Click HERE for registration via Google Form
Below are scrollable and downloadable files for the Programme, Abstracts, and Panels with Titles.
Click ‘Download’ buttons for each.
Click HERE for registration via Google Form
Below are scrollable and downloadable files for the Programme, Abstracts, and Panels with Titles.
Click ‘Download’ buttons for each.
Becalmed, adrift or slowly sinking? Life aboard the listing Japanese ship of state
Compared with some other industrialized countries, Japan can seem like a pleasant place to live these days. No crazed ideological political leaders determined to rip the nation apart. . . no noisy culture wars or climate change denial and relatively little racist violence. We have a low crime rate, low housing prices, and rock-bottom interest rates. Most of life’s necessities can be obtained at the hundred-yen shop.
Yes, it’s quiet in Japan. . . perhaps too quiet. While other nations rage against the dying of the light, Japan seems resigned to drift quietly into mediocrity. International per-capita GDP rankings show Japan down at the fringe of the top 30, near Czechia, Slovenia and Lithuania, and far behind the USA. One form of crime — fraud — is steadily on the rise. Government loudspeaker vans tour suburban neighborhoods, warning people not to give money to some stranger pretending to be their son. As the population ages, and more and more very old people find themselves living alone, the fraudsters gather at the door. The government has failed to address the demographic crisis, and by now it is too late. Encouraging immigration is literally the only option, yet our leaders still strive to preserve the myth of racial homogeneity while grudgingly admitting a few more foreigners with a series of half-measures.
Many of the problems that Japan faces are common to other mature democracies. But along with refusal to countenance immigration, endemic sexism is another Japan-specific issue. On every measure – the gender pay gap, female parliamentarians, women in the boardrooms of major corporations – Japan is always bottom among the G7 nations.
This, then, is the challenge of our Call for Papers. Is it true that Japan is slowly drifting down the river towards mediocrity? AJJ prides itself on fieldwork-based research, on seeing things with our own eyes. We invite participants to take a look around the subjects of their fieldwork, and ask themselves if the lives they see match the pessimistic view outlined above. Or is there perhaps a brighter future, in which lower population can be combined with improved technology to offer a quieter, less pressurized lifestyle? Please, tell us what you see. And tell us what you see coming.
Paper title/abstract submissions (250 word limit) are due November 3, 2023 and can be submitted to Prof. Tom Gill (replace ‘at’ with @)
gill at k.meijigakuin.ac.jp
Conference Fees
Tenured faculty and permanently employed: ¥5,000
Non-tenured faculty and non-permanently employed: ¥3,000
Post-docs and graduate students: ¥2,000
Undergraduates: free
Reception Fees
Tenured faculty and permanently employed: ¥3,000
Non-tenured faculty and non-permanently employed: ¥2,000
Post-docs, graduate students: ¥1,000
Undergraduates: ¥1,000
ANNOUNCING THE INAUGURAL HARUMI BEFU AND MARK BOOKMAN PRIZES
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The Institute for the Liberal Arts (ILA) at Doshisha University in Kyoto is hiring part-time lecturers for the following courses (beginning Spring 2023). Please refer to the JREC-IN ads below for details. Feel free to circulate.
Best regards,
Gregory Poole
============================
Introduction to Kyoto
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090151&ln_jor=1
Library Research Skills
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090149&ln_jor=1
International Business Communication
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090148&ln_jor=1
The Politics of Growth in Developing Countries
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090150&ln_jor=1
Mass Media in the Policymaking Process
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090348&ln_jor=1
Explaining Poverty: What Makes Countries Poor?
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=3&ln=1&id=D122090347&ln_jor=1
Anthropology of Japan in Japan (AJJ) Annual Meeting 2022
Wellbeing in Contemporary Japan: Embodying Techniques, Skills and Environments
Dec. 3rd (Sat) & Dec. 4th (Sun) 2022
VENUE: Kyoto University, Yoshida South Campus, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies
Organizing Committee: Andrea De Antoni (Kyoto University), Huang Xinzhe (Ritsumeikan
University), Fukaya Takumi, Niwa Satoru, Romanova Tatiana, Tsuzuki Ria, Yamazaki Kanako
(Kyoto University)
In collaboration with the Department for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University
Almost ten years have passed since anthropologist Joel Robbins (2013) advocated for an “anthropology of the good” that goes beyond mainly focusing on suffering subjects. The global pandemic has obviously not helped anthropology to move in this direction, attracting scholarly and disciplinary attention towards topics such as contagion, resistance, suffering, resilience, unsettling, etc. The anthropology of Japan has slightly diverged from this trend because, despite the doubtless centrality of topics such as precariousness, disaster, and crisis, recent research has also started investigating for instance ideas of happiness (Manzenreiter and Holtus eds. 2017), migrants looking for alternative lifestyles (Klien 2019), or ways to strategically escape the normative constraints of mainstream Japanese society while creating new spaces for self-realization or pleasure (Guarné and Hansen eds. 2019). These are only some examples of works that have challenged ideas of Japan as an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, while broadly suggesting an interest – shared both at a societal and at a scholarly level – in the pursuit of wellbeing. While finding a universal definition of wellbeing might be somehow problematic, ethnographic research has suggested that seeing it not as a fixed state, but as an ongoing process that goes beyond enclosed bodies, individuals and selves, involving also interactions with non-humans in the environment might be useful (Kavedžija 2021).
