イベント＆アクティビティ
DIJ expertise on Tokyo Olympics in international media
The Tokyo Olympics are now history — but what remains as their legacy? During the past few weeks several international media have interviewed DIJ director Franz Waldenberger and deputy director Barbara Holthus as well as principal researchers Sonja Ganseforth and Torsten Weber on different aspects of the Games. Franz Waldenberger commented on the exploding costs of Tokyo 2020 for Tagesschau online and the DLF Players podcast. Barbara Holthus appeared in live TV interviews on Al Jazeera, the BBC and was quoted in AP News, DLF radio, HR radio, Welt, and several other German and international media. An interview with Sonja Ganseforth on the anti-Olympic protests appeared in Japanese in the Mainichi daily newspaper. Comments by Torsten Weber on Tokyo’s Olympic past appeared in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Münchner Merkur, and Weekendavisen. For more information on research related to the Olympics, see the DIJ’s special project on the Tokyo Olympics and the open access book publication Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics.
Summer issue of DIJ Newsletter published
We have just published the summer issue of our DIJ Newsletter featuring updates on our research, publications, and outreach activities. In this issue you will find a selection of our recent and forthcoming activities, including a panel discussion on the Tokyo Olympics in cooperation with the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB); a Web-Forum series on Digital Transformation; new book publications by Susanne Brucksch, Barbara Geilhorn, Sonja Ganseforth, and our alumnus Hanno Jentzsch; a profile of our new staff member Gernot Mair; a new edition of our Catchword series; and much more. We hope you will enjoy exploring this new edition of the DIJ Newsletter. If you haven’t done so yet, you can subscribe to receive it directly to your inbox. The full issue and subscription form are available here.
New Edited Volume on Health and Technology
The new book publication Humans and Devices in Medical Contexts. Case Studies from Japan explores the ways in which socio-technical settings in medical contexts are articulated in Japan. It consists of a detailed theory chapter and nine case studies on topics concerning: experiences with radiation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima; patient security, end-of-life and high-tech medicine in hospitals; innovation and diffusion of medical technology; and the engineering and evaluating of novel devices in clinical trials. The individual chapters situate humans and devices in medical settings in their given semantic, pragmatic, institutional and historical context. A highly interdisciplinary approach offers deep insights beyond the manifold findings of each case study, thereby enriching academic discussions on socio-technical settings in medical contexts amongst affiliated disciplines. The book is edited by DIJ researcher Susanne Brucksch and Kaori Sasaki (Sapporo Medical University). Details
Next DIJ Method Talk on surveys in Japan
In recent years, issues involving sexual and gender minorities have increasingly attracted attention in Japan. Addressing the lack of data to understand social inequality based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), Daiki Hiramori and Saori Kamano developed questions to measure SOGI on population-based surveys under the research project “Demography of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Building a Foundation for Research in Japan.” In their talk, they will report the results of a population-based survey and present findings from their preparatory studies and an experimental web survey. The speakers will conclude their talk by discussing two approaches to population sexuality to explore the possibility of a queer demography. Details and registration here
Speakers:
Daiki Hiramori, University of Washington, Seattle
Saori Kamano, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Tokyo
Keynote talk by Susanne Brucksch at Robotics Conference
DIJ Principal Researcher Susanne Brucksch will be one of four keynote speakers at the 17th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts (ARSO 2021). In her keynote on Friday, July 9, Susanne will reflect on how the relationship between humans and devices in medical contexts can be specified when the sociocultural dimension of a particular locale is included. For instance, the study of the social context provides manifold insights on knowledge production, research and development processes, user contexts, and the institutional background of the making and application of medical devices. Examples from the research literature and case studies will illustrate these intersections. Her talk draws on her recently published co-edited volume Humans and Machines in Medical Contexts in Japan and her book chapter “Robotic Care Devices: Aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Pflegerobotik in Japan” in Genese und Folgen der Pflegerobotik (in German).
