The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau has interviewed DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus about the continuing effects of the ‘triple disaster’ on Japanese society. In “Fukushima war eine Zäsur” (Fukushima was a watershed), Barbara explains how 3.11 has caused the rebirth of social movements in Japan, increased mistrust of the Japanese government and of mainstream media, and also influences the critical attitude of many Japanese towards the Tokyo Olympics. “The anti-Olympics movement is directed, among other things, against the idea of the so-called Recovery Olympics: that the problem of Fukushima has been overcome. Of course, this is absolute eyewash, but that’s how the Games were advertised”. Barbara’s current research includes projects on Social movements and gender in post-3.11 Japan and a special project on the Tokyo Olympics. The newspaper article appeared online and in the FR‘s print edition on March 10. A collection of DIJ research and publications related to 3.11 is available here.

Das DIJ sucht wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterinnen/Mitarbeiter (w/m/d) mit einem abgeschlossenen Hochschulstudium mit Promotion, sehr guten Kenntnissen der japanischen Sprache und Forschungserfahrung in Japan. Erwartet wird die selbständige wissenschaftliche Arbeit zu einem der beiden aktuellen Schwerpunkte „Digitale Transformation“ bzw. „Japan in transregionaler Perspektive“ oder zu dem neu geplanten Schwerpunkt „Nachhaltigkeit und Resilienz“. Die Stellen sind ab September 2022 zu besetzen, Bewerbungsfrist ist der 30. April 2022. Die Ausschreibung und Details finden Sie hier. Außerdem suchen wir möglichst ab 1. September, spätestens aber zum 1. November 2022, zwei Kolleginnen/Kollegen (w/m/d) in der Verwaltung. Bewerbungsfrist ist der 30. April.

Pictures at an Election is a 68 min. documentary that shows Japan’s electoral machinery in full steam and focuses on the question of how Japanese candidates try to appeal to voters. It depicts different strategies and techniques, and presents a lively picture of political culture in Japan. It was filmed by political scientist and then DIJ senior research fellow Axel Klein (now Duisburg-Essen University, Germany) during the electoral campaigning in July 2007. Until today the documentary has been distributed for free to more than 100 universities all over the world. Since the pandemic has made on campus teaching impossible and online access to teaching material has become indispensable, the DIJ and Axel Klein have decided to publish the documentary on the DIJ’s YouTube channel. Coincidentally, the (unintended) protagonist of the documentary, Marukawa Tamayo, became Minister in charge of Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality and Minister of State for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in February 2021. This documentary shows how she started her political career with her first election campaign. Details

DIJ historian Torsten Weber was interviewed by the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung for an article on the debate about history textbooks in Japan. Torsten explains that due to the so-called “neighbouring country clause” the majority of Japanese history textbooks presented a mainstream and relatively well-balanced narrative of Japanese imperialism and war-time aggression. The main objective of the textbooks was to prepare for entry exams. Consequently, they focused on teaching facts, causal relations, and omitted interpretations and controversial statements. Torsten gives the example of the Nanjing atrocities which are explicitly mentioned in the textbooks, including the victimization of Chinese civilians by the Japanese military. However, they avoided giving a number of victims as this remains a contested issue between the governments of Japan and the PR China. The article “Es geht um das, was nicht drinsteht” (It’s about what’s not in it) appeared in the print version of the SZ on 22 February and can be read online here.