Dear SSJ-Forum member,
The Department of East Asian Studies - Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna would like to draw your attention to the upcoming hybrid u:japan lecture:

Hitomi Koyama (Leiden University):
"Pacific Dementia: On the Polymorphous Epithet in Japan under Pax Americana"

Date and time: Thursday, April 3, 2025, 18:00~19:30 (CEST, UTC +2h)

Location: Onsite @ Campus of the University of Vienna Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies room JAP 1 (2K-EG-21), University Campus Hof 2.4, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=23548#c646040

Online: Join the lecture via Zoom (no registration necessary):
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/67134440611?pwd=kvQ5B381ZdyggV9aQw66MFkXivZAxr.1
Meeting-ID: 671 3444 0611 | Passcode: 055351

Abstract: When US President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq in 2007, he addressed the veterans that bringing democracy to the Middle East will be feasible because Americans have already accomplished this before in Japan. In the narration of US-led liberal international order, Japan became the symbol of a successfully rehabilitated former enemy that is now a thriving liberal democracy. Little did Bush know that across the Pacific, while the United States was touting Japan as the success case, the Japanese were using an epithet against one another, that the Japanese people have become "pacifically demented [heiwa boke],"--that is, demented, because of peace brought under Pax Americana.

The epithet is ubiquitous. Explanation as to why one couldn't prevent the assassination of Shinzo Abe is "pacific dementia," youths standing in demonstration declare themselves as "pacifically demented," stump speeches on the street calls for the need to "awaken the Japanese people who have become pacifically demented"--while the phrase does not appear in polite Defense White Papers, the epithet can be found in comic books, in sensational magazine headlines, in heated National Diet Sessions, and in everyday references as a shorthand for the Japanese people's inability to realistically think about war, peace, and security. This raises a question, how does an epithet which pairs peace with dementia--a condition which is negative as it pertains to deterioration of thought--become ubiquitous in a pro-US state such as Japan? The fact that the epithet is always paired, instead of being used as "you are demented,"--calls for a historicized investigation.

In this talk, I argue that attending to this polymorphous epithet can reveal important features of contemporary Japanese politics. I ask what kind of work does the epithet do? How does the epithet work to constitute progressives as out of touch with reality? How has the figure of the "pacifically demented" worked as foil for the realist and the conservatives to normalize their political vision? How is the interpellation, that "you are pacifically demented" paralyzing, but also giving rise to a countering subject?

For more information on the speaker and future events at u:japan, please follow the link below:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/ujapanlectures/

We look forward to your participation!
Christopher Kummer, Florian Purkarthofer, Elisabeth Semmler, Astrid Unger and Ralf Windhab

PS: If you missed a lecture or want to review, head to our recorded lectures section:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/ujapanlectures/records/

u:japan lectures
Department of East Asian Studies / Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
E-mail: ujapanlectures.ostasien@univie.ac.at

Kindly sponsored by the Toshiba International Foundation:
https://www.toshibafoundation.com/