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EMERGENT FORMS OF ENGAGEMENT AND ACTIVISM IN JAPAN -POLITICS, CULTURES AND TECHNOLOGIES

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This conference brings together an international, multi-disciplinary group of scholars seeking to document and understand emergent forms of political activism, social engagement and cultural expression, especially among youth in Japan. With roots that go back to the post-war student and citizens movements, popular culture shifts during 1970's and 80's affluence, and post-bubble recessionary disenfranchisement, our goal is to develop a critical language that captures the range of alternatives to what was once considered "political."
>From street politics to new forms of socialities, from
creative representation to active resistance, our goal is to explore these alternative currents right into our post 3.11 moment.

Date: June 11th and 12th, 2011

Venue: Temple University, Japan Campus Azabu Hall, RM
212/213
(2-8-12 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku)

Access: www.tuj.ac.jp/maps

Organizers:
David H. Slater, Sophia University
Love Kindstrand, Sophia University

Host: Kyle Cleveland, Wakai Project Director Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies Temple University Japan Campus

Admission: General - \1,000, Student - Free with student ID

Language: English & Japanese
(simultaneous translation is not available.)

Open to all: RSVP not required

TENTATIVE PROGRAM TENTATIVE PROGRAM TENTATIVE PROGRAM =======================================================
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Saturday, June 11th, 1:00 - 3:00:
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Art, Creativity, Representations and Social Movements =======================================================

* Tomiko Yoda, Japanese Literature and Media Studies,
Harvard University
Between Pop and Radical: Feminism and Media Culture
in Early 70s Japan

* Sharon Hayashi, Cinema and Media Studies, York
University
From Exploitation to Playful Exploits

* Patrick W. Galbraith, Information Studies,
University of Tokyo
Train Man, Radiowave Man, Underground Man:
Revisiting the Politics of Pleasure after the
Akihabara Incident

* Tanaka Touko, Cultural Studies, Waseda University
Girls' Culture and Novel Work

Discussants:
Anne Allison, Duke University
Yoshitaka Mouri, Tokyo University of the Arts

Saturday 3:30-5:30:
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Protest, Direct, Indirect; Organized and Anarchic =========================================

* Higuchi Takuro, Political Sociology, University of
Kyoto
A Prehistory of the Alterglobalisation Movement in
Japan: Subterranean Autonomous Networks in Japan
Since the '90s

* Nathaniel Michael Smith, Cultural Anthropology, Yale
University
Mourning Calm Amidst a Political Storm:
Mobilizing Sentiments and the Yasukuni Shrine Youth
Group 'Asanagi'

* Robin O'Day, Cultural Anthropology, University of
British Columbia
Union is Hope: The Role of Networks and Digital
Media in Organizing Japan's Young Irregular Workers

* Christian Dimmer, Urban Studies, University of Tokyo
Examining the Spatial Dimension: The Role of Public
Space in the Formation of Japan's Counter Politics

* Love Kindstrand, Cultural Anthropology, Sophia
University
Tactical Currents, Spatial Framings: the
Movement Against Nike-ification of Miyashita Park and
Beyond

Discussants:
Patricia Steinhoff, University of Hawaii
Dai Nomiya, Sophia University

* Reception

Sunday, June 12th, 1:00-4:00
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Emergent Forms of Alternative Politics
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* Ikuo J. Gonoi, Political Theory, Rikkyo University
The World's End : The Cognitive Turn from "Sekai" to
"Shakai"

* Pat Steinhoff, Sociology, University of Hawaii
Transforming Invisible Civil Society into
Alternative Politics

* Genda Yuji, Labor Economy, University of Tokyo
The Politics of Hope as an Orientation to the Present

* Mizukoshi Shin, Media Studies, University of Tokyo
Everyday Sociality and Social Media

* Anne Allison, Cultural Anthropology, Duke University
Stopping Death and Organizing Around Life:
a Politics of Survival

* Shibuya Nozomu, Cultural Sociology, Chiba University
Radioactive Contamination and the Common

Discussants:
Tomiko Yoda, Harvard University
Sharon Hayashi, York University

4:15-5:30pm
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Roundtable on 3.11
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This is a roundtable discussion of all presenters on
the ways in which the events since 3.11 have shaped
our thinking and how our own scholarship might help us
makes sense of its implication.

* Reception

Temple University Japan Campus AZABU HALL
2-8-12 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0073
Tel. 03-5441-9800
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/about/access/azabu.html

* From Shirokane-Takanawa (Tokyo Metro Namboku Line,
Toei Mita Line): 7-minute walk from Exit 4. (Once you
reach the sunken courtyard on the B1 floor, take the
stairs to the right and continue straight.) * From
Azabu-Juban (Tokyo Metro Namboku Line, Toei Oedo Line):
10-minute walk from Exit 1. (After coming out of Exit
1,
walk toward Sunkus convenience store.)

Produced by the Institute of Contemporary Asian
Studies'
Wakai Project at Temple University, Japan Campus. Wakai
provides a forum for students to interact with cultural
innovators, advance serious discussion about social
issues and problems facing young people, and impact
social policy and debates concerning the status of
youth
in Japan. The network of universities and organizations
that Wakai draws on provides academic grounding to
popular culture issues, and allows students to
integrate
their academic and social lives.

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies: Wakai Project
Temple University, Japan Campus
Project Director: Kyle Cleveland (cleveland@tuj.ac.jp)

David H. Slater (dhslater@gmail.com)
Faculty of Liberal Arts
Sophia University, Tokyo