イベント＆アクティビティ
Barbara Holthus interviewed about Olympic volunteers
Three months before the scheduled opening of the Tokyo Olympics, DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus was interviewed by Japanese and international media about Olympic volunteers. In Fuji TV’s news show ‘Viking More’, Barbara explained that volunteers are provided only with insufficient measures to protect against a Covid infection. There are also neither PCR testing nor vaccinations planned for volunteers. In the Japanese daily Mainichi Shinbun, she commented that the Games should not be held in the midst of the pandemic as they would neither have the expected economic impact nor create a positive legacy. Barbara also appeared on a CNN TV programme which was broadcast 100 days before the scheduled opening of the Games on April 14. What was meant to be a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity has now turned into “a really dangerous experience,” she said. The video can be viewed here. 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.
Spring issue of DIJ Newsletter published
We have just published the spring 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 conference in cooperation with the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan (VSJF) and the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) on the 10th anniversary of 3.11; conference presentations and publications by our researchers; media interviews as well as a new addition to our DIJ YouTube channel: DIJ alumnus Axel Klein’s documentary on election campaigns in Japan, by now a popular teaching tool. 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.
Online conference ‘Climate Change, Energy, and Sustainability in the Pacific Region’
Please note: Panel 5 was moved to Friday, April 23, 11:30 a.m. JST / Warsaw 4:30 a.m. / Eugene, OR 7:30 p.m. (Thursday, April 22)
The DIJ will host the four-day online conference ‘Climate Change, Energy, and Sustainability in the Pacific Region Knowledge, Policies, and Transfers (1970s – Present)’ from April 19 to 23. It seeks to explore the historical development of attitudes towards climate change and environmental degradation within various Pacific Rim countries like China, the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. It will also address interactions between their climate, energy, and environmental policies and ask which national economic goals, geopolitical rivalries, social structures, and cultural preferences pose obstacles to the implementation of countermeasures to climate change and environmental degradation. The conference is part of the Max Weber Foundation’s collaborative research project “Knowledge Unbound” in the module “Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany). Details and registration here
Barbara Holthus quoted in international media about Tokyo Olympics
As the Olympic torch relay started this week, the Tokyo Olympics are back in the focus of international media. DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus was interviewed and quoted by several media about the current mood in Japan towards the Olympics. For CNN International, Barbara comments on Japan’s lost opportunity to re-imagine itself and get an economic boost from Olympia-related tourism. In the New York Times, Barbara explains how the 110,000 volunteers are being prepared for their roles at the Games during the pandemic. In Austrian TV’s ORF Sport am Sonntag, she comments on the exploding costs and the likelihood of the Olympics going ahead as scheduled. For an AP News article, Barbara contextualizes the recent scandals over sexist comments. In Deutsche Welle, she explains why the decision to exclude foreign spectators is a concession to the Japanese people who have become increasingly skeptical of the Olympics. 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.
書籍共同展示「3.11から10年」
DIJ researchers at virtual AAS 2021 Annual Conference
DIJ social scientists Sonja Ganseforth and Nora Kottmann have presented papers on their current research projects at this year’s virtual AAS annual conference. Sonja’s paper “The Political Ecology of Japanese Coastal Fisheries Reform” draws on her research project Fishing communities between growth and demise and studies challenges faced by Japanese coastal fisheries after recent legal reforms. Nora gave her paper “Negotiating Belonging: German Expatriates in Southern Tokyo” in the panel ‘Managing Migration in Japan: Short-term Labour, Tourists, and International Students’. Her paper is based on ongoing fieldwork and analyzes different conceptions of belonging among privileged, highly mobile short-term migrants. DIJ alumna Gabriele Vogt served as discussant in this panel. The AAS presentations are available as on-demand videos. More information here.
New article by Markus Heckel on Japan’s fiscal policy
DIJ economist Markus Heckel has contributed an article on Japan’s monetary and fiscal policy to the latest issue of Japanmarkt, the German-language quarterly published by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK) in Japan. The Corona pandemic has caused a global economic standstill and also the Japanese economy has weakened since the beginning of the crisis. The Japanese government and central bank have therefore launched huge economic stimulus and aid programmes. In “Japans Geld- und Fiskalpolitik im Spiegel der Corona-Pandemie” (Japan’s Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Light of the Corona Pandemic), Markus explains how the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government have coordinated their monetary and fiscal policies. He also analyzes risks and side effects of Japan’s debt problems and its ultra-loose monetary policy. The full article is available for download here. It draws on Markus’ ongoing research project Economic Discourses of Monetary Policy – The Case of the Bank of Japan.
New issue 33(1) of Contemporary Japan published
The latest issue of Contemporary Japan is now available online and in print. Articles in CJ 33(1) cover Nikkei Brazilian migrants in Japan and their use of online platforms to stay connected (by Rumika Suzuki Hillyer), war memories and Japanese citizens’ views toward the self-defense forces (by Satoshi Machida), English language education and national identity (by Damian J. Rivers), and the nuclear power debate in Japanese newspapers, 1973–2014 (by Tobias Weiss). This issue also features a Review Article of Kanamori Osamu (金森修) and the history and philosophy of science in Japan by Hansun Hsiung. Plus: three reviews of recently published books on the Soka Gakkai, the anime boom in the United States, and professional baseball in modern Japan. Please see the full issue here
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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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