Japan's Multicultural Multiethnic Future: Problems and Solutions for the 21st Century
Arudou Debito, Hokkaido Information University
August 27, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies
Arudou was born David Christopher Aldwinckle in California. He attended Cornell University, first visiting Japan as a tourist. Following this experience, he dedicated his senior year as an undergraduate to studying Japanese, graduating in 1987. Aldwinckle then joined a small Japanese trading company in Sapporo. It was this experience, he recounts, that started him the path of the controversial activist that he would later become. In 1993 he joined the faculty of Business Administration and Information Science at the Hokkaido Information University, a private university in Ebetsu, Hokkaidō. As of 2007 he is an associate professor.
Aldwinckle became a permanent resident of Japan in 1996. He obtained Japanese citizenship in 2000, whereupon he changed his name to Debito Arudou (有道出人, Arudō Debito), whose kanji he says have the figurative meaning of "a person who has a road and is going out on it."
Arudou has written a book about the 1999 Otaru hot springs incident. Arudou originally wrote the book in Japanese; the English version, Japanese Only — The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan, was published in 2004 and revised in 2006. Jeff Kingston, reviewer for The Japan Times, described the book as an "excellent account of his struggle against prejudice and racial discrimination."
Discussant &8211; John Ertl, Cal alum and Kanazawa University professor
Book Talk: Veneration and Imagery of Buddhist "Saints" in Japan from 1700–Present
Patricia Graham
September 10, 2008
Center for Buddhist Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
Introduced by Gregory Levine, History of Art, UC Berkeley.
This talk explores the reasons for the enduring popularity in the Japanese Buddhist pantheon of Buddhist "saints" — monks known as Rakan (Luohan in Chinese; and Arhat in Sanskrit) and laity known as the Buddha's 10 Great Disciples (Shaka Judai deshi). Both groups were devout, unconventional personages who gained enlightenment after hearing the teachings of the Buddha in India. Their popularity as personal saviors continues to the present and has inspired the creation of numerous idiosyncratic images by artists working within and apart from formal Buddhist organizations. Their widespread appeal is emblematic of their transcendence beyond Buddhism to universal symbols of individualism and integrity.
Patricia J. Graham, a former professor of Japanese art and culture, and museum curator, is an independent scholar and Asian art consultant based in Lawrence, Kansas. This talk is drawn from her new book, Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600-2005 (University of Hawai'i Press, 2007).
Artist's Talk by Mayumi Oda
Mayumi Oda, Artist
September 12, 2008
Center for Buddhist Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
Artist Mayumi Oda will give a walk-through of her work currently on display in the solo show "Goddesses: Prints by Mayumi Oda" at the IEAS Gallery, 2223 Fulton Street (6th Floor).
Mayumi Oda and Liza Dalby: A Conversation
Mayumi Oda, Artist
Liza Dalby, Writer
September 12, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
September 12 is the last day of the Mayumi Oda exhibit. Liza Dalby, the author of Geisha, will engage in a dialogue with Mayumi Oda as a finale of the Godesses exhibit. The two, artist and author, have taken a different approaches to celebrate women's beauty, power, intelligence and strength. The conversation will be an opportunity to hear about their backgrounds, how they were drawn to their field and developed their styles as they explored the relationship with the society, the environment, and the self. The conversation will be moderated by Beth Cary.
Places at the Table: Asian Women Artists and Gender Dynamics
September 13, 2008
Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, Mills College Art Department, UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Townsend Center for the Humanities, Korea Foundation
"Places at the Table: Asian Women Artists and Gender Dynamics," explores issues facing Asian women artists today. Speakers will seek to illuminate factors that foster and inhibit the creativity of Asian women artists from three perspectives: one, women whose art, implicitly or explicitly, serves an activist agenda; two, women who work within the framework of a traditional society and how they adapt to, challenge, or find their inspiration in its structures; and finally, the dynamics of participating in a global network of modern art as women artists.
Participants include Hung Liu, Honghee Kim, Margo Machida, Cheeyun Kwon, Midori Yoshimoto, Yong Soon Min, O Zhang, Youngna Kim, Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Mayumi Oda, Linda Inson Choy, Hyungmin Chung, Sandra Cate, Joan Kee, Patricia Graham, Junghee Lee, Pamela Blotner, and Charlotte Horlyck.
The symposium, a collaboration between UC Berkeley and Mills College, will include discussions with artists represented in the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive exhibition "Mahjong"; the Mills College Art Museum exhibition, "The Offering Table: Korean Women Activist Artists"; and the solo show "Goddesses" in the Institute of East Asian Studies Gallery.
The afternoon prior to the conference, the Center for Korean Studies will host a special colloquium on Korean women artists at the Institute of East Asian Studies.