Understanding ‘Self-responsibility’ in Japan – New DIJ Monograph
Hostages in war zones, nuclear refugees from Fukushima, and workers in precarious conditions: all have been assigned personal responsibility for their situation by the Japanese word jikosekinin. The term – literally translated as “self-responsibility” – has become a keyword in contemporary Japanese society. But what does jikosekinin mean and how was the term established in the Japanese language? This study (in German) by Laura Blecken examines this multi-faceted concept by combining methods of conceptual history and discourse analysis with tools from the digital humanities. It traces the word back to its roots and creates a model for its different meanings through which various discourses converge. Finally, the study investigates how jikosekinin is used today by analyzing almost 40,000 blog posts. The latest volume in the DIJ Monographs Series examines the omnipresence of jikosekinin in everyday life and its role between traditional moral values and the impact of global neoliberalism. Details, including summaries of the book in English and Japanese, can be found here
Workshop ‘Technology & Society in Japan and Beyond’
Technical artefacts, technologies, and infrastructures are shaping our everyday life in manifold ways. At the same time, their development, promotion and/or rejection is influenced by cultural patterns, ethical principles, social values as well as power relations. This one-day workshop of the Research Initiative ‘Technology & Society in Japan and Beyond’ brings together scholars who share an interest in the analysis of co-construction processes of technology and society in Japan and beyond. Twelve speakers will address the themes ‘User, Visions and Technology Development’ and ‘Ethics, Health and Technology in Context’. The workshop takes place online on June 25 and is organized by Susanne Brucksch and Cosima Wagner (FU Berlin). Details and registration here
Gender & Sexuality series lecture on women in Japanese videogames
This presentation examines the representation of women in Japanese videogames, situating the depiction of female bodies in terms of political discourse. Focusing on the online card-based wargame Kantai Collection, it analyzes how attributes of Japanese warships are reflected in the physical characteristics of women. At the same time, Kantai Collection is highly political in its theme, representation of women, and enactment of war memories. This presentation examines the game and related artefacts as part of a popular politicization of WWII by Japanese artists, also seen in the recent spate of blockbuster revisionist films, as well as Nazi imagery and narratives in anime and manga. It argues that the hyper-sexualization of women in Kantai Collection contributes to the exoticization of war as distant and unreal, in a continued context of controversial war memories in Japan. This event is part of the DIJ’s lecture series ‘Gender and Sexuality in East Asia’. Details and registration here
Speaker:
Rachael Hutchinson, University of Delaware
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DIJ researcher Carolin Fleischer-Heininger will give a presentation on 'Transgression as Emancipation: Redefining Disability in Hanchibakku (2023) by Ichikawa Saō' at the 12th Alter Conference 'Disability Research for the Real World' on July 5 @KU_Leuven https://alterconf2024.sciencesconf.org/
Check out the summer edition of our #DIJNewsletter for recent & forthcoming publications @DolfNeuhaus @SpodenCelia, new team & board members @gabriele_vogt, upcoming & past events @DWIH_Tokyo, our new knowledge lab @HaraldKuemmerle, alumni news & more https://www.dijtokyo.org/publication/dij-newsletter-76-summer-2024/
Join our next #DIJStudyGroup on July 17 with Fumiya Uchikoshi @ufsoc who will present on 'Imagined Futures in Gendered Educational Trajectories: Adolescents’ Expectations and Uncertainty in Japanese Selective High Schools'. Online & in-person at the DIJ https://www.dijtokyo.org/event/the-role-of-imagined-futures-in-gendered-educational-trajectories-adolescents-expectations-and-uncertainty-in-japanese-selective-high-schools/
Awards, books, articles, events, job opening: Don't miss the next issue of our #DIJNewsletter incl. latest updates on our institute and its research activities. Subscribe now to receive the summer issue hot off the press in your inbox later this week http://dij.tokyo/newsletter
Call for Submissions
Contemporary Japan
current issue Vol. 36, No. 1
Contemporary Japan is open year-round for rolling submissions, with accepted publications published immediately online. Please see the instructions for submission here.
DIJ Monograph Series
Our monograph series is 
Open Access after a one-year embargo period. Downloads are available on our
→ monographs pages.
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