Dear Members of the SSJ Forum.

Please note the approach of the 15th annual conference of the International
Association for Japan Studies. The theme of this year's conference is:
"Yonaoshi: Remake the World", and we
are happy that so many fervent scholars and activists of true excellence
have creatively responded to the ecological and climate crisis threatening
Japan and the planet.
The conference is free and open to all.

We prefer that attendees register in advance, but on-day registration is
also allowed.
https://forms.gle/KEeQNm4gUASJLKWXA

A detailed program may be found here, and is also appended at the bottom
of this message.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gT7vnWGFvZVwpL3iruc6QUxZ8KlV631QPFnqPOHe63Y/edit?usp=sharing

Please send questions or comments to:

iajs2019conference@gmail.com
c/o Charles Cabell
Faculty of Global and Regional Studies, Toyo University
-------------------


Program



9:00 - 9:45 朝食 REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST of Pastries, fruit, coffee and tea.
Sky Hall Building 2 Floor 16

9:45 - 9:55 Opening Ceremony Sky Hall Building 2 Floor 16

Opening Remarks Charles Cabell

10:00 - 11:30 Session I

11:45 - 13:15 Session II

13:15 -14:15 Lunch

14:15 - 15:45 Session III

16:00-17:00 Keynote Speech Sky Hall Building 2 Floor 16

Harumi OSAKI: "Beyond Universalism and Particularism:

Rethinking the Philosophy of the Kyoto School"

17:05 - 17:30 Closing Remarks and Annual Meeting Sky Hall Building 2 Floor
16

17:45 - Reception with food, drink, featuring JAZZ SUNNY BAND,

Sky Hall Building 2 Floor 16


Speaker

Title

Abstract

Bio

ALT, Joachim

Red Room

5203

Session III

14:15 - 15:45

Whose Memory? - Of War Images in Anime

The defeat in World War 2 meant a drastic turning point in the development
of the Japanese society. In the stroke of the less than 5 minutes of the
Gyokuon Hōsō, the military state policy was abandoned and during the Allied
occupation Japan subsequently transformed from an expansionist empire into
a democratic peace nation. A good number of researchers has already in
detail explored how the transformation transpired and "memory" has become a
keyword in coming to understand the Japanese reformation.

One particular carrier of the memory of the war then is animation. No other
country can claim to be reproducing its peoples' experiences of the war in
animated films even nearly as extensively as Japan and multiple surveys
show that "anime" have been highly influential on the Japanese war memory.
Yet, the academic discourse on this carrier of memory is extremely limited
and usually focuses on only a handful of supposedly representative titles.
The result of this narrow outlook is the generalization that war anime are
a homogenic corpus, focused on conveying images of Japanese victimhood.

While the angle of victimized Japanese civilians is indeed dominant in war
anime, I in this presentation want to show that the composition of the
relevant films differs greatly. This differing composition further shows
gradual changes, so that, given a continuation of their development on the
current course, war anime might evolve to eventually present a new memory
identity in relation to World War 2. To outline the various trajectories of
the memory of the war in anime, I will introduce a series of semiotic
images, look at the spatial distribution of titles and explain the role of
the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the context of the corpus of war anime.

Hokkaido University, Graduate School of International Media, Communication
and Tourism Studies (Ph.D. candidate)



BAROLLI, Blendi

Blue Room

5202

Session III

14:15 - 15:45

Current state of Japanese International Tourism:

Focusing on the Tourism-oriented country Process

(in Japanese)


Senior Lecturer, Niigata University of Management, Faculty of Tourism
Management, Japan

BEAUD, Sylvie

5201

Green Room

Session I

10:00 - 11:30

Seeking well-being in contemporary Japan: The contemplative theatre's
experience

"Contemplative theatre" refers to a set of body and mind workshops
co-organized by a mindfulness practitioner and anthropologist, a
psychologist specializing in naikan -a Buddhist form of introspection-, and
a comedian. "Contemplative" relates to the wider transnational field of
contemplative studies and contemplative learning, which are particularly
developed in the United States and in Great Britain, and which purpose is
to integrate the body, mind and soul in learning and in research. The
organizers have, in fact, all been trained abroad and aim at developing a
Japanese version of contemplative learning practices. The objectives of the
contemplative learning are described by the organizers as follow:
"Contemplative learning includes the cultivation of awareness and attention
so that we are better able to regulate our emotions. It includes the
cultivation of compassion, and an awareness of the systems that we are
embedded in as interdependent beings. It is about opening up to the unknown
so that we have the courage to rest playfully and creatively in the chaos
and uncertainty of our times." (https://contemplativelearning.jimdofree.com
).

How does the contemplative theatre achieve to do so? How are mindfulness,
introspection and body/theatrical work combined? What does each part bring
to the workshop and what does the articulation of the three create
altogether? How do participants appreciate the workshop? What were they
initially seeking in contemplative theatre and what did they find at the
end of the experience? Relying on the analysis of a two-days retreat of
contemplative theatre organized in Karuizawa last summer, as well as on
interviews with the participants during and after the event, the
presentation will explore the three components that form the contemplative
theatre, in order to better define that concept.

Sylvie Beaud holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of
Paris-Nanterre

(France). Initially specialized in Chinese studies and anthropology of
China, she

conducted research on the various expression of ethnic identity, notably
through a

ritual theatre, among the Han Chinese in Yunnan. Established in Japan for 10

years, she now pursues her research on Japanese forms of theatrical
performances

and reiki practices.

BRADLEY, Joff P.N.

5201

Green Room

A study on the contemporary significance of Namazu-e and the monstrous



In reflecting on the contemporary (non-religious) significance of yonaoshi (
世直し) or world renewal, and writing from the perspective of utopian
philosophy, this paper addresses the apparent dearth of imagination to
remake the world. I want to consider how a renewed image of namazu (鯰) or
catfish may help us to form a critique of the present and to conceive of
new worlds and futures by the imagery of nuclear accident and natural
disaster. Yonaoshi will be examined to understand the problematic of trauma
and transformation in our current moment as I want to question why it is so
difficult to offer visions, figments and imaginations beyond images of
disaster, extinction, catastrophe and apocalypse. I want to ask why it is
so exhausting to ask "ええじゃないか・ee ja nai ka?" I want to show namazu's social
significance and political effect of critiquing those in political power in
the last years of Edo.

JOFF P. N. BRADLEY of Teikyo University has co-written A Pedagogy of
Cinema, and coedited: Deleuze and Buddhism; Educational Philosophy and New
French Thought; Principles of Transversality in Globalization and
Education. He is visiting professor at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New
Delhi, and visiting researcher at Kyung Hee University, Seoul.



Cabell, Charles

Blue Room

5202

Session II

11:45 - 13:15

The Meaning of Yonaoshi, or Remaking the World, in the Age of Reiwa

(Joint Presentation with Maki Tajima and Shogo Kigoshi)

After listening to what my fellow presenters have learned during their
learning journey to Fukushima, I will join a discussion with them to
consider how the Fukushima nuclear disaster, ecological crisis, feminism,
Okinawan resistance to the militarization of their islands by US and
Japanese military forces, attempts by Ainu to control public discourse
about them and other conference themes may be seen to be connected to all
of us attending the conference. We will explore the kind of fundamental
remaking of modern society needed for sustained personal happiness, a fair
and just society and a way of living compatible with the earth. This is an
interactive discussion in which we invite audience members to share
political and personal stories or responding to the unprecedented threat of
violence, abject alienation and planetary collapse, including efforts to
create community and live joyfully in the world without falling into denial