Announcing a General Symposium, “On the Front Lines of Japanese Popular Culture Research: Toward the Pursuit of New Images of Japan.”
■Details
From FY2016 through FY2021, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies has been engaged with an NIHU Transdisciplinary Project (Institute-based Project) titled “Historical and International Research into Popular Culture to Pursue New Images of Japan” (“Japanese Popular Culture Research Project”). At the outset, this Project was divided up into four teams doing research respectively on the ancient and medieval, early modern, modern, and contemporary periods. The teams were reorganized each year with the goal of crosscutting and blending among them. They collaborated with researchers in Japan and around the world in the effort to promote interdisciplinary and diachronic international team research on popular culture. The Project’s activities have aimed to carry out international collaborative research on popular culture; collect and disseminate research resources on popular culture; transmit the results on popular culture research and develop educational programs; and furthermore rebuild international research networks that are focused on popular culture research. Above all, the publication of the Nichibunken Popular Culture Research Series (Five-Volume)—which was also projected to be used as basic texts for popular culture research—was positioned to stand as a compilation of all the Project’s work.
This Symposium brings those six years of work to a close. With the goal of nurturing junior researchers, the panel programming has been left largely in the hands of junior and midcareer researchers. Under the title of “On the Front Lines of Japanese Popular Culture Research: Toward the Pursuit of New Images of Japan,” we hope that—through its four core panels—this Symposium will serve as an opportunity to scrutinize and evaluate all the work undertaken to date by the Japanese Popular Culture Research Project.
Furthermore, the Symposium concludes with a panel overseen by the Consortium for Global Japanese Studies that will weigh new developments and possibilities in global Japanese studies based on a dialogue with Europe.
■Dates
January 21 (Fri.), 22 (Sat.)23 (Sun.), 2022
■Venue
Conference Room 1, International Research Center for Japanese Studies (non-presenters to participate online only)
■Sponsor
International Research Center for Japanese Studies’ Japanese Popular Culture Research Project
■Co-Sponsor
Consortium for Global Japanese Studies
■How to Participate
Those who wish to apply to participate in this event online should either click on the URL below or scan the QR code.
Eligible Participants: Open to researchers only (including graduate students)
https://ws.formzu.net/dist/S42611550/
■Program (program details may be subject to change)
January 21 (Friday)
9:15 a.m.-9:30
Opening Remarks: INOUE Shōichi (Director-General, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Introduction: LIU Jianhui (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Panel 1: “Comparing Manga Cultures: Japan and Mexico”
Languages Used: Japanese, Spanish
9:30-9:45 Panel Chair and Coordinator: Álvaro David HERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ (Project Research Fellow, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
“Why to Focus on Mexican Comics ‘Historieta’?”
9:45-10:00 Panelist: YAMAMOTO Tadahiro (Assistant Professor, Kobe Design University)
“The ‘Half-Reality’ Generated by Photomontage: Domesticating Bodies, Movements, and Photos”
10:00-10:15 Panelist: SAIKA Tadahiro (Lecturer, Kaishi Professional University)
“The Cultural Borrowing of Horror Historieta and Horror Manga: On the Local Domestication of Genre
Imaginaition”
10:15-10:30 Panelist: Gen Leonardo OTA OTANI (Lecturer (part-time), National School of Anthropology and History)
“Depictions of Social Changes in the Mid-1940s in Japan and Mexico Examined Through Popular Manga: A Comparison of Alberto Cabrera’s Almas de Niño and Inoue Kazuo’s Bat Kid ”
10:30-10:45 Commentator from Mexico: Olivia DOMÍNGUEZ PRIETO (Lecturer, National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico / CESJM)
10:50-11:05 Commentator from Mexico: Laura Ivonne QUIROZ CASTILLO (Lecturer (part-time), National School of Anthropology and History / Metropolitan Autonomous University / CESJM)
11:05-11:20 Commentator from Mexico: Fernando RUIZ MOLINA (Lecturer (part-time), National School of Anthropology and History / Autonomous University of Mexico City / CESJM)
11:25-12:30 Discussant: Rubén Eduardo SOTO DÍAZ (Cartoonist, Director, Joaquín Cervantes Bassoco Caricature and Historieta Museum )
Discussant: ASANO Tatsuya (Manga Artist, Xianman Culture)
Discussant: Everardo FERRER (Comic Researcher, Kamite Editorial / Comikaze)
Panel 2: “Rediscovering the Cultural and Artistic Value of Period Dramas: Wardrobe and Fight Choreography”
Language Used: Japanese
1:30 p.m.-1:40 Panel Chair and Coordinator: ISHIKAWA Hajime (Project Research Fellow, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
