The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien and the Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland had invited 18 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars from the humanities and social sciences to attend a Transregional Academy convened at the National University of Singapore (NUS) on the topic of “Infrastructures, Regions and Urbanizations”. The Academy was chaired by Weiqiang Lin and James D. Sidaway (National University of Singapore), Franz Waldenberger (Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien, Tokyo) and Simone Lässig (Deutsches Historisches Institut Washington). It was arranged in cooperation with the Asia Research Institute and its director Jonathan Rigg as well as the Max Weber Foundation Research Group on Borders, Mobility and New Infrastructures at NUS.

Read the full report by Franz Waldenberger

Deputy Director Barbara Holthus introduces the DIJ at the Monumenta Nipponica 80th Anniversary Symposium:

The event’s full video playlist is available on YouTube.

Many modern societies are increasingly confronting demographic change, i.e. the ageing and shrinking of population. This is particularly true for Japan and Germany, which are the worldwide “front-runners”. The social, economic and political implications are most strongly and directly felt at the level of local communities.

The idea of the WeberWorldCafé on “Demographic Change – Challenges and Answers for Local Communities” jointly conceived and organized by the German Institute of Japanese Studies (Tokyo) and the Institute of Gerontology at the Technical University of Dortmund is to bring together researchers, policy makers and civic society representatives with proven expertise in local demographic policies from Germany, the EU and Japan, to discuss how local communities can best prepare to cope with the demographic challenge.

Das Jahr 2017 markiert den 90. Todestag von Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, welcher als Japans herausragendster Autor der Taishō-Zeit angesehen wird.

Die International House of Japan Library, die Bibliothèque de la Maison franco-japonaise, und die Bibliothek des Deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien stellen Übersetzungen von Akutagawas Arbeiten und kritischen Studien aus.

Genießen Sie bei dieser Gelegenheit die zahlreichen Meisterwerke auf Englisch, Französisch und Deutsch.

150 years have passed since the Taiseihōkan, the return of rule to the Emperor from the Shoguns.

In the exposition, materials on the history of foreign relations from the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 to the Taiseihōkan in 1867 are displayed.

For further information on the exposition, please contact each library.

Energy transition, or Energiewende in German, describes a set of policies and practices to phase out the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy for electricity generation, heat and mobility and to rely more on renewable energy while improving energy efficiency.

This joint event will offer a chance to discuss the potentials and challenges related to energy transition in Japan and Germany together with Dimitri Pescia of Agora Energiewende and Mika Ōbayashi of the Renewable Energy Institute (自然エネルギー財団).

In March, the two organizations are going to publish the report “10 Q&A on the German Energiewende – A contribution to the Japanese energy debate” (『ドイツのエネルギー転換　10のQ&A－日本への教訓』).