The Pacific War Revisited: Scholars' View on "Letters from Iwo Jima"
January 23, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Department of History
The Center for Japanese Studies presents this program on the "Pacific War Revisited" with a panel of distinguished scholars of Japanese film studies and Japanese history who will comment on this critically acclaimed film. This panel will be followed by a screening of Letters from Iwo Jima, with post-screening comments by the film's director, Clint Eastwood.
The Pacific War Revisited: A Screening of "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Takashi Fujitani, History, University of California, San Diego
Carol Gluck, History, Columbia University
Akira Mizuta Lippit, Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
January 23, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Pacific Film Archive
Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Father and Letters from Iwo Jima depicted one of the most horrific WWII battles in the Pacific theater from both the American and Japanese points of view. Letters from Iwo Jima, based on letters written by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed in the film by Ken Watanabe), is the first major Hollywood film on the Pacific War that managed to portray the Japanese from the perspective of ordinary soldiers and as fellow human beings.
Philip Gotanda and Asian American Art and Culture: Yohen
Philip Gotanda, Playwright, Asian American Theater
Miryam Sas, Moderator, Comparative Literature, UCB
January 29, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies
A bilingual Japanese-English reading of excerpts from Philip Gotanda's play Yohen, followed by discussion with the playwright and actors.
A divorced Japanese woman and an African American GI meet in post-World War II Japan and fall in love. After decades of struggle, they have found an accepting Los Angeles suburb to call home—but their peaceful world is changing. More than a study of clashing cultures, Yohen is the poetic, resonant story of two partners who discover that intimate relationships change with environments—and love, however time-tested, is never constant.
Kazuo Inamori: A Conversation on Business Innovation and Philosophy
Kazuo Inamori, Founder of Kyocera Corporation and KDDI Corporation
February 5, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Consul General of Japan, San Francisco, Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California, Haas School of Business
Kazuo Inamori is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Kyocera Corporation (originally Kyoto Ceramic Co.), a global firm producing information and communications equipment and fine ceramic products. Inamori was also the Chairman of one of Japan's largest telecommunications companies, KDDI (originally DDI).
One of Japan's leading entrepreneurs with a distinctive management philosophy, Inamori is a visionary business leader, an ordained Zen Buddhist priest, and a major philanthropist. Inamori today serves as president of a private business school, the "Seiwa-Jyuku," with branches in 60 locations, sharing his management philosophy at no charge to thousands of young business owners and entrepreneurs.
His concern for humanity and the environment is well-known. He established the Inamori Foundation and its Kyoto Prize since 1984 as a way to recognize individuals and groups worldwide who have made outstanding contributions to the betterment of society and humankind. (The talk will be presented in Japanese with simultaneous English translation)
Higher Education and the University Today: From a Japanese Perspective
Takeshi Sasaki, Professor of Politics, Gakushuin University, Tokyo
March 11, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Center for Studies in Higher Education
Professor Takeshi Sasaki received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tokyo, specializing in political science and the history of Western political thought. He joined the faculty in 1968 and is now a noted commentator on Japanese politics. From 2001 to 2005, Professor Sasaki served as the 27th president of the University of Tokyo. He has also served on government commissions on higher education and the imperial house law, as well as on corporate boards including the Eastern Japan Railway Co. and Tôshiba Corporation.
Reform, Political Culture and Globalization: Japanese Party Politics and the Problem of Political Integration
Takeshi Sasaki, Professor of Politics, Gakushuin University, Tokyo
March 13, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies
Professor Takeshi Sasaki was born in the northern Japanese prefecture of Akita. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tokyo, and joined the faculty there in 1968. A student of Kan'ichi Fukuda, Professor Sasaki specialized in political science and the history of Western political thought. From an initial focus on Machiavelli, Bodin, and Plato, Professor Sasaki broadened his scope to the U.S., and moved on from there to become a noted commentator on Japanese politics. A prodigious and prolific author, Professor Sasaki has published multiple books in each of his areas of expertise, ranging from The Political Thought of Machiavelli (1970), Contemporary American Conservatism (1984), What Can Politics Achieve? (1991), Plato's Curse: Philosophy and Politics in the 20th Century (2000), to The Mysterious System Called Democracy (2007). In parallel with his rising stature as a political analyst, Professor Sasaki served in a number of high-profile administrative positions, including dean of the Faculty of Law and Politics, and, from 2001 to 2005, as 27th president of the University of Tokyo. He is currently professor of politics at GakushÛin University, Tokyo. Along with his academic activities, Professor Sasaki has served on government commissions on higher education and the imperial house law, as well as on corporate boards including the Eastern Japan Railway Co. and Tôshiba Corporation.