Following the symposium, attendees are welcomed to join a reception at the Mills College Art Museum
Prehistoric Jomon of Japan and Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways
September 19–20, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Henry Luce Foundation, Archaeology Research Facility
Friday, September 19
Session 1: Jomon Archaeology and Hunter-Gatherer Studies (9:00 am-12:00 pm)
Opening Remarks
Jomon Archaeology in the Context of Hunter Gatherer Studies — Junko Habu, UC Berkeley
Jomon as Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers — Peter Bleed, University Nebraska-Lincoln
Perspectives on North American Hunter-Gatherers — David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History
Jomon Stable Food and Environmental Management — Shuzo Koyama, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Q&A
Session 2: Lifeways of Prehistoric and Early Historic Peoples in East Asia (1:00 pm-3:00 pm)
The Jomon in Early Agriculture Discourse — Gary W. Crawford, University of Toronto
Lifeways of Korun Period People — Tomokazu Onishi, International University of Kagoshima
Reconstructing Prehistoric Social Organization — Chihhur Chiang, UC Berkeley
Q&A
Saturday, September 20
Session 3: Jomon and East Asia: Approaches from Archaeology, Plant Biology and Bioarchaeology
Early Cultigens in East Asia: An Approach from Plant Genetics — Ikuo Nakamura, Chiba University
DNA Analyses of Jomon Plant Remains — Ryuji Ishikawa, Hirosaki University
Bone Maintenance and Remodeling: Potential Methods for Reconstructing Lifestyle and Health in the Jomon — Sabrina Agarwal, UC Berkeley
Population History of the Japanese From the Upper Palaeolithic to the Modern Age — Hisao Baba, National Museum of Nature nad Science, Tokyo
From Epi-Jomon to Ainu — Tetsuo Kikuchi, Waseda University
Lunch Reception
Co-sponsored by: JSPS/Luce Foundation/IEAS/ARF
Anime Masters and Masterpieces: Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓)
September 27, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)]
The Anime Masterpieces series premieres with Grave of the Fireflies, a 1988 anime feature film written and directed by Isao Takahata, which Roger Ebert calls "an emotional experience so powerful it forces a re-thinking of animation." Animation historian Ernest Rister compares the film to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and says, "it is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen."
Taking place toward the end of World War II in Japan, Grave of the Fireflies is the poignant tale of two orphaned children, Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, who try to survive amidst widespread famine and the callous indifference of their countrymen. Some critics consider it one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made.
Panelists:
Susan Napier, author of Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle
Frederik Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics
Ian Condry, author of Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization
Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica
Dan O'Neill, UC Berkeley, Moderator
The box office will open at 1pm. The free tickets will be distributed day of show and are on a first come, first serve basis. Seating begins 20 minutes before the start time.
Haruki Murakami in Conversation
Haruki Murakami, Writer
October 11, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Cal Performance
Claiming a global readership and internationally recognized as Japan's leading novelist, writer, and translator, Haruki Murakami is winner of the Yomiuri Prize for his critically acclaimed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The author's numerous works, which have been translated into 36 languages, lead the reader along the interstices between the mundane and the sublime. Murakami's reading and lecture in Japanese and English will be followed by a conversation with Roland Kelts (Tokyo University lecturer and author of Japanamerica) and a question and answer period with the audience.
Haruki Murakami: Japanese Literature on the Global Stage
October 12, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, East Asian Languages & Cultures, Townsend Center for the Humanities
Panel:
"Crazed Translator Gives Japanese Author Excedrin Headache" — Jay Rubin (Harvard Univ.), translator of Murakami's Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, author of Murakami Haruki and the Music of Words
"Lost in Translation? Murakami Haruki and the Japanization of the English Language" — Rebecca Suter (Univ. of Sydney), author of The Japanization of Modernity: Murakami Haruki between Japan and the United States
"A Spatial Odyssey or, It's All Greek to Me: East Meets West in Murakami Haruki's Kafka On the Shore" — Matthew Strecher (Winona State Univ.), author of Dances with Sheep: The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki and Haruki Murakami's Wind-up Bird Chronicle: A Reader's Guide
"Are There Any More Like You at Home? Cloning Murakami Haruki for the US Market" — Stephen Snyder (MiddleburyCollege), translator of novels by Natsuo Kirino, Kenzaburo Oe, and Ryu Murakami
Moderated by H. Mack Horton (UC Berkeley) and Alan Tansman (UC Berkeley)
Free and Open to the Public
MURAKAMI BOOK SIGNING at Book Inc. in San Francisco (601 Van Ness) at 3pm, Oct. 12, 2008
Japan's Political Climate
Masaki Taniguchi, University of Tokyo
October 23, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Consul General of Japan, IEAS Shorenstein Program
In this talk, Prof. Taniguchi will Offer an in-depth explanation of the current situation of Japanese politics. He will update the audience on the "Divided Diet" in which different parties are in control of the Upper and Lower Houses; the Fukuda Cabinet resignation after only one year; and the situation of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan as they gear up for the upcoming general election.
He will propose some predictions for the elections and examine the future prospects of Japanese politics.
Masaki Taniguchi is Associate Professor of Japanese Politics at the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo. He is a member of the National Committee for the Management of Political Funds, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Study Group on the Replacement Candidacy, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Prof. Taniguchi's recent publication include: Changing Media, Changing Politics(co-edited with Samuel Popkin and Ikuo Kabashima), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, forthcoming; Electoral Reform in Japan, Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2004; Politics and Democracy (co-edited with Arihiro Fukuda), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2002; Representatives and Money: A Report of National Political Funding Research (co-edited with Takeshi Sasaki, Shin'ichi Yoshida, and Shuji Yamamoto), Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1999.
