Social sciences, and even more so natural sciences and engineering, tend to neglect local conditions, i.e. how ecological, social, political or economic issues are perceived and addressed in the specific context of a country or region and how solutions are sought for and implemented.

Our conference aims at highlighting possible contributions of area studies to the sciences, innovation and public policy by discussing concrete examples in highly relevant thematic fields. We would like to invite you to the public part of our conference which will refer to the outcomes of our preceding “closed” sessions.

Scheduled:
November 15, 2016 | 1:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Registration deadline:
November 11, 2016

‘Victimhood nationalism’ is a working hypothesis to explicate competing national memories over the historical position of victims in coming to terms with the past. The hereditary memory of victimhood consolidates the national solidarity beyond generations and justifies nationalism by endowing the victimized nation with the moral sympathy and historical authenticity. Without a reflection on victimhood nationalism, the postwar Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung (‘coming to terms with the past’) cannot be properly grasped.

The talk by Professor Lim will be followed by comments by Professor Horvat before the floor will be opened to the audience for a Q&A session.

Scheduled:
November 10, 2016 | 6:30 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Speakers:
Jie-Hyun Lim, Sogang University Seoul
Andrew Horvat, Josai International University

Das Deutsche Institut für Japanstudien erstellt in Zusammenarbeit mit der Waseda University und mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Botschaft Tokyo eine Datenbank über lokale Klimaschutzprojekte in Japan. Das Projekt und erste Ergebnisse werden auf dem Symposium vorgestellt.

Das Ministry of the Environment hat ebenfalls ein Projekt lanciert, das die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Deutschland und Japan auf kommunaler Ebene unterstützt, um den Wandel zu einer „klimaneutralen Gesellschaft“ zu erreichen.

Our speaker, Ilse Lenz, will compare the two conservative gender welfare regimes of Germany and Japan by examining convergences and differences and discuss the main characteristics and the scale of these transformations.

„In most postindustrial societies, we presently experience a transformation from a gender order based on difference to a more flexible one. In the sphere of production, we witness a highly increased women’s labor market participation, based on the support of equal opportunity and diversity schemes. However, a large part of female employees are working in irregular or precarious jobs, and this trend is extending to male wage earners.“

The presentation will be followed by a comment from Glenda S. Roberts, Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies of Waseda University.

Scheduled:
October 13, 2016 | 6:30 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Speakers:
Ilse Lenz, Professor emeritus at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB)
Glenda Roberts, Professor at Waseda University

Social activism is not a nation state-bound phenomenon, but globally embedded. The Japanese labour movement represents a particularly interesting case to study the relationship between global frameworks of activism and their transformative impact on domestic activism, as it displays a much broader diversity than institutionalist approaches can explain. While parts of the Japanese labour movement strongly resemble their international counterparts, others remain remarkably distinct.

To explain this diversity, I elucidate the interaction between isomorphic influences of global frameworks of labour activism and the strategic selection and adoption by different actors in the Japanese labour movement.

The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 unleashed unprecedented tremors and a devastating tsunami, damaging one million buildings and rendering 300,000 victims displaced and dispossessed. Former home-owners and businesspeople found themselves in the position of seeking loans to rebuild and invest, while being unable to pay off pre-disaster mortgages and debts.

Largely unnoticed outside of Japan, this so-called “double-loan crisis” promoted private and corporate insolvency, threatening financial institutions, jeopardising disaster recovery and entrenching social inequality. Treating issues of property insurance, debtor-creditor, social welfare, charity, financial and insolvency law, this paper examines the situation of the tsunami victims from a legal perspective.

Japan ranks among the first in the world in terms of average life-expectancy, but its combination of high-age with a low birthrate is gradually turning it into a “society of many deaths” (tashi shakai). With the current change in family structures, the need to make arrangements for one’s own passing is felt by an ever growing number of people. Trying to cash in on this demand, the ailing funeral industry has started to urge individuals to take care of their own future grave, funeral, inheritance, elderly care and property clean-up, promoting these activities under the label “shūkatsu” (end of life activity).