新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を防ぐため、2月27日に予定している下記イベントを延期させていただくこととなりました。

ご迷惑をおかけいたしますが、ご理解ならびにご了承のほど、何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

The transformation of the Japanese agricultural sector and the development of rural regions in the course of extensive infrastructure measures during the economic boom led to changes in many areas of rural life. Not only the often mentioned out-migration of younger generations but also the changing economic structures and the conditions for a livelihood in rural settlements were subjected to fundamental change. Among others, this also affected common work and the management of commons (common-pool resources) in the settlements, which had been embedded as a complex local system of cycles for a livelihood fitting the local environment.

By examining the grassland management of Aso (Kumamoto Pref.), I will first outline the natural conditions and then proceed to show how this transformation took place in the livestock farming sector and what problems the local population involved is currently exposed to. The lecture closes with an outlook on possible solutions, which I am currently exploring during a three-year field stay on behalf of the Japanese Ministry of Environment researching “Regionally cycling and symbiotic area” (地域循環共生圏) in order to initiate a discussion within this working group about other possible forms of sustainable development in rural Japan.

Speaker:
Johannes Wilhelm, Kumamoto University (Kumamoto)

新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を防ぐため、2月27日に予定している下記イベントを延期させていただくこととなりました。

ご迷惑をおかけいたしますが、ご理解ならびにご了承のほど、何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Kabuki actors learn their skills from their fathers. Ikebana students pay their master for lessons. In contrast, artistic lineage in rakugo is not hereditary, and performers do not acquire their stories and acting skills in acting schools or from their fathers. Newcomers to the rakugo profession start their apprenticeship with a shishō, a master, without paying any compensation. For the rest of both of their lives the shishō is responsible for his deshi’s (disciple) education and accountable for his off-stage behaviour. In return, the shishō expects his deshi’s unquestioning loyalty, obedience and subordination.

The presentation provides a perspective on access to knowledge, knowledge acquisition, learning processes and structures inside Tokyo’s yose theatres, as well as social relations among the stakeholders of the rakugo world. Sarah Stark’s research is based on an analysis of printed interviews, autobiographies as well as one-on-one interviews with Tokyo rakugoka.

Speaker:
Sarah Stark, Ghent University

新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を防ぐため、2月27日に予定している下記イベントを延期させていただくこととなりました。

ご迷惑をおかけいたしますが、ご理解ならびにご了承のほど、何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

日本とドイツ両国において年々高齢化率が上昇傾向にあり、その支援策について様々な議論がなされています。上昇している高齢者の数に伴う社会要望にも拘らず、彼らの社会参画とソーシャル・インクルジョンには様々なハードルがあります。核家族化や独り暮らし高齢者数の増加、都市環境においてコミュニティー参加者の減少傾向などがその例に挙げられます。コミュニティー参加並びにソーシャル・インクルジョンはアクティブ・エイジングにおいて非常に重要な存在でしょう。コミュニティー活動への高齢者の積極的な参加を促進することは、高齢者自身のみならず、コミュニティーそして社会において非常に良い効果が期待できます。このような現状の中、デジタル化とインターネットなどへのアクセスビリティーは高齢者にとって社会との接点を持てる機会を与えると思われます。ですが、このようなメリットを高齢者に十分に受け取ってもらうためには、革新的技術が社会において普及し、高齢者が積極的にそれらを利用することが求められます。そのために、高齢者のデジタル・リテラシー向上支援策は非常に重要かつ必要な政策になってきています。このような背景のもと、本シンポジウムは情報化社会においてアクティブ・エイジングが持っているハードルやポテンシャルを議論することにその目的を置いています。特に、日本やドイツのようにすでに高齢化が進んでいる国で、情報通信技術が、高齢者の社会参加において情報通信技術の恩恵を確実に受けられることに焦点をあてていきます

使用言語：日本語・ドイツ語　同時通訳予定

This presentation will offer an overview of Japanese popular musical theater focusing on its systematic and strategic adaptation for the growing and changing needs of its diversifying audience groups. In the past decades, Japanese popular musical theater has drastically transformed, expanding its presence in the domestic entertainment industry by ticket distribution adaptive to new communication systems for better accessibility and consumability.

Speaker:
Rina Tanaka, Meiji University

Money and parenting are two key factors that can bring considerable joy or misery to our daily lives. Empirical studies have shown that while money is generally associated with greater happiness, having small kids can actually be a source of unhappiness, especially for women. In this session, two experts – a sociologist and an economist – explore the intricate relationship between money, parenting and happiness, from a comparative and historical perspective.

Speakers:
Hiroshi Ono, Hitotsubashi University Business School
Matthias Doepke, Northwestern University

US-Japan relations form a core element in Asian regional security and a central pillar of the international trade regime. The quality of the relationship has always been shaped by the personalities representing the two countries. Shinzo Abe, Japan’s now longest-serving prime minister, has been keen to establish good personal ties with Donald Trump, whose “America First” policy implied a major shift in the US approach to regional and global issues. This roundtable will discuss the changes that US-Japan relations underwent since the beginning of Trump’s presidency and analyze the regional and global implications.

Keynote:
Glen S. Fukushima, Center of American Progress
Comments:
Koichi Nakano, Sophia University
Tilman Schmit-Neuerburg, German Federal Foreign Office

In April 2020, the Japanese government will open the “Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony” in Shiraoi (Hokkaido). The “Symbolic Space” will consist of a National Ainu Museum, a National Ethnic Harmony Park, where Ainu culture can be practiced, and a central depot for Ainu remains. The government is expecting one million visitors per year. According to the official reading, Ainu indigenous rights will be implemented here incrementally, supported by the New Ainu Law, which was adopted in April 2019. Against this backdrop, the talk asks whether the recognition of the Ainu is in accordance with an international understanding of the term “indigenous”.
The lecture addresses the process of colonization (after 1590) and will give a summary of the treatment of the Ainu in Japanese legal history. Policies of assimilation already began a century prior to the modern Meiji state as is evidenced by the Bakufu guidelines for officials in Hokkaido (1799). The “Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act” of 1899 had the objective of forcing the Ainu into a farming existence, and schooling and welfare policies were additional measures. This law was repealed only a century later, in 1997, with the recognition of the Ainu as a group with a distinct culture and history. In 2007, Japan supported the “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, and the “New Ainu Law” of April 2019 now addresses the Ainu as “indigenous” for the first time in Japanese legislation. Following this outline, the contribution analyzes the question whether Japan is actually fulfilling its commitments to UNDRIP. Relevant criteria are land, fishing/hunting, and language rights as well as the repatriation of stolen human remains to Ainu communities, among others.

Speaker:
Uwe Makino, Chuo University (Tokyo)

Japan’s “Act on Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities” has been revised in 2013 and 2019. The 2013 amendment prohibited discrimination on the grounds of disability and obliged employers to provide reasonable accommodation to employees with disabilities, and was supposed to be a paradigm shift in Japan’s disability employment policy, which until then had relied on the disability employment quota system. As the law originally intended to improve employment opportunities in the general labor market, the quota and related systems contributed to quantitative improvements. However, it also established the “special but separate” treatment for persons with disabilities (PWD). In order to answer the puzzle why different or separate treatments remained in place in the employment of PWD even after the 2013 amendment, I have analyzed statistical data, administrative guidelines, and the debate preceding the recent 2019 amendment.

Speaker:
Reiko Yoshida, The University of Tokyo