1:40-2:40 Panelist: YAMAGUCHI Norihiro (FELLOW, STRATEGIC PLANNING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DEPT., TOEI CO.LTD)
“Uzumasa as Japan’s Hollywood”
2:50-3:50 Panelist: ŌTA Risako (Doctoral Student, Faculty of Letters, Kobe University)
“The role of Kainoshō Tadaoto On Period-Drama Wardrobe”
4:00-4-50 Panelist: ISHIKAWA Hajime (Project Research Fellow, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
“The New Field of Period-Drama Studies: On the Tangible and Intangible Cultural Resources at Tōei Studios Kyoto”
January 22 (Saturday)
Panel 3: “Material Studiesin Popular Culture Research”
Language Used: Japanese
10:00 a.m.– Section1
Panel Chair and Coordinator: MAEKAWA Shiori (Full-time Lecturer, Kyoto University of Arts)
Panelist: KIBA Takatoshi (Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto University of Advanced Science)
Panelist: ISHIGAMI Aki (Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Panelist: LIU Jianhui (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Panelist: TAKABATAKE Asako (Cheif Curator, The Kasho Museum)
Panelist: SATŌ Morihiro (Professor, Doshisha University)
11:15a.m.– Section2
Panelist: KONDŌ Kazuto (Full-time Lecturer, Daito Bunka University)
Panelist: ISHIKAWA Hajime (Project Research Fellow, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Panelist: Álvaro David HERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ (Project Research Fellow, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
12:00 p.m.–12:30 Commentator: SEKINO Tatsuki (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Panel 4: Reviews of Nichibunken Popular Culture Research Series
Language Used: Japanese
Panel Chair and Coordinator: KIBA Takatoshi (Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto University of Advanced Science)
1:30 p.m.-2:15 2nd volume Book Reviewer: QIN Gang (Professor, Beijing Foreign Studies University)
2nd volume Book Reviewer: MUROI Kōsei (independent folklorist)
2nd volume Discussion Participant: KOMATSU Kazuhiko (Emeritus Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
2:15-3:00 3rd volume Book Reviewer: MATSUMURA Kaoruko (Associate Professor, Center for Japanese Language and Culture, Osaka University)
3rd volume Book Reviewer: ISHIDA Minori (Professor, Niigata University)
3rd volume Discussion Participant: YASUI Manami (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
3:05-3:50 4th volume Book Reviewer: Björn-Ole KAMM (Junior Associate Professor, Transcultural Studies, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University)
4th volume Book Reviewer: ITŌ Shingo (Associate Professor, Kokugakuin Tochigi Junior College)
4th volume Discussion Participant: ARAKI Hiroshi (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
3:50-4:20 5th volume Book Reviewer: WANG Zhongchen (Professor, Tsinghua University)
5th volume Book Reviewer: XU Yuan (Associate Professor, Renmin University of China)
5th volume Discussion Participant: LIU Jianhui (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
4:30-5:15 1st volume Book Reviewer: Matthias HAYEK (Professor, École Pratique des Hautes Études – PSL)
1st volume Book Reviewer: TAKEMIYA Keiko (President, Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics)
1st volume Discussion Participant: MAEKAWA Shiori (Full-time Lecturer, Kyoto University of Arts)
(*Owing to the time difference with France, the review of the 1st volume will take place last.)
January 23 (Sunday)
4:45 p.m.–8:45 p.m.
Panel 5: Consortium for Global Japanese Studies, “New Developments in Global Japanese Studies: In Dialogue with Europe”
Languages Used: Japanese, English
4:45 p.m.–5:00 Panel Chair: ARAKI Hiroshi (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
5:00p.m.-6:00 About the Scope of Global Japanese Studies and a Planned Handbook
Keynote Speaker: Nana SATO-ROSSBERG (Head/Reader, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London)
Discussant: YASUI Manami (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Discussant: Anna ANDREEVA (Research Professor, Ghent University)
6:10.-7:00 In-between: Experiences and Challenges of Organizing the International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) at Ghent University in Times of Crisis and Transition
Presenter: Andreas NIEHAUS (Professor, Ghent University)
Discussant: KUSUNOKI Ayako (Associate Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Discussant: Anna ANDREEVA (Research Professor, Ghent University)
7:10-7:50 Weaving Textual Heritage – A tentative rethinking of “text” from an interdisciplinary perspective
Presenter: Edoardo GERLINI (Adjunct Professor, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Discussant: ARAKI Hiroshi (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
8:00-8:45 Roundtable Discussants: Timon SCREECH (Professor, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
8:45-9:00 Closing Remarks: TAKII Kazuhiro (Deputy Director-General, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)