Event Tag Archives: Centre for Japanese Research

The Rise of the Beautician in Modern Japan

The Meiji period (1868-1912) was a turning point in Japanese society, which underwent a renaissance in law, politics, and social structure. With the renewal of society, cosmetic culture and makeup practices followed suit. Shaved eyebrows and blackened teeth fell out of fashion. Later, Japanese makeup adopted more influences from western cultural aesthetics. This new western […]

What Did Panasonic Learn in China? Japanese Electronics Firms and the Greater China Market

Japanese electronics firms such as Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba have set up a wide array of factories, sales offices and management offices over the past 35 years. This study focuses on how their strategies have changed since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Theoretically, Japanese companies should now have a greater opportunity […]

Buddhism and Gagaku

Speaker bio: Dr. LeRon Harrison is a visiting assistant professor at the University of Oregon who researches Japanese court poetry and its appropriations of Chinese poetics. He also has been playing gagaku (Japanese court music) for 11 years and researches the history of the music in Japan and its importation and growth in America. Abstract: […]

Press Start: Culture, Industry, and Innovation in Japanese Gaming

Press Start is a two-day conference on Japanese videogames to be held at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The event will bring together scholars, players, and game industry representatives for a wide variety of panels and discussions relating to Japanese gaming culture. Press Start is completely free and open to the public […]

Conference on Future of National Security / National Defense of Japan

The Future of Japan’s National Security and Defense  On  July 1, 2014, the Japanese cabinet under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a decision to reinterpret article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which renounced war power and prohibited armed forces in Japan. This is a radical departure from the past interpretation which totally denied the […]

Courting Komachi: A Noh Demonstration

Join us for an evening with master Konparu noh actor and cultural envoy Yamai Tsunao. A brief performance and demonstration will be complemented by short presetations from specialists, practiconers, and researchers including Maiko Behr, Stefania Burk, Christina Laffin and Colleen Lanki. We will close the evening with a preview of the noh and chamber opera […]

Special Events to Mark the 3.11 Disaster in Japan

Special Events to Mark the 3.11 Disaster in Japan Presented By The Centre for Japanese Research, UBC EVENT #1 12pm to 2pm – Lunchtime Presentations “The ‘Triple Disaster’ in Japan on March 11 2011 – Four Years Later” CK Choi Building, Room 120, 1855 West Mall, UBC Affected Communities in Northern Japan Struggle for Recovery […]

Consuming Civility: Writings on Tea Culture for Women, 1720-1920

Through an examination of writings about tea practice for women I excavate a neglected history of one group of tea practitioners and the reasons why they participated in tea culture. These writings include both privately circulated manuscripts and commercially published texts. I argue that there were two ways in which tea practice for women was […]

Talk: Japan’s Entry into International Society

Japan’s 19th-century entry into international society was sudden, dramatic, and fraught with danger, both domestic and international. Between 1853 and 1899 Japan reinvented itself as a modern sovereign state, shedding its historical isolation and long-standing patterns and practices of politics and governance. A crucial task Japanese leaders faced was figuring out how to conform to […]

Book launch of Professor Peter Nosco’s new edited volume: Dissent on Core Beliefs: Religious and Secular Perspectives

Difference, diversity and disagreement are inevitable features of our ethical, social and political landscape. Dissent on Core Beliefs investigates the ways that various ethical and religious traditions have dealt with intramural dissent. The volume considers the traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, liberalism, Marxism, South Asian religions, and natural law. The collection begins a […]

Paper, Print and Cyberspace: The Perspective of a Global Network for the Multimedia and Interdisciplinary Studies of East Asian Religions

http://www.ddmba.ca/ddmba/upcoming_special.php?id=92 This academic workshop, co-sponsored by Dharma Drum Vancouver Center and the UBC Buddhist Studies Forum and supported by the Centre of Japanese Research, brings together scholars to discuss Buddhism and other East Asian religions from a variety of perspectives. Free of charge and open to the public. Sponsor: UBC Buddhist Studies Forum, Dharma Drum […]

Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness – Visiting Scholars Program with the support of the Centre for Japanese Research, the Department of History, and the Department of Language and Literacy Education   Nobuyoshi Takashima University of the Ryukyus, Japan “The Threat of Revisionism to Japanese History Textbooks: State Intervention and Citizen Resistance”   Wednesday 14 […]

Seventy Years after the Asia Pacific War: Interrogating Japan’s War Responsibility

