Tracing Japanese Buddhism: An International Conference
September 25–27, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai/Numata Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Shinnyo-en Foundation
International Conference on Japanese Buddhism featuring leading scholars from the U.S. and Japan. Featured speakers include: Sueki Fumihiko (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, author of Studies in the Formation of Kamakura Buddhism), Shimazono Susumu (Univ. of Tokyo, former President of the Japanese Association for Religious Studies), Ryuichi Abe (Harvard Univ., author of The Weaving of Mantra), Jacqueline Stone (Princeton Univ., author of Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism), Bernard Faure (Columbia Univ., author of The Rhetoric of Immediacy and Visions of Power), Carl Bielefeldt (Stanford Univ., Director of the Stanford Center for Buddhist Studies and author of Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation), Hoshino Eiki (Taisho Univ., President of the Japanese Association for Religious Studies), and Tamamuro Fumio (Meiji Univ., author of The History of Japanese Buddhism: Early Modern)
US-Japan Relations: A Japanese American Perspective
Norman Mineta, former US Secretary of Commerce, Clinton Admin., US Secretary of Transportation, Bush Admin., Cal Class of '53
October 9, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies
This evening talk by Hon. Norman Mineta is the first keynote address that will be followed by a full-day conference next day on the theme of "Japan and Japanese America: Connections Across the Pacific Rim." It will explore the close historical and contemporary interconnections between Japan and the Japanese American Community.
Opening Remarks by Yasumasa Nagamine, Consul General of Japan, SF
Japan and Japanese America: Connections Across the Pacific Rim
October 10, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, UC Berkeley Asian American Studies Program, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, San Francisco Consulate General of Japan, National Japanese American Historical Society
Morning Session
9:00 AM–11:45 AM — Goldman Theater
9:00 AM — Opening Remarks
9:15–10:30 AM — Keynote Lecture
Gary Okihiro, Columbia University — "Rethinking Subjects: "Japan" and "America"
10:30–11:45 AM — Panel Session I: History
Eiichiro Azuma, University of Pennsylvania — "Issei Antiracism and Japan's World War I Diplomacy: The Fickleness and Perils at Immigration Homeland Political Partnership"
Lon Kurashige, University of Southern California — "Japanese Immigrants and the Opposition to White Supremacy in the U.S."
Respondent: Greg Robinson, University of Quebec
Noon Session
11:45 AM – 1:45 PM — 2nd Floor
11:45 AM–12:45 PM — Luncheon — Outdoor Terrace
12:45–1:45 PM — Luncheon Lecture — Tamalpais Room
Glen S. Fukushima, CEO, Airbus Japan and former President, ACCJ — "Adventures of a Japanese American Positioned Between the U.S. and Japan"
Afternoon Session
2:00 PM – 5:30 PM — Goldman Theater
2:00 – 3:30 PM — Panel Session II: Literature
Yoshitaka Hibi, Nagoya University — "The Flow of Books and Japanese (Language) Literature"
Teruko Kumei, Shirayuri College — "Immigrant Senryu Clubs and Japan, 1930s–1950s"
Kyoko Nozaki, Kyoto Sangyo University — "Internment and Identity Shift: Through Transnational War Memory"
Respondent: Andrew Leong, UC Berkeley
3:30 – 3:45 PM — Coffee Break
3:45 – 5:15 PM — Panel Session III: Religion
Mark Mullins, Sophia University — "Kagawa Toyohiko and the Japanese Christian Impact on American Society"
Akihiro Yamakura, Tenri University — "Transnational Context of the Wartime Internment of Tenrikyo Ministers in America"
Duncan Williams, UC Berkeley — "Faith within Barbed Wire: Issei Buddhism and the Wartime Incarceration"
Respondent: Jane Iwamura, University of Southern California
5:15 – 5:30 PM — Closing Remarks
Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West
Shoji Yamada, International Research Center for Japanese Studies
November 3, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies
Japanese Food Culture on the Global Stage — Part I: Scholarly Roundtable
November 8, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies
The History and Contemporary Forms of Japanese Food Culture
9:00 am — Welcome Remarks
9:15 am – 12:15 pm — Panel Session
Eric Rath, Univ. of Kansas, author of Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan — "Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan"
Katarzyna Cwiertka, Leiden Univ., author of Asian Food: The Global and Localand Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power, and National Identity — "Legal and Illegal Dining in 1940s Japan"
Jordan Sand, Georgetown Univ., author of A Short History of MSG — "Japanese Hybrid Gastronomy at the Beginning and End of the 20th Century: "The Gourmet's Delight" and "Iron Chef"
Tomoko Aoyama, Univ. of Queensland, author of Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature — "Food and Gender in Yoshinaga Fumi's Manga"
Gavin Whitelaw, ICU, author of At Your Conbini — "Convenient Cuisine"
Japanese Food Culture on the Global Stage — Part II: The World's Longest California Roll
November 8, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Cal Dining
Food historians generally credit Ichiro Manashita, of the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles, with "inventing" the California roll. Although the exact date on when the California roll made its culinary debut is undocumented, according to gastronomical lore, this unique hybridization of Japanese sushi was available on cutting edge menus starting in the early 1970s. The "California roll" is popularly defined as sushi made with avocados, crabmeat, cucumbers and other ingredients wrapped in vinegar rice. The roll has also gained popularity in Japan, where it is called kashu-maki, a literal translation of "California roll."
