies and his celebrity status.
Literary translators in contemporary Japan generally have two options in the choice of translation strategies; one that focuses on the readership
and another, the original author. Texts in the former are fluently written, to the extent that can be read as the original, while those in the latter
retain the foreign feel of the original text, potentially to the distraction of readers. However, Murakami’s choices are not constrained to one of
these two choices. He can employ one, both or neither.
Murakami frequently optimizes his translations by adopting both strategies, switching one to another where necessary. His approaches contrast
sharply with several of his counterparts’ who are established but have not acquired the same degree of celebrity status. Good examples are
seen in the works of Takashi Nozaki and Takayoshi Ogawa, both of whom, like Murakami, have translated The Great Gatsby (F.S. Fitzgerald,
1925). The former employs the source text-focused approach, while the latter takes reader-focused approach. This paper argues that
Murakarmi’s unconventional approach to translation is made possible by his celebrity status, which allows him a certain freedom in the choice
of translation strategies.
Japan and the Global Novel
by Jonathan Dil
(Keio University)
Kazuo Ishiguro has described his long-term goal as an author in this way: “I am working myself up to writing a kind of epic global novel. I
suppose a lot of people are always working themselves up to writing that kind of novel” (“In Conversation with Kazuo Ishiguro”). Indeed, the
idea of the global novel continues to gain critical attention, and Ishiguro’s novels are amongst those seen as potential contenders for the label.
What is also interesting to note, however, is the way many works offered by critics as possible global novels still maintain strong links to specific
national cultures. This paper looks at selected works from four novelists—Kazuo Ishiguro, Murakami Haruki, David Mitchell, and Ruth Ozeki—
that are often utilized in arguments about the rise of the global novel, but which are all explicitly linked with Japan. The focus of the paper
is on the ways “Japan” is used by these writers as a tool for reflecting on the global and the strategies they use to go beyond strictly national
frameworks. These four authors share several thematic interests—growing up, responsibility, otherness, and memory (both personal and
historical)—as well as a desire to transcend or at least complicate the notion of identities bound within specific national cultures. At the same
time, their differences as writers highlight the difficulties of defining the characteristics of the global novel in any simplistic way, whether the
focus be on developments in form or content.
~~~~
1
Numano, Mitsuyoshi Shifting Borders in Contemporary Japanese Literature in Küpper, Joachim (Ed.) Approaches to World Literature, De
Gruyter Akademie Verlag, 2013, pp 161-162.
2
Kimura, Saeko Shinsaigo bungakuron, Seidosha, 2013.
After the burst of the economic bubble in the beginning of the 1990’s the legitimacy of hegemonic masculinity with the salaryman as its
manifestation began to be questioned, and new ideas of masculinities appeared. This panel aims to address some of these new configurations
of masculinity in contemporary Japan focusing on how Japanese men adhere to different values than those expressed in Japan’s hegemonic
masculinity. Two of the papers address one of these new configurations that is especially important with regards to the younger generations
of Japanese men: the so-called herbivore man – sōshoku(kei) danshi. Although the term has become widely known and used, it also rapidly
started to change and expand its meaning, making it particularly difficult to use in academic discourse. Constanze
Noack will analyse the term itself and analyse how its meaning and usage has changed due to its status of a “buzzword”, exploring the
different definitions of herbivore men that have appeared over time. Ronald Saladin will look at the way the media interprets herbivore men
and analyse how a Japanese TV drama constructs and construes them. The subject of the third paper focuses on another social phenomenon
that appeared in the 1990’s: freeters – individuals who are employed part-time, primarily in the service sector. Emma Cook will address how
such part-time workers are constructing alternative masculinities through futureoriented ‘aspirational labour’ with a focus on intention, action
and meaning-making, rather than achieved statuses. Furthermore, she illustrates how individual constructions of masculinities vary across
different spheres of life and as men age. The fourth paper considers the identities of men within the family. Hiroko Umegaki will attend to how
men’s evolving role within the framework of care for the elderly leads, within the domestic setting, to men’s reconstruction of their sense of
masculinity.
What is in a Word: The Case File of the Term Sōshoku(kei)-danshi
by Constanze Noack
(Heinrich-Heine University)
Buzzwords and neologisms are a very common phenomenon in Japanese society and media. Examples include words such as make inu
(loser dog) or parasaito shinguru (parasite single). Some of them have been popularized by Japan’s word vogue award the “Yūkyan Shingo
Ryūkōgo Taishō” by the publisher U-Can. In 2009 the columnist Fukasawa Maki and the actor Teppei Koike were awarded the prize for the
term sōshoku danshi (herbivore man). Fukasawa received the award for inventing and coining the term, and Teppei for portraying a sōshoku
danshi in the series “O hitori sama”. It is noteworthy that even up to 2009, when Fukasawa won the prize, the term had undergone significant
change in meaning compared to its origin, as found i.e. in Fukasawa’s book “Sōshoku danshi sedai”. Yet the term itself spread even more and
eventually found its way into international media. Although it is interesting to see how international media makes use of such a buzzword, I
would like to focus this presentation on the life of the term sōshoku(kei) danshi in Japan and trace some of its definitions by focusing on nonfiction publications about these young Japanese men. I will elaborate why it has become almost impossible to define the term by taking into
consideration the function of a buzzword. I will argue that one function is to convey knowledge about men and masculinity particularly by
constructing strong links between masculinity and other aspects of life and society. Many of these aspects will be found and further examined
in the presentations of the fellow panelists.
The Herbivore Men Discourse in Popular Media
The Example of the Japanese TV Drama “O hitori sama“
by Ronald Saladin
(University of Trier)
This presentation will introduce an analysis of the Japanese TV drama “O hitori sama” [Party of One]. The male protagonist of this series is
labeled and constructed as a herbivore man. Hence, the drama is an appropriate example to analyse how a typical Japanese media genre is
negotiating and constructing this new kind of man.
The herbivore men phenomenon is especially of interest with regard to the gender role allocations for men and women. The male protagonist
of the series is a temporary assistant teacher at the same school the female main character is working at as a full-time teacher. The whole
show contrasts these two characters and addresses public, professional and private life situations, within which non-hegemonic gender
constructions are negotiated. In particular, the male character seemingly features rather few ‘typically male’ attributes like emotional
detachment, work-professionalism, career ambitions, assertiveness or physical strength etc. Instead, he shows skills that would predominately
be associated with femininity such as cooking or empathy.
The way the male protagonist’s ‘flaws with respect to masculinity’ are constructed show that the underlying and overall image of masculinity,
and as such the common idea of masculinity communicated in the series, is still close to hegemonic masculinity. The drama understands the
male protagonist’s masculinity in both negative and positive ways: negative because he does not live up to hegemonic masculinity, but positive
as an alternative to hegemonic masculinity, especially with regard to interpersonal relationships. As such, “O hitori sama” addresses current
public discourses of re-negotiating masculinity in Japan and interprets it by linking it to other societal issues such as work or interpersonal
relationships.
Aspirational Labour, Age, and Masculinities in the Making
by Emma E. Cook
(Hokkaido University)
Male part-time workers categorised as ‘freeters’ have been generally constructed in popular discourse as being either immature boys or
victims of economic changes. These understandings have primarily located such workers as the antithesis of normative postwar ideals of adult
manhood, long understood through the powerfully symbolic figure of ‘the salaryman’. In this framing, the ‘freeter’ comes to embody subaltern,
subordinate masculinities, setting them up as the Other to the postwar hegemony of the salaryman. Indeed, some authors have suggested that
freeters represent failed masculinities (see Hidaka 2010). This paper moves beyond the dichotomy of freeter-salaryman to illustrate the fluid and
dynamic ways that freeters are constructing their masculinities in different ways in different arenas of their lives and as they age. In the sphere
of labour, I argue that male part-time workers understand their masculine identities to be linked to future-oriented aspirational labour, in which
action, intention and meaning-making are particularly important, rather than position or statuses achieved. The sphere of labour is, however,
intricately interlinked with their priorities relating to intimacy and families, often leading to fundamental shifts and contradictions in how they
understand their masculinities as they age, and as their priorities change.
Masculinities in the Family in Contemporary Japan
Role of Sons-in-Law in Elderly Care
by Hiroko Umegaki
(University of Cambridge)
Historically under the ie system the first son and his wife had the duty to look after his elderly parents. However, multiple factors, such as the
rapid aging population, low birth rate, declining Confucian belief, and changes in parent-children relationships, increasingly lead younger
couples to look after both sets of parents. Based on fieldwork on married couples in their 40s to early 60s in Tamba city, Hyōgo in 2014, I
ask how couples arrange care for all four elder parents, and how the couple negotiates their respective roles. I am particularly interested in
how men reconcile their involvement in elderly care with notions of men’s domestic roles. I find that though wives have a sense of filial duty
towards their own parents, a transfer of filial duty across siblings, this is not the main basis for elderly care. As a daughter, providing care for
her own parents means ongaeshi (return debt) for raising her and looking after grandchildren. The wife draws her husband, the son-in-law,
into providing care for parents-in-law by performing selected activities, such as accompanying them to the hospital or gardening. The couples
consider these activities to be part of the chikara shigoto (heavy work) of elderly care, which allows the husbands to reconcile involvement
with elderly care with his sense of masculinity, as elderly care has tended to be considered a domain of women even when men had the duty
for care. In turn, the wife’s appreciation for his help supports her involvement with the husband’s parents’ elderly care, allowing the husband
to fulfill his weakened, but not absent, sense of filial duty to his own parents. Thus, although in the discussions of Japanese family relationships
sons-in-law are traditionally marginal, I suggest that sons-in-law are increasingly important.
~~~~
The Sinoscript and Literate Vernacular in Ancient and Medieval Japan
This panel explores the complex relationship between Literary Sinitic (usually referred to as “Classical Chinese”) as the prestige cosmopolitan
language of East Asia, and the emergence of the vernacular literary language that we call “Classical Japanese.”
“Man’yōshū Poetry as a Cosmopolitan Vernacular”
by Torquil Duthie
(University of California, Los Angeles)
Studies of the Man’yōshū typically describe it as the earliest poetry anthology written in the Japanese language, often emphasizing the fact
that it dates from before the development of the kana syllabaries and is therefore written entirely in Chinese characters. In this paper I will
argue that although the poems of the Man’yōshū are indeed the earliest examples of a literary vernacular, they do not represent the writing in
Sinographs of a poetic language that already existed, but rather the vernacularizing of Literary Sinitic through the vernacular reading and writing
strategies of kundoku (reading by gloss) and ondoku (reading by sound). This process created a new kind of prestige poetry known as uta (later
as waka) that, to borrow a term from the Mana preface to the Kokinshū, was “closer to the ear” that Sinic-style poetry (shi). As such, uta was
both representative of the cultured “voice” of the Yamato court that marked itself as distinct from the sounds of the uncivilized provinces, and
at the same time represented the spread of that courtly voice throughout the realm that the Yamato court claimed to rule over. If we can think
of Literary Sinitic and Sinic-style poetry as something akin to what Sheldon Pollock refers to (in the context of discussing Sanskrit in South Asia)
as a “cosmopolitan” language, then the poetry of the Man’yōshū can be regarded as something like a “cosmopolitan vernacular,” that is to say,
a local literary language that becomes transregional (within Japan). A crucial difference with the case of South Asia, however, is that in the case
of Japan the literate vernacular never became completely independent of or supplanted the cosmopolitan language of Literary Sinitic. In fact,
poetry was the only genre in which the literary vernacular claimed equal parity with cosmopolitan writing.
“Yamato Names or Vulgar Usage: Revisiting the Heian Kundoku Lexicon.”
by Brian Steininger
(Princeton University)
Recent scholarship on kundoku (“reading by gloss”)—the process of grammatical analysis and translation by which a Sinographic text could
be converted into a Japanese utterance—has demonstrated its ubiquity as a methodology underlying a wide range of literacy practices in
premodern Japan, as well as its continuity with techniques on the Eurasian continent. However, while kundoku could be flexible and pervasive,
manuscript evidence suggests a set of artificial limitations on its practice, particularly the tendency towards a restricted and archaic vocabulary
(much of twentieth-century research on kundoku was motivated precisely by its tendency to preserve ancient vocabulary and constructions).
How do we reconcile the expansive potential of kundoku literacy with its limitations as a historical practice? When and why did the language
of kundoku become artificial and antiquarian? This paper presents a close reading of the encyclopedia Wamyō ruijushō (Categorical Miscellany
of Yamato Names, c. 934) to argue that the mid-Heian served as the crucial turning point in the reconceptualization of kundoku as a lexical
register with qualities of archaism and elegance. This shift was a consequence of two major developments institutionalized in court ceremony:
the externalization of kundoku in the form of kunten manuscript annotation, and the displacement of Sinitic pronunciation (ondoku) as a
mode of recitation. The paper concludes by considering the degree of productivity afforded this linguistic register: rather than simply a sum
of preserved reading traditions attached to the Chinese classics, the language of kundoku could be applied to new texts as well, providing the
voice of local compositions in literary Sinitic. It thus provides a fruitful object of comparison to the literary idiom of kana prose developing in the
same period, for each represents a mode of “vernacular” discourse that strives to distinguish itself from ordinary speech.
“Poetic innovation and the Sinoscript: Fujiwara no Teika’s wakan experiments”
by Jennifer Guest
(University of Oxford)
Despite Fujiwara no Teika’s (1162-1241CE) importance as a waka poet and in shaping new standards for everything from scholarship on the
Tale of Genji to kana spelling, his interest in poetic experiments that juxtaposed elements of kanshi (Chinese-style poetry) and waka poetry
has not been thoroughly explored. This talk will look at some unusual works of Teika’s from the perspective of the creative interplay between
scripts and poetic genres. I will first discuss his “Four Seasons of Waka Poetry on Rhyme Characters” (Inji shiki uta 韻字四季歌) in terms of
what it suggests about his concept of the relationship between written character and kundoku gloss, as well as in relation to the unlikely
role played by kanshi-based concepts of rhyme in contemporary efforts to theorize the quite different prosodic patterns of waka. I will then
examine how Teika drew particular inspiration from the works of the mid-Tang poet Bai Juyi, in his prescriptive writings on poetic composition
and in his collection of waka poems on lines from Bai Juyi’s Collected Works (Bunshū hyakushu 文集百首). These texts illustrate the dynamic
interrelationships between waka and Chinese-style aspects of early medieval poetic culture, providing an opportunity to consider the way that
Bai Juyi’s poetry, and elements of kanshi culture more broadly, were mobilized in defining and marketing the art of waka poetry in the uncertain
setting of the early thirteenth century.
~~~~
Party Politics, Nationalism and Politicians in Japan
The Abe Government and freedom of speech
by Arthur Stockwin
Japan’s 1947 Constitution, still in operation and unamended, contains a clear guarantee of freedom of speech. Article 21 states: “Freedom of
assembly and association, as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed. No censorship shall be maintained, nor
shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated”.
In December 2013 the National Diet passed a “Designated Secrets Law”, which was widely attacked by journalists and academics. The Foreign
Press Club of Japan made a rare public statement, saying that “…it seems to suggest that freedom of the press is no longer a constitutional
right, but merely something for which officials ‘must show sufficient consideration’”. The law stipulates a gaol term of up to 10 years for
government officials found to have leaked information concerning a ‘designated secret’, while a journalist obtaining such information
‘inappropriately’ faces up to five years in gaol.
Whereas the law was widely seen as extreme and potentially a serious restriction on freedom of speech, a minority of specialists found reason
to support it, even when deploring other aspects of the Abe Government agenda.
This paper will critically examine the Law and the views of its critics and supporters, while seeking to place the issue in the broader context of
what the Abe Government is really about.
A turning point in life course?
Risks and opportunities as perceived by young political candidates
by Phoebe Stella Holdgrün
(Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien)
The retreat of young people from political activism is said to be a global phenomenon. Political apathy among younger age groups and a
passive attitude towards political engagement are clearly visible in Japan, where the voter turnout is lowest among people in their twenties
(2012: 37,89%) and thirties (2012: 50,10%). However, in the aftermath of 3.11, several younger people have become politically engaged; some
even giving up their former careers and started to pursue political careers with an uncertain outcome. This paper analyses the motivations of
these young candidates for political office and how they perceive risks and opportunities related to their activism. It also evaluates whether
this kind of political participation has an effect on subjective well-being and experiences of self-actualization. As a case study, narratives of
members of the Green Party of Japan (Midori no tō, “Greens Japan”), in their twenties and thirties, are analyzed. “Greens Japan”, launched in
2012, is a political organization that aims to become established as a political party on the national level, but is severely lacking financial and
human resources. Young people, who were previously uninterested in politics, are choosing to take risks by investing considerable energy
into political organizations with no guarantee of success; the interesting reasons they do so are the subject matter of this paper. Findings
disentangle personal backgrounds, risk perceptions, strategies of interaction and dimensions of well-being. This scholarship can facilitate
societal aspirations to get youth interested in political activism.
‘Unwanted Child: How the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance Gave Birth to “Pure-Blood” Nationalism in Japan
by Kristin Roebuck
(Cornell University)
Many Japanese today collectively identify not only as a race, but as a ‘pure’ one. Yet in the imperial era, an ideology of expansion and
assimilation kept norms of ‘racial purity’ on the margins. Scholars are well aware of the post-imperial shift in Japanese racial selfconsciousness, but exactly when the shift occurred, much less how and why, has remained obscure. I date the shift to 1952, the year the
Allied occupation of Japan came to an end. With the end of occupation came the end of censorship, and the outbreak of a mass-mediated
‘crisis of blood-mixing’ in partisan politics and popular presses in Japan. The so-called ‘crisis’ centered on ‘mixed-blood’ children, born to
Japanese mothers and to fathers associated with Allied and especially American forces. Ideological activists circa 1952 began warning that
these ‘mixed-blood’ children were innately different from ‘pure’ Japanese and that those differences portended disaster for the future of Japan.
Most commentators therefore recommended putting an end to ‘blood mixing’ and deporting all ‘mixed’ children from the country. While
some scholars have assumed that Japan’s post-imperial embrace of ‘pure-race’ ideology was orchestrated by and served the interests of the
state, the post-occupation ‘crisis’ discourse reveals a very different dynamic. Heads of state like prime minister Yoshida Shigeru, who brokered
the alliance that provided for the continued stationing of US troops in Japan, denied any ‘crisis of blood-mixing’ was underway. It was critics
outside government and in rival political parties who did the most to foster the sense that Japan had ‘pure blood’ that must be protected.
These critics did not achieve their stated aims of deporting all ‘mixed’ children or ending Japan’s alliance with the US. But they were successful
in fostering a new sense of Japanese identity and a race-based nationalism that persists to this day.
~~~~
‘Japanese Buddhist Perceptions of Western Imperialism in the 1920s’
by John LoBreglio
(Oxford Brookes University)
“…if we are to carry out a truly critical examination of Japan’s colonial discourse, the tension and anxiety over the dominant West, which were
constitutive of Japanese identity, must be taken into consideration.”3
-- Rumi Sakamoto
There is a conspicuous dearth of scholarship in Western languages on interwar Japanese Buddhism, and the little that does exist indicates that
it was predominantly ‘conservative’ and supportive of Japanese imperialism. Such descriptions, though, are imprecise markers and do not
necessarily entail a rejection of internationalism or universal principles. The predominant historiographical trend, at least until the 1990s, has
been to bifurcate interwar Japanese organizations and thinkers into two groups, ‘extreme nationalists’ and ‘the others’ with internationalists
situated clearly on the ‘other’ side of the fence. Such an overly simplistic explanation overlooks, as Shibasaki Atsushi has argued, the fact that
‘inter-war internationalism in Japan essentially coincided with nationalism.’4 An awareness of this is necessary to understand and contextualize
not only the position of most interwar Buddhists, but that of most interwar Japanese intellectuals as well. In fact, many leading Buddhist figures
supported an internationalism undergirded by universal principles.
This paper is the second part of a larger project that maps the trajectory of such Buddhist leaders from a position of hopeful engagement with
the western powers to one of outright support for Japanese militarist and expansionist adventures in the 1930s.5 This installment focuses on
Buddhist perceptions of pivotal events in the 1920s that served to intensify the ‘tension and anxiety over the dominant West’ mentioned in the
epigraph above. In particular, it analyses Buddhist debates concerning the treaties signed at the Washington Naval Conference (1921-22) and
the U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act).
Confronting the Interwar West: Kosawa Heisaku and ‘Buddhist’ Psychoanalysis
by Chris Harding
(University of Edinburgh)
The first two Asian hubs for psychoanalysis, in the 1920s, were Calcutta and Tokyo. Both became sites for thinking through, in hybrid languages
drawing from religion, philosophy, and psychiatry, the broad cultural impact of western imperialism – political and cultural – in Asia. In this
paper I share findings from recent archival research on Japan’s ‘father’ of psychoanalysis, Kosawa Heisaku. A devout Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist,
Kosawa spent the late 1920s and early 1930s attempting to carve out a place for his own brand of psychoanalysis. Heavily influenced by the
Buddhist modernism of Inoue Enryō and Chikazumi Jōkan, Kosawa’s style of psychoanalysis set out to confront three universalizing and
potentially hostile discourses that he feared might be in the process of shaping young Japanese minds: German neuropsychiatry, a version of
Freudian psychoanalysis that took a reductive view of religion, and Marxism.
Kuden: The use of oral transmission in a traditional martial art
by Anna Seabourne
(University of Manchester)
This paper will explore the role which kuden play in the learning of the classical Japanese martial art (koryū bujutsu) of Takenouchi-ryū
Bitchūden (TRB). Kuden refers to the oral transmission of knowledge characteristic of other traditional arts, including tea, garden design, and
calligraphy. Kuden are found in Japanese performing arts, such as kyōgen, dance and music; and the term is also used in Buddhism. Although
kuden are often mentioned in relation to koryū, these (secret) teachings are reported with little explanation of how the kuden relate to the rest
of the curriculum; their purpose; and how they are perceived by teachers and students.
In TRB, the kuden come in different forms, including those traditionally attached to particular kata, whether in the movement itself or the kata
names; explicit precepts; or newer forms such as those the current head teacher has derived from a retelling of the TRB foundation myth and
recorded in his blog. This paper will explain how the kuden are used as teaching tools and explore how contemporary practitioners relate
these teachings to their life outside the koryū. The primary data source is fieldwork based at the head dōjō. The koryū are impenetrable, even
for Japanese, however, a longstanding association provided unprecedented access to conduct in-depth interviews with both new and senior
group members. Selected data from participant observation—including fieldnotes, photographs, and records of online discussions—will be
used to document examples of kuden. The kuden associated with a core kata from the TRB curriculum will be explained in detail to show how
practitioners have applied its principles in the business environment and personal relationships. Far from being esoteric and archaic forms of
knowledge of only historical interest, the research shows that kuden continue to permeate the daily lives of modern practitioners.
Rumi Sakamoto, “Race-ing Japan”, in R. Starrs (ed.) Japanese Cultural Nationalism: At Home and in the Pacific, Folkestone: Global Oriental
Ltd., 2004, p. 191.
4
Shibasaki’s argument is summed up by Goto-Shibata Harumi in “Internationalism and nationalism: Anti-Western sentiments in Japanese foreign policy debates, 1918-22,” in N. Shimazu (ed.), Nationalisms in Japan, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2006, p. 66. For the original see
Shibasaki Atsushi, “Kokusai bunka shinkōkai no sōsetsu”, Kokusai kankei ron kenkyū 11, 1997, 39-64.
5
The first part may be found in the forthcoming book chapter: ‘Dashed Hopes: Japanese Buddhist Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference’
in Zachmann, Urs Matthias, ed., Asia after Versailles: Asian Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference and the Post-War World, 1919-1933,
University of Edinburgh Press (2015). (Forthcoming)
3
The Social Context Surrounding the Creation of Nippon Kempō
by Julian Wayne
(Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences)
Although nippon kempō, or nikken, as it is commonly referred to, is one of Japan’s lesser-known martial arts, consideration of the
circumstances leading to its development promises to shed light not only on the modern evolution of Japan’s martial arts community but
also on issues related to the incorporation of martial arts and values into Japan’s education system in the late-Meiji, Taishō, and early-Shōwa
periods.
Kansai University graduate Sawayama Muneomi opened Japan’s first nikken dōjō in 1932, a year after jūdō and kendō became required school
subjects. In my presentation, I will examine the significance of this timing, and consider whether the development of nikken should be seen
simply as part of a larger movement to promote martial arts and values or whether it reflects an issue of contention in the debate on how
martial arts and values should be incorporated into mainstream education.
My presentation, which should be of interest not only to martial artists but also to scholars of Japanese history and education, will include
a comparison of the activities of two martial arts “camps”: one centering on the Kōdōkan, the Tokyo headquarters of the worldwide jūdō
community founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, and another centering on the Dainippon Butokukai, or “Greater Japan Martial Virtue Association”,
founded by Kyoto tax collector Torimi Kōki in 1895. In particular, I will be examining the respective curricula of the physical education program
at the Tokyo Higher Normal School, where Kanō served as principal, and the Budō Senmon Gakkō, or “Martial Arts Vocational School”, which
was established by the Dainippon Butokukai.
~~~~
Empire, Colonial Development & Remote Islands
Settling the frontier and defending the north: reassessing the role of the tondenhei in Hokkaido’s colonial development
by Steven Ivings
(Heidelberg University)
The tondenhei system was the centerpiece of the Meiji-period program to develop and populate the ‘inner-colony’ of Hokkaido. The system
sought to establish communities of farmer-soldiers in order to accomplish a number of the pressing objectives of the Meiji regime, including
the fortification of the vulnerable north, the provision of opportunities for destitute members of the former samurai class, and the establishment
of settled agricultural villages in Hokkaido. Established in 1874, the tondenhei system outlasted Hokkaido’s Development Agency (kaitakushi),
stretching over most of the Meiji-period, it facilitated the relocation of over seven thousand households to Hokkaido before abolition in 1904.
In most historical accounts of Hokkaido’s Meiji-period economic development and colonization the tondenhei system is given pride of place.
The farmer-soldiers who participated in this government project are commonly cast as heroic pioneers who engaged in a courageous, and
ultimately successful, battle to tame the harsh northern wilderness and protect it from the designs of looming foreign encroachment. This
paper joins Michelle Mason (2012) in questioning the privileged place of the farmer-soldier in the dominant narrative of Hokkaido’s Meijiperiod development. Whilst Mason contests the ‘development’ meta-narrative itself, in this paper I will examine the role of the tondenhei
system specifically on its own terms, evaluating its contribution to economic development and defense. Tracing the fortunes of a large
number of farmer-soldiers and their communities across the Meiji and Taisho periods, this paper recovers some of the silence on the individual
experiences of farmer-soldiers, revealing a mixed record in Hokkaido’s development/colonization.