Centre for Japanese Research, Public lecture by Nobuyoshi Takashima – University of the Ryukyus “Seventy Years after the Asia Pacific War: Interrogating Japan’s War Responsibility” 「アジア太平洋戦争終結７０年：問われ続ける日本の戦争責任」 Commentator: Hyung-Gu Lynn – UBC Institute of Asian Research Thursday, October 15, 2015 4:00 – 5:30 pm (Reception follows) Conference Room, C.K. Choi Building Supported by: Institute for Asian Research, Department […]

Lunchtime Lecture Series: Professor Nakano Kiwa on “How Do People Reconstruct Former Disaster Areas? The Case of Genkai Island”

Lunchtime Lecture Series featuring Professor Nakano Kiwa (Daito Bunka University; visiting scholar, Department of Anthropology) How Do People Reconstruct Former Disaster Areas? －The Case of Genkai Island : Fukuoka Prefecture Western Offshore Earthquake－   ABSTRACT After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, rebuilding the devastated area became a major challenge. Many areas […]

The Maiden at Dojoji Temple: A Lecture and Demonstration on the Art of Kabuki

The Maiden at Dōjōji Temple: Performance Interpretations A Lecture and Demonstration on the Art of Kabuki 6:00 – 7:30 pm Thursday, October 22 Frederic Wood Theatre (6354 Crescent Road, University of British Columbia) Free of charge   Nakamura Gankyō was born and raised in Southern California. He is the first non-Japanese citizen to become a professional Kabuki actor, […]

The Birth of Nishikawa Sukenobu’s Shunpon: “Sex” and Publishing Culture

The Birth of Nishikawa Sukenobu’s Shunpon: “Sex” and Publishing Culture Professor Takashi Nakajima (Waseda University) Illustrated three-volume works by Nishikawa Sukenobu—said even to be the cause of the government’s publishing restrictions of the Kyōhō era—were revolutionary shunpon (pornographic books) because of a particular rich aesthetic consciousness. Iro hiinagata (1711) and Nasake hiinagata (1712), written by […]

Documentary Screening of “Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara”

Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara Documentary movie on the last living geisha of the Yoshiwara district Brief presentations on geisha and Edo culture by director Makoto Yasuhara and Edo specialist Kenji Watanabe, followed by a screening of Minako   Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara Director Makoto Yasuhara spent six years getting to know […]

Japan’s International Contribution through Innovation in the Field of International Health

Abstract While development of innovation brings about major changes to our daily life, issues such as the spread of infectious diseases as well as malnutrition and poverty in developing countries still remain unresolved. As a result, the gap between developed and developing countries continues to widen. The same can be said for post-war Japan when […]

Lunchtime Lecture Series: Textual Representations of Sexual Violence in Heian and Kamakura Monogatari and Beyond

Abstract: Readers and scholars of monogatari—court tales written between the ninth and the early twelfth century (during the Heian and Kamakura periods)—have generally agreed that much of their focus is on amorous encounters. They have, however, rarely addressed the question of whether these encounters are mutually desirable or, on the contrary, uninvited and therefore aggressive. […]

The Problem of Legitimacy in Peacebuilding: Linking Research with Policy Practice

Dr. Daisaku Higashi Deputy Director, Research Center of Sustainable Peace, Institute of Advanced Global Studies, Associate Professor. University of Tokyo. Registration: Click to RSVP Abstract Post-conflict peacebuilding is a critical issue in world politics. Surprisingly, however, there has not been a full examination of concrete policies and implementation strategies to generate legitimacy in “host states” […]

The Complexity of Dark Tourism: Packaging ‘Edutainment’ of War Tourism in Japan

Abstract: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park and the Nagasaki Peace Park are internationally recognized war-related tourist destinations. While these ‘A-bomb’ sites have been often criticized for relying on “victim consciousness”, the discussion of interpretation and presentation of these sites has become extremely complex. Comparing two war-related destinations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this talk discusses […]

Shareholder Primacy in Japan: Layoff, Dividend Cuts and Corporate Governance

Abstract: Top managers in large Japanese firms are considered to focus on the interests of stakeholders rather than on those of shareholders. We examine employment reduction and dividend cut behaviour and find a significant shift in firm behaviour. Since 2000, firms have been more likely to reduce employees and less likely to reduce dividends. We also […]

Moomin and the Conceptual Chase: What Moomin in Japan Tells Us about Globalization

By: Professor Hyung-Gu Lynn Moomin has been popular in Japan since 1969 when an animated series based on Tove Janssen’s books hit the airwaves. This talk will present a project in its early stages using the history and the popularity of Moomin in Japan to question notions of soft power, globalization, glocalization, and contraflow.