Here is your chance to make food history by participating in the attempt to make a new world record for the longest California roll. Here is a listing of official and unofficial records for longest sushi rolls in the world. Can we beat it?
With fifty-six tables, you can sign up as an individual ("unaffiliated") or as part of a team (students groups, community organizations, etc.) with a team leader for each table.
In addition, feel free to email CJS Chair Duncan Williams at duncanw@berkeley.edu if you want to create your own team. The team leaders need to report to their tables at 11:30 am on November 8th and will also be responsible for attending a mandatory practice roll at 8 pm on Tuesday, October 27th at the Unit 1 Residential Halls All-Purpose Room (basement of Unit 1 — located at College/Bowditch and Durant/Channing).
After creating the longest California roll at noon and documenting its length as a certified world record, we will all have the chance to eat the results! This event is co-presented with Cal Dining and the many food sponsors who have contributed the ingredients.
The current record is 300 feet, and was set in Maui, Hawaii in 2001. Let's bring the California roll record back to Cal!
Japanese Food Culture on the Global Stage — Part III: Washoku and Wine
November 8, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, JETRO
Washoku and Wine — A Benefit Gala Dinner for the Center for Japanese Studies
Culinary Institute of America, Napa, CA
5:00 pm — Vinters Barrel Room — Reception
Reception Lecture by featured speaker, Prof. Ted Bestor, Harvard Univ., author of Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World
6–8:30pm — Ventura Center — Washoku and Wine
Exclusive 5-course dinner prepared by SF Bay area celebrity chefs
Hiro Sone – First Japanese chef to own two Michelin starred restaurants — Terra in St. Helena and Ame in SF St. Regis Hotel; 2003 winner of the James Beard Foundation award for "Best Chef in California."
Mitsunori "Nori" Kusakabe – Executive Chef at Michelin-starred and Zagat top-5 Bay area restaurant, Sushi Ran in Sausalito; winner of the world 2008 Sushi of the Year Award in London; former executive chef at Nobu in Tokyo and Miami Beach and kaiseki chef at Kyo Kaiseki Juntei in Kyoto.
Shotaro "Sho" Kamio – Executive Chef of San Francisco hot spot, Yoshi's Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant; winner of the Iron Chef San Francisco title and former executive chef at SF Ozumo.
Ron Siegel – The chef of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in SF, which has made Gayot's "Top 40 Restaurants in the US" every year since Siegel took over. The first American "Iron Chef" beating Hiroyuki Sakai in 1998. Former sous chef at the French Laundry, chef at Charles Nob Hill and executive chef at SF Masa's.
Stephen Durfee – Executive pastry chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, formerly at Charles Nob Hill and the French Laundry. Winner of the James Beard "outstanding Pastry Chef" award and named one of the "10 Best Pastry Chefs in America" by Pastry Art and Design.