Economic experiences of the South Manchuria Railway employees in post-war Japan, 1945-1965
by Sumiyo Nishizaki
(London School of Economics and Political Science)
The economic impact of large influxes of population is a topic that has been much debated. This research contributes to those debates
by examining one of the most significant, but least researched, examples of post-war migration – the repatriation of more than six million
people to Japan after World War II. One pervasive image of Japanese repatriates is that of the immigrant farmer of Manchuria, despite the
fact that many returned from other regions, including Korea and Sakhalin, and that repatriates consisted of not only farmers but also colonial
government officials, employees of public and private corporations, small business owners, teachers, and priests amongst others. In the context
of Japan’s post-war recovery, this paper will focus on another major group— the employees of Japanese wartime public corporations. In
particular, it will examine approximately 10,000 people who had worked for the South Manchuria Railway (SMR).
Whilst it is evident that for many repatriates the post-war transition was not entirely smooth, this research suggests that SMR repatriates’
post-war resettlement was facilitated not only by a) the transferability of their skills, but also by b) the government’s employment policies
(employment at government offices or public corporations) and c) employment in traditional sectors such as family farming and small
businesses in retail and services.
The post-war employment of repatriates was not necessarily determined by market forces, and much of their skills and expertise might not
have been allocated in the most efficient manner. It can be argued that this type of transition helped to bring political and economic stability,
which became a foundation of Japan’s rapid recovery and subsequent economic growth, but the inefficient allocation of workers in agriculture,
the public sector and small businesses also led to the emergence of interest groups that have sought political protection by the Japanese
government throughout the post-war period.
Session 2
11:30 - 13:15
6 panels
Room
Session 2 Panels
B104
Olga Zaberezhnaia
Karolina Broma-Smenda
Fusako Innami
Anna Dobrovolskaia
Resilience and Fragmentation at Work: Lifetime Employment in
21st Century Japan
B111
Peter Matanle
Arjan Keizer
Helen Macnaughtan
Historic perceptions and presentations of Japanese art in
Europe and the US
G3
Rosina Buckland
Minami Eguchi
Maho Suzuki
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay
4426
Minzhao Wang
Karol Zakowski
Wei Huang
Olga Dobrinskaya
Religion and Power: authority and ontology in premodern
Japan
4429
Ian Astley
Mikael Bauer
Philip Garrett
New Scholarship on Old Perspectives: Diplomacy and
Empire
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Sergey Tolstoguzov
Andrea Revelant
Sigfrid Östberg
Jing Sun
21
The Aesthetics of Shiga Naoya
by Olga Zaberezhnaia (PhD student)
(Moscow State University)
In this paper we focus on the aesthetical thought of the Japanese writer and member of the Shirakaba literary group (Shirakaba-ha) Shiga
Naoya (1883-1971) in order to explain the attractiveness of his prose which is not always obvious for the non-Japanese reader.
Shiga is famous in Japan for his laconic and restrained style short stories, with minimum vocabulary and stylistic devices. He is long-praised
by critics as an extraordinary sensualist able to intuitively grasp the beauty of his surroundings. Moreover, Shiga’s prose is claimed to have an
immediate aesthetic effect on the Japanese reader which is almost impossible to reveal in translation to European languages.
We suppose that behind this effect is Shiga’s concept of rhythm as the main essence of art. We analyze the aesthetic terms that Shiga uses in
art criticism and conclude that the central category for him is rhythm in two basic meanings – as an organization of text and as a metaphysical
concept. We demonstrate the first interpretation by examples of expressive means creating rhythmical prose in Shiga’s texts (repetition,
alliteration, inversion etc) and contemplate on the philosophical interpretation of rhythm. We conclude that for Shiga – a sensualistic intuitivist this means the rhythm of his own physical self, his biological pulse which he sought to transmit to his texts. The main purpose of a true work of
art according to Shiga is in its direct almost physiological impact on the reader created by rhythm that resembles the life pulsation of its author.
How to Create a Legend? An Analysis of Constructed Representations of Ono no Komachi in Japanese Medieval Literature
by Karolina Slawomira Broma-Smenda (PhD student)
(University of Warsaw)
Although historical figure known to us as Ono no Komachi (ca. 825-ca. 900) is considered to have been famous and talented female court poet
of the Heian Period (8-12th c.) in Japan, not much is known about her actual life. As a literary figure, however, her fame extended way beyond
her own lifetime. Over the centuries she has continued to be an object of legendarization processes. Many literary works pictured her not only
as a beautiful and skilled poet but also as femme-fatale, courtesan, or Buddhist devotee. However, I believe that whom we currently call „Ono
no Komachi” should be considered literary construct significant for Japanese literature rather than historical figure.
This paper analyzes representations of Ono no Komachi in Japanese medieval literature (nō drama plays, and otogizōshi secular
tales), since I believe that the process of “creating” such legends has its origin in the specificity of the Japanese medieval period (12-16th
centuries). Thus, the aim of this paper is to address the questions as to why this female poet was subject to legendarization processes and how
various stages of those processes are responsible for the popularization of Ono no Komachi’s historical image.
Touching the Untouchable Voice
by Fusako Innami
(Durham University)
The topic of embodiment has been a very recent academic inquiry amongst literary and cultural studies, often from the phenomenological
point of view—sensations such as pain and physical experiences such as touch, as embodied experience. This corporeal turn is, in a way,
a counter-response to post-structuralism that focused on language, sign and meaning. But contemporary Japanese writer Ogawa Yoko’s
creations can be situated as an interesting diversion both from presence (of the embodied experience) and absence (of the actual body) by
depicting embodied memories that are fundamentally invisible as presence. Furthermore, in Ogawa’s Still Crystal (Hisoyakana Kesshō) in 1994,
the male protagonist tries to touch the female protagonist’s vanished body—her voice being the only ‘corporeal’ feature with the vanished
body. In this story, things such as a bird, perfume or a calendar occasionally vanish and whenever residents encounter a new vanishing, they
have to throw away and burn everything that relates to it, and they eventually lose all related memories. After a while, these vanishings are no
longer limited to objects but extended to the human body, and the last thing left is the voice. In this creation, one can see the transformation
of the visible into the invisible or the untouchable. Combining the understanding of embodiment through a phenomenological perspective,
Marilyn Ivy’s theorisation of vanishing that features a longing for an unmediated return to the origin, and the vanished body with voice in
Ogawa, this paper aims to rethink the possibility of touching the untouchable in a form of voice—that is absent, yet present—that one tries to
reach.
Fujin Kōron’s Jury Trial Series: The Nun Shunkai Case (1924)
by Anna Dobrovolskaia
In 1925, Japan’s “Ladies’ Review” magazine (Fujin Kōron) printed the first installment in what was to become a series of articles, entitled “PaperBased Jury Trial Hearings” (shijō baishin hōtei). The editor’s introduction to the series noted that while Japan did not have the jury system at the
time, trials by laypersons would “certainly become a reality sooner or later on our country” and invited readers to consider the documents that
were used in actual trials carried out in Japan and imagine what it would be like to serve as jurors on those trials. The editor urged readers to
write down their thoughts and send them to the “Ladies’ Review”, specifying that the editorial board of the magazine would print the best of the
readers’ contributions in the following issue.
By the time the series appeared in print, Japan was firmly on track towards introducing the jury system. The Jury Act—a piece of legislation
formally establishing such a system—was passed in 1923 and enforced in 1928. The Act provided that only male citizens of Japan older than 33
years of age and paying more than 3 yen in taxes were eligible to serve as jurors. “Ladies’ Review” proposed to alter one of these provisions with
regard to its “paper-based jury trial hearings”: female readers were encouraged to participate in “adjudicating” cases.
This paper introduces the details of the first case taken up in the series—the case of nun Shunkai. It analyzes the responses of the female and
male readers of the magazine as it considers the role of the “Ladies’ Review” in shaping the debate concerning women’s issues in the pre-war
period.
~~~~
Resilience and Fragmentation at Work: Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan
This panel evaluates the evolution of the Japanese employment system within the trajectory of Japan’s economic development and
investigates how it has responded to the changed environment in light of the nation’s transition from a post-war to a post-bubble era. Since
the 1990s, the stagnation of the Japanese economy and the ageing of Japanese society have led to a re-evaluation of many key domestic
institutions, including Japanese management practices. As a result key changes in employment have been observed, such as a relative growth
in unemployment, expanding categories of atypical employment, declined prospects for youth employment, weakened unions and moves to
individualistic and performance-based rewards for employees. It has led to an abundance of articles proclaiming the imminent demise of the
Japanese lifetime employment system.
It can certainly be argued that Japanese companies have been restructuring their portfolios and their corporate strategy since the 1990s,
including key adjustments to employment, and a perceived outcome of this is that the Japanese labour market is now less stable than in
previous decades. However, the members of this panel will argue that it would be erroneous to proclaim the end of the Japanese employment
system. Indeed, the four papers will collectively show that lifetime employment not only remains largely intact but is resilient under the
pressures that have been exerted upon it over the last two decades. This resilience both depends upon and is the cause of the continuing
fragmentation of employment stability and opportunity at the system’s periphery.
Current debates on demographic change, the globalization of Japanese business and the pursuit of Abenomics to revive the sluggish economy
all mean that it is now crucial to re-examine the mechanisms of Japanese employment practices in order to consider how and why evidence
points to the enduring support for core lifetime employment practices, while at the same time the system inevitably contributes to greater
inequality between regular and non-regular employees. Japan, once lauded for its distinctive use of its one true natural resource, its people,
now appears to either lag behind or, at the very least, be resistant to change. This panel seeks to question where the value may lie in the
inherent inertia of the lifetime employment system and at the same time evaluate where current trends may ultimately lead in terms of future
challenges, outcomes and opportunities for employment in Japan.
The panel is part of a wider project that aims to present a monograph on this issue. In accordance with the arguments developed in this panel,
the book’s principal message will be that, within the context of the Japanese employment system as a whole, the enduring resilience of lifetime
employment contributes to and depends upon the continuing fragmentation of employment stability and opportunity at the system’s periphery
Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan: Stability and Resilience Under Pressure in the Japanese Management System
by Peter Matanle
(University of Sheffield)
This paper will investigate Japanese government numerical data and qualitative interview data collected over many years of research to
examine the proportion and persistence of lifetime employment in the Japanese labour force over the past decades. It will argue that, despite
repeated predictions of its demise, lifetime employment remains the core institution of the Japanese management system, and regular
employment in a large and prestigious organization continues to be the aspiration of the majority of Japanese younger people. Moreover, I
will argue that the institution of lifetime employment shows little sign of weakening; that from the employer’s perspective the rationale for
maintaining it continues, and that it still provides the best means available within Japan for the satisfaction of employees’ needs over the
course of their working lives. Much of the supporting discussions will be based upon analysis of labour throughput mechanisms, including legal
constraints on organizational flexibility, and will end with the conclusion that lifetime employment remains stable, despite the pressures that
Japanese organisations have encountered in recent decades. In this way, the Japanese management system demonstrates its fundamental
strength and resilience throughout the long period of Japan’s postwar expansion, and its subsequent globalization and post-industrial
transformations.
Lifetime employment and the changing character of Japanese unions
by Arjan Keizer
This paper discusses the changes in Japanese unionism and argues how they are both shaped by and feed back to the practice of practice of
lifetime employment and in particular the position of regular and non-regular employees. The dominance of enterprise unions has strongly
shaped the identity of Japanese unionism, creating a highly cooperative relationship between unions and management and a membership
largely limited to the regular workforce. However, there have been important developments. First, the paper addresses the question to what
extent community, regional and industrial unions can offer an alternative to the established enterprise-based union structure. Secondly, the
paper considers initiatives to include non-regular workers within enterprise unions, in particular in industries such as retail. Major supermarkets
like Ito-Yokado, Aeon, and Seiyu have become largely dependent upon part-time and other non-regular workers and their unions have come
to organise these workers to the extent that they now constitute the majority of union members. The paper subsequently discusses both the
challenges and the achievements of these initiatives. It will argue that they may offer an important opportunity for change. The alternative
union structures can give a voice to particularly vulnerable workers while the prevalence of non-regular members in certain industries makes
it necessary for unions to take their concerns seriously. At the same time, there is a strong continuity in the character of Japanese unionism.
This, for example, shows in the decision by many unions to solely organise part-time workers as their employment stability means that they
can be brought into the ‘enterprise community’, albeit against largely inferior working conditions compared to regular workers. The paper will
conclude by discussing the implications of these continuities for the potentially transformative role of Japanese unionism.
Gendered Employment in Japan: Challenges for Working Women
by Helen Macnaughtan
(SOAS, University of London)
This paper examines the current situation for working women in Japan, based on the premise that the early post-war decades established a
gendered employment system that continues to be a mainstay force despite significant socio-economic change and reform since its inception.
The paper presents key trends in female employment since the 1990s, noting the rising labour participation and expanded presence of women
in the Japanese workforce within the context of a changing labour market and employment reforms. In particular it will investigate to what
extent things may have changed for working women, by examining the recruitment of women across different sectors of the economy, policy
targets for gender equality, the ability of women to access career roles, social attitudes to women working and the impact of employment
legislation for working women. It will also attempt to analyse the expectations of Japanese women with regard to work alongside attempts
by Japanese companies to introduce diversity and equality into their HRM strategies. The paper questions to what degree the gendered
employment environment has changed for Japanese women and evaluates whether recent key trends in female employment are in any way
impacting on and challenging mainstream male employment in Japanese companies. Overall, I will analyse whether there has been any
progress for working women since the 1990s, focusing on key areas of ‘change, challenge and constraint’, and will give an insight into the
future potential of Japanese leaders and institutions to re-evaluate and redefine the gendered employment system.
~~~~~~
Historic perceptions and presentations of Japanese art in Europe and the US
An artefact may remain almost wholly unchanged in its materiality, but its position within an intellectual system or physical collection is
eternally subject to the vagaries of evaluation and signification. This panel explores various aspects of the perception and presentation of
Japanese art and cultural artefacts outside Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and explores what its shifting placement
tells us of the context of reception. Until the nineteenth century Japanese art and artefacts were mostly seen in spaces with a specific or limited
viewership, and display in museums was a modern innovation. When Otto Kümmel designed a gallery for the Ostasiatische Kunstsammlung in
Berlin, his aim was to intimate the original space of reception, and it is proposed that a key function of this design was to exoticize the content,
adding to its appeal. Over the decades following its excavation, Jōmon pottery was subject to diverse modes of appreciation, as archaeological
artefact, as “Japanese”, as a source of patterns for contemporary design, and finally as ‘art’. A study of its acquisition by museums illustrates this
fundamental shift in categorization. Despite the framework of ‘art’ in which museum collections are customarily treated today, an examination
of 19th-century acquisition in Scotland uncovers a very different set of motivations, concerned more with economics and anthropology
than art history. Again, in New York, an examination of a large group of Meiji-era paintings reveals the perception of Nihonga (Japanese-style
painting) in North America in the early twentieth century and shows how artists who have been forgotten in Japanese art history played an
important role in forming collections outside of Japan.
Collecting and displaying Japanese culture in 19th-century Scotland
by Rosina Buckland
(National Museum of Scotland)
Disciplinary boundaries are inevitable within a complex academic system and as those boundaries shift with time, the problem of speaking
across them only increases. The scholars today who study the Japanese collections held by British museums are primarily art historians or
archaeologists, but the context in which these collections were created was little informed by either of these disciplines. Other motivations
were at work, such as the advancement of British manufactures, the comparative study of religions, or a desire to capture “specimens”. In
Edinburgh, construction of what is today the National Museum of Scotland began in 1861 to parallel the institutions created in London during
the previous decades. The citizens of Glasgow, too, desired a museum for their city, and the Kelvingrove House Museum was created in 1872.
By establishing the context for collecting Japanese material artefacts in the second half of the 19th century we can understand the divergent
trajectories taken since their acquisition, and thus better appreciate their significance within our national collections.
Otto Kümmel’s design for the permanent gallery of the Ostasiatische Kunstsammlung, Berlin
by Minami Eguchi
(Waseda University)
Otto Kümmel (1874–1952) was the first director of the Ostasiatische Kunstsammlung (today’s Museum für Asiatische Kunst) in Berlin. Kümmel
not only established the collection, but also created the permanent gallery for it in 1924. It might be difficult to imagine today’s white-cube
space in the Martin-Gropius-Bau was once a gallery designed for East Asian art, occupying half the ground floor prior to the bombing in 1945.
However, the changes which Kümmel enacted were equally dramatic: transforming the original rococo-style rooms into small, simple galleries
with wooden showcases suggestive of tokonoma for Japanese hanging scroll paintings. As well as considering an artwork’s aesthetic merits,
Kümmel attached high value to its presentation. Correspondence by Kümmel reveals how he travelled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and
the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum in 1906–07 in search of the best method for displaying East Asian art. While Kümmel regarded Boston’s
galleries highly, the displays in Tokyo were less successful in his eyes. By contrast, Kümmel’s gallery was later regarded as a helpful example by
the museum staff in Tokyo as they prepared plans after the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. Seeing such developments overseas, museums in
Japan realized the importance of employing display methods designed specifically for Japanese artworks. By investigating Kümmel’s gallery
design and its reception, I will explore how this concept of spatial design, combining museum interior with traditional Japanese architecture,
was gradually shared with curators worldwide.
How archaeological artefacts became art: Jōmon pottery from modern to contemporary times
by Maho Suzuki
(Tokyo National Museum)
An excavation conducted by the American zoologist Edward Sylvester Morse in 1877 led to the recognition of Jōmon pottery objects as
archaeological artefacts from Japanese prehistory. It took many years, however, for these objects to become accepted as “Japanese”. This
was due to historical views based on myths and the ancient records Kojiki and Nihon shoki, as well as issues surrounding ethnic identity. The
decorations found on Jōmon pottery were studied eagerly by collectors and anthropologists and were even replicated in pattern books meant
for reference when designing items for export. After World War II, Jōmon pottery was re-categorized in Japanese art history textbooks as “art”
in contrast to its previous definition as “craft”. This was due to acceptance by art historians of the praise from the avant-garde artist Okamoto
Tarō in 1952 for pottery of the Middle Jōmon period, featuring dynamic, sculptural designs. The study of Jōmon pottery before Okamoto
emphasized craftsmanship, but after he expounded his views, each vessel came to be viewed as an independent art work. Acquisition of
these vessels by various museums in Japan and abroad reflects this change. In this study, I examine the process by which Jōmon pottery was
introduced into Japanese art history textbooks as well as its presence in museums outside Japan. Through this examination, I demonstrate that
we can construct an account (separate from archaeology) of how Jōmon pottery was viewed within art history from modern to contemporary
times.
Rediscovering forgotten modern Japanese painters — The perception of modern Japanese art in the United States
by Eriko Tomizawa-Kay
(Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds a group of modern Japanese paintings collected by the businessman and art collector
Charles Stewart Smith (1832–1909). From 1892 to 1893, whilst honeymooning in Japan, Smith bought several thousand Japanese prints, as
well as ceramics and paintings, from the Irish journalist and collector Francis Brinkley (1841–1912). Although the paintings are now unbound,
the archive of the Metropolitan reveals that they were purchased as an album containing one hundred paintings. This album included works
by highly acclaimed painters of the Meiji era (1868–1912), as well as works by relatively unknown artists. The seals and signatures indicate that
these works were probably painted between 1887 and 1892. This paper will examine works by the artists represented in the ‘Brinkley album’,
artists who were once highly acclaimed but now are almost lost within the Japanese art history canon. It will address the questions of who
these artists were, how they were connected within the Meiji-era art world, and why these works by multiple artists were collated into an
album. It will also attempt to reveal the perception of Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) in North America in the early twentieth century, the
historical background to the compilation of the album in Japan, and what it tells us of its social and cultural contexts. Finally, it will seek to shed
light on how modern Japanese art history might be reconstructed by assessing the work of these now forgotten artists.
~~~~
The Shock and Adjustment of Japan-U.S. Alliance: an Analysis on the U.S. Factor in Japan’s ormalization with China
by Minzhao Wang
(The University of Tokyo & Peking University)
After more than two decades of unofficial contacts in many fields, Japan’s diplomatic relationship with China was established dramatically after
less than three months of negotiation. In the long run, it is a natural outcome of the increase in common national interests and people-topeople contacts between Japan and China; however, in the short run, the normalization may not be achieved that smoothly without the U.S.
influence.
This paper addresses the U.S. factor in Japan’s normalization with China through a study of governmental documents and personal memoirs
from the three countries. It argues that the U.S. intervened actively into Japan’s policy-making through both secret talks among bureaucrats
and meetings among leaders, and successfully ensured common Japan-U.S.’s policy towards China regarding multiple issues. Applying
asymmetric alliance theory, which holds that when faced with changes, the shielding allied countries may perceive the fear of abandonment
and thus choose to either betray or reinforce its relationship with its allies, it is argued that after “Nixon Shock”, Japan’s normalization with
China is closely connected to the U.S.’s intervention rather than an “overhead diplomacy”, and indeed it offered an opportunity for the
adjustment of Japan-U.S. alliance in 1970s. This paper provides a novel perspective in understanding the nature of trilateral relationship among
Japan, the U.S. and China, which can still be applied to today’s reality.
Informal Contacts Work Better: The LDP’s Failed Attempt at Institutionalized Exchange with the CCP
by Karol Zakowski
(University of Lodz)
institutionalize contacts with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2004 the LDP and Kōmeitō established Sino-Japanese Conference of
Exchange Between the Ruling Parties (Nicchū Yotō Kōryū Kyōgikai), but this initiative did little to build ties of trust between both sides. In the
paper I analyze the reasons of this failure.
I point out that the fact that institutionalized channels were maintained by LDP executives made them prone to ideological leanings of such
party officials as Policy Affairs Research Council chairpersons. The fact that most of them held rightist convictions (e.g. Nakagawa Hidenao,
Nakagawa Shōichi, Ishiba Shigeru or Takaichi Sanae) complicated LDP’s exchange with the CCP. Moreover, frequent changes on LDP executive
posts did not create favourable conditions for establishing long-term ties of trust with the CCP counterparts. In addition, due to institutional
disorder when the LDP was in opposition (2009-2012), it was unclear which organ should be in charge of party’s external affairs: PARC Foreign
Affairs Policy Division (Gaikō Bukai), International Bureau (Kokusai Kyoku) or International Problems Research Commission (Gaikō Mondai
Chōsakai). Abe’s nationalistic posture after return to power in 2012 constituted yet another obstacle to maintaining regular exchange with
China on an official footing.
I argue that due to their less formal nature, uninstitutionalized channels worked much better than official party-to-party diplomacy towards the
CCP. Through a range of examples I analyze the efficiency of the contacts with China maintained by LDP factions, policy groups, parliamentary
leagues and individual politicians. My findings are based on Japanese and Chinese sources as well as interviews with Japanese politicians and
MOFA bureaucrats.
China’s Governmental Way of Thinking Concerning the Post-Cold War Japan-U.S. Alliance
by Wei Huang
(King’s College London)
Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S.-Japan alliance has been adjusting to both partners’ changing strategic needs in a globalising world.
The Chinese governmental way of thinking concerning these developments merits academic attention, not only because it governed China’s
policies towards the alliance, but also because it reveals the fundamental logics of China’s diplomatic strategy towards the U.S. and Japan. This
paper analyses the discourses of the Chinese government in relation to the Japan-U.S. alliance and investigates the underlying way of thinking.
First, public discourses of the Chinese governments are supplemented by interviews with Chinese officials and scholars to provide a systematic
account of the Chinese government’s views of the post-Cold War Japan-U.S. alliance, regarding its nature, utility and trend.
Second, characteristics of the Chinese government’s views are examined in relation to temporal consistency and changes. Temporal
consistency addresses the trend of the Chinese government’s attention to the alliance, its major concerns, the interpretations of alliance
development, etc.
Third, the views are put into the domestic context of China, revealing their connection between China’s diplomatic strategy adjustments,
and further down the cognitive path, China’s socialised official ideology which features Marxism with Chinese characteristics and the official
interpretation of China’s modern history.
Finally, the influence of China’s governmental way of thinking concerning the Japan-U.S. alliance is evaluated against the current situations and
future trends of the Asia-pacific. This section also discusses the possibility and approaches to adjust China’s way of thinking.
Japan’s role in the settlement of the Afghanistan issue: its motives and implications
by Olga Dobrinskaya
(Russian Academy of Sciences)
The situation in Afghanistan has become a permanent issue on the foreign policy agenda of Japan. Despite the fact that there is a considerable
geographic distance between them and there are no common security problems resulting from shared borders Japan has been actively
involved in this country, especially since 9.11.2001.
Geopolitical considerations play a major role in Japan’s perception of Afghanistan, given its proximity to the Middle East, and South and Central
Asia. It is also a significant transit route for mineral resources. Second, military relationship with the US and Japan’s allied commitments indeed
play a major role in Japan’s Afghanistan policy. Parallel with the participation in the Maritime interdiction operation in the Indian Ocean Japan
has shouldered a considerable amount of reconstruction responsibilities. Third, Japan’s assistance to Afghanistan has an important global
dimension as it strengthens Japan’s leadership in the nonmilitary security sphere.
Japan’s involvement in Afghanistan’s affairs has been influenced by US strategy. Its ODA to the region during the Cold war was directed against
the influence Soviet Union. After 9.11 its close military relationship with the US dictated the necessity to support the efforts of the anti-terror
coalition. However Japan’s role in Afghanistan has been wider than mere support for US involvement. First, it stems from the efforts Japan
took in the 1990-s, its efforts aimed at the promotion of the peace negotiations and its humanitarian assistance. Second, Japan’s enhanced
presence in Afghanistan goes beyond its commitments as an US ally. Japan’s participation in the Security Sector Reform, assistance to Afghan
police, its cooperation with NATO’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams paved the way for wider security cooperation with European countries.