Do Virtual Earthquakes Still Shake Us to the Core? Simulating Survival in Japan’s Disaster Report Video Game

By: Ben Whaley (Ph.D. student, Asian Studies) Abstract: This talk asks the question of whether a video game might help us better understand the trauma of another through an analysis of the PlayStation 2 game Zettaizetsumei Toshi (2002, Disaster Report, 2003). In the game, players must use limited resources to escape from an earthquake- and […]

Can the Subaltern Bark? Dogs, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World

By: Aaron Skabelund (Brigham Young University) Abstract: This presentation uses Spivak’s famous query to explore human-animal relations in three ways.  First, from an epistemological perspective, it considers why researchers in the social sciences and the humanities have directed their attention almost entirely to human affairs, relegating the study of the non-human world to the natural sciences. […]

Experience Japanese Tea Culture

About: The Consulate General of Japan and the Centre for Japanese Research are pleased to present a special Japanese tea ceremony presentation on Monday, February 29th, 2016, at 3:30 pm and also at 4:30 pm at the Tea Gallery, UBC Asian Centre. The presentation features Japanese tea ceremony lecture and demonstration, as well as Matcha […]

Planning for Smart Cities in Japan

Many cities are undertaking initiatives to improve environmental performance, creating ‘Smart Cities’ by introducing innovative technologies and plans to promote efficient energy use, recycling and environmentally-friendly traffic management. Yokohama and Kitakyushu are examples of cities working to become smarter. They are linking their environmental policies with those relating to economic revitalization, urban planning, health, and welfare, […]

Explaining the Persistence of Supplementary Education in East Asia: The Case of Japan

Due to progressing globalization in education and demographic change, the education systems of numerous countries have undergone rapid changes over the last two decades. In the case of Japan, two main developments affect education today: (1) steadily decreasing student populations; and (2) the reorientation of education towards relaxation (yutori) and internationalization (kokusaika). Both these trends […]

Japan’s Post-TPP Trade Policy

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was broadly agreed in Atlanta in October 2015 and signed by the 12 members in February 2016, which is good for Abenomics. I first review Japan’s trade and investment activities primarily in the Asian region. I show that Asia is the most profitable region for Japanese multinational corporations. Next I discuss […]

The 2011 March 11th (3.11) Disaster and Nuclear Power Plant Accident in Tohoku, Japan: Five Years On.

Part 1: Time: March 9 12:00-2:00 @ IAR Room 120: Lunchtime Workshop (Refreshments will be served): -Millie Creighton (Anthropology, UBC), “Community Recovery in Tohoku after 3.11” -Noritsugu Fujimoto (Symbiotic Systems Science, Fukushima University), “3.11 and Manga: The Oishinbo Nosebleed Issue” -Kiwa Nakano (Business Management, Daito Bunka University), “Recovery from the Disaster in Onagawa, Japan” Moderated […]

Interaction and Collaboration as a Source of Community Recovery and Empowerment

Interaction and Collaboration as a Source of Community Recovery and Empowerment: Insights from Minamata and Kizawa (Chuetsu) for Post-disaster Sustainable Community Development The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on 11 March 2011 and shocked both Japan and the world with its scale and seriousness of the adverse impacts on human communities and living environment. It […]

Teaching the Asian Literary Classics: A Roundtable Discussion

The Tale of Genji, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Tales of Ise, The Three Kingdoms – these and other masterworks are required reading for students of Japanese and Chinese literature. But how did these works come to be regarded as “classics”? What makes them significant works of literature? And how can an instructor best […]

Pop Culture, History and “Contents Tourism” in Japan

By: Dr. Philip Seaton (Hokkaido University) In recent years, the phenomenon of people traveling to further an interest in works of popular culture has gained much attention from the tourism industry and researchers alike. Lord of the Rings locations in New Zealand, Disneyland theme parks, Star Trek Conventions and the Sherlock Holmes museum in London […]

Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan

Abstract: This talk examines the development of the ‘way of the samurai,’ or bushidō, which is popularly viewed as a defining element of the Japanese national character and even the ‘soul of Japan.’ Rather than a continuation of ancient traditions, however, bushidō developed from a search for identity during Japan’s modernization in the late nineteenth […]

