The Japan Fieldwork Workshop
(see below for our info)

invites you to

The Japanese Anti-Nuclear Movement
-- Mobilization Processes After Fukushima

Anna Wiemann
Scholarship Fellow, PhD Student
German Institute for Japanese Studies

Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus
Bldg. 10, room 301
Wednesday, April 30th
5-6:30 pm
(We usually go out for a beer afterwards)

Free; open to all; no registration necessary Presentation in English

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The nuclear accident in Fukushima in March 2011 triggered a new wave of social movement activism in Japan. The protests every Friday evening in front of the Prime Minister's residence
(kantei) can be counted as one of the most visible activities of this movement. But the movement cannot be reduced to street demonstrations.
Less visible collective actions frequently take place in the form of conferences, lectures, study groups or parliamentarian briefings on energy and radiation related issues.

This presentation focuses on questions such as:
What are the facilitating factors behind the collective action? Who are the organizers of such movement events and how are they connected amongst each other? How do they try to mobilize people to participate? Literature on social movements (Gerhards/Rucht 1992) indicates that the meso-organizational level plays a decisive role in processes of motivation and coordination for collective action. Based on extensive field work with mainly Tokyo-based social movement organizations (interviews, participant observation), this study uses qualitative network analysis to get an idea of how these SMOs organize and cooperate with each other since 3.11 and of how they provide an arena for individuals to participate in collective action.

Anna Wiemann is a PhD student at Hamburg University and currently a scholarship fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). She holds a master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and a bachelor's degree in Japanese Linguistics.

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THE JAPAN FIELDWORK WORKSHOP
We are now in our 14th year, making us one of the longest running workshop of its kind in Tokyo. Our focus is on fieldwork-base research in anthropology, sociology, popular culture, political science, media studies and related fields.

The goal is to present work in progress in a critical and informal setting. So, rather than delivering that perfectly defensible 20 minute conference paper, you have a chance to present in a longer format, to discuss and explore the more unwieldy parts of your research.
Of course, we will work to link theory and ethnography in productive ways, but also to share the methodological challenges of fieldwork with others currently in the field.

We are open to all scholars doing fieldwork but in order to keep numbers down, we periodically close this group. In our closed format, we will usually pre-circulate papers, chapters or proposals for comment and discussion.

If you would like to become a regular member, or need information on presenting please contact me directly (dhslater[at]gmail.com).

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David H. Slater, Ph.D.
Director of the Institute of Comparative Culture Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology Faculty of Liberal Arts, Graduate Program in Japanese Studies Sophia University, Tokyo