We have been requested to share the following opportunity:
“Hi everyone!
I’m Greg Tulchin, a TV director currently working on the NHK program「最深日本研究 〜外国人博士の目〜」 a new documentary series which began broadcasting in November 2024 (https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/PG7NRXY592/).
This series follows foreign anthropologists based in or out of Japan whose research focuses on a particular aspect of Japanese culture (The two episodes we’ve broadcasted so far were on “babiniku” culture and snack bar culture). These anthropologists must be professors or PHD students at a university in Japan or outside of Japan. Each episode of the series follows one anthropologist’s field work over a shooting period of 4 days (not necessarily consecutive). For anthropologists based outside of Japan, we have the budget to bring you over to Japan for the shooting period. We’re looking for all kinds of subjects, obscure or not, as long as they can tell us something about Japanese society. So if you’d like for more people to know about your research, or know someone you think deserves more attention, it would be great if you could contact me! My email is greg.tulchin’at mark’gmail.com.
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.
Deadline for Submissions has been extended to Sunday 3 November. See previous blog posts for details on the conference. Click the titles below to go to the entry forms for submission and registration.
Accommodation: There are a number of events in Sendai going on in December, so probably best to reserve hotel rooms sooner rather than later. The West side of Sendai Station, or along the Tozai sen is easiest for getting to the Aobayama Campus.
The deadline for submissions for the AJJ conference at Tohoku University has been extended until 12 noon on Sunday, November 3. We welcome proposals on the conference theme of “Community, Collaboration and Co-production”, or any other theme relevant to the anthropology of Japan.
For details of the conference, see the AJJ home page:
For junior scholars – please note that AJJ offers the biggest prize of any academic conference in Japan for an untenured researcher: the HARUMI BEFU PRIZE, worth ¥250,000, a framed certificate, and a big boost to your CV.
AJJ also offers the MARK BOOKMAN PRIZE, worth ¥50,000, a framed certificate and a big boost to your CV for the best presentation on a topic relating to people with disabilities or other marginalized minority groups in Japan.
AJJ is a fairly small, informal organization, and our conferences are a good opportunity for junior scholars to try out their presentation skills in a friendly, constructive environment.
We would like to announce the publication of Teaching Japan: A Handbook. This should be an ideal reference book for university libraries, and everyone teaching a course related to Japan and looking to enhance their undergraduate teaching pedagogies.
The basic premise taken by the authors begins with a question: What if stereotypes surrounding Japan were not pushed to the margins in teaching but took center stage and were exposed for the multiple ways that they can be used to learn not only about “Japan” but of various scholarly disciplines? The task then becomes constructing ways to challenge essentialist notions that do not seek merely to deny, but to shift the conversation constructively by encouraging engagement with a theoretical field from which to acquire tools to critically and effectively evaluate stereotypes of Japan or other societies. The result is a collection of carefully crafted case studies of syllabi that showcase pedagogies aimed at the deconstruction of concepts such as “Japan,” “Japanese,” or “Japanese society” while at the same time offering skills of inquiry that transcend the topics being deconstructed. This handbook is not meant to be a manual, but a source of ideas by colleagues who right now, in a variety of disciplinary and institutional settings, are tackling the same issues as you, the current or future teacher who plans to use case studies from Japan in your lectures.
Anthropologists have always relied on the trust, collaboration, and co-production of knowledge among informants/interlocutors and one another. Now, in an age of rapid social change, geopolitical tensions, increasing disasters and human-induced climate change, such collaborations are needed more than ever. How does collaboration strengthen and improve theoretical based work? And how do such collaborations feed into societal movements and revitalization initiatives from traditional arts and crafts to pop culture, to disaster recovery and new modes of community revitalization, such as volunteerism and umigyō in coastal areas?
In this Call for Papers we ask, what knowledge is co-produced? What are the ways collaboration takes place? And what are the merits and demerits of different ways of collecting data and conducting fieldwork? As collaboration and co-production blur the lines of “subject” vs. “researcher” where does etic end and emic begin? What advantages are found from combining emic and etic perspectives? Does the cool, authoritative voice of the anthropologist enhance the project, or are there times when it is actually better to let the people speak for themselves?
Collaboration also includes working with fellow anthropologists and specialists in other fields, in addition to local, cultural insiders. Deep immersion by a single researcher is the stereotypical approach to fieldwork. But anthropology in the Japanese Academy is often done in groups, influenced perhaps by Yanagita-type folklore studies and the University of Michigan-led work in the 1950s. The institutional framework also favors group projects in the way that grants are handed out. What are the relative merits and demerits of solitary fieldwork against the group project?
Tell us your reflections on Community, Collaboration and Co-production in the anthropology of Japan in Japan, how it’s changed your methods and research, or how it could in the future.
Panel abstracts and paper abstract submissions (250 word limit) are due October 15, 2024 and can be submitted to Alyne Delaney (replace ‘at’ with @) alyne.delaney “at” tohoku.ac.jp. Please put AJJ 2024 in the subject line.
