The 2024 AJJ Conference was held on the weekend of November 30 to December 1 at the Aobayama campus of Tōhoku University. For the second year, we were delighted to award two prizes for outstanding presentations. The HARUMI BEFU PRIZE, named in honor of AJJ’s founder, the late Harumi Befu, Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University; and the MARK BOOKMAN PRIZE, named in honor of Mark Bookman, a young researcher of disability issues in Japan who tragically died in December 2022 at the age of 31.
The Befu Prize, for the best presentation by a non-tenured presenter and worth ¥250,000, went to Miku Narisawa, a doctoral candidate at Tōhoku University, for her presentation Navigating Uncertainty: Climate Change and the Future of Seaweed Cultivation in Japan. The runner-up was Mariia Ermilova, adjunct professor at Tōyō University, for her presentation Growing Knowledge Together: Plant Cultivation as a Method of Collaborative Anthropology in a Japanese Neighborhood. A third presentation was highly commended: Between Admiration and Skepticism: How Japanese Parents View the Imaginary Figure of the White Western Father, by Evan Koike, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo.
The Bookman Prize, for the best presentation by a non-tenured presenter on a topic related to people with disabilities or other marginalized groups and worth ¥50,000, was won by Arriana Saunders, an undergraduate at Temple University Japan, for her presentation “Collaboration in Action: Interviews with Survivors of the AIDS Crisis in Japan.” One other paper, “Grave Matters: Local Responses to Islamic Cemeteries in Japan” by Yuhei Hashizume, a Masters candidate at Meiji Gakuin University, was highly commended.
The abstracts of the prize-winning presentations follow below. All the abstracts from the 2024 conference may be viewed here:
Navigating Uncertainty: Climate Change and the Future of Seaweed Cultivation in Japan Miku Narisawa, PhD candidate, Tōhoku University
This presentation explores the adaptation of seaweed aquaculture to climate change in Japan, with a specific focus on a case study from Higashimatsushima City in the Tohoku region. The study highlights the livelihoods of coastal communities, the modernization of seaweed (nori) aquaculture, and how local farmers have cultivated a reciprocal relationship with the ocean amid these challenging times, drawing on fieldwork and recent studies. Seaweed cultivation is a cornerstone of the local economy and an integral part of Japanese food culture. Over the past two years, many seaweed farmers have experienced significant impacts from climate change, including rising water temperatures and increasingly unstable nutrient balances. The uncertainty surrounding these environmental threats has had profound effects on local marine ecosystems, fishing markets, and traditional practices. Nevertheless, these challenges also underscore the complex intersection of human domestication and ecological uncertainty. Finally, the presentation introduces the “Nori Summit,” a new initiative where over 150 seaweed farmers from across Japan come together to share their experiences and innovative solutions for confronting the unknowns posed by climate change.
Collaboration in Action: Interviews with Survivors of the AIDS Crisis in Japan
Aria Saunders, undergraduate, Temple University Japan
It has now been more than four decades since the start of the global AIDS crisis. Much has changed in that time: the disease has been all but cured, and proper management of its spread has become commonplace. Japan has, as well, seen much in the way of positive change. Previous research on the policies during this era is extensive, and it covers the major factors behind the abject mismanagement of the AIDS crisis in Japan and the hemophiliacs who paid for this negligence with their lives. Less common, however, are firsthand accounts of those affected who for the most part remain statistics as opposed to individuals with their own histories. When one is only tangentially aware of the goings-on of the world through second-hand sources, it becomes easy to forget that at their core these are all the lives of human beings. This separation of subject from researcher is what I have sought to address in my research; in order to breathe life into the stories of survivors, I have spoken directly to a number of men from different backgrounds who lived through the Japanese AIDS crisis, including a licensed clinical therapist, an office worker, NGO Staff, and an accomplished anthropologist. Without these testimonies, their stories would remain untold among a sea of numbers that lose their personal meaning. Even the world’s most faraway data is born from the human experience, a fact any researcher must always remember.
2023 Recipients
AJJ has received reports from last year’s winners, Anna Wozny (Befu) and Esben Petersen (Bookman), as follows:
Reflections on winning the Inaugural Harumi Befu Prize
Anna Woźny, Tokyo College and Princeton University
I would like to thank the selection committee from the Anthropology of Japan in Japan for selecting my paper, “Marriage-hunting: intimacy at the nexus of state and market forces.” for the Inaugural Harumi Befu Prize. I am gratified that the jurors saw potential in my presentation and grateful for the questions and comments I received both after the presentation and following the conference which have pushed me to further refine my thinking about the topic. The presentation was based on my doctoral dissertation, defended in August 2023 at the University of Michigan. Though I was trained as a sociologist, I have always felt an affinity with anthropology as a discipline. As such, it was both rewarding and intellectually stimulating to find common grounds with eminent anthropologists specializing in the study of contemporary Japan.
The presentation drew on my research on the Japanese “marriage-hunting” (konkatsu) industry which has been included in the Japanese government’s pro-natalist agenda as one means of remedying population decline. I have demonstrated how this marriage “market” shapes intimate relationships by relying on population science and quantitative measures. In doing so, I have argued, it connects the personal and the political in novel ways.
As I am currently working on transforming this project into a scholarly monograph, the Harumi Befu Award has facilitated the different parts of the multifaceted task of book writing. I was able to collect a wealth of additional data on marriage-hunting, including interviews with service providers and men and women who use marriage-hunting services, which has given me insight into how this industry evolved in the years since my PhD research and following the COVID-19 pandemic. I also organized and participated in an international writing workshop during which I refined a chapter based on the AJJ conference paper and garnered additional feedback on the project. I plan to submit the manuscript for peer review at a top university press in 2025.
It was the first time for me to attend the AJJ conference, it was definitely not the last. Although I am unable to participate in the 2024 meeting, I plan to do so next year.
Thank you, again, for this recognition.
Anna Wozny
Thoughts on winning the inaugural Bookman Prize
Esben Petersen, Kwansei Gakuin University
I want to thank the AJJ selection committee for awarding me the inagural Bookmann Prize last December. In my paper, I shared my experiences working with individuals with autism in Japan, specifically through KISWEC in Kyoto and Team Lenny in Nagoya. One of the main points of my presentation was the lack of awareness, even among professionals in the field, about what it truly means to have autism and the challenges that individuals with autism face in their daily lives. I offered ideas on how we might improve the quality of life for people with autism in the future.
Being awarded the Bookman Prize was an honor, but more importantly it also boosted my motivation to continue addressing issues that impact the lives of people with disabilities in Japan. My academic background is in Religious Studies, a field that can often feel abstract and removed from practical concerns. Working on concrete issues, like supporting individuals with disabilities, has therefore been personally fulfilling.
Following the award, I was fortunate to secure a position at the Faculty of Theology at Kwansei Gakuin University. Here, I always try to incorporate the principle of inclusiveness into my teaching. Currently, I am lecturing a course on Human Rights and Christianity, where the rights of people with disabilities and the Christian response to these issues are central themes. While my involvement with autism organizations has had to take a pause due to my new responsibilities at Kwansei Gakuin, I try to encourage my students to engage in volunteer work with autism-related initiatives and to advocate for greater awareness. I believe that, like me, they will find meaning in this work too.
This award honors Mark Bookman, an incredible advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, and I hope my efforts can reflect, even in a small way, the spirit of his legacy.
Esben Petersen