Symposium: Queer Transfigurations in Postwar Japanese Popular Culture: Manga and Anime

UBC Manga Symposium Information and Schedule Charge: The event is free for all UBC and other local students with ID, plus all preregistered guests. Non-student, non-preregistered guests will be charge $20 at the door. Please preregister by sending an email message to: ubcqueertransfigs2016@gmail.com Description: Japanese manga and anime are popular world-wide, and one frequently cited […]

Geopolitical Transformation in East Asia: Chinese Ambitions and Japan’s Reaction toward an Emergence of a New Regional Order

A power shift is currently transforming the regional order of East Asia. As history shows us, this is not the first time that the world has undergone a hegemonic transition. But what can the past tell us about what the future beholds and what does Japan need to do in order to respond to this […]

Rethinking Copyright for the Digital Age: An Example of Japanese Copyright Law

About the Event Recently in Japan several amendments have been adopted by the legislature to strengthen the position of copyright owners who demand stronger protection in the digitized, Internet era. The “copy” right, however, has been transformed from the regulation of competition to the restriction on personal freedom, due to technological and environmental changes brought […]

The (Non) Strategic Thinking of Japan’s Decision-makers for World War II

Why did Japan undertake a war from 1937 to 1945 that it had no chance of winning? Moreover, why did it undertake the war when prominent political leaders and journalists, most notably seven time finance minister Takahashi Korekiyo and economic journalist Ishibashi Tanzan, had been publicly stating for over a quarter of a century that […]

What Would Aristotle Think? A Japanese Production of the Greek Tragedy Medea

Miyagi Satoshi has directed several productions of Euripides’ tragedy “Medea”, using a number of conventions found in traditional Japanese theatre, in particular the use of a narrator speaking for a moving actor. Miyagi thinks that Meiji period Japan in which his play is set and Athens of the 5th century BCE were similar in a […]

Japan’s Ratification of the Hague Convention on Child Abduction and Its Implications

Abstract: When one parent returns back to Japan with his/her child after divorce without consent of the other parent, this conduct could be viewed as child abduction. Until recently, however, there was no way to force the child to return back to his/her original place of residence once the child entered Japan. Now with the […]

TPP and Japanese Economic Revitalization

Facing two decades of deflation and a declining and aging population, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has implemented “Abenomics”, comprised of three arrows: aggressive monetary policy, expansionary fiscal policy and an economic growth strategy. The first and second arrows are matters of political will and already implemented. The third (economic growth) arrow should eventually come from […]

Is TPP Dead? The Future of International Trade Law

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, to which both Canada and Japan are signatories, was supposed to be a new-generation trade agreement to break the deadlock of the multilateral trade negotiations in Geneva. However, with the major candidates in the U.S. Presidential Election showing no support for the agreement, the future of the TPP appears to […]

Real and Imaginary Storytelling: How Digital Humanities Construct the Ideas of Historicity (A Case of Japanese History)

In Virtual History (1998), Niall Ferguson and his collaborators presented “alternative histories” to challenge deterministic ways of viewing history. They asked why history had to be always factual, deliberately implemented the idea of taking a “chaotic approach” to history, and wrote counterfactual scenarios. Certainly, writing subjunctive narratives was difficult to take for many historians, but […]

Sex and the Stereoscopic City in Kanshi: Mori Ōgai and Niigata

Professor Wixted has written several articles on kanshi (Sino-Japanese poetry). His talk, “Sex and the Stereoscopic City in Kanshi: Mori Ōgai and Niigata,” will treat selections from two series that Mori Ōgai (1862-1922) wrote when on expedition in northern Japan as a twenty-year-old army officer. In addition to their intrinsic interest, the poems throw much […]

JSAC 2016 Annual Conference

The Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) Annual Conference will be hosted by the Centre of Japanese Research (CJR), housed within the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. It will bring together Japan Studies researchers from diverse disciplinary fields from throughout Canada and the world. This will include scholars in geography, fine arts, anthropology […]

Walk in Canada, Talk on Japan

Join us for a rare and exciting opportunity to engage with Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki and a panel of young experts from Japan in a stimulating dialogue on Japan-related issues.  Led by Ambassador Fujisaki, the panel of four specialists working in diverse fields will discuss some of the major concerns facing Japan and the world including […]

Critical Ethnography of Decorative Rebellion: Japanese Girls Subculture in Harajuku

