Comments by social scientist Sonja Ganseforth on recent anti-Olympic protests in Tokyo have appeared in international media. “Once the decision to hold the Olympics in Tokyo had been made, many (Japanese) also considered it anti-social or even unpatriotic to protest openly against the Games”, Sonja is quoted in the AP news article Critics speak out on Tokyo Olympic costs, pandemic, fairness published on 13 November. A version of the article also appeared in the Japan Times on 17 November. On 22 November, an interview with Sonja appeared in the German daily newspaper taz. In “Eine Absage ist möglich”, she explains the role of anti-Olympic activism in Japanese society. Sonja has been researching anti-Olympic movements in Japan as part of the DIJ special project on the Tokyo Olympics and its book publication Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics. Her chapter “The difference between zero and one” is available for free download, alongside all other chapters in this open access book.

On November 6, human geographer Sonja Ganseforth presented her latest research on the implications of the Japanese Fishery Law reform for small-scale coastal fisheries at the “Coastal Transitions: Blue Economy” 2020 conference. Based on qualitative field research in rural Japan, Sonja’s paper “Blue Growth or Decline in Japanese Coastal Fisheries” analyzed how global discourses of sustainable growth and institutional reform in the Japanese fishing sector are driving the enclosure of one of the last vestiges of natural resource commons. The focus on private capital and presuppositions of economic and scientific rationality drives the commodification and enclosure of this contracting commons – a process supported by domestic political circles as well as through international agenda setting campaigns. Sonja’s presentation is part of her ongoing research project on Fishing communities between growth and demise in Japan. The online conference “Coastal Transitions: Blue Economy” was jointly organized by Liverpool John Moores University, Southern Connecticut State University and MIC University of Limerick.

On November 4, Japan’s new Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Hidenao Yanagi, visited our institute. Director Franz Waldenberger and Administrative Director Joachim Röhr informed Ambassador Yanagi about the ongoing research at the DIJ and the international network of the Max Weber Foundation. In perfect German, Mr. Yanagi reported that he is very much looking forward to his second posting in Berlin, also to deepen his understanding and connection to the new German states. Furthermore, he is looking forward to the upcoming celebrations of the 160th anniversary of the relations between Japan and Germany next year, even though not all of them may be realised due to the ongoing pandemic.
During his visit Mr. Yanagi praised the important role the DIJ has played over the past 30 years in developing German-Japanese relations. From 2014 to 2017 Mr. Yanagi was Consul General in Munich, followed by almost three years as Ambassador to Jordan. We are very pleased and honoured that Ambassador Yanagi took the time to visit our institute a few days before his departure for Berlin.