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.

Der neue Botschafter Japans in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Hidenao Yanagi, besuchte am 4. November unser Institut. Direktor Franz Waldenberger und Verwaltungsleiter Joachim Röhr informierten Botschafter Yanagi über die laufende Forschung am DIJ sowie das internationale Netzwerk der Max Weber Stiftung. In perfektem Deutsch berichtete Herr Yanagi, dass er sich auf sein zweites Posting in Berlin sehr freue, auch um sein Verständnis und seine Verbindung zu den neuen Bundesländern noch zu vertiefen. Außerdem freue er sich auf die anstehenden Fest-Veranstaltungen zum 160jährigen Bestehen der Beziehungen zwischen Japan und Deutschland im kommenden Jahr, auch wenn wegen der andauernden Pandemie möglicherweise nicht alle realisiert werden könnten.
Herr Yanagi lobte im Gespräch die bedeutende Rolle, die das DIJ in den vergangenen 30 Jahren für den Ausbau der deutsch-japanischen Beziehungen gespielt habe. Von 2014 bis 2017 war Herr Yanagi Generalkonsul in München, anschließend knapp drei Jahre Botschafter in Jordanien. Es freut und ehrt uns sehr, dass sich der Botschafter wenige Tage vor seiner Abreise nach Berlin die Zeit nahm, unser Institut zu besuchen.

Deputy director and sociologist Barbara Holthus is quoted in the current issue of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit (46/2020). In the article „Zurücktreten, bitte“, Barbara criticizes the restrictions imposed by the Japanese government on foreigners seeking to re-enter Japan during the Corona pandemic.
Historian Torsten Weber is quoted in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel (45/2020). In „Globaler Kampf“, Torsten comments on nationalist elements in exhibitions promoting the Tokyo Olympics and Japan’s Olympic history. His remarks draw on research he has done for the DIJ’s special project on the Tokyo Olympics.
In the context of recent discussions about politics and academic freedom in Japan, historian of science Harald Kümmerle is quoted in a Kyodo article that was printed in several Japanese daily newspapers, including the Chūgoku Shimbun (1 November 2020). Giving the example of Albert Einstein’s expulsion from the German National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina in 1933, Harald explains the treatment of Jewish scientists in Nazi Germany.