The Kawakita Film Series
November 1 – December 17, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Pacific Film Archive
Saturday, November 1, 2008
6:30: Stray Dog / Nora-inu (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
9:00: Enjo [a.k.a. Conflagration](Kon Ichikawa, 1958)
Sunday, Nov. 2
3:00: Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
5:00: A Full-Up Train / Man'in densha (Kon Ichikawa, 1957)
Wednesday, Nov. 5
7:00: Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
Friday, Nov. 7
6:30: Naked Island (a.k.a.The Island) / Hadaka no shima (Kaneto Shindo, 1960)
8:30: Branded to Kill / Koroshi no rakuin (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
Sunday, Nov. 9
3:00: Into the Picture Scroll: The Tale of Yamanaka Tokiwa / Yamanaka Tokiwa(Sumiko Haneda, 2004)
Friday, Nov. 14
6:30: The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness / Kofuku no kiiroi hankachi (Yoji Yamada, >1977)
8:35: Vengeance is Mine / Fukushu-suru wa ware ni ari (Shohei Imamura, 1979)
Sunday, Nov. 16
3:00: Akiko &8211; Portrait of a Dancer /Akiko &8211; Aru dansa no shozo (Sumiko Haneda, 1985)
Sunday, Nov. 23
2:00: Ode to Mt. Hayachine / Hayachine no fu (Sumiko Haneda, 1982)
Friday, Nov. 28
8:40: Her Brother / Ototo (Kon Ichikawa, 1960)
Saturday, Nov. 29
5:00: Zigeunerweisen (Seijun Suzuki, 1980)
Sunday, Nov. 30
3:00: Tora-san's Sunrise and Sunset / Otoko wa tsurai yo:Torajiro yuyake-koyake(Yoji Yamada, 1976)
Wednesday, December 3
7:00: The Ceremony / Gishiki (Nagisa Oshima, 1971)
Friday, December 5
9:00: Boy / Shonen (Nagisa Oshima, 1969)
Sunday, Dec. 7
2:00: Black Rain / Kuroi ame (Shohei Imamura, 1989)
4:30: Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964)
Friday, Dec. 12
6:30: Tokyo Drifter / Tokyo nagaremono (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)
8:20: Violence at Noon / Hakuchu no torima (Nagisa Oshima, 1966)
Sunday, Dec. 14
2:00: A Last Note / Gogo no yuigonjo (Kaneto Shindo, 1995)
4:15: Where Spring Comes Late / Kazoku (Yoji Yamada, 1970)
Wednesday, Dec. 17
7:00: Intentions of Murder / Akai satsui (Shohei Imamura, 1964)
Co-sponsored by: Pacific Film Archives
Sadako Ogata and Japan's International Relations
November 14, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Consulate General of Japan, San Francisco
Keynote Speech: US-Japan: Global Responsibility and Development Assistance — Sadako Ogata, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and President, Japanese International Cooperation Agency; Cal class of '63, Ph.D
Introduced by Steve Vogel (UC Berkeley) and Robert Scalapino (UC Berkeley)
Symposium: Japan's International Relations: Diplomacy and Foreign Aid
Panelists:
T.J. Pempel (UC Berkeley), author of Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy
Shinichi Kitaoka (Univ. of Tokyo), former permanent representative of Japan to the United Nations
Takatoshi Ito (Univ. of Tokyo), author of The Japanese Economy and The Political Economy of Japanese Monetary Policy
Moderated by Steve Vogel
U.S.-Japan Baseball Symposium: History and Prospects (Part I)
December 6, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Yomiuri Shimbun, Department of Ahletics
Film Screening: (9:00 am – 10:30 am) — "The Zen of Bobby V." (ESPN Documentary, 2008, 86min)
Symposium (10:30 am-11:30 am)
Panel Discussion moderated by Jack Sakazaki (President of Japan Sports Marketing. Cal class of '71)
Featured Speakers:
William Kelly, (Yale Univ.) author of The Hanshin Tigers and Professional Baseball in Modern Japan (forthcoming)
Warren Cromartie, former Yomiuri Giants player and MVP of Japan's Central League, a former Major Leaguer with the Montreal Expos and Kansas City Royals, author of Slugging It Out in Japan
Andrew Gordon, (Harvard Univ.) author of The Unknown Story of Matsuzaka's Major League Revolution (in Jspanese)
Masanori Murakami, Japan's 1st MLB player and pioneer, former San Francisco Giants pitcher, currently Director of the All Japan Baseball Foundation.
U.S.-Japan Baseball: History and Prospects (Part II)
A screening of American Pastime
December 7, 2008
Center for Japanese Studies, Yomiuri Shimbun
Screening of American Pastime (Warner Brothers, 2007, 106 min) — a film on baseball in the WWII Japanese American internment camps — will be followed by a discussion with the associate producer of the film, Kerry Nakagawa (also author of Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball)