Dear list members [apologies for cross-posting!],

 

I am happy to announce that registration for our workshop "Imagined Futures in Japan & Beyond" is now open via our updated workshop website (https://dij.tokyo/futures)!

The workshop is organized and sponsored in collaboration with our friends at the German Centre for Research & Innovation (DWIH) in Tokyo and will take place at the German Insitute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo from October 9 to October 11, 2024.

All presentations will be accessible via online live stream, including a chat for questions and comments during the Q&As at the end of each panel session.

Please register via the following links by October 08

-          for the evening keynotes on October 09:

https://maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/webinar/register/WN_4eprfVoJTnyJpk129LBLbA

-          for all panel sessions on October 10 and 11:

https://maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/webinar/register/WN__A-2ShkhQCWNFatm0Axd3Q

 

On site attendance is open to the public for the evening keynotes on October 09 (DIJ Forum, including a small reception). If you wish to attend on site, please register via email to forum@dijtokyo.org (stating your name and affiliation) by October 07.

 

Please see the full conference program below. For the abstracts of all presentations, please visit our workshop website (https://dij.tokyo/futures).

And of course, let me know if you have any questions (mueller@dijtokyo.org).

 

Looking forward to seeing you either online or on-site,

Nicole M. Mueller

 

 

Imagined Futures in Japan & Beyond

International Workshop | Program

 

WED Oct 09, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 PM
Keynote Speeches/DIJ Forum (on site & online | registration required)

Future Narratives - Why They Matter
Fritz BREITHAUPT (Indiana University Bloomington, Experimental Humanities Lab)

Science Fiction Prototyping Trends in Japan
Hirotaka ŌSAWA (Keiō University Tōkyō, Keiō SF Lab)

 

07:30 - 21:00 PM
Reception (on site only| registration required)

 

THU Oct 10, 2024

10:00 - 10:30 AM         
Welcome & Introduction (online only | registration required)

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM   
Panel 1: Imaginations of Futuristic Japan (online only | registration required)

Imagining Japanese Technofutures - The Role of Futurology and Science Fiction in Shaping the Information Society
Volker ELIS (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

Progress as Decline: Future Imaginaries in Contemporary Japanese Literature
Kristina IWATA-WEICKGENANNT (Nagoya University)

The Future of Emotion as Zen: Meditation Apps, Android Bodhisattvas, and Mood-Regulating Tech in Japanese Wellness Spaces
Daniel WHITE (University of Cambridge, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence)

 

02:00 - 03:30 PM

Panel 2: Imagined Futures of the Augmented Self (online only | registration required)

Hoshi Shin'ichi and Artificial Intelligence
Michaela OBERWINKLER (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

Japan's Dawn of a 'New Extended Reality Era' through the Lens of Future Imaginaries
Nicole M. MUELLER (German Institute for Japanese Studies, DIJ)

'If it were real, I'd feel both fascinated and cautious.' - Reflecting on Japanese citizens' narratives about a prospective metaverse through a design-theoretical lens                                         
Michel HOHENDANNER (Technical University of Munich & Munich Center for Digital Sciences and AI)
Chiara ULLSTEIN (Technical University of Munich)
Hirotaka ŌSAWA (Keiō University Tōkyō, Keiō SF Lab)
Jens GROSSKLAGS (Technical University of Munich)
※ The Paper is presented in person by Michel HOHENDANNER and Hirotaka ŌSAWA

 

04:00 - 05:30 PM          
Panel 3 [Practitioners' Perspectives]: XR Spotlights from Japan (online only | registration required)         

Japan's Virtual Scene [preliminary title]
Shuntarō KUBOTA (CEO, MoguraVR)

XR Imaginaries in Japanese Advertising [preliminary title]
Shingo MEGURO (R&D Director, Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc.)

Reality into the virtual world -- VR, AR and more --
Kenji TANAKA (Founder & CEO, Foxtrot Inc.)

 

FRI Oct 11, 2024

10:00 - 11:30 AM
Panel 4: Imagined Societies in the Data & Information Age (online only | registration required)

Imagining a Cashless Future for Japan: Digital Payments, Data Monetization, and Customer Experience Christian OBERLÄNDER (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Imagining the future global pandemic and surveillance society
Takahiro YAMAMOTO (Singapore University of Technology and Design)

Mapping the Socio-technical Imaginaries of Dataveillance in Japan
Peter MANTELLO (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
Alin OLEANU (Käte Hamburger Kolleg, RWTH Germany & Shanghai International Studies University)

 

01:30 - 03:30 PM
Panel 5: Imagined Futures of Our Lived Environment (online only | registration required)

Ecological narratives in the drawn visions of the future of the Tokyo metropolis
Corinne TIRY-ONO (Paris-Val de Seine National Graduate School of Architecture)

Fraught Narratives, Contrived Futures: Connection and the Unhoused across Tokyo
Paul CHRISTENSEN (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana)

Naturing Japan's Homeland: Green Infrastructure as a Narrative of Sociotechnical Redemption and Revival
Takehiro WATANABE (Sophia University Tokyo)

Fukushima Futures: The Politics of Nuclear Energy in Japan after 3/11
Kyle CLEVELAND (Temple University Tokyo)

 

04:00 - 05:30 PM   
Panel 6: Futures in the Making - Practices, Methods, Mechanisms (online only | registration required)

Techno-nationalism and the Land of the Rising Robots. The Japanese government's co-construction of policy and technoscience
Amanda BRØDSGAARD (University of Copenhagen)

"Let's think together": Scattered narratives in NHK's #BeyondGender project
Anya DOI-BENSON (Doshisha University Kyoto)

Posting the Future in the Present: Imagination as Manifest Destiny
Jonathan E. ABEL  (Penn State University)

 

05:30 - 05:45 PM
Closing Remarks (online only | registration required)     

-- Dr. des. Nicole M. Mueller German Institute for Japanese Studies Jōchi Kioizaka Bldg. 2F 7-1 Kioichō Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō 102-0094 Tel.: +81-3-3222-5740