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Religion and Power: authority and ontology in premodern Japan
The rhetoric of an impossible ontology: Buddhist dogma, ritual practice and the ninth-century Japanese state
by Ian Astley
This problem revolves around the Buddhist assertion of a metaphysical goal that is catastrophically different from mundane perception,
apperception, and affect. Even the oft-quoted Mādhyamika insight—positing a reality that eschews predication within the confines of first-order
logic—does not escape the paradox that signification can only use means that cannot have any causal connexion to the reality posited.
The scholar-monk Kūkai (774–835) is one of those who contributed to the re-constitution of the Heian state (794–1085). In 806 he introduced
from China a body of Buddhist ideas and ritual practices (“Esoteric Buddhism”). This represented a considerable shift from
the Buddhist schools that had been established as an integral part of the apparatus of state during the preceding Nara period. His discourses on
ontology and the body politic, written in the following two decades, are central to our understanding of the Heian state.
Writing, with its prescribed rhetorical forms, was central to Chinese statecraft: I examine how Kūkai used that rhetoric in a radical attempt
to subvert then re-formulate the ideological base of state authority. He asserted that Esoteric Buddhist performance—as an expression of
all phenomenal activity—directly reveals and expresses the Buddha’s awakening. Such performance, adopted and executed by the state,
could thus serve as a powerful metaphysical bulwark to state authority and security. Kūkai’s proposed a distinctive understanding of Buddhist
awakening as realization of a catastrophically-other reality, using methods that recall McLuhan’s assertion that “the medium is the message”.
Of Sovereigns and Ministers: Fujiwara no Nakamaro and the creation of legitimate history and ritual
by Mikael Bauer
(University of Leeds)
Building on recent Japanese scholarship and a close reading of primary materials in the context of not just Japan, but also the continent, this
presentation will address the creation of the Toshi kaden (The History of the Fujiwara House) by Fujiwara no Nakamaro (706-765). This text will
be analysed with a focus on ‘Daoist,’ Confucian and Buddhist imagery used to establish the Fujiwara’s authority. The conclusion of this analysis
will connect the Toshi kaden‘s eclectic vocabulary and imagery with Nakamaro’s implementation of the Yōrō ritsuryō, legal codes promulgated
by his grandfather Fuhito in 718.
The sources used in the The History of the Fujiwara House consist of the Zhou period sources mentioned in the original version Yōrō ritsuryō
but under the influence of Nakamaro they are joined by later Tang period texts. This shows how the creation of the Tōshi kaden is connected
with the issuing of decrees and institutional reforms. What unites Nakamaro’s usage of intellectual property and institutional reforms is his view
of the Fujiwara as eternal keepers of the ritual sphere assuring the balance between heaven and earth.
As Below, So Above: the institutional organisation of Kōyasan and estate society in the medieval period
by Philip Garrett
During the medieval period, the Shingon Buddhist temple complex Kōyasan built up an extensive domain of proprietary estates in northern
Kii Province which stretched over an area equivalent to half of Greater London by the fourteenth century. In contrast to the scattered, distant
estates of many other major temples and Kōyasan’s own distant estates, a close and often fractious relationship developed between the the
community atop the mountain and those of the estates in the valleys below.
In this talk I examine the reciprocal influence between these groups, considering both the deliberate influence exerted on warrior and
commoner families by the temple, and the competition within the temple complex between councils and associations of monks drawn from
local families of differing social status. Not only did inter-class tensions in village society spill over to violence within the temple, but warrior
income and authority within these estates was strongly dependent on the influence and cooperation of tonsured relatives. This interrelation
is demonstrated by the growth in importance of two groups within the Kōyasan community during the medieval period - the Shōshūe, a
council of scholar-monks drawn from local elite families which gained control of much of the temple’s decision-making process and supplied
a long succession of abbots - and the Rokubanshū, an association of worker-monks, enforcers, and servants, which was drawn from the
local yeomanry and peasant families, and came to control policing and punishment within the temple domain. The transfer of responsibilities
from the classical temple hierarchy to the Shōshūe and Rokubanshū is indicative of the centrality of local politics and provincial kinship to the
development of Kōyasan, and argues that the temple ‘above’ and domain ‘below’ must be seen as constituting a social and political whole.
~~~~
New Scholarship on Old Perspectives: Diplomacy and Empire
“Russo-Japanese Rapprochement and Entante” (1905-1907)
by Sergey Tolstoguzov
(Hiroshima University)
The construction of alliance was not the primary goal at the beginning of Russo-Japanese and Russo-British negotiations that were the
consequence of Russo-Japanese War. In this presentation, an attempt will be made to show the process of construction of Alliance from the
side of Russo-Japanese relations in the context of World Policy and to highlight the sharp turn between Russia, Japan and Britain. This process
had several aspects. Firstly, there was deterioration in Anglo-German relations with a corresponding realignment of British policy towards
Russia. Secondly, the Anglo-Japanese Agreement, which was drawn up by Russia’s desire for revenge, had a quite narrow focus, thus detracting
from its overall importance, obviating the chance to resolve problems in Central Asia between Russia and Great Britain. Thirdly, China, Japan
and Russia had mutual interests in the region, in particular rail interests, which were related to the organic unity of the northern part of the
Russian railroad in China. Fourthly, the desire of Russia to keep relations with France as a corner-stone of foreign policy. The negotiations
between Russia and Japan had began as the result of Portsmouth Treaty, while between Russia and Britain had a goal to complete talks that
had started before the War. Thus we see a major realignment in international relations in the region, and this realignment was integral to a
larger shift in world geopolitics. Budget problems made Japan to access Paris financial market that gave the chance to sign new treaty between
France and Japan that was followed by treaties between Russia and Japan and Britain with Russia that consolidated relations between Britain,
Russia and France that later was called Entante.
Observers of the Great War: The Japanese press and Italy’s neutrality, 1914–15
by Andrea Revelant
(Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
The vast literature on the First World War includes a number of studies that have discussed the conflict from the standpoint of public opinion,
as represented in the press of each country. In the case of Japan, historians have analysed the public discourse on war with respect to the
empire’s foreign policy and its prospects for exerting leadership in a new world order. However, press coverage of issues that did not relate
directly to Japan’s strategic interests – though of primary importance to other belligerent countries – has received little attention from
scholars. The question of Italy’s neutrality in the first year of war, in particular, has been completely ignored.
This paper presents the results of a survey conducted on major newspapers and magazines for the period July 1914–May 1915, with the aim
of assessing how journalists, intellectuals and other voices of Japanese society commented on Italy’s neutrality and its later decision to join in
the fight against the central empires. This research has brought to light that, although most Japanese observers had a superficial knowledge of
the political situation in Italy, they were nevertheless able to explain critically the course of events in terms of both domestic and international
factors. Despite many technical constraints, reporters managed to provide information about key facts, including the conditions for Italy’s
intervention as agreed in the ‘secret’ Pact of London. This suggests that the demand for overseas news from the public went far beyond the
themes of immediate interest to the Japanese government. Therefore, besides adding a new facet to the literature on public opinion during the
Great War, the articles surveyed capture a pivotal moment in the development of the press industry in Japan.
‘Who would have known of the sagely tradition reaching Japan?’:
The 1811 communication embassy and regional Neo-Confucian connections
by Sigfrid Östberg (DPhil Student)
This paper examines the conduct of cultural diplomacy between Japanese and Korean Neo-Confucian scholars during the 1811 Korean
embassy to Tsushima in the context of wider East Asian Neo-Confucian personal and scholarly connections. The first official contact between
Japanese and Korean scholars in a half-century, this embassy was shaped by unique circumstances that gave rise to an atmosphere and a
dynamic very different from past embassies. For example, attitudes on both sides were refreshingly relaxed, and strikingly, Korean traditional
sentiments dismissive of Japanese scholarship had developed into not only a recognition of potential but outright praise.
The year 1811 was felicitously situated in the calm before the nineteenth-century storm, an outpost of a long eighteenth century. The embassy
of that year came on the foundation of two hundred years of Neo-Confucian diplomatic praxis. These scholar–diplomats were confident
in the enduring stability of the East Asian order and the continued amicability of Japanese–Korean diplomacy. Their exchange of words and
poetry was a prized form of cultural diplomacy that helped mould perceptions in wider circles, providing us with a window on the connections
between scholars in Japan, Korea, and China, forming what could be termed a regional Neo-Confucian network.
Unfortunately, the 1811 embassy has seldom been examined as an historical event in its own right. Most history writing has instead treated
it as the cadaveric spasm of an old order, a subdued and minimalised version of the once grand embassies, with the consequence that little
attention has been paid to its cultural impact. Resisting this teleological pull, we should not view the 1811 embassy as the final gong but as an
integral part of a diplomatic mode that persisted into the 1840s and arguably beyond. That it became the last communication embassy was
simply an unforeseen consequence of historical contingency.
Policy Choices of British Diplomats in Bakumatsu Japan:
From the Perspective of Treaty Ratification 1859-1865
by Jing Sun
(Peking University & The University of Tokyo)
This research chooses the period of 1859-1865 to observe the diplomatic practices of British diplomats in tackling the treaty ratification issue
with Japan, which was one of the main concerns of British diplomacy in Bakumatsu Japan. By focusing on the historical facts respecting
cognitions and actions of British diplomats, this research tries to demonstrate in detail how information was gathered and comprehended, how
policy recommendation was made, and what initiative actions were taken by British diplomats regarding the ratification issue.
British policies, generally speaking, were decided by diplomats based on the information and understandings about changing situations in
Japan, to achieve ultimate goal of guaranteeing the existing treaty and British interests. On one hand, with the belief that Mikado was more
like a symbol of justness than a real participant in the discussion about ratification issue, interaction were kept by British diplomats with bakufu
instead of being shifted on a new basis in Kyoto. While on the other hand, policy towards bakufu changed in settling the ratification issue, with
an observation of the transformation of bakufu’s and Daimyos’ policy preferences.
In cognitions of Alcock and Neale, power of hostile Daimyos was the real reason for difficulties bakufu faced in carrying out treaty obligations
and Japan’s disunited foreign policy on ratification issue. Therefore, against this power, a pro-bakufu position was taken, separately by Neale to
preserve Tycoon’s ratification, and by Alcock to support bakufu in obtaining Mikado’s sanction. For Winchester and Parkes, however, situations
were different with no more resistance from powerful Daimyos to the treaties. Believing that there should be no more barriers in obtainment
of Mikado’s sanction, British diplomats changed to put more pressure on bakufu, and finally obtained Mikado’s ratification via bakufu’s hands by
the end of 1865.
Results of this research are hoped to offer an important and relatively new perspective for understanding British diplomacy in Bakumatsu
period. It would help to make clear an untouched important clue for some new discussions in the researches on Bakumatsu diplomatic history.
And for similar topics of Western diplomats’ practices in other Far East countries where treaty issues were of same great importance, it is also
hoped that some new thoughts could be inspired.
Session 3
14:00 – 15:45
6 panels
Room
Session 3 Panels
Japanese Language in historical and cultural context
B104
Thomas E. McAuley
Mária Ildikó Farkas
Nadeschda Bachem
B111
Jeff Kingston
Machiko Osawa
Sayako Ono
Kuniko Ishiguro
Art and Art History -Independent Papers
G3
Naoko Gunji
Stephanie Su
Mami Fujiwara
Monika Hinkel
4426
Beata Bochorodycz
Hiroe Saruya
Space and memory in contemporary Japanese religion
4429
Erica Baffelli
Aike Rots
Tatsuma Padoan
Paulina Kolata
Rethinking the “Postwar” in Japan: Beyond U.S.- Japanese
Encounters
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Deokhyo Choi
Sherzod Muminov
Griseldis Kirsch
Aaron William Moore
29
Japanese Language in historical and cultural context
Man’yō shokubutsuen: Plant, Poetry and Contents Tourism
by Thomas E. McAuley
A substantial part of the content of the eighth century poetry anthology, the Man’yōshū, consists of botanical imagery and references, with
approximately 1500 of the 4500 poems in the anthology referring to one or more of about 150 species of plants. These plants, ranging from
trees to flowers to grasses and beyond, form the key exhibits at a large number of botanical gardens throughout Japan, which are specifically
dedicated to showcasing these plants in conjunction with the poems they inspire and reference (man’yō shokubutsuen). These establishments
vary widely in type: some are part of larger public parks, some are attached to shrines, or temples, some are attached to museums of various
types, and some are independent, but all are clearly intended to act as facilities to attract visitors to localities or institutions. They are, therefore,
stimulators of Contents Tourism, that is, tourism inspired by media works, although the term is more usually associated with visits by fans of
popular culture to sites appearing in film, television, or anime.
The role literature can play as a stimulator of tourism and travel activities has long been known, and in Japan, this literary travel is most closely
associated with poetry, however, common feature in the analysis of this behaviour is to regard it as stimulated by the formation of an idealised
image of a location through the consumption of the literary work, which in turn creates a desire to see the location for oneself. Man’yōshū
botanical gardens, being dedicated to the objects referenced in poetry, form a different and unusual form of contents tourism facility.
This paper will report on a current research project exploring the interconnections between the waka texts of the Man’yōshū, the plants which
they reference, the gardens which exhibit them, and the motivations for creating poetic tourism facilities.
Kokugaku: a Pattern of Defining Identity
by Mária Ildikó Farkas
(Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary)
Kokugaku of the Edo period can be seen as a key factor of defining cultural (and national) identity in the 18th and early 19th century based on
Japanese cultural heritage. Kokugaku focused on Japanese classics, on exploring, studying and reviving (or even inventing) ancient Japanese
language, literature, myths, history and also political ideology. “Japanese culture” as such was distinguished from Chinese (and all other)
cultures, “Japanese identity” was thus defined. Meiji scholars used kokugaku conceptions of Japan to construct a modern nationalism that was
not simply derived from Western models and was not purely instrumental, but made good use of premodern and culturalist conceptions of
community. The role of pre-modern cultural identity in forming modern Japanese (national) identity – following mainly Miroslav Hroch’s comparative and
interdisciplinary theory of national development – can be examined compared to the “national awakening” movements of the peoples of East
Central Europe. In the shadow of a cultural and/or political “monolith” (China for Japan and Germany for Central Europe), before modernity,
ethnic groups or communities started to evolve their own identities with cultural movements focusing on their own language and culture, thus
creating a new sense of community, the nation.
The comparative examination of the texts (discourses) can show that similar motives of argument (narratives) can be identified in these
movements: “language” as the primary bearer of collective identity, the role of language in culture, “culture” as the main common attribute of
the community; and similar aspirations to explore, search and develop native language, “genuine” culture, “original” traditions. This comparative
research offering “development patterns” for interpretation can help us understand how “cultural identity” played an important role in the
formation of national identity, with the effect of which (“cultural nationalism”) present even today in Japan and in Central Europe, too.
Language, power and imperial memory in postcolonial Japanese and South Korean
short fiction
by Nadeschda Bachem (PhD Candidate)
The experience of colonialism and war shaped the postcolonial literary landscapes of Japan and South Korea in often remarkably similar ways
and left a feeling of impotence on both sides. This paper explores Japanese and South Korean short fiction from 1945 to the 1960s that deals
with the history and effects of Japanese imperialism in Korea. It will take up texts written both by authors whose national affiliation to either
Japan or South Korea appears obvious as well as by writers with a more ambiguous sense of national identity, namely, members of the Korean
minority permanently resident in Japan (the so-called zainichi Chōsen Kankokujin).
Guiding questions are: How is the memory of the colonial period narrated in both countries? What inferences are drawn from this experience
concerning a collective Self and Other? How are imperialism and its aftermath constructed as a national trauma, and which meaning is
assigned to the events in regard to a collective identity? The paper seeks to answer those questions in order to explore how the construction of
memory in the pivotal years after the Japanese defeat created a discourse that shapes Japanese-Korean relations to the present day.
Focus will be on the theme of powerlessness and the multi-faceted play of inferiority and superiority with particular regard to language. The
paper will investigate how impotence within the colonial power structure is often expressed in lingual terms; as speechlessness in face of the
Japanese or Korean lingual Other, or as the need to adapt to the respective hegemonic language. On a broader scale, the paper finds itself in
the tradition of an East Asian comparative literature and furthermore attempts to locate the specific Japanese-Korean case within the overall
frame of postcolonial studies.
~~~~
Risk and Consequences: The Changing Japanese Employment Paradigm
by Jeff Kingston
(Temple University Japan)
The most significant trend in the Japanese labor market over the past two decades is the doubling of the percentage of the workforce hired
as non-regular employees who do not enjoy job security or other benefits routinely accorded regular full-time workers. This precariat (workers
in precarious employment) now constitutes nearly 40% of the entire workforce or roughly 20 million workers who are employed under
disadvantageous terms often involving low pay, dead-end jobs and easy termination. This marks a tectonic change in Japan, a nation generally
associated with job security and paternalistic employers. The main factors leading to the growth of the precariat over the past two decades
are corporate cost-cutting and government deregulation of the labor market. The proliferation of such workers has increased poverty and
inequality, and carries implications for the solvency of pension and medical care systems. The precariat also contributes to deflation, lower
fertility and marriage rates and declining productivity while undermining the social cohesion that has been a strength of Japan. Abenomics has
not addressed the problems of the precariat and labor market deregulation measures are likely to accelerate its expansion. This paper presents
the results of a chapter co-authored with Machiko Osawa that is forthcoming in Allinson & Baldwin, (eds.) Japan: The Precarious Years Ahead
(New York University Press, Dec. 2015)
What’s holding back Japan’s highly educated women?
by Machiko Osawa
(Japan Women’s University)
An increasing number of women are working in Japan, but the recent “surge” is mostly into the precariat. Japanese women remain
underrepresented in the top echelons of the business and political world compared to other advanced industrialized nations. This paper
examines the reasons behind this phenomenon using data collected by RIWAC (Research Institute of Women and Careers) conducted by Japan
Women’s University in 2011.
One of the striking findings of this study is the reason for leaving the first job among highly educated women and how this has changed over
time. Overall, women in their forties report that when they left their first job they did so due to marriage while the younger generation reports
they did so due to limited career prospects. We also found that those who quit the job (movers) are more highly motivated compared to those
who stay. Many Japanese companies do not provide career opportunities due to the expectation that women will quit due to marriage and
thus training costs will be lost. But in doing so firms send a discouraging signal to women workers that leads them to leave the firm, depriving
firms of talented workers due to what is called “statistical” discrimination. This paper draws on my Japanese language book published in March
2015, Josai wa Naze Katsuyaku Dekinainoka (Toyo Keizai)
Ballet as Liberation:
Dreams, Desire and Resistance among Urban Japanese Women
by Sayako Ono (PhD Candidate)
This paper explores how ballet, a western performing art, provides middle-class women with a sense of fulfillment and an opportunity to
escape hegemonic gender ideals in Japan. In everyday situations Japanese women are expected to dedicate their time and energy to others
– husbands, parents, children and workplace superiors. I argue that indulging their own personal enjoyment is not encouraged by broader
society, while in the post-bubble era the expression of neoliberal and globalised individualism is recognised among younger generations. Within
this context of expected behaviour, some women use and consume ballet as a tool of resistance, albeit a fragile one, against the ‘traditional’
gender norms of Japanese society.
Middle-class women in particular are considered more by expected gender roles by society than women from other classes. For example,
middle-class women often give up their professional careers after they are married or when they enter motherhood. Moreover, even after their
maternal duties have finished, they frequently remain professional housewives in spite of their high educational qualifications. Because of the
frustrations related to being confined at home and often engaged in household duties, many middle-class women take up a hobby to liberate
themselves from hegemonic gender order or express hedonistic individualism. Ballet is the case study examined in this paper.
Among anthropologists ballet is rarely a mainstream topic for analysis because it is seen as a western ‘high art’, far removed from their
traditional fields of study. Therefore, this paper offers a novel anthropological perspective on the study of ballet as performed by middle-class
amateur housewives and by doing so highlights contemporary Japanese notions of gender relations and sense of embodied selfhood.
Gender and division of housework among couples in Japan
by Kuniko Ishiguro
This study presents preliminary analyses on division of housework among couples in Japan based on cases derived from interviews with
several different types of women, including female managers and entrepreneurs, and couples. According to an international comparative
study on division of housework, women still bear a great burden, around 90%, of housework (Fuwa and Tsutsui, 2010), and it is pointed out
that regardless of women’s occupational status, whether a woman is a professional housewife or she works as fulltime / part-time, there is not
big difference in this trend. There might be several explanations for this such as traditionally gendered culture and societal values/norms, and
the extent to which work-and-life balance has been achieved at their workplaces. In order to provide additional insight, the author has been
conducting interviews with women and couples in Japan during 2014 – 2015. The preliminary analysis shows several interesting findings: (1)
regardless of wife’s occupational status, many women think that it is primarily women’s responsibility to take care of housework in their family;
(2) in addition, it has been observed that there is a tendency among female entrepreneurs / managers not to touch husband’s masculine pride
by taking on housework even though wives have achieved career success and gain much income; (3) however, there is another observation
that relatively young couples try to equally divide the housework i so that both wife and husband can work without feeling worn out by family
responsibilities; (4) and many couples have not set clear rules of household responsibilities and expenses between wife and husband, which
they think one of the factors to keep less conflicting and harmonious relationships. The transition of people’s perceptions towards division of
housework from traditional division of gender roles to more gender equality might be underway in Japanese society.
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Art and Art History -Independent Papers
The Reception of Heike Pictures in the Edo Period
by Naoko Gunji
This paper explores the reception of Heike pictures in the Edo period (1615–1868), and examines what functions they had toward various
classes of male and female audiences of the time. The period witnessed the growing circulation of Heike pictures along with other formats
text, narration, and performing arts of the Heike. These various media were received by men and women of a wide range of classes in the
society. Warriors, both ordinary and elite, formed a group of audience of the texts, performing arts, and pictures of the Heike in the Edo period;
I will show that these representations of the Heike had edifying, social, political and ideological functions toward this group of audience. I
will then examine a representative type of Heike pictures in the Edo period, with the focus on a pair of Heike screens in the British Museum,
to demonstrate how these pictures implemented the aforementioned functions. I will further explore the reception of the Heike and Heike
pictures by both ordinary and elite female audiences, and show that different classes of women received subject matters from Heike differently.
I will argue that elite men and women formed a group of audience of the Heike in the sense that there was a “ruler’s way” of receiving Heike
subject matters that was quite independent of gender and was distinct from ordinary men’s and women’s ways of reception. To support this
thesis, I will provide a case study of the appreciation of Heike pictures conducted by the imperial consort Tōfukumon (1607–1678).
Body Without Boundaries:
Male Nude and the Historiography of Modern Japanese Art
by Stephanie Su (Ph.D. Candidate)
(University of Chicago)
For an official exhibition in 1912, the Japanese artist Nakamura Fusetsu (1866-1943) showed a large oil painting, The Trace of the Giant. Based
on the Chinese origin myth of Pangu (盤古), this painting depicted the nascent moment after the giant Pangu created the world by separating
heaven and earth. To emphasize a primeval way of life, Fusetsu imagined Pangu, who occupies almost the entire work, as covered only by a
piece of fur around his waist, holding a stone in one hand and walking in the wilderness toward the right edge of the painting. Behind him
stands a woman, slightly bent over to care for a small plant freshly risen from the ground. The juxtaposition of a man and woman with a plant
suggests a self-sustained world, full of energy and hope. After its showcase, many people criticized it, including the renowned novelist Natsume
Sōseki (1867-1916), who complained that the male body looked dirty. However, I would argue that the significance of this work lies in the
unusual combination of nude painting and Chinese subject, which had never seen before in Japan. In the narrative of modern Japanese art,
the discussion on nude painting has predominantly concentrated on female nude, and its relationship with the notion of “fine art” and Western
aesthetics. However, what did it mean to represent a Chinese male nude in early twentieth century Japan? Taking Fusetsu’s work as a point of
departure, this paper complicates the current understanding in the development of modern art in Japan by challenging the dichotomy of East
and West. In addition, this paper renews the scholarship on the Sino-Japanese relationship by exploring the relationship between ancient China
and the notion of classicism in Japanese visual culture during this period.
Lafcadio Hearn and Francis Galton
by Mami Fujiwara
(Yamaguchi University)
Francis Galton (1822-1911) studied composite portraits, and published books and articles such as “Generic Images.” Although Hearn often
mentioned Galton in his works, the relationship between them has scarcely been studied. This paper will show how Hearn accepted Galton’s
theory of composite portraits, focusing on Hearn’s idiosyncratic idea, ‘one is multiple.’ How this idea was formed in Hearn has been explained
from several perspectives. Some relate this idea to the influence on Hearn by Herbert Spencer. Others believe it is inspired by Shinto or
Buddhism. Hearn’s personal experience is also supposed to be an essential factor. I would like to suggest that Galton’s theory also influenced
Hearn in forming his unique idea.
Galton claimed that a composite portrait, which superimposes several portraits so as to accentuate common features among its components,
should represent ‘the portrait of a type and not of an individual.’ Hearn made a composite composition whose components were compositions
his students had written. Just as Galton expected to detect a feature of a certain type by making a composite portrait, Hearn manipulated his
students’ compositions expecting to grasp a generic feature of Japanese.
Galton’s theory is based upon the idea that a body or a face is a palimpsest, or multiplied layers. I would like to delve into Hearn’s re-told
story, “The Story of O-Tei,” so as to find out how Hearn related this idea to the idea of re-incarnation, and changed Galton’s idea into his own.
He insisted that each individual itself was a composite portrait, and individuality was multiplicity, or a palimpsest. In addition, the positions of
each layer of a palimpsest are unstable. One layer sometimes could be the facial area but at other times its position could be changed into the
bottom.
Enduring Inspiration: The Influence of Ukiyo-e on Contemporary Art
by Monika Hinkel
Since Japanese art was shown in the West for the first time on a larger scale at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855, Japanese art affected many
art movements in the West. In particular Ukiyo-e were the main perception of Japanese art and served as a major source of inspiration for
Western artists.
The paper will look at how the impact of Ukiyo-e still reverberates today. With a selection of artworks by Western and Japanese artists, the talk
will examine the continuous significance of Ukiyo-e regarding contemporary art.
Recent exhibitions, Ukiyo-e Redux: Contemporary Japanese Prints (Kalamazoo, 2011), Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints
(Minneapolis, 2011; New York 2013) and Ukiyo-e Pop: Pop Culture from Edo to Today (London 2012; Shizuoka 2014), addressed the abiding
fascination with Ukiyo-e and reflect a renewed interest in this subject matter.
