Sebastian Polak-Rottmann
Japanese Studies, Social Science
Since November 2022
Profile on ORCID
As a trained Japanologist and social scientist, Sebastian Polak-Rottmann focuses on the resilience of local communities in Japan. He received his PhD in 2022 (Vienna) on the well-being and political participation in the Aso region in Southern Japan. He was part of an interdisciplinary research project at the University of Vienna, funded by the DOC-team grant of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He has taught classes on rural Japan and civil society, including a remote field trip to Kyushu in 2022. At the DIJ, he primarily works on local care and well-being in rural Japan.
Current DIJ Projects
Creating places of resilience and communicative places
Completed DIJ Projects
Recent Publications
Miserka, Antonia & Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2024). "Happiness as a by-product – the impact of civic engagement on women’s well-being in rural Japan". Japan Forum. LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2024). "Review of Hokkaido Dairy Farm: Cosmopolitics of Otherness and Security on the Frontiers of Japan Paul Hansen, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2024, xii, 304 pp. + index, ISBN 978-1-43849-647-4 hb, https://sunypress.edu/Books/H/Hokkaido-Dairy-Farm". Japanese Studies. LINK
Jentzsch, Hanno & Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2024). "Community-Based Care During COVID-19: Balancing Social Distancing and Social Care in Rural Japan – The Case of the Aso Region". Tha Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 22/3/5. LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2024). Wie politische Partizipation Freude bereiten kann: Sechs Dimensionen des subjektiven Wohlbefindens politisch handelnder Personen im ländlichen Japan. Iudicium (DIJ Monographien). LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian, Schweyer, Victoria & Wunderlich, Jana (2023). "Gute Orte für das Alter: Bestandsrevitalisierung für eine kommunenbasierte Altenpflege". Archithese, 4.2023 (pp. 18-23). LINK
Traphagan, John W. & Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2023). "Cosmopolitan rurality and changing life in rural Japan". In: Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian & Miserka, Antonia (Eds.), Research into Japanese Society. Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 187-210). Department of East Asian Studies. (Beiträge zur Japanologie). LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian & Miserka, Antonia (2023). "Research into Japanese Society. Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Introduction". In: Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian & Miserka, Antonia (Eds.), Research into Japanese Society. Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 7-13). Department of East Asian Studies. (Beiträge zur Japanologie). LINK
Jentzsch, Hanno & Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2023). "Rural spaces, remote methods – the virtual Aso Winter Field School 2022". In: Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian & Miserka, Antonia (Eds.), Research into Japanese Society. Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 63-78). Department of East Asian Studies. (Beiträge zur Japanologie). LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian & Miserka, Antonia (2023). Research into Japanese Society. Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Department of East Asian Studies (Beiträge zur Japanologie). LINK
Polak-Rottmann, Sebastian (2023). "Being active and sharing happy moments: exploring the relationship of political participation and subjective well-being". Asian Anthropology (pp. 1-5). LINK