Washoku and Wine Menu
Reception — Small bites
By Ron Siegel (Ritz-Carlton) and Sho Kamio (SF Yoshi's)
DeLoach Chardonnay (DeLoach Winery)
2006 Russian River Pinot Noir (Freeman Winery)
Course I — Chawan-Mushi: Japanese Savory Custard with Maine Lobster and Sea Urchin
By Hiro Sone (Ame/Terra)
2008 Viognier (Miner Winery)
Course II — Abalone with Miso Gelee, Matsutake Mushrooms, Dashi Broth
By Ron Siegel (Ritz-Carlton)
White Wine TBA
Course III — Five Classic Tastes of Nagasaki Hon-Maguro
By Nori Kusukabe (Sushi Ran)
1905 Vintage Merlot (Luna Winery)
Course IV — Wagyu Rib Eye Beef "Shabu-Shabu" Style with Sesame Miso Beurre-Blanc
By Sho Kamio (SF Yoshi's)
Raymond Reserve Cabernet (Raymond Winery)
Course V — Black Sesame Seed Panna Cotta with Buckwheat Sable Cookies and Fuyu Persimmon Salad
By Stephen Durfee (CIA)
Premium Teas from Japan
Facing Japan: A Special Screening of 15 Short Videos Presented by Digital TV and the World Reporters
November 9–10, 2009
Institute of East Asian Studies, The Center for Digital TV and the World, a project of the Tides Center, Skirball Foundation, ANA, The Japan-United States Friendship Commission, The Henry Luce Foundation, Sony, Center for Japanese Studies, Graduate School of Journalism
Join us for a close-up look at Tokyo at a moment of social and political confusion.
Digital TV and The World reporters invite the J-School community and friends to a special screening of "Facing Japan." Their 15-short videos document the lives of ordinary people in Tokyo and California. J-Schoolers Nick Burns ('10), Tuomas Forsell ('09), Julie Johnson ('09), Tyler Sipe ('10), Clayton Trosclair ('10) and Japhet Weeks ('10) reported and produced the videos. Their works examine tensions and changing attitudes among Japanese and Japanese Americans on both sides of the Pacific. The group also took an intimate look at a Tokyo neighborhood that clings to tradition. Monzen-Nakacho, located on Tokyo's east side, typifies some of the demographic and societal shifts taking place in Japan: an aging population, fewer children, and flagging faith.
At Berkeley, the reporters took Digital TV and the World classes and produced video profiles of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the Bay Area. They also enrolled in a Reporting on Japan class taught by Yomiuri Shimbun reporter Izumi Miyachi. Some of the reporters, participated in the Center for Digital TV and the World's month-long professional reporting practicum in Tokyo.
The Digital TV and the World class is offered each spring. Past reporting projects covered Beijing, Guangzhou, Phnom Penh, India, Latin America and other points around the globe. The class is taught by instructor Todd Carrel with Samantha Grant and technical advisor Milt Wallace. For more information on Digital TV and the World contact Todd Carrel.
The Center for Digital TV and the World, a project of the Tides Center, is supported by the Skirball Foundation, ANA, The Japan-United States Friendship Commission, The Henry Luce Foundation, Sony, and UC Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies, Graduate School of Journalism and Institute of East Asian Studies.
Japanese Studies at Berkeley: Past, Present,and Future
December 6, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Japan Foundation
9:00 – 9:10 am — Welcome and Introduction by Duncan Williams
9:10 – 10:40 am — Roundtable Discussion: UC Berkeley, Japanese Studies, and Area Studies
Presentations by Former CJS Chairs
• Irwin Scheiner
• Mary Elizabeth Berry
• Andrew Barshay
11:00 – 12:00 pm — Roundtable Discussion: Supporting Japanese Studies
Presentations by Major Foundation Representatives
• Isao Tsujimoto, Director General, Japan Foundation
• Seishi Takeda, Director, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, SF
• Eric Gangloff, Executive Director, Japan-United States Friendship Commission
12:00 – 1:30 pm — Lunch and Lecture: Japanese Studies in the U.S.: A Global View
• Patricia Steinhoff, University of Hawai'i
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm — Roundtable Discussion: The Future of Japanese Studies in North America
Presentations by Current Directors/Chairs of Centers for Japanese Studies
East Coast Centers
• Steve Covell, Western Michigan University, Soga Japan Center
• Ken Ito, University of Michigan, Center for Japanese Studies
• Greg Pflugfelder, Columbia University, Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture
• Susan Pharr, Harvard University, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
West Coast Centers
• David Edgington, University of British Columbia, Centre for Japanese Research
• Robert Huey, University of Hawai'i, Center for Japanese Studies
• Michael Thies, UCLA, Paul I. & Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
• Duncan Williams, UC Berkeley, Center for Japanese Studies
Discussion