To highlight the variety of modern translations of Ukiyo-e, three groups of artists will be considered, depending on the medium they work
in. The first group explores pieces by woodblock print artists. The second object group presents a combination of analog and digital design
techniques. While the third group of works exemplifies a complete shift towards innovative contemporary practices.
The aim is to discuss differences and similarities, visual continuities and conceptual parallels between Ukiyo-e and contemporary artworks.
Moreover the paper would like to analyse how contemporary artists reinterpret, rework and reference defining and distinctive features of
Ukiyo-e, how they materialise and convey the mix of traditional and contemporary culture and how their concepts pay homage to Ukiyo-e and
reflect the enduring popularity of Ukiyo-e.
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Networking, Specialization and Professionalization of the Antinuclear Movement in the Post-Fukushima Japan
by Beata Bochorodycz
(Adam Mickiewicz University)
The anti-nuclear movement in Japan after the Pacific War has been very diverse, changing its nature and focus with the fluctuations in the
domestic and international opportunities and constrains. From the mid- 1950s, after the incident with the fishing vessel Fukuryūmaru, the
movement evolved from the anti-war, peace and anti-nuclear (hansen, heiwa, hankaku) movement, which was focused primarily on abolition
of war and nuclear weapons, through protests against construction of nuclear power plants and lawsuits for damages in the 1970s, up to the
anti-nuclear power plants (han/datsugenpatsu) movement calling for abolition of nuclear power plants after Fukushima Daiichi accident in
March 2011.
Based on the field research conducted in the Tokyo area between 2013 and 2014, the paper, employing the theories of social movement and
civil society, analyzes the post-Fukushima antinuclear movement in regard to organizational structure, mobilization strategies, repertoire of
protests and issue framing.
The main features of the movement since March 2011, as argued in the paper, can be described as networking, specialization, and
professionalization, while the most interesting outcomes include: one, development of the “citizens’ science” – two-fold process of
participation of experts in the movement and engagement in the data collection by movement’s participants, second, civic engagement
in the policy formation – exemplified by the activity of the Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE, Genshiryoku Shimin Inkai) and
eShift (Datsugenpatsu, Atarashii Enerugī Seisakku o Jitsugen Suru Kai), and third, change of perception among the Japanese in regard to
demonstration, parades, occupation of the public space etc. as legitimate forms of direct democratic participation, previously negatively
associated with the radical and violent movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Anti-Nuclear Bomb Movement in Japan: A Historical and Transnational Perspective
by Hiroe Saruya
(Sophia University)
Many studies of transnational or global social movements have hypothesized that such movements become more transnational as globalization
proceeds; this paper examines a case that suggests precisely the opposite. I look at the Japanese transnational peace movement, particularly
the anti-nuclear bomb movement, one of the largest and most enduring social movements in Japan. The paper charts, first, the movement’s
development over time and how activists and participants variously engaged in transnational mobilization and with the discourse of the global
imaginary. Second, it show how the Japanese anti-nuclear bomb movement converged with, but then diverged from anti-nuclear movements
in Europe and North America.
The paper identifies three distinct periods. In the first, between 1945 and 1954, the anti-nuclear movement developed via two parallel,
simultaneous trajectories—one within Japan, and one outside of Japan. Transnational peace movements outside of Japan forged various
alliances with movements within Japan, while some Japanese peace movement leaders reached out to organizations outside Japan. During
the second period, from 1954 to the mid-1970s, the Japanese anti-nuclear movement became increasingly transnational in organization
and scope. Then, in the third period, between the mid-1970s and the 1980s, the movement began to focus more on domestic issues only,
decoupling itself from the broader transnational anti-nuclear movement, just as the latter was beginning to surge outside of Japan. This
decoupling of Japanese transnational movements away from other transnational movements around the world has only heightened in
subsequent years, suggesting that globalization does not always promote more transnational social movements.
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Space and memory in contemporary Japanese religion
Sacred Groves ‘Saving the World’: The Meanings of Chinju no Mori
by Aike P. Rots
(University of Oslo)
In the course of Japan’s modern history, the ritual tradition Shinto has been subject to various conceptualisations and reconfigurations (Rots
2015). In recent years, the ‘Shinto environmentalist paradigm’ – the understanding of Shinto as, essentially, an ancient tradition of naturerelated worship, said to contain important solutions for overcoming today’s environmental problems – has gained significant momentum,
not only among Shinto-related new religious movements and Western Shinto aficionados but also, increasingly, among members of the
conservative shrine establishment. Central to their discourse is the notion of chinju no mori: sacred shrine groves. In this paper, I will examine
the various meanings attributed to these groves in academic and Shinto-institutional discourse, showing they are not only seen as ecologically
significant remnants of primeval or secondary forest (Ueda 2007) but also as vestiges of Japanese traditional culture and society (Tanaka 2011).
In addition, I will discuss some of the shrine forest projects that have been set up throughout the country, combining spatial practices such as
forest maintenance and landscape construction with educational and cultural activities. Applying Lefebvre’s (1991) triadic model, I will argue
that chinju no mori have acquired significance physically, socially and mentally. As physical spaces, they constitute small but visible areas of
urban green, in some cases actively redesigned so as to resemble a supposed primeval ‘sacred forest’ (e.g., Tadasu no Mori). As social spaces,
they are seen as primordial ‘community centres’, uniting the community (kyōdōtai) through shared ritual practices, commercial activities and
matsuri; today, some shrine actors are trying to recreate this aspect of shrine life. Finally, as mental spaces, they have come to represent various
values associated with an idealised ancestral past, such as patriotism and harmony with nature; recently, the shrine establishment has even
attributed soteriological power to them, suggesting that chinju no mori have the potential to ‘save the world’ (Kōshitsu henshūbu 2014).
Walking the ascetic path: memory and place-making in the Katsuragi pilgrimage
Dr. Tatsuma Padoan
The relationship between space and memory has been the object of a long-standing interest in historical and anthropological studies
(Halbwachs 1992 [1941]; Nora 1989; Connerton 2009). Keith Basso (1996) defines “place-making” as a cultural process in which places are used
not only as indispensable aids for recollecting memory of past events, but also as a means of fashioning “history itself, of inventing it”, as a way
of “constructing social traditions and, in the process, personal and social identities” (ibid: 5-7). Such considerations are all the more relevant
when memory is reproduced in contested sites (Macdonald 2013), where different groups strive for recognition and legitimation of their past
and present identity, after having suffered trauma and persecution. I will try to investigate these issues by analysing the process of place-making
of a group of ascetic practitioners belonging to the Shinto-Buddhist tradition called Shugendō (“The Way to Ascetic Powers”). This tradition
started in the tenth century, but was banished during the Meiji period (1868-1912), because its syncretic character was not acceptable for the
newly-born State Shinto. The Tsukasakō group, on which this study will focus, is actively involved in the Shugendō revival since 2005. This
group, competing with other Shugendō organisations, is trying to restore an ancient pilgrimage route along the Katsuragi mountain range,
in central Japan. Through a process of “memory re-inscription”, members of this group declare to follow the walking steps of their mythical
founder along the pilgrimage, by praying in specific spots where the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sūtra are said to be buried since ancient
times. In this paper I shall explain how mythical narratives and contested memories of this pilgrimage have been reimagined and transmitted in
those places, and I will also show how processes of place-making sustain or challenge historical claims of authority over the pilgrimage.
Geography of imagination: religion, advertising and travel industry in contemporary Japan
by Paulina Kolata
The tourism industry is associated with the notion of conceptually imagined, visually consumed and empirically experienced spaces. Travellers
experience places through their theoretical knowledge about the place which can be accumulated through various means such as media,
personal stories, literature, cinema and travel brochures. Religion and spirituality are often located within the tourist experience in order to
testify to a place’s authenticity. Trends towards enshrinement of cultures are present in both domestic and international discourses in Japanese
tourism, which combined with a strong narrative of advertising, may result in a consumption of categories, places and religion (spirituality).
“Religion” in its material and cognitive form is on itineraries of most tourist experiences disguised as cultural and heritage tourism (Stausberg
2011). It is also frequently featured in the visual representations of places contributing significantly to the way destinations are being imaged
and imagined.
The conflation of religion and tourism is, however, an infrequently treated topic in academia; hence this paper proposes to explore the
conceptual and visual geography of Japan in the context of the travel market in an attempt to explore the location of the category of ‘religion’
(spirituality) in the representations of Japan as a “spiritually” branded destination for foreign travellers. Through analysis of online websites of
travel agencies and of Japan’s governmental and non-governmental travel agencies, insider and outsider perspectives will be explored. When
directed at a foreign tourist, the emphasis leans towards the aestheticisation of cultures and identities; whilst drawing attention to the authority
and tradition embedded in the imagery associated with religious landscapes and practices. Finally, this paper will also briefly consider the
differences in advertising strategies when addressing the domestic tourist market where travel advertising appears to sway towards the notion
of shūkyō asobi (religion and entrainment).
Media space and Japanese (new) religions: relocating authority and reshaping rituals
by Erica Baffelli
Several scholars (Reader 1991; Inoue 1991; Whelan 2007; Stalker 2007; Dorman 2012) have noted that several successful “new religions”
(shinshūkyō) in Japan extensively employed media in their missions. While many of them focused mainly on printed media and audio/
video cassettes, some movements attracted attention with visual imagery, developing elaborately staged events and rituals, feature films and
animated movies, and, more recently, elaborate websites. The visual spectacle attracted public attention and reinforced the charismatic “aura”
of the leader.
This paper will offer an analysis of the ways religion is practiced in the spaces of media through a re-discussion of definition of key terms, such
as ritual and charisma. Through the media, ritual can become spectacle-oriented, stressing artist performance and theatrical enactments and
sharing entertainment language and symbols. At the same time, media space creates new modes of ritual engagement and community (for
example, members at distant geographical locations can participate together via the screen).
The interaction between members and leaders can develop in a non-physical space, challenging the importance of physical proximity, but at
the same time, creating a “third space” (Hoover and Echchaibi 2012) were this relationship could be renegotiated. Finally, this paper will address
issues related to use of media and image of religion (in particular newly established movements) in contemporary Japan. In particular, it will
considers whether the spectacularization of religious events could attract non-members audience and transcend, at least temporarily, the
negative images of new religions; and whether the relocation of charismatic authority in social networking sites could provide minority groups
such as Hikari no Wa (a group founded by ex-Aum Shinrikyō members) as space where the group could rebuild its image and discuss its violent
past.
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Rethinking the “Postwar” in Japan: Beyond U.S.- Japanese Encounters
This panel aspires to provide new approaches to the history of postwar Japan. Previously, scholars have understood the formation of a postwar
Japan as primarily the product of U.S.-Japanese collaboration, collusion, or “embracing.” In order to decenter the dominant paradigm of this
U.S.-Japan relational binary, this panel examines how Japan’s encounters with China, Korea, and the Soviet Union after World War II shaped
Japanese national identity and collective memories of empire, war, and defeat.
Imagining the Enemy Within: The Racialization of National Boundaries and the “Korean Minority Question” in Defeated Japan
by Deokhyo Choi
Recent scholarship on modern Japan has explored how the Japanese empire reformulated race as a unifying ideology for the “multi-ethnic
empire” in fighting World War II. With the aim of reinforcing the “Japanization” of colonial subjects under the total war regime, the Japanese
militaristic empire made a drastic shift in its racial ideology and policy during the war. As Takashi Fujitani’s recent work, Race for Empire, noted,
the empire moved from an “exclusionary” form of racism toward an “inclusionary” one. After Japan’s defeat, the latent “myth of the monoethnic nation” reemerged into public discourse, and postwar Japan was reimagined as a homogenous and pacifist nation under the occupation
of Allied Powers.
Yet, scholars have not yet fully understood how such a transformation – the reimagining of a pacifist “mono-ethnic nation” out of the
militaristic “multi-ethnic empire” – actually took place on the ground and in the popular social imaginary. This paper explores how the Korean
minority question emerged as a central locus for defining and re-imagining Japanese national boundaries after the collapse of the “multiethnic” empire. During World War II, the Japanese empire pushed forward the ideological propaganda of “Naisen Ittai” (Japan and Korea as one
body) and represented Korean colonial subjects as Japanese “brethren.” In its post-war political discourse, the Japanese government framed
the Korean minority as a “problem” by associating their presence with post-defeat social disorders, such as food scarcity, skyrocketing inflation,
and the rampant black-market economy. By analysing numerous private letters sent by Japanese people to General Douglas MacArthur, I
discuss how this political discourse turned former Korean imperial “brethren” into the “enemy within” in the Japanese social imaginary.
The Old and New Enemy: The Soviet Factor in the Making of the “New Japan”, 1945-1956
by Sherzod Muminov
Japan’s postwar reconstruction started as an international endeavour, but by its end the country was firmly oriented towards the United States.
As historian Sebastian Conrad has argued, despite the postwar attempts to denounce the nation-state in favour of the international, the national
paradigm continued to serve as the pivot of history-writing in Japan. The ‘new Japan’ was reimagined as the US ally, and the embrace with the
United States shaped historical consciousness of the people. First as the greatest foe, then as the closest ally, the Unites States overshadowed
other Allied Powers in shaping the Japan we know today.
In this paper I argue that the first postwar decade - from the defeat to the establishment of the so-called ‘1955 system’ - was not all about the
US in Japan. The US Occupation of Japan was a revolutionary project, but the postwar decade was shaped by more factors than the bilateral
relationship between victor and vanquished. One such actor - and factor - long given short shrift is the Soviet Union. I aim to bring the Soviet
factor back into Japanese history by outlining two developments: the relationship between the USSR and the Japan Communist Party, and the
return from ‘Siberian captivity’ of more than half a million former Japanese servicemen. Studying the reaction of the Japanese public to the JCP
and the returnees, I argue that the Soviet Union played multiple roles in Japan’s immediate postwar, and was written into the new narratives as
the new - ideological - enemy.
Dreaming of Dominance in East Asia? Imagi(ni)ng China in Japan’s “Lost Decade”
by Griseldis Kirsch
Japan’s post-war has mostly been looked at with regards to its relation with the US. However, China has played an important part in Japan’s
imaginary, as former colony in the shape of Taiwan and target of colonial expansion in the mainland China. While until 1972, Japan and the
People’s Republic of China did not have official diplomatic relations, then Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s visit to Beijing marked a sea change,
and China became prominent on the mind map of the Japanese. Drawing on media representations of the 1990s to early 2000s, this paper will
argue how China has come to be Japan’s favourite Other during the last decade and what kind of perceptions were passed on to audiences in
Japan with regards to its position within East Asia, thus complementing the US in discourses on self-assertion, nationalism and Japaneseness.
Discussant
Aaron William Moore
Session 4
16:15 – 18:00
6 panels
Room
Session 4 Panels
Issues in Contemporary Japanese language
B104
Matteo Fabbretti
Carolyn Wright & Sanae Saito (joint paper)
Mayuko Inagawa
Nataliia Kutafeva
HRM and Demography
B111
Philippe Debroux
Darren McDonald
Daisuke Wakisaka
Japonisme and Beyond: its influences in the Artistic Creation of
Spain
G3
Ramon Vega
Yayoi Kawamura
Muriel Gomez
Pilar Cabanas
4426
Garren Mulloy
Tam Mito & Craig Mark
Thomas French
4429
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Anya Benson
Leena Eerolainen
Christopher Hood
Akiko Nagata
37
Issues in Contemporary Japanese language
Contemporary Manga Scanlation into English
by Matteo Fabbretti
(Cardiff University)
This presentation deals with the phenomenon of manga scanlation, mainly into English but with references to other languages as well.
Scanlation – the scanning and translation of materials – will be framed within the context of global translation flows, the spread of otaku
culture outside Japan and the use of English as an international lingua franca.
This presentation straddles between three related fields of research: the globalisation of Japanese visual narratives, the translation of comics
and graphic novels, and the study of emergent communities of non-professional, non-academically trained translators collaborating online.
During the presentation, examples of manga scanlated by various groups will be presented and discussed, with the aim of illustrating how the
transcultural character of the English language scanlation community influences the translation of linguistic and pictorial elements of manga
into English.
Multicultural Symbiosis in Multilingual Japan: Easy English in Language Support for Non-Japanese Residents
by Carolyn Wright (Kyoto Koka Women’s University) & Sanae Saito (Tokai University)
This paper aims to elucidate the present condition of language support for non-Japanese residents of Japan, who may experience linguistic
isolation and social disadvantages. Although Japan is rapidly becoming a multilingual society (Kawahara, 2007) where various languages such
as English, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese are spoken, “an island-country mentality” exists, based on the perceived homogeneity of Japan. As
a result, many non-Japanese residents face problems in terms of language, but language support for them is inadequate. This study presents
the findings of a survey conducted in 2013 to clarify the actual state of language support for foreign residents living in the cities of Kobe and
Fukuyama, where non-Japanese residents are concentrated because of employment opportunities. The survey results show that the majority
of the respondents are faced with social and linguistic problems, for instance, social isolation from the mainstream community, difficulty
in accessing welfare provision and finding employment, and educational inequality for children, such as the lack of language education for
children at schools where education is largely carried out in Japanese. Since many of the respondents, even very long-term residents, describe
their Japanese ability as limited, this paper discusses the expected roles of local governments and educators in language support through the
diffusion of “easy” or “plain” English to prepare for a future multilingual society.
Glocal Features of English in Contemporary Japan
by Mayuko Inagawa
Over the last century or so, English has become an extensively used global lingua franca. Today, English is the first language of 400 million
people and the second language of around 1.4 billion others, regardless of the speaker’s first language (Millward & Hayes, 2012). The global
spread of English is far from a passive process. Fragments of its lexicon permeate native languages, taking on new meanings and uses, enriching
the lexicon.
The present study is concerned with the use of English and its elements including English-derived words in contemporary Japan, especially
within the discourse of ‘Manners Posters’, which promote good manners in public spaces, and advertising texts. The study illustrates a creative
and innovative use of English that interacts with Japanese at various linguistic levels, conveying messages in an effective and humorous way to
achieve particular ends in a given context. We can look at this phenomenon from the ‘glocal’ point of view – i.e. the mechanisms and effects
of a fusion between ‘global English’ and local culture that create a localised or nativised taste of the global. This study discusses those glocal
qualities of English, which display an ability to adapt to more localised, native usages in creative and innovative ways that have function, frivolity
and flirtatiousness in their interaction with the local language and its systems, writing scripts and styles.
Japanese nouns and Reduplication
by Nataliia Kutafeva
(Novosbirsk State University)
There are two understanding of reduplicated word. The first is reduplicated words include words consisting of duplication of word stem and
word root. The second is reduplicated words include words consisting of duplication of word root.
We study reduplication in connection with the ways of expression of plurality of nouns. We suppose that reduplicated nouns express
cumulative plurality where included members have individuality and various connotations depending on semantic category of base noun.
For example hibi “days”, tsukizuki “months” formed from time nouns hi “day”, tsuki “month” express connotation “day by day” and “month by
month”; kuniguni “countries”, sumizumi “everywhere” formed from place nouns kuni “country”, sumi “corner” express connotation “in each
country” and “in each corner” and so on.
To clarify how the Japanese understand the ways of expression of plurality of nouns and phenomenon of reduplication we made questionnaire
and ask students of Waseda University (Japan) to fill it. 110 peoples took part in this questioning. We ask them to create reduplicated forms
if possible from the next nouns hito “man”, petto “pet”, shima “island”, sakana “fish”, kumo “cloud”, tani “valley”, shain “office worker”, gimon
“problem”, ki “tree”, inu “dog”, uta “song”.
We obtained the next results. 58 persons formed really shimajima, and 71 - kigi, 9 – tanidani, 7 kumogumo, 3 – pettopetto and 2 – utauta.
Results show that the Japanese not clearly understand the phenomenon of reduplication of nouns. We want to add that this misunderstanding
is reflected in Japanese linguistic studies. The list of reduplicated nouns differs from article to article. For example nouns machimachi,
madomado, hoshohoshi, edaeda which are considered as correct in one article wrote, are considered as incorrect in other articles.
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HRM and Demography
Limited Regular Employment and Older Workers
by Philippe Debroux
(Soka University)
The Japanese government proposes the limited regular employment scheme as a solution fitting the needs of workers and employers. It
would give the opportunity to move away from traditional work practices while making the most of the workers skills, ability and experience.
Government has in mind several categories of workers for whom the limited regular status could be an appropriate way to overcome the
dichotomy between regular and non-regular status. This includes the older workers. The objective of the paper is to assess the positive points
and the possible drawbacks of the system envisioned by the government in the case of this latter category of workers.
Japan as other aging societies must be attentive to the needs and capacities of older workers because they can be an increasingly important
source of competitive advantage. Then, Japanese companies face the practical issue of having the legal obligation to provide continuous
employment until 65 years old in the transitional period up to the year 2025 when the eligibility age for the employee old age pension will be
set at 65 years old.
For the time being most Japanese workers between 60 and 64 years old have a non-regular status under fixed-term contract. In most
cases they suffer dramatic decrease of their income. Sometimes they perform the same job as before but without benefiting from the status
of regular worker. In many organizations they perform jobs that are under-qualified that results in the waste of their skills and experience.
In both cases it has a negative impact on their work motivation. The limited regular status would give the opportunity to receive a decent
compensation, albeit lower than that of regular workers, while enjoying a working life respecting work/life balance in terms of working time,
mobility and general availability.
Moving Diversity Management Forward in Japan: Drawing from Japan’s First Diversity Managers’ Conceptualization of Diversity and Inclusion
by Darren M. McDonald
(Daito Bunka University)
Diversity Management in companies in Japan has evolved against a backdrop of broader business and social change. With the ageing
population in Japan, companies, government agencies and politicians have called for the greater utilization of women – both encouraging a
larger number of women to take up managerial positions and striving to have more women to join the workforce - as well as other minorities
such as non-Japanese workers. More recently, in order to enhance business competitiveness through innovation, top management has
focused on non-demographic traits of diversity amongst the employees already working for the company. This focus is on advocating the
importance of different thinking, values and perspectives to bring about the birth of new business ideas.
As diversity managers in Japan attempted to implement initiatives that strived to create a workplace environment welcoming of diversity and
inclusion, a number of issues that inhibited Diversity Management have become noticeable. One issue has been where “diversity awareness”
programs have become routinized, stalling Diversity Management initiatives that could put diversity into practice, additionally making diversity
a mere rhetoric – “talking” instead of “doing” diversity. Another issue is that despite corporate efforts to bring on board new employees to
challenge old management practices and corporate culture, Diversity Managers argue that lack of inclusive corporate practices inhibit these
employees to do this. In essence, Diversity Management has not been connected strongly enough to organizational change and development.
The focus of this paper is to translate how the vision and conceptualization of Diversity Management by Japan’s first diversity managers can
move Diversity Management forward. Based on a analysis of interviews with pioneer diversity managers in Japan soon after they took their
position with some follow-up interviews several years later, this paper draws out important guidance these managers offer in overcoming the
challenges Diversity Management currently faces.
How can Japan design better migration policies?
Comparative analysis of migration policies in Japan and the UK
by Daisuke Wakisaka (PhD Candidate)
(University of Bristol)
OECD countries currently face strong competition, associated with reformed labour migration policies, in recruiting highly skilled migrants
(HSMs). However, the policies implemented to date at national level have had mixed success and there is a research gap in explaining why
some policies didn’t work and what the effect of accepting HSMs is. Further research is needed to reframe debate in this field.
The UK and Japan are high-income economies and innovation leaders that crucially need highly skilled labour. Unlike the traditional immigrant
countries such as the USA and Australia, the indigenous people have been socially dominant in these countries, and thus migration policies are
often controversial and politically sensitive.
This research focuses on the impact of accepting HSMs in the UK and Japan. The research questions are two-fold: (1) how much is the
economic impact of accepting HSMs in the UK and Japan ? (2) which policies are the most effective in attracting HSMs ?
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are being employed to address these questions. Quantitative analysis aims to estimate the economic
impacts of HSMs using an economic model to calculate ripple effects. Qualitative analysis is used to evaluate current policies regarding HSMs,
and to find key factors to improve policies. Primary data will be gathered from interviews with employer associations and HSMs.
The presentation will first show an overview of statistical data and the main features of each country’s set of highly skilled migration policies.
Eventually, it attempts to propose how the UK and Japan can better design migration policies by bridging the research gap of economic
contribution and determinants of highly skilled migration.
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Japonisme and Beyond: its influences in the Artistic Creation of Spain
Zuloaga Family (1834-1945): Damasceners, ceramists and painters. The Japanese background in their art
by Ramón Vega (PhD student)
(University of Oviedo)
Spain, but its appreciation abroad is much more because their influences in other countries. Their connection with Japanese art began few
generations before their members that we study here. They were descendants of the armourers in the Spanish Royal Palace in Madrid, engaged
to preserve and to repair the royal armour collection, which included the first Japanese armours (ō-yoroi) and katanas that reached the Spanish
court as diplomatic gifts in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Plácido Zuloaga (1834-1910) grew in that family milieu. Instructed in Paris and Dresde as damascener, his art was mainly focused on weapons
decoration. His work became soon well appreciated, that allowed him to be a guest artist in the first World’s Fairs, in which also he was
awarded. Probably in this context he began to make his own artistic collection in the Kontaderekua, his house-tower in Éibar. That place, next
to his workshop, was created as a museum for artists, where they could find new examples, techniques and ideas. One of the main parts of this
didactic museum was composed of Japanese objects: ceramics, porcelains, ukiyo-e, sumi-e and other endless small objects. They served as
sources of inspiration in many of his artistic creation and in those of other artists who visited there.
The artist most influenced by the Japanese art was Daniel Zuloaga (1852-1921), Placido’s brother. A drawing artist converted to ceramist,
who declared himself admirer of the Japanese art. He tried to be a ceramist who worked “like the Japanese masters” and he obtained a deep
knowledge of the Japanese ceramic techniques. Also, the most famous artist in the family, Ignacio Zuloaga (1870-1945) lived intensely the
japonisme, aspect normally not realized through his works, so ignored.
Lluis Bracons (1892-1961): Japanese urushi lacquer in his artistic creation
by Yayoi Kawamura
(University of Oviedo)
The Japanese lacquer urushi has been very appreciated in Europe from the late 16th century, and the collecting of the Japanese export lacquer
during the Modern Era in Europe is a well-known phenomenon. Later, the Meiji government made an effort to present high-level Japanese
lacquer objects in the World’s Fairs, and many Japanese lacquer collections were born in Europe in the late 19th century. But the technique of
the Japanese lacquer had been unknown until the first decades of the 20th century.
The key figure of this art, Sugawara, transmitted the use of the urushi sap in the artistic creation to Eileen Gray and Jean Dunand. In Paris, Jean
Dunand developed urushi lacquer art successfully adapting it to the European artistic expression. In the decade of 1920s, one Spaniard artist
began to follow Dunand’s artistic venture, and so to satisfy the artistic demand from the bourgeoisie in Barcelona. This study focuses on the
artistic activities of Lluis Bracons i Sunyer (1892-1961), the first Spaniard to use urushi acquer artistically, and looks at his legacy.
His education in the Dunand’s workshop is evident by studying his works, and also several oral testimonies corroborate it. His creation include
panels, folding screens, jewel boxes and furniture, in which the use of eggshell inlaid is very frequent, as Dunand did. Santiago Marco, a very
influential interior designer and president of Foment de les Arts Decoratives, introduced him and urushi art in the artistic milieu. The
novelty of Bracons is the engraved lacquered panel, as he had good talent as sculptor. His lacquer works are exclusively dated from the 1920s.
Because of his marital breakdown in 1927, he abandoned Barcelona and also the lacquer work. Some of his works left in Barcelona were
presented by his ex-wife as her creation.
Eudald Serra: Impact of the Mingei Movement in his life and Artistic work
by Muriel Gómez
(Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)
After World War II it is appreciated that in Barcelona (Spain) a generation of artists who shared several artistic interests were born. Among them
the interest in Japanese art was remarkable. One of the best representatives of these artists is Eudald Serra (Barcelona, 1911-2002), a Spanish
sculptor (close to Surrealism) but also ceramicist, photographer and, most especially, a great traveller, with an unlimited desire to know and
discover. Eudald Serra lived in Japan between 1935 and 1948, and later he led the campaigns to collect Japanese traditional art and craft in situ
for the Ethnological Museum of Barcelona in 1957, 1961 and 1964.
The main objective of this paper is to analyze how the aesthetic preferences and high sensitivity of the sculptor Eudald Serra influenced in the
selection of the Mingei pieces gathered in the Ethnological Museum of Barcelona, and also to explore his own artistic work.
In which aspects can these aesthetic preferences be observed? Can we know the artist (the sculptor and ceramicist) through this Mingei
collection?
Serra was one of the artists who understood deeply the spirit of Mingei and made this museum’s collection unique, different and completely
dissimilar to other collections of Japonisme taste. Our study also inquires if his artistic work is imbued with Japanese art.
Joan Miró and Eduardo Úrculo. Between the intangible and the material aspects of Japanese culture
by Pilar Cabañas
(The Complutense University of Madrid)
This paper will focus on two Spanish artists who belong to different generations: Joan Miró (1893-1983) and Eduardo Úrculo (1938-2003).
While the general objective of the panel is to point out the wide meaning of the term “Japonisme” in the Spanish artistic creation, the concrete
aim of this paper is to study and analyze the cases of the aforementioned artists. Both felt an attraction for Japanese culture, but the way of
approach and the form it was expressed in their respective works were quite different.
Joan Miró was born in Barcelona when the Japanese fashion was at its climax and there were plenty of shops selling Japanese objects in his
neighbourhood, but when he became adult, he felt more attracted by the intangible aspects of its culture than for the brightness of the colorful
kimono or the golden screens. Did the loss of self-confidence and established values in Europe that followed the First World War have to do
with it? Did the existentialism that emerged after the Second World War bring about it?
On the other side, Eduardo Úrculo´s interest in Japan was expressed in the Japanese material culture and the topics of the exotic “Far East”.
He was an artist quite close to the Pop Art aesthetic. At the end of the 1990’s, after Úrculo had developed different phases on his artistic career,
suddenly, the subject of the Japanese women rose in his paintings. Those paintings hark back to the classical Japonisme artwork of the 19th
century. Our interest is to know if this painter was attracted by Japanese culture in the same way as the 19th century European artists.
The main objective of this study is to consider the “Japonisme and beyond” through the contrast of these two Spanish artists.
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Self, Collective, and Other Defences:
Seventy Years of Japanese Post-War Security and Strategy
by Garren Mulloy
(Daito Bunka University)
Prime Minister Abe’s administration is attempting to disentangle and promote a range of military, diplomatic, and constitutional policies which
have become entwined with his statement on war responsibility. Such is the complexity that few primary actors appear to fully comprehend the
significance and historical context of each issue within seventy years of Japanese post-war security efforts. It is this tangled range of policies
that is forming a distinctive, emergent Japanese strategy so intensely loathed and feared by many, and yet eagerly anticipated by others, both
within and without Japan.
The obvious immediate focus is on how Japan can deal with Chinese security challenges, but concentration upon the Senkaku or textbook
controversies in detailed isolation can be misleading. These are important issues, but have only gained such importance due to broader and
deeper issues of historical context and assumed immediate strategic import. The varying depictions of Abe administration security policies
from reasonable realism through to revisionist militarism similarly not only lack balance but also a thorough appreciation of post-war Japanese
policy and motivating forces within government, parties, and society.
This paper aims to furnish the context to provide an understanding of how and why such positions and policies have emerged, to map their
genesis and chart potential developments in security policies and strategy between the interacting influences of post-war history and present/
future policy courses, utilising findings from diverse fields which have often failed to provide inclusive disciplinary interaction. The view of
strategy and security encompasses the SDF (and pre-SDF forces) but does not focus exclusively upon such traditional ‘hard’ defence issues,
examining the interplay of diverse domestic and international factors and actors and the range of policy options available to this and future
Japanese administrations.
The Changing Role of the Japanese Self Defence Forces Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
by Tam Mito & Craig Mark
(Kwansei Gakuin University)
This paper deals with the questions of `why` and `how` Prime Minister Abe is attempting to change the role of the Japanese Self Defense
Forces (SDF). It constst of two parts; the first question of `why` will be analyzed, focusing on the ongoing constitutional revision debate, as
it touches on what role Abe envisions for Japan to play globally, delopying its armed forces. The second question of `how` will be examined
through an analysis of the cabinet decision on the exapanding role of the SDF in conflict management with its close partners overseas. These
two questions have profound implications for the role which Japan is likely to play on the global scene. Will this constitutional and strategic
change make Japan a more assertive activist, or further subordinated to the US global defense system? This is one of the questions to be
debated.
While the constitution may not undergo fundamental change, by enjoying a majority in the Diet, Prime Minister Abe will be able to pursue the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s treasured goal of passing legislation enabling Japan to participate in ‘collective self-defence’ with its allies. This
would authorise the SDF to exercise force to the minimum degree necessary in overseas deployments, when a country with close ties to Japan
is attacked. Additionally, the SDF would obtain greater freedom of action in various ‘grey zone’ scenarios, where Japan’s security is threatened
in situations short of war. The SDF would also receive more robust rules of engagement when participating in international peacekeeping
operations, including for potential missions run by the EU. The Abe government will also continue to increase defence spending and arms
exports, and establish a foreign intelligence agency. Abe is therefore likely to oversee the most significant transformation in Japan’s postwar
foreign and security policy.
The US Constabulary Model and the Birth of Japan’s Self Defense Forces
by Thomas French
(Ritsumeikan University)
This paper examines one of the central but hitherto neglected influences of the United States on the Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF), that
of the legacy of the local paramilitary constabularies created by the US in territories it occupied from 1900 to 1950. The evidence presented
here, based on research conducted in the GHQ/SCAP archives, challenges the widely accepted interpretation that the Japanese National Police
Reserve (NPR), the precursor to today’s SDF, was created in isolation, independent of previous US military experience, planning, and training.
The policy and personal connections between the preceding US constabularies and the SDF are revealed in this paper, and within these links to
constabularies established both prior to, and following, the Second World War are examined. The influence of these constabularies on the NPR
in terms of deployment, structure and capabilities is also explained. The pre-NPR constabularies which will be examined are those established
in the Philippines, Central America and Caribbean prior to the Second World War, and the Korean Constabulary and US Constabulary in
Germany, created after the Second World War. This paper will be of particular interest to those specialising in postwar Japanese history,
US-Japan relations, Japan’s security policy, and the SDF. In providing new insights into the origins of SDF, a force whose structure and future
direction are currently subject to serious policy debate, this paper makes a timely and original contribution to the scholarship on the force.
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The view from a remote tree house: the construction of removal in contemporary Japanese children’s film
by Anya Benson
(University of York)
Many children’s films across the globe depict a character’s movement from contemporary society to something different, magical and
often connotative of times past. In many recent works of Japanese children’s cinema, this construction comes with additional force: the
portrayal of contemporary life itself becomes a nostalgic fantasy, as the site of childhood is constructed as an idyllic setting already distant
from contemporary urban Japan. Looking at the films Gegege no Kitarō (2007), Eiga Doraemon: Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden (2008), and
Hottarake no Shima: Haruka to Mahō no Kagami (2009), I argue that the settings depicted in these works, when analysed in conjunction
with the films’ merchandising strategies and marketing campaigns, construct worlds that are both removed from – and accessible from –
contemporary urban Japan.
While each of these films portrays ‘contemporary Japan’, that vision is merged with elements that connote the past. Gegege no Kitarō
continues the franchise’s long-established tradition of contrasting the vibrant and ultimately empathetic (if cruel) world of yōkai to the selfinflicted suffering of humanity. Doraemon depicts a blissful middle-class suburban life left unchanging since the series’ creation in 1969, and
then proceeds to bury that lifestyle under the green of an ancient forest. Hottarake no Shima takes us from a quiet town – used for its nostalgic
appeal in an extensive film tourism initiative – to a magical island inhabited by the treasures humans have forgotten. These works share a
pattern of movement, echoed throughout contemporary Japanese children’s films, from ‘contemporary’ sites of gentle nostalgia and loss to
something more dramatic, uncontrollable and deeply associated with the past. The films’ immersive merchandising strategies and marketing
campaigns merge with the texts to create the possibility of ‘entering’ alternative worlds characterised by their multi-layered sense of removal
from contemporary urban Japan.
Personification of the monstrous in Tōhō’s henshin ningen trilogy
by Leena Eerolainen
(University of Helsinki)
In my paper I will analyze Tōhō’s Henshin ningen trilogy, which is one of the lesser known tokusatsu film cycles of the late 1950s and early
1960s. The series was aimed first and foremost at an adult audience, including for example erotic cabaret dancing scenes. Two of the films
were directed by Honda Ishirō, the director of Gojira (1954).
The henshin ningen films include monsters like ‘H-men’, ‘telegians’ and ‘human vapor’, and provide an interesting outlook on how these
characters and their victims are used to negotiate the transformation of hegemonic masculinity (from soldiers to corporate soldiers) in postOccupation Japan. Transformation is one of the key tropes of both Japanese fantastic/strange cinema as well as Japanese folklore. Ultimately
I argue that bodily transformation paves way for a psychological transformation, as the transformed human beings start preferring their new
form of existence. They gain a new identity that is overtly subversive and thus horrifying and disastrous. Posthumanist concerns are everpresent, as technology provides a way for monster-making and mixes the identities of men, monsters and machines. Compared to the later
anime henshin heroes, the transformation of the henshin ningen is ultimately non-conformist.
Through an in-depth analysis of the antagonists, it is possible to point out the definitive factors – mainly science and transformation of
masculinity – which are perceived as socially threatening during the time of the release of the films. Some of these concerns are taken further
in the recent works of the J-horror movement, in which I argue that corporeal henshin (変身) has become psychological henshin (変心). Much
of the Japanese kaiki eiga is thus explicitly concerned with the fear of another human being.
Unity and Disunity amongst Japanese Photographers
by Christopher Hood
Theories as to the basis of these desires and how they are developed have been put forward by a number of scholars. This paper will show how
the nature of relationships in Japan is more complex by looking at two specific groups; railway photographers and plane photographers.
In relation to railways, today it is possible to a vast array of different types of trains including, steam, metro, commuter, seasonal, as well as the
shinkansen. Magazines and books discussing where the best photo spots are sold across the country. Special services will often bring people
together at particular spots or stations. For plane photographers, whereas there are many airports around the country, the locations to take
pictures are limited due to the height at which planes fly, but still there are books and magazines dedicated to this pursuit. On the face it there
are similarities, but further study reveals some interesting differences.
The paper will begin by explaining the terminology relating to those who take photographs of trains and planes and how they represent just
one part of the groups often referred to as ‘rail fans’ or ‘plane fans’. Indeed, the paper will also explain that under the broad banner of ‘railway
photographers’ and ‘plane photographers’, there are many sub-groups. The paper will then explain the steps taken by railway companies and
airports in particular in relation to photographers.
The main section of the paper will demonstrate the significant differences between railway photographers and plane photographers and
attempt to explain this through using existing theories about group dynamics in Japan, whilst also suggesting ways in which these theories may
need further modification.
‘Saikō no Rikon’ – A reevaluation of changing marital views through contemporary television drama
by Akiko Nagata (PhD candidate)
The representation in television drama reflects social changes and the view of contemporary Japanese society. The incident of March 11, 2011
became a shared traumatic memory in the minds of the Japanese, as the whole nation took part in pain and sorrow of the victims. During 2011,
the Japanese media focused heavily on the government-proclaimed theme of ‘kizuna (unity and bond),’ and many television dramas displayed
strong tendencies towards the reevaluation of family values.
This paper focuses on how families are represented in Japanese television drama after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March
11, 2011. Through the television drama ‘Saikō no Rikon (The Best Divorce, Fuji TV, 2013)’, a contemporary view of marriage and divorce in
Japanese society can be studied. The story revolves around two married couples in their thirties, the Hamasaki family and Uehara family, on the
verge of divorce. One of the significance of this drama is that the story is set in Tokyo in 2013, but the main characters have been restrained to
the experience of March 11, 2011. The earthquake became a turning point of their life decisions, as they no longer wished to be single but to
stay together. Despite the fact that family values strengthened after the disaster, the characters of the story face issues associated with the gap
between the ideal and the reality of marriage. Through the struggle of two families, I will examine ‘Saikō no Rikon’ to highlight the changing
family values in contemporary Japan.
ABSTRACTS
Session 1
9:00 - 10:45
4 panels
Room
Session 1 Panels
Education
B104
Yuki Imoto
Sachiko Horiguchi
Robert Aspinall
Yoshikatsu Shinozawa
Ka Wai (Victoria) Mak
Haruo Horaguchi
Roddy McDougall
B111
The Current Status of Translation Studies in Japan – The
Perspective of Literary Translation Research
Nana Sato-Rossberg
Atsuko Hayakawa
Azusa Omura
Lisa Pääjärvi
G3
Japanese Film - discourses past and present
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Chris Perkins
Maria Roemer
Lauri Kitsnik
Lee Hyunseon
46
Education
Japanese Studies, Japanese identity and higher education: shifting identities of early career transnational academics
by Yuki Imoto
(Keio University)
This paper introduces findings from an ongoing interview-based research project that explores the experiences and identities of Japanese
transnational academics in the social sciences. My main focus on early career academics who have studied and conducted sociological/
anthropological/historical research about Japan at universities abroad, and who have since then returned to Japan. My interest lies in trying
to make sense of the relationship between the academic field of ‘Japanese Studies’ outside of Japan, and the social science fields (particularly
sociology and anthropology) within Japanese academia from the level of individual identities and subjective perceptions. This is part of the
larger question of the relationship between area studies and discipline, and the issue of linguistic hegemony and the tensions between the
global and national academic discursive domains. It is at the same time a question of a personal level, since I myself am a ‘native’ Japanese
anthropologist situated in an ambiguous terrain - and the paper thus incorporates a self-reflexive account of my own shifting interests and
identities.
Interviews thus far have revealed discourses that tend to reject or question the Anglophone field of ‘Japanese Studies’, resulting in a
strengthened expression of ‘native’/national identity. At the same time, transnational academics carve out a ‘hybrid’ identity within Japan,
distinguishing themselves from the ‘core’ of their discipline within Japan, which is generally constituted by ‘domestically bred’ scholars. I
consider how globalization reforms in Japanese higher education may be leading to a reconfiguration of the relationship between Anglophone
‘Japanese Studies’ scholarship and Japanese social science.
The JET Programme and its impact on careers in Japanese studies: a case study of JET-alumni Japan scholars based in Japan
by Sachiko Horiguchi
(Temple University Japan Campus)
In Anglophone Japanese studies conferences such as BAJS meetings, it has become commonplace to encounter JET (Japan Exchange and
Teaching) Programme alumni who have established themselves as scholars of Japan. Although these scholars may be considered a minority
among over 60,000 total participants since the Programme started in the 1980s, the presence of distinguished Japan scholars today in the
UK and elsewhere with JET Programme experience is symbolic of the impact this national scheme of nearly 30 years of history may have
had on global production of Japanese studies academics in recent decades. This paper examines the narratives of Anglophone scholars who
had set foot on Japan as JET Programme participants, later became scholars researching some aspect of Japan, and are currently based in
Japanese higher education institutions. The study draws on in-depth interviews I have conducted with ten JET Programme alumni of varying
ages and follows their reflexive life stories---starting their work in Japan as assistant language teachers in secondary schools by joining the
JET Programme (many with limited knowledge of Japan or Japanese language) and currently working in Japanese universities as scholars
with a research focus on Japan. Through examining ways in which these individuals have made sense of their experiences and identities first
as teachers and later as academics researching Japan in Japanese educational institutions, this paper will shed light on the impact of the JET
programme on career development of contemporary Japan studies scholars. It will also highlight ways in which these scholars are ‘wanted’
as symbols of internationalisation and the ‘West’ and hence enjoy ‘privileged’ status in Japan and yet find themselves marginalised in scholarly
communities at global and local levels.
Children’s Rights in a Risk Society: the Case of Schooling in Japan
by Robert Aspinall
(Shiga University)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the ongoing discourse on children’s rights and related attitudes towards individualisation and risk in
contemporary Japan’s education system. The paper is also interested in how this discourse is translated into concrete change. The concepts of
‘children’s rights’ and ‘risk society’ both have their origins in Western conceptions of the relationship between the individual and society, and the
place of children and young people in that society. This paper explores the way that these concepts have been transformed by their adoption
into domestic Japanese discourse on education reform. After a discussion of how the classical liberal concepts of positive and negative human
rights can be applied to the specific case of children’s rights, I will move on to show how this debate has developed in Japan since the 1980s.
Then the paradigm of the ‘Risk Society’ will be introduced and the concepts of ‘positive risks’ and ‘negative risks’ explored, firstly with reference
to schooling in Western countries and then in relation to Japan. Finally, the relationship between risk, rights and neoliberalism will be discussed,
in order to show how Western notions of individualisation have met strong resistance from various actors on both sides of the political
spectrum. I will argue that in the case of the Japanese education system, the shift of responsibility from state bureaucracies to individuals and
private-sector organisations that is predicted by Risk Society theory has only partially taken place.
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A large but mysterious foreign investor:
An empirical analysis of the largest sovereign foreign wealth fund investing in the Japanese Stock Market
by Yoshikatsu Shinozawa
The objective of this paper is to identify what characteristics of a firm attract the large sovereign wealth fund investing in Japanese shares and
to examine the possible impact on the target share performance. The focus of this paper is on the sovereign wealth fund ranked as the fifth
largest shareholder in the Tokyo stock market whereas the previous literature usually uses the aggregated data of various sovereign wealth
funds investing in many host countries. Using the sample firms from the top 500 companies in the Tokyo market from 2008 to 2013, the
panel data analysis shows that the SWF prefers relatively small value shares with high ROE from the large cap market index. The analysis also
provides little evidence of superior returns of the target firms, suggesting no impact on these target firms. All in all, the investment strategy and
subsequent impact of the SWF in Japan should not cause concerns around political interference.
This research is supported by a grant-in-aid from Zengin Foundation for Studies on Economics and Finance.
Corporate Governance in the Banking Industry: Comparative Studies of Japan and the UK
by Ka Wai (Victoria) Mak
This paper argues that the boards of banks are required to have adequate levels of knowledge and board independence to monitor their
risks, as well as manage their assets and liabilities sufficiently. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the above and examines whether
the compositions of boards and the presence of asset and liability management (ALM) committees affect levels of risk-taking at banks. It
hypothesises that banks may have higher volumes of loans and lower levels of risk if their boards of directors have sufficient expertise in: (a)
understanding their bank’s internal operations, (b) the banking industry, (c) the risks associated with managing their bank’s assets and liabilities;
and (d) financial and capital regulatory requirements. Volumes of loans are expected to be negatively associated with levels of risk-taking at
banks, if directors at banks monitor their company’s risk levels and assets and liabilities effectively.
This paper compares how corporate governance practices differ between the UK and Japanese banks with regard to their lending. The
results of this paper are expected to demonstrate that Japanese banks may show an inverse relationship between loan volumes and risk levels.
However, UK banks may have a positive relationship between loan volumes and risk levels. This could be explained by examining different
corporate governance approaches in the UK and Japan.
The UK corporate governance approach is traditionally geared towards the agency approach which emphasises shareholder sovereignty,
in which the managers’ objectives may increase the value of their company’s shares by taking more risks; while the Japanese corporate
governance approach emphasises stakeholder sovereignty. The stakeholder approach to corporate governance is influenced by its domestic
labour market and life-time employment system. Japanese banks may try to lend more, yet also remain risk averse.
Industry 4.0: A qualitative and quantitative study from the high tech machinery sector in Japan.
by Hiroshi Fukuda (Hosei University), Haruo H. Horaguchi (Hosei University) & Yoshikatsu Shinozawa (SOAS, University of London)
The terminology “Industry 4.0” is the manufacturing term used to emphasise the complete elimination of manpower. While Japan remains as
one of the market leaders in advanced machinery manufacturing, the concept of “Industry 4.0” has been applied to a wide range of machinery
products i.e. robotics, digitalised information systems, and international procurement procedures. However, the industry’s constraint for growth
depends on firms’ ability in raising enough capital instead of developing innovative technologies. We often observe that small and medium
firms in the machinery industry experience difficulties in raising funds for research and development or capital investments. Given the industry
concerns, our research aims to provide a brief case study for “Industry 4.0” to enhance qualitative understanding. This is achieved by visiting
Komatsu, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction machineries, to reveal how “Industry 4.0” is important to the machinery
industry. Secondly, we aim to investigate the capital structure of firms in the industry and try to comprehend how the financial constrains vary
with size of firms. Also, through in depth financial analysis of these manufacturers, we seek quantitative evidence of performance impacts. The
main source of our data is from Nikkei NEEDS database, which contains the first, second and JASDAQ sections in the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
and our sample period includes the two periods of appreciation and depreciation of the Japanese yen. So that we can investigate to what
extent does Prime Minister Abe’s weak yen policy influences this particular industry.
A Media Frame and Political Discourse Analysis of the Lehman Shock in Japan
by Roddy McDougall
The Global Financial Crisis of 2007/2008 marked the largest economic downturn since the Great Crash of 1929, generating vast quantities of
economic discourse within the news media. Although relatively sheltered from the speculative bubble which struck US and European markets,
Japan, still on the road to recovery following previous financial crises and economic reforms, was unable to escape its effects. As the third
largest economy in the world after China and the United States, Japan remains an important economic player on the world stage. As a result,
media representations of its economic activity are a valuable lens through which to explore the ways in which the ways in which different
economic policies are legitimised in Japan. In order to explore this process my research goes through a number of stages. Firstly, utilising
the media framing methodology of Matthes and Kohring, I investigate the media coverage of the Global Financial Crisis aiming to reveal the
primary media frames employed by the ‘big five’ newspapers in Japan (the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, the
Sankei Shimbun, and the Nikkei Shimbun), taking into account established institutional routines and practices inherent to Japanese journalism.
Secondly, I undertake a critical discourse analysis to interpret the discourse contained within each frame in order to explore the legitimating
strategies employed by the economic elites. Lastly, through engagement with theories of discourse and power, I explain the dominant forms of
economic ideology at the heart of the revealed discourse, identifying relations of power between economic elites, journalists, and the public.
~~~~
The Current Status of Translation Studies in Japan - The Perspective of Literary Translation Research
After the birth of Western Translation Studies (TS) in 1970s, this wave finally arrived in Japan around the turn of the 21st century. This was the
recent general view of the Japanese situation, because TS is a rather new field. However, since there is no clear concept of TS in Japan, this
view is debatable.
Without saying, Japan has been a translation superpower; by translating foreign knowledge, it has developed. Yet, despite a long history of
contributions to translation research, it is still not accepted as an academic discipline. The recent arrival of TS in Japan therefore appeared
to some as a discontinuity. However, this panel will show that Japanese TS can exist only when rooted in previous translation research.
Literary translation has had a long history in Japan. Through research on literary translation with views on the translators’ visibility, authorship,
translation strategy, and world literature, this panel will examine current and future TS in Japan from the perspective of literary translation.
A Genealogy of Poetry Translation: From Ueda Bin to Horiguchi Daigaku
by Azusa Omura
(Yamanashi Prefectural University)
After the Meiji Restoration (1868) ‘modernizing’ Japan was the prime motivation for most Japanese. This trend covered various fields such as
education, the military system and also literature. Poetry forms the basis for all literatures including that of Japan. Japanese traditional-style
poetry is distinctly different from Western verse in terms of its length. In addition, we can find profound differences in the content of Japanese
and Western poetry. By reading Western works, Japanese writers learned of a new culture exemplified in the following terms: ‘love’, ‘the new
woman’, ‘cosmopolitan city’ and a mode of expression describing modern society.
There are two prominent translators who introduced Western poetry to Japanese literary circles: Ueda Bin (1874-1916) and Horiguchi Daigaku
(1892-1981). Ueda published his translations of Western poetry in 1905 in a book entitled Kaichô-on (The Sound of the Sea Tide). The main
purpose of the book was to introduce symbolist poetry to Japan and encourage Japanese poets to write a new kind of poetry. Kaichô-on
consists of translations and commentary on Western poems and thus appears as a textbook of Western literature. Horiguchi published his
translation volume of French poetry in 1925, which was called Gekka no ichigun (Poets under the Moon). With abundant experience of having
lived abroad and having a Belgian stepmother, Horiguchi regarded himself as one of the creators of a ‘new culture’ in Japanese literary society.
Above all, with his introduction of new modes of poetry to Japanese readers, Horiguchi served more as a translator of culture itself.
This paper will compare the methods and ideas of translation that Ueda and Horiguchi employed by analyzing their translated texts and essays.
The issue of authorship in translation also will be an important subject discussed in this paper.
Swedish and English Murakami – Translation strategies, loss and gain in The Elephant Vanishes
by Lisa Pääjärvi
(Gothenburg University)
Translation is inarguably a powerful tool of communication, enabling thoughts and literature to spread far beyond the boundaries of their
original language and culture. As the most widely translated contemporary Japanese author, with a large international readership in 50
languages, Murakami Haruki and his works can be considered a part of “world literature” – while they are at the same time often marketed
abroad with their “Japaneseness”, and therefore can be seen by the international readers as representing Japanese literature and culture.
This becomes especially evident when looking at a small and distant language context such as the Swedish, where only a handful of titles of
Japanese fiction in translation (manga and children’s books not included) are published each year. For many Swedes, Murakami is the only
Japanese author with any degree of familiarity, and, just as most of Murakami’s other readers outside Japan, the vast majority will only be able
to access his works through translations. Translators, although proclaimed “invisible” by Lawrence Venuti, therefore have considerable power to
influence how a foreign author, or even an entire literature or culture, is presented to and received by the target culture. This paper examines
translation strategies in the Swedish and English versions of Murakami Haruki’s short story collection Zō no shōmetsu (Elefanten som gick
upp i rök / The elephant vanishes), which was the first of Murakami’s works to be published in Swedish in 1996. Using examples from the two
translations and their common source text, domesticating and foreignizing tendencies in the translated texts are discussed in relation to their
target contexts (Swedish and Anglo-American) and the concepts of translatability, acceptability, loss and gain in translation.
“New” Translations of Japanese Literature: Socio-cultural Impacts on the Japanese Mind
by Atsuko Hayakawa
(Tsuda College)
In terms of translation theory today, the essential discussions of “otherness”, coupled with the agenda of bilateral approaches to its
untranslatability, are much more intense than ever. The stereotypical images of Japan as something quite alien yet enchanting in Japanese
literature, in The Tale of Genji for instance, are drastically different from those in modern novels, where the experience of conflicts with the
West in the course of modernization could not be ignored. Shusaku Endo’s Silence for example, paradoxically questions the translatability of
Christianity in the historical context of the Japanese mind.
By reading some translated texts of Japanese literature, we come to be aware of the essential factors of “otherness” inherent in Japanese
culture and language which, in some socio-cultural ways, has had an interesting effect on Japanese minds. With the growing interest in “world
literature,” “otherness” and “untranslatability” illuminated in the translations of Japanese literature offer a new perspective with which we can rethink our sense of history of modernization on the one hand; and to re-evaluate the uniqueness of Japanese language on the other.
The remarkable influence of translators whose mother tongue is not Japanese, but who have an excellent command of the language, enables a
new Japanese culture to emerge. This is evident in the works of Arthur Binard, the American poet and translator, who enthusiastically criticizes
Japanese policy of atomic energy in his translations of the Japanese poems after World War II, and in the very inspiring essays on Japanese by
Roger Pulvers, an Australian writer and playwright who won prizes for his translations of Kenji Miyazawa.
Along with such new trend of translations of Japanese literature, how it affects the Japanese mind will be discussed.
~~~~
Japanese Film - discourses past and present
The United Red Army on Screen: cinema, aesthetics and the politics of memory
by Chris Perkins
This paper analyses films about the United Red Army (Rengō Sekigun, URA) in terms of the politics of cultural memory. The URA was a radical
New Left group that became notorious in early 1972 for two inter-related events known as the URA incident (Rengō sekigun jiken). The first
event was the Asama Lodge Incident (Asama-sansō jiken), a protracted siege lasting 10 days that was broadcast to the nation. The second
event was the emergence of news that, prior to the siege, the group had killed 12 of its own members during physical and ideological training
exercises.
In the aftermath of the incident, media coverage of the group produced what I call, drawing on the work of Jacques Ranciere, an particular
aesthetic for sensing the incident characterized by madness and aberrant sexuality. This aesthetic went on to delimit what was perceptible
about the incident and the politics it came to represent, casting a shadow over the already dwindling Japanese New Left movement, but also
having a lasting impact on political activism in Japan.
After sketching out the core features of the incident and the dominant memory aesthetic, I discuss the ways in which cinema, as an aesthetic
technology of cultural memory, has engaged with, reproduced and contested memories of the URA. In particular I focus on the strategies
deployed by two directors, Takahashi Banmei and Wakamatsu Kōji, as they contest the dominant memory aesthetic. Through analysis of their
films’ remediation of previous representations, narrative structure and framing, and the networks of discussion their films provoked, I discuss
the very different ways in which Takahashi and Wakamatsu grapple with questions of narrativization, trauma, intergenerational connection,
and political subjectivity. In concluding I address questions regarding the URA’s ongoing relationship with Japanese society as the group goes
through the process of aesthetic rehabilitation.
Film Criticism in Japan
by Maria Roemer (PhD Candidate)
(Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg)
Film criticism has been at the center of recent attention in the international film festival scene: in order to promote the independence of the
profession from the trends of commercial mainstream cinema, a group of German film critics penned a manifesto at Oberhausen in 2014,
which reemphasized the importance of criticism as activism. Moreover, international A-film festivals such as Berlin and Rotterdam joined
Cannes and Venice in programming ‘critic’s choice’- film selections in 2015, thus acknowledging the significant role of critics within the business.
This presentation looks into the situation of film criticism in Japan: since the establishment of film journalism in the prewar period, print criticism on moving pictures has been a legitimate art form. The analysis focuses on the difference in ‘genres’ that diversify the field in Japan:
besides articles, the form of published interviews (taidan) is a most noticeable type of discussing films. The question arising is what effect the
quasi-informal conversational style of such taidan has on the content and the overall definition of ‘film criticism’ in Japan – the international
readjustment in focus on the craft comes at a time where traditional print critics have been deploring a decrease in expertise through the rise of
internet critics and bloggers. Can we observe similar complications surrounding taidan over time? And if yes or no, to what historical differences concerning modes of intellectual presentation and communication might possible answers be related? The research focuses on the time
between the 1980s and 1990s.
A Poetics of Repetition: Revisiting Shindô Kaneto’s The Naked Island
by Lauri Kitsnik
In his seminal work, The Naked Island (1960), the director Shindô Kaneto sought to push the narrative style of cinema to its limits. Refraining
from using spoken dialogue, the humble life of a farming family living on a small island in the Inland Sea is conveyed only through recurring
images and extradiegetic music. While clearly standing out in its time, Shindô’s minimalist approach was in fact informed by a number of earlier
works of world cinema such as Flaherty’s Man of Aran and Visconti’s La terra trema as well as a string of Japanese films from the 1930s which
shared the thematic preoccupation of depicting rural communities.
This paper seeks to delineate various cinematic influences present in The Naked Island while examining Shindô’s self-referential style which can
be traced back to his very first published script, Farmers Who Lost Their Land (1937), and forward to his final film, Postcard (2011). I argue that
building film narratives around such sequences of repeated movements which are in turn tied to the seasonal and cyclical aspects of everyday
life became one of the most salient features in Shindô’s oeuvre. Based on a reading of this stylistic approach, I will examine how Shindô’s subsequent work relates to, reflects and replicates the images first introduced in The Naked Island.
Akira Kurosawa’s early martial arts films
by Hyunseon Lee
Martial arts films are characterized by elaborate action pictures. In his famous paper “The Movement-Image” Gilles Deleuze explains the prototype of actions pictures with Akira Kurosawa’s film “Shichinin no samurai” (The Seven Samurai, 1954). In the martial arts genre, one of the most
important characters is that of the sword fighter, which embodies the performance of fighting body of men. The sword fighter plays a significant and poignant role in these films.
The portrayal of the sword fighter exists primarily in the historical works of Kurosawa. These works highlight the phenotype of the Japanese
martial male which is depicted with images of warriors. Kurosawa’s samurai films also pose the underlying question of ‘Japaneseness’. Other
questions raised in Kurosawa’s films are: How the martial bodies are mobilised, critically interrogated and investigated throughout? To which
extent is Kurosawa’s unique film aesthetic expressed and the martial body as the spectacle portrayed? How is Japanese ness visualized?
The aim of the presentation is to examine such questions while centring on the motive of the ‘martial body’. This equally has a close relationship with the transcultural and transnational development of martial arts genre. Examples referenced for analysis are Kurosawa’s early films such
as “Sugata Sanshirō, 1943) “Sugata Sanshirō, Part II” (1945) and “Shichinin no Samurai“ (1954).
Session 2
11:00 - 12:45
4 panels
Room
Session 2 Panels
Contemporary Japanese Philosophy: From Its Reception of
Western Philosophical Ideas to Its Original Formation
B104
Brice Fauconnier
Pierre Bonneels
Takeshi Morisato
Yu Inutsuka
Craft and Commerce
Yoshika Yajima
Waiyee Loh
Sheila Cliffe
Herbeth Fondeville
B111
Defining the Role of the Political Journalist in Meiji Japan:
Observations of an Emergent Mass-Media Phenomenon
G3
Alistair Swale
Koichiro Matsuda
Kaoru Iokibe
KEYNOTE LECTURE
Theorizing the Theory Complex in the Japanese Film World
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Aaron Gerow
52
KEYNOTE LECTURE
Theorizing the Theory Complex in
the Japanese Film World
Professor Aaron Gerow
(Yale)
Friday 11 September 2015, 11am
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, Brunei Gallery
Japan has witnessed a long history of deep and rich thinking about the modern medium of film,
pursued by a wide range of thinkers from Tanizaki Junichiro to Tosaka Jun, from Nakai Masakazu
to Hasumi Shigehiko. Not only has this history been largely ignored within the canon of film theory,
however, which remains Euro- and American centric, it has mostly been forgotten within Japan
itself. What does it mean when many have thought about cinema in Japan, but most today refuse
to acknowledge that there has been film theory in that nation? This contradictory phenomenon is
what I call the “theory complex” and says much about not only the status of theory in the film world,
but also the place of cinema in Japanese modernity and the place of Japan within transnational
intellectual flows. It also, I argue, offers a self-reflexive counter to canonical histories of film
theory, questioning the definition of theory precisely at a time when the existence of cinema itself
is in question.
Contemporary Japanese Philosophy: From Its Reception of Western Philosophical Ideas to Its Original
Formation
This panel session gives four presentations that examine, from various angles, the historical formation and the philosophical characterization
of “Contemporary Japanese Philosophy” (Gendai nihon-tetsugaku 現代日本哲学). The first presentation will address the issue of transposition
of foreign ideas in modern Japan by investigating how Tosaka Jun (under the influence of Miki Kiyoshi) used Marxian concepts in the second
half of 1920s. The second presentation will discuss the Japanese reception of analytic philosophy and emphasize the significance of Ōmori
Shōzō’s philosophical contributions. The third presentation will explore the identity of Japanese philosophy through a succinct introduction to,
and critical analysis of, the philosophical conversations between Nishida Kitarō and Miki Kiyoshi on the distinct character of Japanese culture.
Finally, the fourth presentation will unfold the hitherto unexplored link between Japanese ethics and national character (kokuminsei 国民性)
through the notion of “sensitivity” in Watsuji’s oeuvre. This presentation will contextualize Watsuji’s reflection on Japanese nationality in relation
to today’s globalizing world and draw its philosophical implication for the general question of national characters. These four presentations in
toto will give a broad overview of the historical formation and the philosophical identification of contemporary Japanese philosophy.
“Miki Kiyoshi Influence on Tosaka Jun from 1925 to 1930: A Case of Assimilation and Reformulation of Marxian Concepts”
by Brice Fauconnier (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations/Center for Japanese Research, France)
This presentation will address the issue of transposition of foreign ideas in modern Japan by examining how two intellectuals in the second half
of 1920s used Marxian concepts: Miki Kiyoshi and Tosaka Jun.
Although they both died in prison in 1945, Miki participated in the Great East-Asia project of Imperial Japan from 1938 while Tosaka kept a
critical stance toward Japanese Imperialism throughout his life. Prior to this disagreement, they collaborated from the mid-twenties when
Marxism gained influence in Japan. This encounter precisely forms a Marxist discourse that offers the clearest case of transposition, assimilation
and reformulation of “imported thought” (gairai-shisō 外来思想).
After his return from Europe in October 1925, Miki emphasized the significance of the humanistic approach in early works of Marx while most
of Japanese Marxists mainly focused on The Capital. Even though Miki was criticized as being “eclectic” by the orthodox Marxists, his reading
(qualified by Kuno Osamu as a “come-and-go movement” (ōfuku undō 往復運動) between different authors)1, had a brief and yet important
influence on Tosaka’s thinking. Particularly two points are to be noted: (1) the convergence of Tosaka’s early studies on Kant, philosophy of
Science and Heidegger; and (2) the reinforcement of his materialism through the Marx of German Ideology.
Thus, this presentation will show how Tosaka’s thought started with concepts usually considered as contradictory and gave rise to one of the
most coherent frameworks of thinking amongst non-Communist Marxists.
“Ōmori Shōzō and the Japanese Reception of Analytic Philosophy”
by Pierre Bonneels (Université libre de Bruxelles)
The purpose of this presentation is two-fold: First, it will focus on the historical reception of western philosophy in post-ward Japan specifically
in relation to what we today call “analytic philosophy”; and second, it will further investigate if Japanese philosophy has provided any original
contribution to this area of philosophy. Many philosophers would argue that the manifesto published by a smalll group of philsophers known as
the Vienna Circle strongly influenced (if not entirely changed) the course of philosophical history. Even if we are to agree to this point, how did
this type of philosophy that became so popular in the contemporary west find a considerable number of audience in Japan and even seem to
have made some unique progress?
To answer this question concerning the historico-philosophical reception and/or reformulation of analytic philosophy in Japan, therefore, I
propose to make two observations. First, I will examine the number of volumes published under the title of Introduction to Logic in Japanese
and investigate how they were conducive to contextualize the key notions of Gottlob Frege. Second, to gain a philosophical insight into the
historical reception and possible progress of analytic philosophy in Japan, I will examine the early works of Ōmori Shōzō大森荘蔵 (1921–97)
from 1953–73. This observation of the historical reception of analytic philosophy in the works of Ōmori will provide us a concrete argument for
either proving or disproving the hypothesis that such critical adoptatoin and reformative progress of analytic philosophy took place in post-war
Japan. Thus, this presentation will present the historical outline in which western philosophy of the analytic tradition was adopted in Japanese
academia and then demonstrate if and how a certain development was made in Ōmori’s works.
“What Does It Mean for ‘Japanese Philosophy’ To Be ‘Japanese’?: A Kyoto School Discussion on the Peculiar Character of Japanese Thought”
by Takeshi Morisato (University of Leuven)
This presentation gives a succinct introduction to, and critical analysis of, the philosophical conversations between Nishida Kitarō and Miki
Kiyoshi on the distinct character of Japanese culture. A few weeks after the publication of Watsuji Tetsuro’s Fūdo (translated previously
as Climate and Culture) and a week before the leave of Nazis Germany from the League of Nations, Miki conducted an interview with the
founder of the Kyoto School in October 1935. The opening question was meant to be a response to the recent rise of general interests in the
nationalistic themes of “Japanese Spirit” (Nihonseishin 日本精神) and “Japanism” (Nihonshugi 日本主義). The young journalist inquired Nishida,
“What do you think about the fundamental characteristics of Japanese culture?”2
It is undeniable that Nishida’s answer to the question contains some elements that can be interpreted to show his problematic support of the
militaristic government at that time. However, with a closer look, his critical definition of Japanese philosophy gives not only its irreducible
difference from the other intellectual traditions of the world (e.g., Confucianism, Buddhism, German Idealism, Marxism, and Phenomenology),
1 Kuno Osamu久野収 and Hiromatsu Wataru 廣松渉, “Miki Kiyoshi and Tosaka Jun” (Miki Kiyoshi to Tosaka Jun三木清と戸坂潤), Contemporary’s
eye (Gendai no me現代の眼) (Tokyo: Gendai hyōron-sha, 1972), 86–103.
2 Miki Kiyoshi, “The Special Characteristics of Japanese Culture: A Question-and-Answer with Dr. Nishida Kitarō,” Miki Kiyoshi Zenshū (Tokyo:
Iwanami Shoten, 1968), 17: 475. BAJS Annual Conference 2015 54
but also its ineluctable relativity to them. This concept of Japanese intellectual tradition can enable us to suspend his militaristic dictum of
Japanese nationalism and discuss his philosophical argument for the special characteristics of Japanese culture in the network of various
cultures. To demonstrate this point, this presentation will give a summary of Nishida argument in his conversation with Miki and explore its
philosophico-cultural implications to the question of what it means for a culture or philosophy to be Japanese.
“Sensitive Nation: Watsuji Tetsurō’s Ethics and Analysis of Japanese National Character”
by Yu Inutsuka
(University of Tokyo)
This presentation provides an overview of the correlation between Watsuji Tetsurō’s ethics and his analysis of Japanese national character
(kokuminsei 国民性). Watsuji is a representative figure in Japanese ethics and also famous for his extensive reflections on Japanese nationality.
However, the connection between these works has not been fully explored by contemporary scholars. This presentation aims to show a clearer
picture of this link by proposing the concept of “sensitivity” as Watsuji’s consistent interest throughout his works.
In the development of Watsuji’s philosophy, sensitivity is first proposed as a sort of capacity for each person to refine herself and later
considered as an innate property of all human beings. In his early works, under the influence of Abe Jirō and Theodor Lipps, Watsuji argues that
refining one’s sensitivity leads to one’s betterment of personality and also that the sensitivity used to be higher in ancient Japan. Later in Fūdo
and Rinrigaku, he describes the sensation of the environment and of other people as the basis of human existence in the form of “betweeness”
(aidagara 間柄). In these texts, he argues that Japanese national character is equipped with the high level of sensitivity and consequently, based
on the analysis of the existential structure of human beings, it comes to acquire its particularity in relation to the world.
This exposition of “sensitivity” in Watsuji’s oeuvre reveals a close correlation between his theory of ethics and description of Japanese national
character (without overlooking some logical leaps). The general discourse on Japanese particularity has been popular yet there are certainly
many voices that cast some doubt on its validity in today’s globalizing society. I hope to contextualize the significance of Watsuji’s thought in
relation to these concerns and propose its philosophical implication for the general question of national characters.
~~~~
Craft and Commerce
Mizuhiki: commerce and craft in the 21st century in Japan
by Yoshika Yajima
(Victoria and Albert Museum & Royal College of Art)
Paper surrounds us and our life cannot be separated from paper today. We use paper for recording our knowledge, coordinating our life and
artworks. For about fifteen hundred years the Japanese people have valued and used the handmade paper so called Washi in various ways.
Washi is a material and a medium of expression in conjunction with various kinds of forms and uses. Indeed paper is flexible, it changes its form
by being folded or even coiled to make a thread.
Interestingly, however, in the context of Japan scholars have argued on two-dimensional paper focusing on its materiality yet not
on three-dimensional paper as a designed object, in particular paper thread such as Mizuhiki. Mizuhiki is a kind of ribbon shaped knot used
in connection with ritual gift giving in Japan since ancient times. After a long period of cultural disinterest, since 2000, revaluation has come
about through its recognition as a form of design in commerce and craft practice.
Hence to fulfil the gap this paper will focus on Mizuhiki in conjunction with knotting with an aim to reveal the embedded power of a paper
thread Mizuhiki in the commerce and craft of 21st century Japan; the question driving this paper is what allows Mizuhiki to act as cultural
representative in 21st century in Japan. My research aims to investigate this process of re-evaluation through a series of case studies.
This paper will analyse Mizuhiki from three perspectives:
1. Commerce and Design, focusing on how Mizuhiki is associated with the idea of rituals in relation to commerce, and how Mizuhiki craft
emerged and changing its direction in relation to commerce.
2. Education, examining how Mizuhiki has been shared among general public in relation to education and consumer culture.
3. Nationalism; how Mizuhiki is used as Japanese emblematic icon.
Emporium of Luxury: Imperialism, Commodities, and Cultural Capital in Lady Victorian
by Waiyee Loh
(University of Warwick)
This paper focuses on Japan’s import of luxury goods from Britain under the treaty port system in the nineteenth century, and reads the neoVictorian shōjo manga series Lady Victorian (Redi- Vikutorian) (1999-2007) in relation to this history. It is commonly understood that British and
European trade with Japan in the nineteenth century was much less important in quantity and value than the trade with China. Susan Hanley
argues that Meiji Japan focused on importing technology that it did not have in a satisfactory indigenous form (such as steam and electricpowered machines), and that when it did import Western objects (such as umbrellas, shawls, bread, and red meat) that it did not ‘need,’ it
consumed these objects only as superficial and short-lived fads. Penelope Francks similarly argues that the import of Western manufactured
consumer goods into Japan in the nineteenth century was limited. As such, these commodities had little impact on the everyday lives of
ordinary Japanese consumers.
This paper contends that Western manufactured consumer goods did have a significant impact on Japanese society in the nineteenth century
and after precisely because they were imported in limited quantities and consumed by elites as luxury goods. Reading Lady Victorian helps
us to see how the flow of luxury commodities from Britain to Japan in the nineteenth century has shaped how Japan then and now thinks
of ‘Western modernity’ as the possession of the cultural capital required to consume Western-style luxury goods. In encouraging the implied
Japanese reader to identify with the lower-middle-class protagonist’s desire to become a ‘lady,’ Lady Victorian articulates a longstanding desire
of the Japanese consumer to ‘catch up’ with the West and acquire the cultural capital to consume Western-style luxury goods without looking
ignorant or vulgar.
From Craftsmen to Creators: Evolution in the Kimono Industry
by Sheila Cliffe
(Jumonji Gakuen Joshi Daigaku)
Recent data from Yano Research suggest that the kimono industry has bottomed out as of 2011, and has been on a steady path of recovery
since then. While this paper does not explore in depth the reasons for this turn about, Yano suggests that many of the industry problems have
been created by the industry itself. However, the communications revolution has led to alternative routes for the appropriation of kimono both
to purchase and to study.
This paper is the result of ethnographic interviews conducted with 16 subjects who work in the kimono industry. In order to establish how
technological innovation and advancement in both textile technology and in communication systems have affected the lives of workers. I
conducted interviews with subjects from a wide variety of backgrounds and professions within the industry. I included those who do “hidden
work”, such as a ground dyer, a steamer and a white cloth producer and merchant, as well as with both those who work in a traditional handcraft framework and those who come from art schools or the apparel industry, or from other backgrounds who have recently entered the
kimono world. I interviewed subjects involved in the marketing as well as in the making of kimono, from traditionally family owned “gofuku ten”,
a used kimono shop and also those who produce and sell goods online.
While it is impossible to draw conclusions from the small sample of people interviewed for this study, one can identify ways in which life has
changed, even for those who work in a traditional framework. Whereas once they would have never met their customers, many now they
have a face, an online presence and must learn to interact and explain their work. Such strategies emerge as key to survival in the increasingly
competitive kimono market.
Serving The Community Through Creativity: Student-Led Arts In Hospital Projects
by Herbeth L. Fondevilla
(University of Tsukuba)
The demand for more humanitarian ways of caring for patients in health care institutions are becoming more widespread and accepted in
Japan, especially in the wake of an aging society. In the city of Tsukuba, student groups are leading the way in creating and developing ways in
making hospital stays less stressful through arts programs. Encouraged by the University of Tsukuba, and assisted by the hospitals and medical
staff, students are positively changing the attitudes of patients and staff alike through hands-on projects and interactive art sessions. Art that
is non-institutionalized, participatory, and designed to serve patients directly is slowly becoming part of health care, and benefits not only the
patients, but also their caregivers and medical staff emotionally, psychologically, and neurologically. In addition, an effective Arts in Hospital
program is a useful tool in engaging community participation and communication. This study will discuss the art projects at the University of
Tsukuba Hospital and Tsukuba Medical Center, in which the realization are shared by the academe and the healthcare facilities.
~~~~
Defining the Role of the Political Journalist in Meiji Japan: Observations of an Emergent Mass-Media Phenomenon
The emergence of popular print media and its significance in relation to the “Civilization and Enlightenment” movement and the “Freedom and
People’s Rights” movement has been well covered in existing scholarship. Even so, this panel aims to present a series of vignettes that accentuate
some of the nuances of more specialized political writing that had a professional journalistic premise. Increasingly Japanese journalism came to
maintain a distinct set of domestic preoccupations while finding expression in less conventional formats of publication.
“Contesting Definitions of the ‘Political Journalist’ (seiron kisha) in the Meiji Period”
by Koichiro Matsuda
(Rikkyo University)
Although kawaraban, nishikie or some other sources sometimes very subtly conveyed political rumors under the Tokugawa regime, the political
journalism that formed with the advent of modern media such as periodical journals or newspapers for a wide reading public was a new product
of the Meiji period. This paper will examine the arguments over the role of the political journalist (seiron kisha) as a modern professional in the
course of the birth and development of political journalism during that period. The writings of leading seiron kisha, such as Suehiro Teccho (18491896), Kuga Katsunan(1857-1907) and Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957) will be analyzed in terms of their ethical mission, political influence, and social
role to clarify the expected quality and style of the new public medium in political discussion. Their arguments reveal discordance and also selfcontradiction, however this complexity is at the root of the definition of the political journalist at a time characterized by the social conditions
they were committed to or mired in.
“’Gradualism (zenshinshugi)’ and ‘Constitutionalism(rikkenshugi)’: The Political Agenda of Fukuchi Gen’ichiro(1841-1906)’s Articles in Tokyo
Nichinichi Shinbun”
by Kaoru Iokibe
(Tokyo University)
Fukuchi Gen’ichiro (aka Ōchi, his penname) has been known as one of the pioneers of modern journalism in Meiji Japan. In this paper I will give a
closer view on his terminology used in his political commentaries in the 1870s and 1880s: particularly zenshinshugi (gradualism) and rikkenshugi
(constitutionalism). Combining political visions or values with an “-ism” was, if not exclusively unique, what Fukuchi contributed immensely to in
the political vocabularies of Meiji Japan. Moreover, his usage of these “-isms” had characteristic effects. Although “shugi” or “-ism” represented a
conspicuously Westernized progressive approach to express one’s political idea, his favor for conservatism (not reactionary or a naïve adherence
to the past) was convincingly rooted in the anti-centralization of political power. Fukuchi’s commitment to zenshinshugi and rikkenshugi aimed
at criticizing the paternalism and interventionism of the Meiji government to local communities, even though Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun, for which
Fukuchi was an editor-in-chief, took a pro-government position in the sphere of the political journalism at the time. Accordingly, this paper will
analyze and attempt to elaborate on Fukuchi’s intentions in using these “-isms”.
“Early Meiji Journalism and the Adaptation of the Illustrated Post Format”
by Alistair Swale, Senior Lecturer
(University of Waikato)
By the late 1870s, mass circulation newspapers had proliferated and some of the most familiar names in print journalism today had already
become well established. At the same time, a variety of ‘niche’ publications emerged that catered aimed for a distinct readership.
In this paper cases of newspaper publication in Japan that emulated the ‘Illustrated Post’ format, - a combination of conventional journalism with
illustration and at times less ‘elevated’ content – will be examined to consider their impact on popular opinion and political debate.
In particular, their handling of the Seinan War will be focused on to illustrate how this format excelled in combining traditional pre-Meiji notions
of popular entertainment with the new practice of factual journalism that benefitted from the infusion of instantaneous news via telegraph.
The ultimate aim is to demonstrate how this niche format of publication contributed to the accommodation of pre-Meiji cultural traditions in a
new guise of professional journalism.
Session 3
13:30 - 15:15
5 panels
Room
Session 3 Panels
Post 3:11 Japan
B104
Saeko Kimura
Susanne Auerbach
Grappling with Precarity: Gender, Labor, and Neoliberal Japan
Sharon Kinsella
Amanda Robinson
Michelle Ho
Marco Pellitteri
B111
Childhood envisioned and experienced in wartime Japan,
1931–1945
G3
L. Halliday Piel
Sharalyn Orbaugh
Harald Salomon
Thematizing social issues in Japanese culture
4429
Annette Thorsen Vilslev
Reiko Abe Auestad
Gitte Marianne Hansen
Gunhild Borggreen
Consuming ‘Cool Japan’ - genres, issues and challenges
BGLT
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Nicolas Garvizu
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
Laura Montero-Plata
William H. Kelly
58
Post 3:11 Japan
How to write the invisible: thinking uncanny fear of radiation
by Saeko Kimura
(Tsuda College)
The destruction of the Fukushima nuclear reactors in 2011 was the second largest nuclear disaster after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Living in
the post-cold war period after 1989, the threat of nuclear weapons may have become a thing of the past, but what happened at Fukushima has
revealed that we remain vulnerable to nuclear threats and to the dangers of radiation exposure. In Fukushima, it remains unclear where exactly
the most hazardous areas are and which foods may be contaminated. Neither do we know exactly how radiation affects the human body. Such
perplexing impalpability brings constant anxiety to those affected, but they do not all react in the same way. Some want to know the accurate
information and the others just want to forget. In this presentation, I will discuss some responses by visual artists to these fraught and conflicting attitudes towards knowledge about radioactive exposure at Fukushima, Hiroshima, and worldwide.
At the crossroads: Japanese coastal fisheries after 3.11.
by Susanne Auerbach
(Free University of Berlin)
On March 11, 2011 the Tōhoku area of Japan was hit by an earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in this country. It was shortly followed by
a wave of tsunami, which hit the northeast coast, destroying housing, infrastructure and killing over 17,000 people. The situation was further
aggravated by the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant No. 1 releasing radioactivity into the air and water. Even though the three
prefectures Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, received the biggest damage, fisheries nationwide were affected by the catastrophe. The until then
unprecedented extent of destruction of fishing boats, equipment, facilities, and fishing grounds posed an enormous challenge to fishermen and
policymakers alike.
This paper examines how local and central government as well as the fishing communities in Japan coped with the crisis. The questions I ask in
the course of the analysis are twofold. First, what kinds of measures were taken in the short-run and secondly what kinds of long-term policies
were derived from this. In both cases particular attention is paid to the coordination processes between the fishermen and their respective associations and governmental organisations during formulation and implementation.
Drawing on governmental publications such as white books, policy and budget plans as well as publications by fisheries organisations and fisheries experts, I argue that, even though short-term relief measures were quickly implemented, developing a comprehensive long-term strategy
posed a far bigger challenge for the different actors involved. This can be attributed not just to the enormous tasks due to the disaster but also
to institutional constraints and fundamental problems Japanese fisheries have been facing for quite some time.
~~~~
Grappling with Precarity: Gender and Labor in Neoliberal Japan
This panel examines the gendered labor in Japan’s neoliberal situation. Following the 1990s economic recession and the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake and its ensuing crises, Japanese people continue to face multiple precarities, such as irregular employment and unstable
class identities. In addition to economic precarity, the panel also considers what Anne Allison calls “social precarity,” or a sense of uncertainty
unfolding in everyday life. All three papers collectively explore how men’s and women’s engagement with labor in contemporary Japan allows
us to rethink existing class, social, and gender identities, the heteronormative nuclear family, and the relationship between workers and the
industries in which they work. First, Sharon Kinsella demonstrates how, due to changing labor market conditions, negative responses of himote
(unwanted men) to dating and marriage generate new understandings of the desire for maintaining singlehood. Michelle Ho then looks at
“feminized” affective labor by tracking the circulation of affects—bodily and mental encounters with feeling or emotion—between male workers
dressed as women and their customers in Tokyo’s josō cafes (drag cafes). Finally, situating Japanese precarity within documentary film, Ritu Vij
re-frames precarity by focusing on women’s affective labor and consumption instead of male labor. This timely panel is significant for studying
precarious subjects within cinematic production and their affective ties to cultural phenomena, such as himote and josō danshi (men dressed as
women), under neoliberal ideologies in Japan.
Male Cultural Reaction to Gender Shifts in Japan’s Labor Market and Domestic Life
by Sharon Kinsella
The significant increase in non-marriage (hikon) and active single status (shinguru) and lifestyle in Japan from the 1990s is socio-culturally
linked to a period of disjuncture, chaos, and confusion. Many generations of men and women of the age that might previously have dated
and romanced with the opposite sex and gone on to accrete to the core of Japan’s postwar nuclear family society have found themselves
more solo than they may have wanted or intended. This paper with slides and some short film clips of filmed fieldwork taken in Summer 2013,
explores the self-aware, parodic and at different points bitter, survivalist and creative directions of male reaction to new and less-rewarding
labor market conditions. Misogynist critiques of over-demanding women and ‘professional housewives’ have spread in the midst of male labor
and class insecurity, reframing female independence as a financial rejection of low-paid suitors and as the direct cause of male unhappiness.
This paper will focus in particular on the culture, comedy and sociopolitical discussion underlying himote (unwanted men) awareness and the
peculiar homology it bears with other emergent conservative subcultures.
“Feminized” Companionship for Sale: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes
by Michelle Ho
(Stony Brook University)
Josō cafes are restaurants where male employees dress as women and attend to customers—an adaptation of maid cafes where women
dressed as fictional characters chat with patrons. Based on ethnographic research in Tokyo, this preliminary study examines the affective labor
of drag cafe employees, specifically those in josō cafes. Here I use Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s definition of “affective labor” as referring
to labor assembling or shaping affects, such as feelings of comfort, desire, pleasure, and enthusiasm, which is often linked to “women’s work.”
In the Japanese context, Anne Allison asserts that caring for another living being is considered “bothersome” or “a nuisance” (mendōkusai).
I argue that through their employees’ care work, drag cafés grant patrons spaces unburdened by social norms to experiment with nonnormative bodies, desires, and practices. Josō café workers cultivate affects and relationships with their customers—both men and women—
through their bodily performances of acting and dressing as women. Through these bonds nurtured between the drag maids and their
customers, patrons experience care and companionship, but also engage in a relationship free of social responsibility. Drawing on scholarship
on drag and affective labor, this paper ultimately interrogates the meanings that men in drag (josō danshi) produce for gendered and sexual
identities in Japanese society.
Quantitative research on the consumers of Japanese manga and anime in Europe: Critical and methodological remarks
by Marco Pellitteri
(Kōbe University)
Academic scholarship on Japanese comics (manga) and commercial animation (anime) has gained significant attention among European
researchers of diverse backgrounds. This interest has extended beyond Japanese Studies into the Humanities in general. Until recently,
Sociology departments have shown less interest in this field of research. However, sociological methods of inquiry and analysis are now
perceived, by some researchers of anime and manga, as useful tools for understanding these two forms of entertainment as well as styles of
consumption and related cultural practices. A number of new studies thus apply quantitative methods to researching manga, anime and their
consumers (although not all of these are by scholars specialized in quantitative research). This has, I argue, led to some useful findings as well
as methodological confusion.
In this paper I
1. reflect on the contribution of sociological discussions and quantitative analyses to the study of manga/anime, including studies of their
production, distribution, consumption and their position in society and mass media at large;
2. highlight the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative surveys on manga and anime that have been conducted in recent years in Europe,
including the ongoing international research of the ‘Manga Network’ (2007-2016), a poll launched by the German website Sozioland.de (2007),
an internet survey conducted by Animefrance.fr on the consumption styles of anime fans in France (2013), and an internet survey launced in
Hungary by a professional association (2013); and
3. provide discussion points on the growing number of academic dissertations on manga and anime that make use of statistical analysis.
~~~~
Childhood envisioned and experienced in wartime Japan, 1931–1945
On the road to war with China, the Japanese imperial state’s demand for a loyal and self-sacrificing workforce on the battlefield and the home
front culminated in the National Education Ordinance (Kokumin gakkô rei) of 1940, affecting children’s cultural lives both at school and after
school. This panel will explore the cultural impact of the Japan’s fifteen-year war (1931–45) on children from the perspectives of both adult
constructions of childhood and children’s expressions of subjectivity.
Papers by Salomon and Orbaugh show two adult constructions of childhood, co-existing perhaps uneasily in the early war years. Salomon
discusses a celebration of childhood in films of the late 1930s that portrays childhood from a “gritty reality” yet sympathetic, child-centered
perspective. In her discussion of the indoctrination of children through kamishibai, a popular and accessible form of children’s street culture,
Orbaugh gives dimension to the 1940 ideal of the child as shôkokumin, a “little adult” who can do his or her part for the war effort.
Papers by Moore and Piel shed light on children’s subjective experiences of wartime culture. Piel discusses how children’s outdoor play could
imitate the prevailing cultural climate, but also contain space for children’s own imaginations. Moore explores how children’s art can yield clues
about how children interpreted and responded to their experiences of wartime life and education. Moore and Piel’s research is sponsored by
the project “Remembering and Recording Childhood, 1920-1945,” funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and directed by Peter
Cave at the University of Manchester. The project aims to build an oral and documentary archive of wartime Japanese youth.
”Japanese Children Are Strong!”: Kamishibai and the mobilization of young children’
by Sharalyn Orbaugh
(University of British Columbia)
David Earhart rightly argues that Japanese children were mobilized to a degree greater than those of any other combatant nation in World
war Two. An examination of the visual and textual elements of propaganda kamishibai plays aimed at young children, created between 1938
and 1945, reveals the wartime roles envisioned for girls and boys, and the ways those roles changed as the war intensified. In addition, this
presentation will investigate the articles in the journal Kamishibai, the in-house organ of the Nippon kyôiku kamishibai kyôkai, that discussed
the propagandists’ theories regarding effective methods for engaging and indoctrinating children. Other presentations on this panel make it
clear that the indoctrination of children, like that of adults, was never monolithic or complete, but the concern of this paper is to expose the
intentions and strategies of the people charged with turning Japan’s children into shôkokumin (young citizens).
‘Children at play in a time of war: Japan, 1944-5’
by L. Halliday Piel
Interviews conducted by Piel in 2010 and 2014 with Japanese adults who were around age 10 in 1944 suggest that children could be
remarkably resilient to the stress of war, sustained in part by child play with classmates at school and groups of neighborhood children after
school. Seventy years later, some interviewees claim to find in their memories of childhood play a degree of choice, independence, and selfreliance they do not see in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This paper seeks to identify where their experience of play was affected
by specific wartime influences. There appears to have been a “return to nature” trend within child play, thanks to a confluence of romanticism
for rural traditions, wartime ideals of robust “little nationals” (shôkokumin), and wartime policies and shortages that limited the material culture
of the modern middleclass, and kept parents busy with the war effort.
‘Children in the Wind: The Golden Age of Childhood Films in Wartime Japan’
by Harald Salomon
(Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, numerous feature films about childhood were released. Their remarkable success has been attributed to
intensifying censorship by government institutions, which allegedly forced movie studios to focus on ‘innocent’ subject matters. By comparison,
this paper seeks to reexamine the ‘golden age of childhood films’ within the context of a larger childhood boom that simultaneously occurred
in print media, radio, and theater of early Shôwa Japan. It explores the novel representation of young protagonists as ‘children in the wind,’ who
faced seriously adverse living circumstances and had to rely on themselves to improve their situations. Interestingly, these productions assumed
the perspective of children on their environment and attempted to depict their characteristic emotional life.
~~~~
Thematizing social issues in Japanese culture
In academia, literary and cultural studies have often been treated as entirely separated disciplines from the anthropological and sociological
sciences. Whether literary text or another form of cultural expression, stories and character are, however, necessarily tied to the social issues
prominent in the socio-cultural context where they are produced and consumed. As Christine Gledhill argues there is a circulation between
the events we encounter in the real world and in fictional worlds. ‘Public debates about child abuse, domestic violence, the administration of
the law, become material – signifiers and signs – for the construction of an imaginary world which works over the social gender constructions
of such events and returns them to public discourse’ (Gledhill,1997). With reference to theorists like Judith Butler and Sarah Ahmed, the papers
also investigate the framing of social issues, such as the intersectionality of gendered and racialized issues, through analysis of literary texts and
other media.
In this panel we examine a number of diverse literary texts and visual cultures with the purpose of exploring how various social issues are
constructed and thematised in modern Japanese fictional worlds. First Annette Thorsen Vilslev examines the social feeling of discomfort in
the works of Ōe Kenzaburo, specifically his prizewinning short story “Prize Stock” (Shiiku, 1957). Reiko Abe Auestad then discusses issues such
as hierarchical schemes of racialisation and prostitution in Kirino Natsuo’s novel Grotesque (2001-2002). Gitte Marianne Hansen continues by
exploring the rising tendency of eating disorders and self-harm and its diverse thematisation in contemporary Japanese culture across genre
and cultural hierarchies. Finally, Gunhild Borggreen examines the performative and bodily engagement with waste and garbage as materiality
for art production in contemporary Japanese visual art.
Discomfort: Why a Black Soldier in Ōe’s “Price Stock”?
by Annette Thorsen Vilslev
(University of Copenhagen)
This paper will focus on Ōe Kenzaburō’s first short story “Prize Stock” (Shiiku, 1957). Despite winning the Akutagawa prize, the story is one
of Ōe’s less discussed works, both nationally and internationally. According to Reiko Tachibana this “may be because the racial elements [...]
would not constitute a typical focus of interest for Japanese critics” (“Structures of Power”: 37, World Literature Today, vol.76). This paper will
investigate the particular feeling of discomfort this story creates as related to Ōe’s insistent, or, in the words of affect theorist Sarah Ahmed,
willful nonconformism, which may also apply to much of Ōe later work. The uncomfortability of enjoyment of this particular story, I suggest,
can be read as a social critique of racialisation issues in Japan and beyond.
Ahmed discusses a feeling of comfort in relation to racialization that she describes as “a comfort zone, which is defined by racial sameness”.
Ōe’s short story is particularly interesting in this regard due to the discomfort with the presence of the Black soldier who is turned into a
racialized other in the village community, where the story is set. As the story progresses the soldier causes immense pleasure to the village
children, but in the end this leaves a rather uncomfortable feeling with the readers. In relation to debates of national identity in Japan today,
Ōe’s story revitalizes the past, and, as this paper will argue, it stresses, more generally, continued social problems of racialization today.
The “schemes of recognition” and social issues in Kirino Natsuo’s Grotesque
by Reiko Abe Auestad
(University of Oslo)
Judith Butler: “if the schemes of recognition that are available to us are those that ‘undo’ the person … by withholding recognition, then
recognition becomes a site of power by which the human is differentially produced” (Undoing Gender, Routledge, 2004).
Indirectly inspired by a “true story” from 1997 about the murdered prostitute, who worked as an “office worker” in TEPCO during the day,
Kirino’s Grotesque drew both popular and critical attention when it was published in 2003. The novel revolves around two sisters, the unnamed
female narrator, who looks rather “plain,” and her beautiful sister, Yuriko, who later turns to prostitution and is murdered. The sisters are “haafu”
born of a mixed couple, the Japanese mother and the Swiss father, and yet Yuriko alone has inherited the best of their parents’ “genes,” making
her a perfect Japanese femme fetal. The novel closely follows people’s reactions to the visible contrast in appearance between the two
through their childhood, at school and at work and gives a brilliant portrait of the extremely hierarchical regime of recognition that operates
collectively in Japanese society.
This paper attempts to analyze Grotesque to shed light on the social issues and problems emerging from such hierarchical schemes of
recognition that constantly pass judgment, pitting individuals against one another---issues and problems which should be of at most relevance
in post-bubble Japan where neoliberalism has created an ever more increasing gap between the loosers and the winners in an increasingly
competitive society.
Female Characters, Self-harm and Eating in Japanese culture across genre and cultural hierarchies
by Gitte Marianne Hansen (Newcastle University)
The incidence of eating disorders and self-harm among Japanese women has been on the rise since the 1980s. Although such self-destructive
behaviour on one level is always tied to unique individual experiences, these behaviours should also be understood as a socio-cultural
phenomenon specific to historical, social and cultural settings. In tandem with this rising incidence of anorexia, bulimia and cutting, from
around the 1980s onwards practices such as self-starvation and self-induced regurgitation have also become increasingly common acts
undertaken by female characters in diverse Japanese culture. Including (but not limited to) various forms of literary expressions, manga, anime,
films, documentary and pop music, thematisations of eating disorders and self-harm are now found in a broad spectrum of contemporary
Japanese culture.
Such diversity means that conventional academic boundaries for enquiry, such as genre and cultural hierarchies are not useful tools for
examining thematisation of these behaviours and this paper therefore explores eating disorders and self-harm as a cross-cultural theme in
contemporary Japan. While Kanehara Hitomi’s award winning novels may be some of the most explicit (and academically most discussed)
works in this regard, her literary characters’ acts of self-induced regurgitation and self-cutting participate in a cross-cultural storyline about
eating disorders and self-harm alongside female characters found in for example Anno Moyoco’s manga and even in Miyazaki Hayao’s
animation. This diverse thematisation of eating disorders and self-harm behaviour suggests that women’s private struggles with their own
bodies have become public discourse available for consumption as entertainment, lifestyle products and thereby as potential identifications to
recipients of Japanese culture across genre and cultural hierarchies.
Rubbish: Materiality as Social Critique in Contemporary Japanese Visual Art
by Gunhild Borggreen, University of Copenhagen
A number of contemporary artists in Japan create artworks that deal with issues of everyday concerns related to environmental issues such as
garbage, waste, pollution, and contamination in rural as well as urban settings of Japan. Artists question issues of gentrification of urban space
and the social consequences of this, for example by focusing on waste material from houses or buildings that are demolished as a memory
to those who used to live in the house. In other recent art projects, waste and memory are linked closely to each other in relation to the earth
quake and tsunami disasters in 2011, such as the 11.3 Project by Katô Tsubasa, in which the artist build a model of a light house from debris and
raised the lighthouse in collaboration with inhabitants in Iwaki, or Nishiko’s on-going Repairing Earthquake Project, where the artist collaborates
with local residents to collect and mend broken everyday objects from the tsunami debris, while also tracking the larger global currents of
marine debris from Japan.
Artists as ethnographers are members of a society and conduct ‘performative reflexivity’ when they observe, digest and transform the cultural
performance of everyday life, thus becoming what anthropologist Victor Turner calls ‘the eye by which culture sees itself.’ What the artworks
analysed in this paper have in common is a performative and bodily engagement with waste and garbage as materiality for art production,
as well as a participatory and relational dimension that poses questions to the normative cultural order. The visual products of their artworks
function as active agencies that provide alternative visions and new meanings to various cultural practices, and lead way for imaginary
possibilities of social change.
~~~~
Consuming ‘Cool Japan’ - genres, issues and challenges
Cool Japan: the reactions of the anime industry
by Nicolas Garvizu (PhD Candidate)
(The University of Sheffield)
My doctoral thesis deals with the Cool Japan policy and how cultural industries (anime, manga and video games) react to it. Based on data
collected during my one-year fieldwork in Tokyo from October 2013 until September 2014, I assert that the anime industry sector has a deep
mistrust of the government.
Firstly, I will explain what the Cool Japan policy is. Basically, Cool Japan is an encompassing term. It refers to the promotion of cultural industries outside Japan, but as well the support of traditional craft, regional products, design, fashion, food and so on. The focus will be on the role
of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) because it is the leading ministry in the implementation of Cool Japan.
Secondly, I will analyze the deep mistrust that the anime industry has towards the state. This sector developed outside a governmental
framework. The Japanese government began to pay attention to popular culture at the beginning of the 2000s against the background of an
enthusiastic reception of anime and manga abroad. Despite the Cool Japan policy, it is certain that many bureaucrats harbour negative view of
anime, in particular among the bureaucrats of the Agency for Cultural Affairs known for their conservative stance on Japanese culture.
Mistrust of the state is widespread among the anime industry. Indeed, a large part of animators assumes that culture mainly helped by the state
is a dead one and that culture should not be backed by the authorities. Many animators want to keep their independence and fear that if they
accept grants, the state will tell them what to do.
“Consumerism, Media Convergence and Production of Invisibility in Contemporary Japan”
by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
(Waseda University)
The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize so-called media convergence in contemporary Japan not as a new state of popular culture but as a
mechanism of governance and capital accumulation. In general, we can discuss media convergence from several different angles. First, media
convergence can be examined in terms of the essential role played by technology or digitization. Movies, photographs, music, and written
texts, once digitized, all easily migrate from one device to another, allowing us to enjoy different types of entertainment wherever and whenever we want to. Second, media convergence is also inseparable from the emergence of participatory culture. For instance, no longer remaining passive spectators of studio productions, many movie fans, with easy access to the Internet and digital technologies, actively participate in
production and circulation of movies and remixed videos. Finally, media convergence is fundamentally a global phenomenon, not limited to
any particular nation or region. Thus, the implications of media convergence can be further explored by focusing on its global nature. All these
features of media convergence, i.e., digitization, participatory mode of consumption/production, and global spatio-temporality can be easily
found in Japanese popular culture, too. However, they are not necessarily the most significant aspect of Japan’s media convergence or convergence culture. Instead of signifying the possibility of open-ended narratives or collective knowledge, media convergence in Japan has been
instrumental in engendering a self-enclosed, inner-oriented sphere or bubble for at least a quarter of a century since the spectacular bursting
of the economic bubble. In a specifically Japanese context, convergence has mostly resulted in the state of “claustrophobic suffocation” (Paul
Virilio) rather than the birth of alternative images and discourses.
Retelling the story: tradition and transgression in the animated version of Taketori monogatari
by Laura Montero-Plata
(Independent Scholar)
During his extensive career, most of the filmic work of Isao Takahata has been linked to the depiction of Japanese society through his everyday
life, its recent history, its cultural heritage and its folkloric tradition. Always willing to go further and experimenting graphic and narratively, the
last piece of the filmmaker seems to be the zenith of his cinematographic and theoretical discourse. On the one hand he has culminated his
aesthetic refinement of the drawing –connected with Japanese tradition as the emaki-mono but also related to Frédéric Back style–. On the
other, Takahata has offered to the public, at the same time, the closest adaptation of the classic of Japanese literature The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and the more transgressor interpretation of this traditional tale. Keeping in mind that Takahata’s starting point to create its Kaguya’s
version was missing in the original source, his feature film establishes a ferocious criticism against ancient Japanese patriarchy, among other
concerns.
Comparing the ways in which Isao Takahata tells, re-narrates and (de)constructs The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, the aim of this paper will be to
analyse the ways used by the filmmaker in order to reformulate Japanese cultural identity from a contemporary perspective, one of the biggest
narrative premises of the two leading authors of Studio Ghibli.
Unlucky Number Four: issues in the treatment of the human body in the rating and censorship of video games in Japan
by William H. Kelly
Producers, designers and creators of video games typically cite violence as the issue which matters most in the rating and censorship of video
games in Japan, often mentioning depictions of bodily dismemberment (decapitation, loss of limbs and appendages) and the treatment of dead
bodies as particularly problematic. Having explored elsewhere (Kelly 2011) in some detail the handling of corpses in video games by CERO
(Computer Entertainment Rating Organization), the organization responsible for the rating and censorship in video games in Japan, the subject
of this paper is CERO’s treatment of bodily dismemberment or the incomplete body, with particular reference to the illustrative example of
the prohibition of depictions of hands with four digits, which is widespread across Japan’s entertainment media, including manga, animation
and video games and which also applies to video games and other entertainment media imported for consumption in Japan. This prohibition
provides an interesting contrast to Europe and North America, where the drawing of animated characters with four digits has been an aesthetic
convention and industry norm for decades. In accounting for this aversion to depictions of four-digit hands in the context of video games, the
paper considers various explanations, including cultural conceptions of the body and the relationship between bodily parts and the integrity
and identity of the whole person, as well as the problematic historical and political context within which a sensitivity to depictions of incomplete bodies and, in particular, hands with missing digits, has developed.
Session 4
15:30 - 17:00 / 15:45 -18:00
5 panels
Room
Session 4 Panels
Independent Panel - Contemporary Social Issues
B104
15:30 - 17:00
Anna Vainio
Kenji Suzuki
Japanese Law and the Rhetoric of Legal Orientalism:
Contesting the Terrain
B111
15:45 -18:00
Giorgio F. Colombo
Fabiana Marinaro
Dimitri Vanoverbeke
Lawrence Repeta
War Veterans and Disability in Modern Japan
G3
15:45 - 18:00
Tetsuya Fujiwara
Mai Yamashita
Toru Imajoh
The Japanese Other in Catalan Paratexts: Literary, Translated
and Visual Images
4429
15:30 -17:00
Alba Serra-Vilella
Jordi Mas López
M. Teresa Rodríguez-Navarro
Social/Political Criticism in Edoperiod Popular Culture Discourse
BGLT
15:30 -17:00
BAJS Annual Conference 2015 Andrew Gerstle
Jennifer Preston
Allessandro Bianchi
64
Reminder
BAJS AGM
The BAJS AGM will take place in room
B102, first floor Brunei Gallery at 17:30
Independent Panel - Contemporary Social Issues
The Role of Civil Society Organisations in Post-Disaster Tohoku: Community Development as Guide to Recovery
by Anna Vainio (PhD Candidate)
The disaster in Tohoku is primarily a social disaster that has remained a little discussed major aspect of the entire event. This research will explore
the application of community development in disaster context in a post-industrial, rapidly aging society and a country that is considered a
trailblazer in disaster prevention technology. The research will apply community development theory and practice that a few researchers have
began advocating in recent years as a viable model for more holistic and sustainable recovery processes that can address some of the weaknesses
in within the existing resilience paradigm. Utilisation of community development as a recovery tool however remains a marginal approach that
has been tested in a few previous case studies. The aim of this research is to evoke a critical approach to the recovery process and analyse the
way in which community recovery initiatives are undertaken, and whether they in fact are carried out from the perspectives of the communities.
The research wants to focus on three aspects of community development, principles, practice and networks, and these will be explored through
the following research questions: firstly, what are the values and beliefs that guide the organisational culture and do they reflect the principles
of community development? Secondly, how is the organisation actioning their organisational culture through their projects, i.e. what is their
practice? And Finally, what barrier/enablers does the organisation face within the larger recovery framework vis-a-vis local authorities and the
state to reach their goals?
This presentation will introduce the methodology to be deployed in this research between October 2015 and September 2016. The research will
use three primary methods to respond to the research questions: Frame analysis, Interviews and Participatory Action Research to understand the
organisational culture, practice and role of Civil Society Organisations in the disaster region in Tohoku; and through these methods test whether
community development methods when applied to a disaster context can yield better results than conventional community-based approaches
to recovery.
Why do young people have little hope in Japan?
by Kenji Suzuki
The result of the international youth survey, conducted by Cabinet Office Japan in 2013, gave a big shock to Japanese people, because it
revealed that young people are much less likely to have hope for the future in Japan than in other countries. This study explores the reasons for
that, with the analysis of the raw data provided by Cabinet Office. The study compares young people in seven countries including Japan and
the United Kingdom, and discusses why Japanese young people have little hope.
There are a number of aspects to explore, but the current study focus on the economic aspect. How does their concern about money affect
their hope for the future? How about their view on national economic situations, such as growth potential and income inequality? The study
also compares the view of young people as to what is the most important for getting success in the society, and examines how that view
affects their hope for the future.
Based on the assumption that hope is not just a trait but largely a product of the society, the study tries to attribute various characteristics of
Japanese social systems to the paucity of hope among young people, so that we can develop our understanding of the Japanese society from
such a new perspective.
~~~~
Japanese Law and the Rhetoric of Legal Orientalism: Contesting the Terrain
This panel aims to offer a critical analysis of the functioning of the Japanese legal system and of the role law plays in Japan, thereby challenging
the still widespread stereotypical views about the irrelevance of law in Japanese society.
Despite the work produced by a number of (often) American scholars, in Europe the subject of law in Japan remains confined to a niche;
and narratives about the Japanese legal system appear – still – to be locked into an orientalist perspective which dismisses its importance
in Japanese society. What is more, there exists usually a great divide, and poor communication, between the few experts on the subject and
scholars from other fields.
Yet, today, Japan is even more under the spotlight of legal and political discussion. The reforms stemmed from the recommendations of the
Justice System Reform Council in 2001 are becoming visible; whilst the Abe administration launched a number of structural reform plans,
from the proposed amendments to the Japanese Constitution to more specific legal reforms in key sectors such as fiscal and labour market
policies. Against this backcloth, the proposed papers investigate the approach to the rule of law in Japan in order to expose what role can and
does law play in the country. It will do so by exploring the Japanese legal system from different theoretical and methodological perspectives:
after a systematic review of how Japanese law was misrepresented in general comparative law (with specific references to dispute resolution)
(Colombo), the panel will offer critical remarks on the labour policy regarding atypical (non-regular) employment (Marinaro) and the
participation of citizens and their on-going struggle for democracy which sees the conflicts of different social fields result in a consolidation of
the force of law in Japan (Vanoverbeke).
Japan in Comparative Law: A History of Orientalism and Conciliation
by Giorgio F. Colombo
(Nagoya University)
Japan has a very peculiar place in the framework of comparative law in general. It is often praised as a case of successful ground for legal
transplants, as it was able to adopt and adapt Western (whatever would that mean) legal models in a Confucian (again, whatever would that
mean) country. On the other hand, its depiction is more than occasionally stereotypical, based on old and surpassed scholarship which overBAJS Annual Conference 2015 66
emphasizes Japanese “cultural uniqueness”.
In depicting the legendary Japanese anti-formalistic attitude towards, the alleged reluctance towards litigation is one of the most famous
features. The theme of Japan’s approach to litigation has been the subject of wide debates amongst scholars. However, this academic
discussion has been dealt with properly only by a restricted number of specialists in the field, while the general public of comparative lawyers
still clings to the very well-known stereotypes about the myth of Japanese reluctance to litigate.
The aim of this paper is to explain the peculiar position of Japan in comparative law, also through the mirror of formal dispute resolution. The
combined reading of available quantitative data, scholarly opinions and legislative developments paint a complex and not univocal picture,
leaving comparative lawyers with the challenge of finding out how much of the quasi-mythical Japanese approach to litigation is real.
Patterns to Unequal Justice? ADR in Employment in Japan
by Fabiana Marinaro
(The University of Manchester)
This paper aims to explore whether the legislative approach adopted by the Japanese government with regard to non-regular employment has
negatively impacted on non-regular workers’ chances to protect (and foster) their rights, and seek redress of their grievances through the legal
system.
Once the ‘buffers’ of Japanese labour market, non-regular workers represent today a constantly increasing portion of Japanese workforce
(Sōmushō, 2013). Nonetheless, Japanese labour law, especially when dealing with issues of equal treatment of non-regular workers, sets
targets, not legally binding provisions (the so-called doryoku gimu kitei, i.e. ‘duty to endeavour provisions’), thereby providing a thin base for
litigation (Sugeno, 2012).
Against this backcloth, what routes are available to non-regular workers in order to vent their grievances and seek relief? And have these routes
actually promoted access to justice for non-regular workers? These questions are not of small importance if one considers that statistical data
show that two out of three non-regular employees reported or filed a grievance they experienced in the workplace (MHLW, 2014).
Starting from 2001, the Japanese government introduced new ADR (alternative dispute resolution) procedures specifically designed to handle
such employment disputes. The objective of these procedures, namely an administrative mediation procedure and a judicial ‘labour tribunal’
system, was to provide a cheaper, faster and flexible resolution of the employment disputes.
My paper will examine, first, whether the doryoku gimu approach, adopted by the Japanese legislator with regard to the regulation of nonregular employment, harmed the chances of non-regular employees to seek redress at the judicial level; and, second, whether the newly
enacted ADRs mechanisms help improving non-regular employees access to justice.
The saiban’in juror in the criminal court - On becoming a good citizen?
by Dimitri Vanoverbeke
(University of Leuven)
In this presentation we will take a socio-legal perspective on the recent experiences of lay-judges in the Japanese courts by deconstructing
the experience of the juror into the various stages of that experience, mainly using personal testimonies of former jurors. By doing so we hope
to better understand the impact of the trial by jury upon the citizens and, by extension, upon society. Is the lay- judge system fulfilling the
expectations that developed in the political process preceding the enactment of the jury system and is the purpose of the Lay-judge Act – as
stipulated in the first article of the Lay-Judge Act respected in the way that the jury system is actually developing in action? In line with the suggestion by French sociologists that the jurors in France would mainly be included in the criminal procedure to provide an
alibi for the criminal justice system, the saiban’in system in Japan is conceived and operated with the same aim and results. We can, however,
also see in the way that the Japanese former lay judges come at terms with their experience hints that they do not want to remain silent and
not merely accept their role of alibi. At least some of them become active in a community dealing with judicial policy and try to join forces so
as to be heard. We will argue that the didactic value of the trial by jury is that of reconciliation of state power with the citizens. The purpose of
the rituals is to confirm an institutional order but that this does not always work.
Struggles with the ‘Western theory of natural rights’ in Japan’s Constitution
by Lawrence Repeta
(Meiji University Tokyo)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly called for fundamental revision of Japan’s democratic constitution, which took effect in 1947 and
has never been amended. The blueprint for revision was most recently published by Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party on April 28, 2012, a date
selected to commemorate the end of Japan’s occupation by Allied military forces.
Japan’s constitution was drafted, revised, and adopted in the period between the founding of the United Nations in 1945 and UN General
Assembly adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The long list of individual rights proclaimed in Japan’s Constitution
closely tracks the list found in the Universal Declaration, in major human rights treaties and in the constitutions of other democracies.
Abe and his followers see this constitution as a national humiliation because it was adopted while Japan was under Allied occupation. They say
this constitution was imposed on Japan and should be replaced by Japan’s own “autonomous” constitution.
Moreover, they complain that present constitutional rights protection is based on the “western theory of natural rights,” which is inappropriate
for Japan. They would replace it with a national standard that reflects the “history, culture and tradition of Japan.” Under the LDP standard,
individual rights would be significantly restricted and government power expanded. Japan would significantly diverge from rights protection
standards set in human rights treaties and recognized around the world.
Much discussion of Japan’s constitution focuses on Article 9, the anti-war clause. In addition to its proposals to revise Article 9 itself, the Abe
Cabinet plans to introduce legislation this year to authorize expanded military operations by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
My presentation will cover specific proposals for constitutional change, the expected 2015 SDF legislation, recent Supreme Court precedents
and other information concerning the state of constitutional rights in Japan today and the likelihood of change.
~~~~~
War Veterans and Disability in Modern Japan
The Livelihoods of Japanese Disabled War Veterans in the Post-Pacific War Period
by Tetsuya Fujiwara
(University of Fukui)
The objective of this presentation is to examine the livelihoods of Japanese disabled war veterans in the post-Pacific War period. Utilizing
“Survey of Medical Conditions of the Japanese War Wounded” (1960) initiated by the Japanese Disabled Veterans Association and “Report on
Disabled War Pension Recipients” (1967) led by the Pension Bureau of General Administrative Agency, this paper presents how the disabled war
veterans sought to reintegrate themselves into Japanese society in the postwar period.
Japan as a modern state experienced victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) along
with the cost of significant numbers of Japanese casualties. As a result, the government responded by establishing a series of welfare provisions
for disabled war veterans. By providing generous support for disabled soldiers and their families, the government also needed to bolster the
morale of its citizens. The basic policy for disabled war veterans remained in place until the conclusion of the Pacific War. The Allied powers
led by the U.S. virtually abolished preferential treatment for disabled war veterans. Experiencing the loss of the privilege that they had enjoyed
and drastic changes of social status from the prewar to the postwar period, the disabled veterans engaged in organized efforts in quest of life
security and recovery of honor after the end of the Allied occupation.
Features of the two surveys on disabled war veterans represent the details of their lives ranging from situations they had received injuries or
sicknesses to current household economy. Given the fact that both surveys were conducted during the period of rapid economic growth in the
1960s, the surveys played an important role in understanding the relationship between the Japanese government and disabled individuals as
well as their identity vis-à-vis the state underlying the economic prosperity.
What is The Peacetime Relief of JRC before the Second World War?
by Mai Yamashita
(Kyoto Sangyo University)
The purpose of this presentation is to analyze the transition in the type of aid provided by the Japanese Red Cross from the Japanese-Sino War
to the Manchurian Incident. Before the Second World War, the main mission of the Japanese Red Cross was to care for disabled veterans.
But the situation was dramatically changed during the First World War. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC) was founded in 1919 in Paris in the aftermath of World War I. The leader of this society was at fast Henry Davison, president of the
American Red Cross War Committee, who proposed forming a federation of these National Societies. During the First World War, the American
Red Cross gave the wartime relief to not only American soldiers, but also European soldiers and civilians, especially French. Because of
Davison’s management ability, the American Red Cross could provide generous funding for the wartime relief. The American Red Cross tried to
continue this activity and the result was the constitution of IFRC through the discussion of the Allies.
The first objective of the IFRC was to improve the health of people in countries that had suffered greatly during the four years of war. Its goals
were “to strengthen and unite, for health activities, already-existing Red Cross Societies and to promote the creation of new Societies”. (www.
ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/history/20150326)
The Japanese Red Cross agreed with this decision and joined. After 1920 they also managed the junior Red Cross, trained school nurses and
visiting nurses, and organized open-air schools. These endeavors were strongly connected to the Japanese policy of managing the health of
both civilians and soldiers (Kenmin Kenpei Seisaku).
This paper tried to discuss the details of the peacetime relief in JRC and show the connection between the wartime relief and the peacetime
relief.
The Development of Military Pension in prewar Japan
by Toru Imajoh
(Hannan University)
This article focuses on the military pension from 1875 to 1937 in Japan, and makes clear how this system supported daily life of veterans and
their bereaved families.
The military pension started in 1875 as financial assistances for army soldiers who became a severely disabled after suffering serious injuries
during wars and bereaved families of fallen soldiers. Permanent or temporary pensions for retired or profoundly disabled soldiers and financial
assistances for bereaved families got start from 1876, when the prototype of Japanese military pension system was created in. But the real price
of pension was decreasing due to inflation during the latter half of Meiji era and World War I.
The Japanese government revised the Military Pension Act several times from 1917 to 1922, and enacted the Pension Act in 1923 as the
fundamental law of pension for civil service including military in order to avoid making life quality of retired soldiers and their bereaved families
worse. These actions taken by the government raised the real price of pension substantially from around 1920 to 1932. In particular, the quality
of life of lower level soldiers and their bereaved families improved dramatically.
But rapid Increase of pension pressed fiscal policy, and there was a practice of promotion just before retirement to upgrade an amount
of money received in the army. The aim of the amendment of the Pension Act in 1933 was to control pension in fiscal scale by extending
a duration of employment to need to get pension right and restricting the practice, and the Japanese government had some success to
accomplish their goals. Soldiers and their bereaved families who received some kind of pensions kept same level of living standard during 1920s
to early 1930s.
~~~~~
The Japanese Other in Catalan Paratexts: Literary, Translated and Visual Images
This interdisciplinary panel analyses the image of the Japanese Other that the Catalan publishing industry has forged during the second half of
the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Therefore, it examines paratextual elements which come together with or
comment on published works, both translated from Japanese into Catalan or written originally in Catalan. In order to achieve grater coherence,
the emphasis will be put on classical Japanese literature, but some occasional references to modern literature will also be made as a way of
checking how the most traditional preconceived ideas on the country of the rising sun are still being applied to the latest writers.
The interdisciplinary nature of the panel is achieved through the nature of the paratexts chosen in each paper. The first one analyses the influence
of the “Notes” of Del joc i del foc by Carles Riba, a work that includes tanka originally written in Catalan, in subsequent discourses on Japanese and
Catalan tanka and haiku. The second one discusses linguistic paratexts, such as prefaces and footnotes, accompanying translations of Japanese
classics into Catalan. The third one analyses some covers of translations of classic and contemporary Japanese works into Catalan to see how
stereotyped images about Japan are incorporated into the works. Thus, these various paratexts are approached from three different fields of
study: literature, translation and visual arts.
The Influence of the “Notes” in Del joc i del foc by Carles Riba on Catalan Discourses on Tanka and Haiku
by Jordi Mas López
(Autonomous University of Barcelona)
In 1946, Carles Riba (1893-1959) published Del joc i del foc, which gathers “Tannkas de les quatre estacions”, written between 1936 and 1938,
and “Tannkas del retorn”, written between 1943 and 1946. Despite being considered a minor work in his production, this book has probably been
the most influential, since it caused the incorporation of the tanka form in Catalan literature and has also had a strong influence on the writing
of haiku.
This paper analyses the influence that the section “Notes” of Del joc i del foc has had among authors and readers of later decades. Although Carles
Riba became interested in the form of the tanka, he had a remarkable Eurocentric mentality, and his “Notes” reveal a strong bias against Japanese
poetry. Some of the adjectives he used to describe the Japanese tanka, which are patronizing at best, have become commonplace when talking
about tanka and haiku in Catalonia and have strongly influenced the writing and reading of these poetical forms. This influence was most marked
during the forties and fifties of the twentieth century, when the writing of tanka in Catalan was more intensive, but it can still be traced today in
texts dealing with tanka or haiku written originally either in Japanese or in Catalan.
Traces of the Translator’s Ideology in the Presentation of the Japanese Other
through the Translations of Japanese Classical Literature into Catalan
by Alba Serra-Vilella (PhD Candidate)
Translation, as an essential tool for communication between countries and cultures, plays an important role in the construction of the
representation of the Other. This paper aims to analyse the presentation of the Japanese Other offered by paratexts of translations of Japanese
classical literature. The ideology of the translator influences on the selection of translation strategies that will produce a more exoticizing or
familiarizing text, and paratexts may be useful for gathering information about the translation process and the ideology behind it.
The corpus analysed consists of six translations of Japanese Classical literature, mostly prose, published in Catalan. The prefaces and footnotes
of these books are the textual space where the translator’s work becomes more visible, and we can find in them traces of the explicit or implicit
ideology of the translator towards the original text and its culture.
We will compare the different translations to find out whether there is a relation between the factors of mode (direct or indirect) and time of
publication (between 1990 and 2012) and the strategies used to present the Other. This analysis will shed light on the role of the translator in the
presentation of the Japanese Other through the translated literature and on how it is presented to the Catalan readers.
The Construction of the Image of Japan in Catalonia Through the Visual Paratexts of Literary Translations
by M. Teresa Rodríguez-Navarro
This paper will analyse the role of publishers in the construction and reception of the image of Japan through the visual paratexts, mainly book
covers, of several representative Japanese literary works, both classical and contemporary, which have been translated into Catalan since the
end of the twentieth century to the present day. Our aim is to show how these paratextual elements have influenced the perception of Japan in
Catalonia in recent years and to find out if the image of Japan reflected in book covers has evolved or not in the last translations analysed and if
there are significant differences when the works translated are classical or contemporary.
The corpus in which this paper is based consists of several classical masterpieces written during the Heian period, which was a time of vindication
of “Japaneseness”, on one hand, and some works by contemporary authors who have achieved a worldwide success on the other. The analysis
will shed light on the reception of Japanese literature in Catalonia and on the ideas about Japanese culture held by Catalan readers. Our goal is
to stress the importance of translation in the international circulation of an imaginary about East Asia which is also present in the Catalan context.
~~~
Social/Political Criticism in Edo-period Popular Culture Discourse
The panel will examine various Edo-period popular culture discourses with the aim of analysing the conventions and codes used to convey
social/political criticism and comment.
Why Gafu Art Manuals?
by Jennifer Preston,
Art manuals – gafu – lie at the heart of Edo aesthetics. Not just the late Ming and early Qing manuals but those that took inspiration from their
Chinese counterparts: the gafu of Tachibana Morikuni, Shunboku, Shuzan, Gysokusui, Itcho, Suzuki Fuyo, Toriyama Sekien and so on through to
the end of the Edo period. These works inspired generations of amateur and professional artists. But was this just about cultural capital, about the
leisured merchant classes and their artistic ambitions? The prefaces indicate that the raison d’etre of these gafu was anything but trivial, that they
embraced a deeply political agenda. They suggest that art was a covert means of communication that successfully endured a severe censorship
regime. This paper will consider the background to the gafu, their content, and the implications of their prefaces and afterwords.
Social/Political Satire in Edo-Period Graffiti
by Allesandro Bianchi (PhD Candidate)
Satire is an ancient literary and artistic phenomenon, which has been produced at different times around the world. However, while the works
of celebrated Latin and European satirists have been thoroughly studied by scholars and critics since the early 17th century, the practice of satire
which originated and developed in pre-Meiji Japan has for long time been neglected. Although Japanese literary historians have acknowledged
the works of a few renowned satirists (for example Baba Bunkō 馬場文耕, Santō Kyōden 山東京伝 or Hiraga Gennai 平賀源内), the writings
compiled by anonymous or secondary authors have not yet met with much recognition amongst scholars.
My paper shall focus on the production and circulation of anonymous clandestine satire during the Edo period by exploring the
multifarious body of handwritten ephemera which are known as rakusho 落書 (graffiti) — irreverent comic poems, prose compositions, parodies,
comic illustrations, caricatures and the like. These ephemera are an ideal case study for the analysis of social/political criticism, as they frequently
hinted at contemporaneous events and scandals, and often ridiculed city officers, ministers, and even senior members of the bakufu.
In my presentation I shall provide an overview of this textual corpus, analyse forms and contents of textual/visual graffiti, and finally
make some conjectures about their authorship, readership and circulation.
Social/Political Criticism in Shunga
by Andrew Gerstle
Until very recently the academic community within or outside Japan generally has dismissed shunga as frivolous and unworthy of study. My
presentation will consider several shunga parody books by Tsukioka Settei, Takehara Shunchōsai, Kitao Shigemasa and others published in the
18th century in Kyoto, Osaka and Edo and argue that the often extremely irreverent tone in these works constitutes a consistent and conscious
rhetoric within shunga that made fun of or questioned the orthodox social and political discourses of the Tokugawa authorities. It will also argue
that shunga should be considered along with other non-shunga parodies or satires when examining the broader questions of how commoners
or low-level samurai voiced criticism and dissent in the early modern period.
Participants
FirstName
Surname
FirstName
Surname
Aaron
Gerow
Forum
Mithani
Aaron William
Moore
Fusako
Innami
Aike
Rots
Fusako
Innami
Aiko
Otsuka
Garren
Mulloy
Akiko
Nagata
Gen
Adachi
Alba
Serra-Vilella
Giorgio Fabio
Colombo
Alessandro
Bianchi
Gitte Marianne
Hansen
Alistair
Swale
Griseldis
Kirsch
Amanda
Robinson
Gunhild
Borggreen
Andrea
Revelant
Harald
Salomon
Andrew
Gerstle
Haruo H.
Horaguchi
Angus
Lockyer
Helen
Macnaughtan
Anna
Vainio
Herb
Fondevilla
Anna
Seabourne
Hiroe
Saruya
Anna
Dobrovolskaia
Hiroko
Umegaki Costantini
Annette
Thorsen Vilslev
Hiroshi
Yoshida
Anya
Benson
Hirotatsu
Kano
Arjan
Keizer
Huiyan
Fu
Arthur
Stockwin
Hyunseon
Lee
Atsuko
Hayakawa
Ian
Astley
Atsuko
Mizobe
Irene
Gonzalez
Axel
Klein
Irena
Hayter
Azusa
Omura
Iris
Haukamp
Beata
Bochorodycz
Janet
Hunter
Brian
Steininger
Jeffrey
Kingston
Brice
Fauconnier
Jennifer
Guest
Brigitte
Steger
Jenny
Preston
Caroline
Rose
Jing
Sun
Carolyn
Wright
John
LoBreglio
Chris
Perkins
John
Richards
Christopher
Gerteis
Jonathan
Dil
Christopher
Harding
Jonathan
Service
Christopher
Hood
Jordi
Mas López
Christopher
Kelsey
Julian
Wayne
Constanze
Noack
Julie-Anne
Rob
Craig
Mark
Justin
South
Daisuke
Wakisaka
Ka
Wai Mak
Darren
McDonald
Kaoru
Iokibe
David
Spencer
Karol
Zakowski
Deokhyo
Choi
Karolina
Broma-Smenda
Dimitri
Vanoverbeke
Kenichi
Yanagisawa
Emily
Barrass Chapman
Kenji
Suzuki
Emma
Cook
Kerstin
Fooken
Erica
Baffelli
Koichiro
Matsuda
Eriko
Motomori
Kristin
Roebuck
Eriko
Tomizawa-Kay
Kuniko
Ishiguro
Fabiana
Marinaro
Laura
Hein
FirstName
Surname
FirstName
Surname
Lauri
Kitsnik
Roddy
McDougall
Lawrence
Repeta
Roger
Macy
Leena
Eerolainen
Ronald
Saladin
Lisa
Pääjärvi
Rosina
Buckland
Lizbeth
Halliday Piel
Ryusuke
Muramoto
Machiko
Osawa
Sachiko
Horiguchi
Maho
Suzuki
Sachiko
Matsumiya
Mai
Yamashita
Saeko
Kimura
Mami
Fujiwara
Sanae
Saito
Marco
Pellitteri
Sayako
Ono
Marcos
Centeno
Sergey
Tolstoguzov
Margaret
Mehl
Sharalyn
Orbaugh
Maria
Roemer
Sharon
Kinsella
Mária Ildikó
Farkas
Sheila
Cliffe
Maria Teresa
Rodriguez-Navarro
Sherzod
Muminov
Matteo
Fabbretti
Shinichi
Shirato
Mayuko
Inagawa
Sigfrid
Ostberg
Michelle
Ho
Stephanie
Su
Mikael
Bauer
Stephen
McEnally
Minami
Eguchi
Steve
Dodd
Minzhao
Wang
Steven
Ivings
Mitsuhiro
Yoshimoto
Susanne
Auerbach
Monika
Hinkel
Takeshi
Morisato
Motoko
Akashi
Tam
Mito
Muriel
Gomez
Tatsuma
Padoan
Naama
Eisenstein
Tetsuya
Fujiwara
Nadeschda
Bachem
Thomas
McAuley
Nadine
Willems
Thomas
French
Nana
Sato-Rossberg
Tom
Rigault
Naoko
Gunji
Torquil
Duthie
Nataliia
Kutafeva
Toru
Imajoh
Nicolas
Garvizu
Victoria
Komatsu
Olga
Dobrinskaya
Waiyee
Loh
Olga
Zaberezhnaia
William
Kelly
Paulina
Kolata
Yasmin
Jayesimi
Penelope
Francks
Yasutaka
Ojiri
Peter
Kornicki
Yayoi
Kawamura
Peter
Matanle
Yoichi
Nagashima
Philip
Garrett
Yoshika
Yajima
Philippe
Debroux
Yoshikatsu
Shinozawa
Phoebe Stella
Holdgrün
Yu
Inutsuka
Pierre
Bonneels
Yukari
Shinohara
Pilar
Cabañas Moreno
Yuki
Imoto
Ramón
Piniella
Reiko
Auestad
Richard
Bowring
Rinko
Manabe
Robert
Aspinall
Robert
Horn
Design: NC, Centres & Programmes Office (REO), SOAS, University of London
Printed by: SOAS Print Team

Programme - SOAS University of London

Transcription

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