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March 27, 2026
u:japan lectures - Robert Dahlberg-Sears: "Causing a Scene: Magazines and the Shaping of Punk in Japan"
From: u:japan lectures : Department of East Asian Studies : University of Vienna <ujapanlectures.
Date: 2026/03/18
Dear Colleagues,
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:
Robert Dahlberg-Sears (Sophia University, Tokyo):
"Causing a Scene: Magazines and the Shaping of Punk in Japan"
Date and time: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 18:00~19:30 (CET, UTC +1h)
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.
Online: Join the lecture via Zoom (no registration necessary):
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/
Meeting-ID: 639 0263 6613 | Passcode: 742173
Abstract: Drawing on a collected archive of Punk Rock Issue Bollocks, the only magazine publication (雑誌) dedicated to punk music and culture in Japan in the present, this presentation will explore how the punk music-culture scene in Japan is imagined and represented through print media and in what ways this mediated form contributes to and delimits the function of such representations. Print materials and commentaries are frequent references within studies of musical scenes in Japan, but are not commonly implicated in supporting the creation of the genre which they address. On the other hand, zine and magazine commentaries written by and for community consumption in punk scenes are well-known attendant aspects of punk culture. As frequent productions associated with punk music, how do these materials circulate, how are they valued, and who do they target?
The presentation makes use of dissertation research on punk music and culture in Japan begun at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the vital role of print materials in identifying and arbitrating the outline of a musical scene. The example of Punk Rock Issue Bollocks offers a distinct processual viewpoints onto the work of bringing communities of practice to life as they develop in-person and when distanced from a physical site of enactment. Based on both collected materials and ethnographic observation of punk places and events, this presentation offers interventions in studies of music, Japan, and punk to suggest that ephemeral materials can play a role beyond archival reference in ethnographic exploration.
For more information on the speaker and future events at u:japan, please follow the link below:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.
We look forward to your participation!
Hanno Jentzsch, Lola Moreau, Anna-Maria Stabentheiner, Ralf Windhab and Julian Wollinger
PS: If you missed a lecture or want to review, head to our recorded lectures section:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.
u:japan lectures
Department of East Asian Studies / Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
E-mail: ujapanlectures.ostasien@
Kindly sponsored by the Toshiba International Foundation:
https://www.toshibafoundation.
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:
Robert Dahlberg-Sears (Sophia University, Tokyo):
"Causing a Scene: Magazines and the Shaping of Punk in Japan"
Date and time: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 18:00~19:30 (CET, UTC +1h)
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.
Online: Join the lecture via Zoom (no registration necessary):
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/
Meeting-ID: 639 0263 6613 | Passcode: 742173
Abstract: Drawing on a collected archive of Punk Rock Issue Bollocks, the only magazine publication (雑誌) dedicated to punk music and culture in Japan in the present, this presentation will explore how the punk music-culture scene in Japan is imagined and represented through print media and in what ways this mediated form contributes to and delimits the function of such representations. Print materials and commentaries are frequent references within studies of musical scenes in Japan, but are not commonly implicated in supporting the creation of the genre which they address. On the other hand, zine and magazine commentaries written by and for community consumption in punk scenes are well-known attendant aspects of punk culture. As frequent productions associated with punk music, how do these materials circulate, how are they valued, and who do they target?
The presentation makes use of dissertation research on punk music and culture in Japan begun at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the vital role of print materials in identifying and arbitrating the outline of a musical scene. The example of Punk Rock Issue Bollocks offers a distinct processual viewpoints onto the work of bringing communities of practice to life as they develop in-person and when distanced from a physical site of enactment. Based on both collected materials and ethnographic observation of punk places and events, this presentation offers interventions in studies of music, Japan, and punk to suggest that ephemeral materials can play a role beyond archival reference in ethnographic exploration.
For more information on the speaker and future events at u:japan, please follow the link below:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.
We look forward to your participation!
Hanno Jentzsch, Lola Moreau, Anna-Maria Stabentheiner, Ralf Windhab and Julian Wollinger
PS: If you missed a lecture or want to review, head to our recorded lectures section:
https://japanologie.univie.ac.
u:japan lectures
Department of East Asian Studies / Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna
E-mail: ujapanlectures.ostasien@
Kindly sponsored by the Toshiba International Foundation:
https://www.toshibafoundation.
Approved by ssjmod at 01:20 PM