VSJF (German Association for Social Science Research on
Japan) Annual Conference 2013
at the Japanese German Center Berlin, 22-24 November
2013

Inequality in Post-Growth Japan: Social Transformation during Economic and Demographic Stagnation

Social inequality has been on the research agenda pertaining to many advanced economies such as Germany and the USA for some time. The recent worldwide financial and economic crisis has given it increased significance. In Japan, too, social inequality has become a key topic for scholars and social policy makers since the turn of the century. For decades, Japan considered itself a homogeneous middle-class society of economic equity and equal opportunity.
Recently however, Japan is struggling to come to terms with structural changes and a new self-image as a gap society (kakusa shakai) marked by increasing differentiation and new forms of social inequality.
Economic stagnation and population aging are compounding extant problems in the labor market as well as in the already overstretched social security system.

After two decades of structural changes, we believe that it is time to take stock. Bringing together leading experts from various disciplines, including sociology, economics, social geography and Japanese studies, the conference will focus on five dimensions of social inequality which we believe to be especially relevant in the Japanese context: education, work, social welfare, the urban-rural divide, and minorities.
Within each dimension presenters will concentrate on the three levels of structure, discourse, and agency.
In this way, we hope to establish a coherent view of the current state of Japan as gap society and to identify the dynamics between structural changes, public and academic discourses as well as resulting behavior patterns and forms of political action.

Registration is open until Nov. 8:
http://www.jdzb.de/images/stories/documents/p1498-regis
tration.pdf

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Program

November 22, 2013 (Friday)

15:00-15:30 Welcome, opening remarks and introduction to the conference

15:30-16:15 Keynote speech

- Yoshimichi Sato (Tohoku University, Sendai):
Institutions and Agency in the Creation of Social Inequality

16:15-16:45 Coffee break

16:45-18:15 Panel 1 – Urban vs. Rural
- Ralph Lützeler (University of Bonn): The Urban-Rural Divide in Japan – A Matter of Social Inequality?
- Volker Elis (University of Tübingen): Public and Political Discourses on Spatial Inequality in Japan
- Peter Matanle (University of Sheffield):
Understanding the Dynamics of Regional Growth and Shrinkage in 21st Century Japan

18:30-20:00 Dinner

November 23, 2013 (Saturday)

9:00-10:30 Panel 2 – Welfare State
- Sawako Shirahase (University of Tokyo): Social Inequality in Family with Children - Focusing on Income Inequality in Contemporary Japan
- Harald Conrad (University of Sheffield): Social Policy Responses to the "Gap Society" - The Structural Limitations of the Japanese Welfare State and Related Official Discourses since the 1990s
- Margarita Estévez-Abe (Collegio Carlo Alberto,
Torino): Political Obstacles for Welfare Reform in Japan

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:30 Panel 3 – Labor Market
- Sébastien Lechevalier (EHESS, Paris): The "Re-segmentation" of the Japanese Labor Market - A Structural Effect of the Increasing Heterogeneity of Firms?
- Karen Shire and Steffen Heinrich (University
Duisburg-Essen): Discourses about Labor Market Inequalities
- Jun Imai (Hokkaido University, Sapporo): Are Labor Union Movements Capable in Solving the Problems of the "Gap Society"?

12:30-14:00 Lunch break

14:00-16:00 General Meeting of the VSJF

16:00-19:00 VSJF Section Meetings (Sitzungen der
Fachgruppen)

19:00-20:30 Dinner

November 24, 2013 (Sunday)

9:00-10:30 Panel 4 – Minorities
- David Chiavacci (University of Zurich): Paths of Inclusion and Exclusion - Ethnic Minorities and Social Structures in Contemporary Japan
- Takashi Kibe (International Christian University,
Tokyo): The Tabunka Kyôsei Model in Crisis? Public Discourse on Immigrant Integration in a Gap Society
- Gracia Liu-Farrer (Waseda University, Tokyo): Global Opportunities, Ethnic Resources and Transnational Strategies - Newcomer Immigrants' Economic Practices in Japan

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:30 Panel 5 – Education
- Takehiko Kariya (Oxford University): Understanding Structural Changes in Inequality in Education
- Julia Canstein (University of Halle-Wittenberg):
Trying to Reduce Inequalities in School - The Academic Discourse and the Concept of "Effectiv Schools"
- Akito Okada (Tokyo University for Foreign Studies):
Recent Trends in Japan’s Educational Policy and Equal Opportunity

12:30-12:45 Concluding remarks
End of the conference

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Contact:
David Chiavacci, University of Zurich,
david.chiavacci[at]aoi.uzh.ch
Carola Hommerich, German Institute for Japanese Studies, hommerich[at]dijtokyo.org