Jointly organised by the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore) and the DIJ, the workshop “Health Infrastructure and Asia’s Epidemiological Transitions: Historical Perspectives” will investigate Asian experiences in crafting health infrastructure over the long twentieth century. Asia has long been stigmatized as a source of global contagion, yet there has been relatively little historical examination of the everyday health challenges there, such as epidemiological transitions, climate change, and extensive internal and international migration. The workshop brings together scholars with different geographic foci within Asia to engage in a comparative and connective dialogue. It seeks to produce new ways of understanding the dynamics of health and disease under the processes of decolonization and development, but also with an eye to drawing lessons from the past that could lead to formulating better health policies in the present. The workshop takes place online on April 13-14 and is co-convened by DIJ’s David M. Malitz. Details and registration information here

DIJ social scientist Celia Spoden will present her latest research on “Cybernetic avatars and the vision of an inclusive society” at the Japanese-German conference Artificial Intelligence and the Human: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Science and Fiction (May 11-13). In her presentation, Celia focuses on the avatar technology OriHime which aims to counteract people’s loneliness and create new forms of social participation. Celia analyses how technologies such as the OriHime can make physical limitations less significant in cyber-physical spaces. In her paper she examines the cultural backgrounds as well as the social and ethical implications of this new technology. The conference takes place in Berlin and is jointly organised by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Japanese-German Center Berlin, and Waseda University.

In 1868, the name of Edo was changed to “Tokyo Prefecture”. From which perspectives has Tokyo been viewed and researched abroad since then? In this special exhibition, the libraries of the International House of Japan, the Maison franco-japonaise and the DIJ are displaying books about the city, its past and present in English, French, and German. The joint book exhibition is open to the public from March 1 to March 31 (DIJ only: until April 28). For more information, please contact the respective library. Details and a list of books and articles at the DIJ library are available for download here.

DIJ researchers Susanne Brucksch and Harald Kümmerle as well as DIJ alumna Katharina Dalko will give talks at the conference “Digital Technologies in the COVID-19 Pandemic” (14-18 March), organized by Ruhr University Bochum. On March 15, Harald will give his paper “Contextualizing Data Practices in Japan during Covid-19 Pandemic: Local and Global Entanglements” and Susanne will give a keynote on “The Locale of Japan. Approaches to the Social Study of (Digital) Health Technologies “. On the closing day, former DIJ PhD student Katharina Dalko (University Halle-Wittenberg) will give a presentation on methods to integrate patients into participatory technology development. Details and the full programme can be accessed here. Susanne will also give a talk on “Telehealth-Networks in Japan” at the workshop “Digital Transformation in East Asia. Impacts on Economy and Society II” (18-19 March), organized by the University of Bonn. At the same conference, DIJ alumni Volker Elis and Felix Spremberg (both University of Tübingen) will give papers on ideological implications of the information society in Japan and Japanese political discourse on digitalisation, respectively. Details and programme here 

In the “Moonshot Research and Development Program” launched in 2020, the Japanese Council for Science, Technology and Innovation formulated the goal of a society in which people will be free of physical, cognitive, spatial, and temporal limitations by 2050. Elderly or physically impaired people and people with obligations such as caring for children are to be enabled to function in the labour market, regardless of restrictions due to space and time or physical and mental abilities. For this purpose, so-called cybernetic avatars and a cloud-based infrastructure are to be developed. In her talk, DIJ social scientist Celia Spoden will discuss the Government’s vision of this future society where cyberspace and the physical world are to be merged into a perfectly connected, highly efficient, and inclusive society. She will also explore what these new technologies mean for living together. Celia’s online talk is part of the OAG’s lecture series and will take place on Wednesday, March 16 online in German. Details