Contemporary Japan (CJ) is the biannual journal of the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (DIJ), published by de Gruyter, Berlin and New York.

(1) Call for Papers for Special Issue Topic:
"Ethnographies of Hope in Contemporary Japan" Guest
editor: Iza Kavedžija (University of Oxford)

In recent years, amidst a faltering economic climate, Japanese people have witnessed a proliferation of narratives of decline and diminishing hope. Social consequences of the economic downturn vary from withdrawal from the public sphere into the private domain and political apathy among the young, to the strengthening of revisionism and right wing rhetoric. By far the most widespread public reaction though seems to be a vague sense of disillusionment and hopelessness. While the economic and social situation warrants concern, the cross cultural perspective afforded by anthropology would indicate that people continue to hope and strive for better lives however dire the circumstances.

For this special issue we invite contributions that consider feelings, perceptions and narratives of hope and hopelessness, as well as examples of how new organizations or efforts have fostered renewed feelings of hope in contemporary Japanese society. Specific theoretical issues to explore may include the
following:

- Hope and temporality. Is hope primarily
future oriented? What is hope's relationship to the
past? When is hope merely a 'future nostalgia'
(Zournazi 2002) that serves as a tool of governments to manipulate the feelings of its subjects?

- Hope and agency. When does hope enable action,
and when does it promote passivity or reliance on something seen as an external
agency (cf. Crapanzano 2003)? To what extent can one foster hope?

- Hope and social change. Does a hopeful
attitude lead to passivity, thus contributing to the status quo, or does it allow for envisaging alternative futures?
Should hope be understood as a collective resource (cf. Braithwaite 2004; Lueck 2007)?

- Hope, knowledge, and creativity. Are older
categories of thought foreclosing the possibility for an emergence of hope, having become the very
'apparatus of hopelessness' (Graeber 2011)? Is hope primarily a form of 'readjustment of knowledge'
(Miyazaki 2006)?

Contributions should not exceed 8000 words, including references and appendices. For details see our submission guidelines at www.contemporary-japan.org/stylesheet.
For Inquiries and submission contact:
iza.kavedzija@anthro.ox.ac.uk Submission deadline: 31 March 2015; Publication: Spring 2016

(2) Invitation for Proposals for Special Issues We are currently inviting proposals for a special issue of Contemporary Japan to be published in spring 2017.
The submission deadline for the proposal is 31 March 2015. Special issue proposals should be submitted as a draft call for papers. The call for papers should have a similar format as the one in
(1) and should include:

i. A provisional title and theme of the special issue ii. The special issue's objective and how it relates to the existing literature iii. Examples of questions that would meet the objective of the special issue

Special issues must be open to any researcher working on the addressed topic and not be restricted to participants of specific workshops, symposia, etc., though such events may serve as a point of departure.
All papers will be subject to external peer-review.
Please note that editors of a special issue cannot author papers for that issue.

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Contemporary Japan is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research from all disciplines as they relate to present-day Japan or its recent historical development.
Manuscripts which cross disciplinary boundaries and raise larger issues of interest are also welcome. All submissions are peer-reviewed in a double-blind process by established scholars in the field.
For more information please see our website at http://www.contemporary-japan.org/