In this Annual Meeting we would like to discuss processes of pursuing wellbeing in contemporary Japan, while addressing questions such as:
Please note that proposals that fall outside of the theme are also very welcome and will be considered fully and equally. Decisions about acceptance will be based on academic merit after a thorough review process.
In principle, we would like to hold the Meeting exclusively in person. Yet, this can be subject to change according to the COVID situation and University regulations.
Submission Process
Please, send us your submission through this link:
https://forms.gle/gH8hTbAs1A5hgmkFA
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 14th of October 2022
We accept abstracts for four different kinds of submissions:
1) Thematic Panel Abstracts
The file needs to include the panel title, the panel abstract (max. 250 words), as well as the abstract for each presentation (max. 250 words each). Each panel will be given a 90-minute slot, regardless of the number of presenters.
2) Individual Presentation Abstracts
The file needs to include the presentation title and the abstract (max. 250 words). Each presentation will be given 30 minutes overall.
3) Poster Presentations
The file needs to include the presentation title and the abstract (max. 250 words). Posters will be kept on display throughout the Meeting.
4) Ethnographic Films
The file needs to include the film title, a brief synopsis (max. 250 words) and a link to the film file. Films will be screened during the Meeting in a dedicated classroom.
ATTENDANCE: Please, register also in case you only want to attend:
https://forms.gle/gH8hTbAs1A5hgmkFA
FEES: Attendance is free. We will have a dinner in the evening of the 3rd of December, and a fee will be required to take part. Information on the venue and the fees will be provided later on but, in principle, we will try to keep the dinner fee below 5000 Yen (possibly below 3500 Yen for students).
DEADLINE FOR ATTENDANCE REGISTRATION: 1st of November 2022.
For any inquiries, please, contact the Organizing Committee: ajjkyoto#@#gmail.com (deleting #)
UPDATE
Thanks to the generosity of the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS) there will be three awards (of 25,000 JPY each) available to support the in-person attendance of PhD students and early career scholars who are travelling inside Japan. Please, indicate if you wish to be considered for one of these awards when submitting your abstract. Please, consider that you need to be a member of BAJS to receive the grant so, if you are selected and you are not a member, you will be required to become one.
Click HERE to go to the membership section of the BAJS website.
Anthropology of Japan in Japan
“Crisis Anthropology”
Annual Meeting Timetable
3–5 December 2021
Hosted by Akita International University
Location: ZOOM
Organizing Committee:
Kaeko Chiba and Hisako Omori (Akita International University)
Ben Grafström (Akita University)
Register using
or QR Code:
This information is also on the poster below
Note:
* In principle, speakers will be given 20 minutes to present, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. Panel Chairs are free to modify this, with the consent of their panel.
** Times shown are local Akita time (GMT +9 / UTC +9).
Day 1 Friday, December 3 | |
17:00 | Opening Remarks AIU Vice-President Yoshitaka Kumagai, and AIU President Monte Cassim |
17:15 | Keynote Address Keynote Speaker Roger Goodman (University of Oxford) (Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies and Warden of St. Antony’s College) 60 mins + 30 mins Q&A Closing Remarks AJJ President Michael Shackleton |
19:00 | Close of Day 1 |
Day 2 Saturday, December 4 | |
10:00 | Day 2 Opening Remarks |
10:10– 12:10 | Panel 1: The Matcha or the Stick: Balancing Military Might, Judicial Powers, Cultural Legacy at Home and Abroad Chair: Greg Poole Speakers: Masamichi S. Inoue (University of Kentucky), “Okinawan Multitude: Toward a New Analytical Framework for U.S. Base Issues in Okinawa” Andreas Riessland (Nanzan University), “Okakura’s Omissions – the restricted perception of tradition in The Book of Tea” Noriko Sato (Pukyong National University), “War Memorials and Memories of Wars: Subhas Chandra Bose in Tokyo” Cho Kiu Chiang (The University of Hong Kong), “Japanese Legal Culture in Taiwan China and Non-Westernisation: The Use of Legislation in the Meiji Daishin-In and in the Republican Supreme Court in its Early Years in Taiwan” |
12:10– 13:00 | Lunch (the AJJ Executive Meeting will be held at this time) |
13:00– 14:00 | Special Presentation: Steven C. Fedorowicz (Kansai Gaidai University), “Food and Drink at a Japanese Standing Bar: An Appetizing Production – Extended Media Version” |
14:00– 14:15 | Break |
14:15– 15:45 | Panel 2: Navigating Womanhood: Performance, Belief, and Identity Chair: Etsuko Kato Speakers: Kaeko Chiba (Akita International University), “Strength of Ritual in Chado” Yuxi Guo (Akita International University), “The Gothloli Subculture in Japan: Feminism, Escapism, and the Reality” Hiya Mukherjee (Nagoya University), “An Investigation of Childbirth Related Taboos and Beliefs in Contemporary Japan: A Case Study on Nagoya City” | Panel 3: Measure for Measure: the Role of Song in Society from Post-War Japan to the COVID Crisis Chair: Andrea Di Antoni Speakers: Hiroshi Aoyagi (Kokushikan University), “A Monadological Study on the Progression of Musical Genres in Postwar Japan” Heung Wah Wong (The University of Hong Kong), “Japanese Popular Cultural Products in Mainland China” Talyta Kei Tung Lam (The University of Hong Kong), “Singing Japanese Songs in 1970s’ Hong Kong: Japanese Tourists and Music Hall Culture in Southeast Asia” |
15:45– 16:00 | Break | |
16:00– 18:00 | Panel 4: Contested Identity, Nationality, and COVID-19 Chair: Hisako Omori Speakers: Paul Capobianco (Lingnan University), “Japanese identity politics during COVID19: Globalized multicultural identity or more of the same?” Daesung Kwon (Tokyo Medical and Dental University), “Radical Openness Toward Diversity Beyond the Crisis: The Future Challenges and Opportunities for International Student Mobility to Japan in the Post-Pandemic Era” Yuriko Yamanouchi (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), “Memories, relationships, and futures: food discourse among Japanese descendants in Broome, Western Australia” Sohee Che (National Museum of Ethnology), “Perspectives on health, though Covid-19 Pandemic in Japan” | |
18:30– 20:00 | Online reception | |
Close of Day 2 |
Day 3 Sunday, December 5 | |
10:00– 11:30 | Panel 5: Subjectivity in the Context of Alternative Lifestyle Chair: John Mock Speakers: Anju Kinoshita (University of Cambridge), “Change the Regional Trading: Creative Learning from Native Culture” Judit Kroo (Arizona State University), “Reading Sustainability and Resilience in Alternative Shokunin ‘Artisan’ Subjectivities” Reika Fukushima (Hokkaido University), “Auto-ethnography about what the worldview of natural cultivation brings: Narrative of a social worker with burnout experience” |
11:30– 12:30 | Lunch |
12:30– 14:30 | Panel 6: All Japan’s a Stage: From Livehouses to Teahouses, and Places In-between Chair: Ben Grafström Speakers: Lucile Druet (Kansai Gaidai University), “Maiko and Geiko in Crisis: the Hanamachi business and culture during the Covid-19 pandemic” James Letson (Hokkaido University), “The Elementary Forms of Punk Life: Rethinking Collective Effervescence, Post-Covid 19” Minori Tai (Tokyo Metropolitan University), “Ongakusō (musical funeral), an alternative funeral style in contemporary Japan” Rin Tsuchiya (Kyoto University), “Comparing Gion-matsuri festivals before and after the pandemic” |
14:30– 14:45 | Closing Remarks AJJ President & AJJ 2021 Chair |
Dear Friends
This is a Call for Papers for the annual meeting of the AJJ which will hosted by Akita International University Japan.
The Annual Meeting of the AJJ has traditionally been something of an open focus event, incorporating presentations on a wide variety of topics, and the 2021 annual meeting will have the same breadth of scope. However, the recent worldwide pandemic suggests a special encouragement for presentations dealing with what is sometimes called “crisis anthropology” in general, for example with regard to events such as the 3/11 Great Tohoku Earthquake.
Because of the pandemic, the meeting will be ‘online only,’ except for AIU members/residents of Akita Prefecture. We will let you know if this situation changes.
Dates: December 4-5, 2021
Venue: Akita International University, AIU, Akita city, JAPAN
Please submit abstracts (250 word limit) to kchiba at mark aiu dot ac dot jp. Deadline will be September 15, 2021.
Fees: Online only (free), face-to-face (yet to be decided)
We are grateful to Temple University, Japan Campus for posting the Keynote Speech of our Anthropology of Japan in Japan (AJJ) 2020 Annual Meeting (December 5-6th. 2020).
The speaker is Dr. David Sprague (Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization). The title of his speech is: “Competing perspectives on agriculture and rural Japan“. Chair: Professor John Mock (TUJ).
The last post on our previous website was about this book launch event held on 22 February. Thanks to Ben Dorman, the podcast of the event is available here and the screencast is here for you to enjoy.
Welcome to our new website. This is our first post. We are planning an annual meeting for Fall 2021. Prior posts will be posted as soon as possible.