Books as Research Resources | 研究資源としての書籍
August 26-27, 2024
Colloquium
This colloquium will present new approaches on the history of Japanese literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with a focus on how archival research and novel methodologies can reshape our understanding of Japan’s long nineteenth century.
The Liminal Quality of Mount Fuji | 富士山の境界性
August 27, 2024
Colloquium
Speaker: Dr. Yasuaki Watanabe, Director, National Institute of Japanese Literature
The active volcano Mount Fuji is the archetypal symbol of nature in Japan. It is said to represent Japan as well as the Japanese people. Is this because Mount Fuji takes its place of pride for its flawless beauty? The attraction of Mount Fuji is more mystical. Its place is in the real world and in the otherworldly realm. It is simultaneously part of the real world and the unreal world.This means Mount Fuji reveals the quality of liminality, of being the boundary between these two worlds. Along with its beauty, it contains a dark side. It is this duality that has captivated the hearts of the Japanese people. This presentation will delve into the reasons for this characteristic of Mount Fuji.
Arts in the Afternoon: 夕日は未来を見つめる “Sunsets look to the future”
October 10, 2024
Performance
Performers: Duo YUMENO, Ken Ueno, Professor and Composer, UC Berkeley
Co-Sponsor: Women’s Faculty Club
As a Japanese American, I work at the intersection of Western classical and traditional Japanese music. When Duo Yumeno contacted me, I was inspired to compose a 9-movement, 30-minute piece titled Yuhi wa mirai o mitsumeru (Sunsets Look to the Future). Growing up in Los Angeles, gazing at sunsets, I imagined that same light rising over Japan, which inspired the title.
The movements of the piece explore various genres, including a pop song, traditional koto movements, and a passacaglia—a Baroque form, though with critical text about yellow-facing in opera. This ‘code-switching’ reflects the immigrant experience, navigating multiple identities and cultures.
Free Film Screening: Black Rain (黒い雨, Kuroi ame)
October 24, 2024
Film Screening
Co-Sponsor: On the Same Page
Shōhei Imamura
Japan, 1989 (123 mins)
Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka), a young Japanese woman, is in Hiroshima when the U.S. Air Force drops a nuclear explosive on the city. Despite the destruction all around her, Yasuko manages to escape unscathed, and, as other survivors fall ill with radiation poisoning, she is able to stay healthy. But later, when Yasuko goes to live with her uncle Shigematsu (Kazuo Kitamura), who tries to help her start a new life, she finds herself unable to escape the social stigma of radiation sickness.
Becoming Slime Mould? Unearthing Multispecies Intellectual History through Interdisciplinary Connections
November 14, 2024
Colloquium
Speaker: Eiko Honda
Moderator: Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley
The planetary crisis and the urgent need for sustainability demand a radical re-evaluation of the epistemologies underlying modern academic knowledge production. Within this context, intellectual history has traditionally revolved around human-centered narratives that compartmentalized ideas of the historical past into< what Arthur Lovejoy termed “unit-ideas” such as ‘philosophy,’ ‘religion,’ ‘art,’ and ‘science.’ This talk argues that there are identifiable paradigms from the past that do not neatly fit into these established categories and that recognized nonhuman organisms as crucial ‘actors.’ One such case study is the Japanese independent naturalist and polymath Minakata Kumagusu (1867-1941), whose fascination with slime moulds, amoebas, and fungi, Honda claims, shaped his way of thinking.
Building on this historical research, Honda discusses her experiments in creating a new field of study she calls multispecies intellectual history, driven by interdisciplinary thinking and collaborations. She will introduce an overview of the research agenda, its broader implications and significance, and examples of the approaches she employs in resolving the conundrums posed by conventional intellectual frameworks—without compromising the rigorous inductive analysis of primary sources.
New Economic Statecraft in the Asia-Pacific
November 20, 2024
Symposium
Co-Sponsors: Berkeley APEC Study Center (BASC), UC Berkeley Berkeley Risk and Security Lab, Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (RIETI), Institute of East Asian Studies
Sencha Demonstration: The Japanese Art of Enjoying Loose-Leaf Tea
December 4, 2024
Colloquium
Speaker: Yukitada Shimamura, Lecturer, Osaka University of Economics
Moderator: Yoshitaka Yamamoto, Visiting Associate Professor, UC Berkeley