The AJJ is also proud to announce the continuation of two prizes:
The HARUMI BEFU PRIZE for a gifted junior scholar, and the MARK BOOKMAN PRIZE for an emerging scholar researching people with disabilities or other minority groups in Japan. All presentations by non-tenured scholars at the annual AJJ conferences will automatically be considered as candidates for the Befu and Bookman Prizes.
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 (November 30th evening)
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
Location: Tohoku University, Aobayama Campus, Aobayama Commons building
Further details, including a more detailed Access map and the Reception Banquet location coming soon!
*If there is enough interest, a fieldtrip to the Matsushima Bay area is possible (Friday or Monday)
The Japan Anthropology Workshop/ Anthropology of Japan in Japan joint Conference will be held in Kobe, from April 4 (Friday) to April 6 (Sunday), 2025.
The conference will be onsite only, centered around the theme: Ritual Practices and Daily Rituals in Japanese Society.
The organization of the conference and its program will be managed by Carmen Tamas (University of Hyogo): carmen.s.tamas ”at mark” gmail.com
Venue: University of Hyogo, Kobe Campus for Commerce, Kobe, Japan
More organizational details coming up soon.
Call for Panels & Papers
Ritual Practices and Daily Rituals in Japanese Society
The 21st century began as one of the best periods in the history of humanity, only to be affected two decades in by a pandemic and several wars which deeply impact society as a whole. As anthropologists, our role is to document, interpret, and maybe offer solutions for a better future, and no small part in understanding human patterns of behavior is played by the analysis of ritual and ritual behavior.
During this iteration of the JAWS/ AJJ Conference, we would like to explore the role of ritual and ritual practices in Japanese society from a variety of perspectives. Ritual can be sacred or social, “a form of cultural communication that transmits the cognitive categories and dispositions that provide people with important aspects of their sense of reality” (Bell 2009).
In other words, by analyzing the underlying mechanisms of ritual, one can acquire a better understanding of human society, as well as the universal and culture specific aspects that define our communities. As suggested by Joy Hendry, “in many anthropological studies, ritual and religion are closely related, although in complex societies there is often no particular connection between them, and the term ‘ritual’ may also refer to behaviour, like etiquette, that is decided by society and where individuals have little choice about its execution.”
Ritual has always been a key focus for anthropologists, both worldwide and in Japan. Not so difficult to identify, but open to hundreds of alternative explanations and approaches, it likewise fascinates social psychologists, folklorists, scholars of religion, communication and the performative arts, and many more. We do not attempt to choose any particular definition, not only because this would be controversial, but also because we want the focus to be on Change. How would you define ‘ritual’ for the sake of your research, how has it been changing? This is the big debate we want to encourage that can take us towards a deeper and richer understanding of modern Japan and help inspire a wider debate within world anthropology.
With this fairly wide scope in mind, we are looking for papers and panels that explore the various dimensions of ritual (religious practices, societal rules and ceremonies, individual acts that are part of a larger community practice, social acts that acquire ritual value through repetition and formalization, etc.) in Japan.
We also invite presentations from the many other academic disciplines focused upon ‘Ritual’ if they would appreciate feedback (and empathy) from the truly remarkable body of knowledge shared by JAWS & AJJ, knowing that what we achieve together is what matters most.
Proposals should be sent to carmen.s.tamas ”at mark” gmail.com by December 15.
We are happy to announce that the 2024 meeting will be held November 30 – December 1 (Saturday – Sunday) at Tohoku University, Sendai. More details to follow.
This Thursday, February 15th, TUJ will be hosting a lecture and Q/A with Machiko Osawa on her new book, Towards a Society Where You Can Say “Help” – Sexual Violence and Gender Inequality in Japan. I have attached the event’s poster and a shorter-form article Prof. Osawa wrote for The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
Event Title: “Towards a Society Where You Can Say “Help” – Sexual Violence and Gender Inequality in Japan”
Date: Thursday, February 15
Time: Noon – 1:30pm (JST)
Location: Zoom and Limited In-Person (at TUJ), Registration Required
Speaker:
Machiko Osawa (Professor of Economics at Japan Women’s University)
Overview: There have been 2 laws passed in 2023 on rape and DV that mark significant change in how the state is handling these significant problems in Japan. Now all non-consensual sex is regarded as a criminal act. Previously – unless the victim resisted – it was difficult to convict the perpetrator. Another law changes policies regarding DV and sex abuse and mandates greater state support for victims. Over the past 20 years there have been significant policy changes to address this hidden scourge of sexual violence as civil society and the mass media pressure the government to act.
For this ICAS lecture, Machiko Osawa will give a talk about her book, which examines how NPOs played a significant role in lobbying for revisions of the DV law as well as establishing a one stop center for the victims of sexual abuse. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, her study highlights how pervasive DV and sexual abuse is in Japan. At the session, it will also be discussed whether it is necessary to change the mindset and institutionalization of a patriarchal system and shift in order to reduce DV and sexual violence in Japan.