The research examines the young female specific subculture called Decora in Harajuku by applying critical ethnographic approach in order to retheorize the notion of resistance. Subcultures generated from the streets has been merged with and disseminated by main-stream culture and provoked a number of criticism towards their political stance. Other theories such as (neo) tribe […]

Activism for Harmony? Immigrant Rights’ Activism and Xenophobic Activism in Japan

The type of activism that small immigrant rights’ (pro-foreigner) groups engage is what I have called “associative activism.” Associative activism arises when like-minded activists address specific problems and eventually seek to transform inflexible and relatively unresponsive political institutions through coordinated activities. These are aimed at resolving some particular problem that, while not directly in conflict […]

Japan’s ‘Quality Service’: Can Omotenashi be a source of Japan’s soft power?

Abstract:  Visitors to Japan often express their appreciation of Omotenashi (Japan’s quality service), and regularly comment on their pleasant experiences. Recently, Ometenashi has become a widely-used term by the Japanese government, mass-media and hospitality business who wish to attract more inbound tourists, one of the major strategies of Abenomics. It is also a term associated […]

Master the rules of Japanese SHUKATSU!

日本の企業に就職を希望する留学生が 知っておくべき「就活・ニッポンの常識」 Note: This event will be held in Japanese Many Japanese companies are looking into hiring students who graduated from a university outside of Japan. What is the most attractive thing about students who experienced international education? This talk will focus on company perspectives and will answer questions from students who wish to work […]

Disaster Reduction Roundtable for Enhancing Resilience

LOCATION: Franklin Lew Forum, Peter A. Allard School of Law University of British Columbia, 1822 E Mall, Vancouver ABOUT THE SEMINAR: This event is jointly organized by the Ministry of State for Emergency Preparedness, the Consulate General of Japan, and UBC with presentations by a team of top-notch disaster reduction experts from Japan. The purpose of this […]

The Writing Center as a Globalized Pedagogy: A Case Study of an Internationalized University in Japan

The Writing Center as a Globalized Pedagogy: A Case Study of an Internationalized University in Japan Due to increased pressures of internationalization, universities around the world are compelled to implement language education models and frameworks with global recognition  (Byram & Parmenter, 2012; Doiz, Lasagabaster, & Sierra, 2012; Imoto & Horiguchi, 2015). Given this trend, I […]

Welcome to Washington Heights: American Towns and Americanization in Occupied Japan

Abstract: From the 1950s, Japanese are said to have embraced the so-called “bright life”—that is, a middle class social ideal inspired by the bright lives led by their American occupiers. As the story’s been told up to now, the “bright life” was enshrined in the American magazines, movies, and TV programs that flooded Japan during […]

CJR Annual Open House Reception

UBC’s Centre for Japanese Research (CJR) is pleased to announce its Annual Open House Reception on Friday, Jan 20 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. The Open House Reception will also serve as a belated New Year’s celebration. We welcome anyone interested in Japan to join us for light refreshments and traditional Japanese dishes while learning about the diverse events […]

Okinoshima: A Field Visit Report with Dr. Christina Laffin

From October to November 2015, Professor Christina Laffin and four graduate students of Japanese literature travelled to the remote islands of Okinoshima in Shimane Prefecture to present an exhibit, workshop, and series of lectures aimed at making local cultural heritage more accessible. Over the course of a week they collaborated with local government staff, community […]

How Much Difference is There Between Japan and China in Terms of Aesthetics?

Speaker: Professor Masahiro Hamashita (Kobe College) It is time that we should distinguish more fully the difference between Japanese culture and Chinese culture. There still exists a misunderstanding that Japanese culture should be regarded as a derivative of Chinese culture under the influence of Confucianism. However, those who are familiar with some characteristics of Japanese […]

What Does it Mean to “Abolish” a Language? – Some Thoughts on Mori Arinori and Shiga Naoya

Speaker: Dr. Christina Yi, (Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies) With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Japan officially embarked on an enterprise of territorial expansion. Acquisition of Taiwan occurred in 1895, soon followed by the annexation of Korea in 1910. The unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Powers in 1945 signaled not […]

Genealogy of three Principles of the Constitution of Japan: Sovereignty of the people, Fundamental Human Rights, and Pacifism

Speaker: Masahiro Nakano (Visiting Professor Aoyama Gakuin University) In Japan, as the consequences of the election of the House of Councilors (参議院) in 2016, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP: 自民党), Komeito (公明党) and some of their followers won two-thirds of the seats in both of the House of Representatives (衆議院) and the House of […]

Japan’s Vision for the East Asian Security Border

About the speaker:  Dr. Ryo Sahashi is an associate professor of International Politics and associate dean, Faculty of Law at Kanagawa University, Yokohama, and a research fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange. He is a specialist in international politics of East Asia. He has several publications on US-China relations, Taiwan, East Asian security order, […]

International Institutions: 国際公務員就職ガイダンス

Note: This event will be held in Japanese. By: First Secretary Keisuke Fukuda (Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations) オープニング：　岡井総領事 第１部：福田書記官によるガイダンス *   国際機関に就職するためのキャリア・プランニング *   国際機関職員の処遇、ワーク・ライフ・バランス *   選考の実態 国連は47の職種・８万人超の職員が働く多様な職場です。 第２部：個別相談 「今から何ができて、今後何をすればよいか」を相談の機会を通じて具体的に考えていただきます。 RSVP | Event poster

Globalization, the State, and Foreign Labor Policy: Japan in Comparative Perspective

To stay competitive in the global marketplace, states have been increasingly forced to supplement their domestic workforce with foreign labor. However, the question of labor importation remains highly contentious, producing puzzling cross-national variation in admission schemes for less-skilled workers. How can we explain this policy divergence among similar advanced economies? In this talk, Dr. Kalicki […]

Japan’s new security Partnerships – the ‘special relationship’ with Australia

Australia and Japan have greatly enhanced their direct bilateral security ties to forge what they now describe as a “special strategic partnership.” This new form of security alignment is not intended to be a traditional alliance pact, but rather represents a novel and versatile mechanism for diplomatic, security, and economic cooperation. Both states seek to […]

The Politics of Invisibility: Fukushima, 6 Years After 3.11

Radiation is an invisible hazard, largely imperceptible to the human senses. Damage from the fall out from nuclear power plant accidents, such as at Fukushima in March 2011, is also largely imperceptible. Similarly, even in democratic countries the consequences of nuclear accidents are often made invisible by governments that limit public attention to radiation and […]

Four Women – Four Lovers – Four Documents: female bodies and voices in Kishida Rio’s play “Four Letters”

Kishida Rio was the only female playwright in angura (underground/avant-garde) movement in 1960-70’s Japan. Kishida Rio began her work in theatre when she joined Terayama Shûji’s “Laboratory of Play” Tenjô Sajiki (The Peanut Gallery) in 1974 and worked as Terayama’s collaborator on plays and films, helping develop the company into one of the major angura […]

Study in Japan

Thinking of going to Japan as an exchange student, graduate or research student? Join us for a very good opportunity to learn about the possibility of studying in Japan. You will be able to meet students who actually went to Japan as an exchange student or as a graduate/research student and ask any questions about […]

Resilience in the Margins: Grassroots Women’s NGOs, Feminist Expertise, and a New Paradigm for Japanese Post-Disaster Reconstruction (JR Lunchtime Lecture Series)

Abstract This research project investigates how Japanese grassroots women’s organizations are contributing to disaster recovery and reconstruction in Japan. As a global leader in disaster planning and mitigation, Japan’s state of the art earthquake and tsunami preparation guidelines are disseminated around the world as best practices. In spite of Japan’s long history and proficiency in […]

Rebalancing competing values relating to the right to be forgotten and users’ rights: Toward a new conception of rights in the age of AI, IoT, and Robotics

Abstract: How would cutting-edge information technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Robotics impact on our daily lives, society, and legal systems? What should be done to deal with issues brought by such latest technologies? With using a comparative analysis of laws in Japan, EU, and US, this lecture focuses on […]

JCN Alumnight 2017

Abstract: UBC Japan Career Network is proud to present Alumnight 2017! This is the place where you can listen to stories about job hunting (or internship hunting) in Japan, Canada, or at the Boston Career forum from successful 3rd and 4th year UBC students. This will be a valuable occasion to network with UBC graduates to […]

Explaining Exceptionality: Care and Migration Policies in Japan and South Korea

Against the global trend towards increased use of foreign female care workers, Japan and South Korea stand out as two countries that continue to resist their intake. In this paper, I explain why despite serious shortages of care workers, these two countries have maintained highly restricted immigration policies towards migrant care workers. I argue that […]

Workshop on Literary Production and Language Politics in Postwar Japan

This event features keynote talks by Toeda Hirokazu (“Japanese Literature and Two Systems of Press Control: The Intersection of Home Ministry and GHQ/SCAP Censorship During the Occupation Period”) and Tanaka Yukari (“The ‘Dialect Cosplay’ Phenomenon: Detaching Regional Dialects from Geographic Localities”).

Two Conceptualizations of Moral Personhood: Citizenship and Minority Policies in Contemporary Asia

As more people move across borders in pursuit of a “Good Life,” Asia is becoming increasingly diverse or multicultural. I argue that political elites in non-socialist Northeast Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia refer to two conceptualizations of moral personhood derived mostly from Confucian and Theravada Buddhist ideas in dealing with an increasing ethnic plurality and […]

The Linguascape of English Social Media and the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: The Sociolinguistic and Educational Implications in the Context of Japanese EFL University Students

This study conducts a critical discourse analysis on English language Western social media such as Facebook through the “eyes of Japanese EFL university students”, focusing on thematic issues specifically related to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. The main research participants are Japanese EFL students studying at the University of Aizu, Fukushima, Japan, who […]

Orientalism, Magic, and Modernity at the Turn of the 20th Century

Educated in Cambridge, Keio (Tokyo), and Oxford Universities, host Chris Goto-Jones is Professor in Philosophy and Dean of Humanities at University of Victoria. He is also a Professorial Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London, and a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for International Studies at Oxford University. He was previously Professor of Comparative Philosophy & Political Thought and Professor of Modern Japan Studies at Leiden University (The Netherlands).

Virtual Ninja Manifesto: Ethics, Violence, Video Games, and Martial Arts

Speaker: Dr. Chris Goto-Jones Educated in Cambridge, Keio (Tokyo), and Oxford Universities, host Chris Goto-Jones is Professor in Philosophy and Dean of Humanities at University of Victoria. He is also a Professorial Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London, and a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for International Studies at Oxford University. He was […]

Individuality in Early Modern Japan: a discussion of and launch for Peter Nosco’s recent book

Two of the most commonly alleged features of Japanese society are its homogeneity and its encouragement of conformity. Join Peter Nosco as he challenges these a number of other long-standing assumptions regarding Tokugawa (1600-1868) society, thus opening a dialogue regarding the relationship between the Japan of two centuries ago and the present.

Trust and Promise: Foundations of Tokugawa Altruism and Cooperation

Abstract: Historical literature often suggests that Japanese people hold harmony and group solidarity in high regard. Tokugawa-period agreements, or what I call Bonds of Trust (tanomi shōmon), shed light on the mechanisms and guiding principles that buttress social cohesion in early modern Japan. The Bonds of Trust were written promises primarily used to elicit and […]

How Green Was My Night Soil: Thinking with Excrement about Nineteenth-Century Japan

Excrement was a hot commodity in the cities of nineteenth-century Japan. The widespread use of night soil as an organic fertilizer meant that residents of cities such as Tokyo and Osaka could sell their waste rather than simply dispose of it. Join Dr. David L. Howell as he discusses the night-soil economy in nineteenth-century Japan.

Study in Japan Info Session

Abstract: Going to Japan as an exchange student, graduate or research student?Join us for a very good opportunity to learn about the possibility of studying in Japan. You will be able to meet students who actually went to Japan as an exchange student or as a graduate/research student and ask any questions about qualifications, procedures […]

Soul Traders: Early 17th Century Trading and Religious Controversies in Japan

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu became the Shogun and ruler of all Japan. His economic and trading policies served well to strengthen his position, however the repercussions that was felt in the trading environments of the time brought to the fore incredible paradoxes that will be addressed in this presentation by Maria Grazia Petrucci.

The Emperor and His Poetic Subjects: The Utakai Hajime Ceremony and Meiji Japan

Each New Year, Japan’s imperial court hosts a ceremony for members of the imperial family and general public to read waka poems they had composed on a preannounced theme. ​In this presentation, Gideon Fujiwara chronicles the history of the Utakai hajime and the work of kokugaku (nativist) scholars in early Meiji to petition for public participation in this event.

Taking Synchrony Seriously: The Crises of 1866 in Japanese and Global History

Abstract This talk starts from the premise that we should take synchrony seriously—that co-movements in places and social domains we have assumed to be separate may offer clues to unexpected unities. The global contexts of Japan’s Meiji revolution invite this type of approach. To grasp the co-development of global and domestic histories, this talk investigates […]