Toyo Ito: A Conversation on Japanese Architecture
Toyo Ito, Architect
Dana Buntrock, Architecture, UC Berkeley, Interviewer
April 11, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Department of Architecture, Berkeley Art Museum
In September 2006, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley announced that Japanese architect Toyo Ito had been selected to design a new facility for the world-renowned art museum and film center. While honoring the University and community's collective influence in art and film, his plans for the new museum will provide a visual arts gateway capable of absorbing the intellectual, cultural, and seismic shifts that the twenty-first century will undoubtedly bring to Berkeley.Japan is one of the few countries in the world today with the ability to foster a culture of the highest quality, contemporary architecture and a futuristic urbanism. Toyo Ito is part of a new generation of modern Japanese architects who are creating magical and imaginative, innovatively engineered buildings that profoundly influence the way people view urban communities and the space that we live and play in. Among this cadre of international, up-and-coming Japanese architects are Yoshio Taniguchi (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York) and Arata Isozaki (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles). Each brings a Japanese aesthetic to their work, drawing on certain carpentry and architectural traditions, while utilizing the latest technologies to shape the future of architecture. The building, set to open in 2013, will be situated on a half-block site bordered by Oxford, Addison, and Center Street, where the museum will be rejoined with its sister institution, the Pacific Film Archive. BAM/PFA's new building will also be Ito's first work in North America, which brings its own challenges in regards to environmental impact, regulations and codes, as well as the Berkeley cultural and intellectual aesthetic. Toyo Ito's best-known projects are the Sendai Médiathèque, Miyagi, Japan (2001); TOD'S Omotesando Building, Tokyo, Japan (2004); the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, England; (and the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, Taiwan, Republic of China (under construction). In this special event, Toyo Ito will engage the audience with his observations on Japanese architecture today and explore the implications of his own most innovative works. Tickets will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Wheeler Auditorium box office at UC Berkeley, starting at 6 p.m.; doors open at 6:30.
Kazuo Hara: Documentary Film Making
May 2, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies, Pacific Film Archive
Throughout the four decades of his career, Hara Kazuo has pursued the bizarre and disturbing margins of Japanese society, certain that central truths are to be found in fringe phenomena. His method of documentation, which he calls "action documentary," pursues the shocking effect of the action film, following the gesture and staying in the moment – not commenting in voiceover from a safe distance. Hara's innovations have transformed documentary filmmaking, and contributed directly to the current ascendance of the documentary, both within the industry and among audiences, on a global scale. His best-known admirer is Michael Moore, who lists Hara as one of his favorite directors.
Born in 1945, Hara Kazuo was influenced as a young man by the protest movements that took place throughout Japan and the world in the late 1960s and 70s. He founded Shisso Productions in 1971 with his wife, producer, and primary collaborator Sachiko Kobayashi. He has published five documentary films thus far, including the award-winning The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, widely recognized as most important and influential documentary ever made in Japan, Goodbye CP, A Dedicated Life, Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974, and Watashi no Mishima.
This event includes a screening of two of Hara's best known films, followed by a booksigning to launch the release of Hara Kazuo's new memoir/documentary handbook.
Film Screening (Ticket required for each screening.)
12:00 pm — Extreme Private Eros
2:45 pm — The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
Comments by Hara Kazuo, Hosted by Miryam Sas, Comparative Literature, UCB
Book Release and Signing (Free and open to the public)
5:30 pm — Camera Obtrusa: Hara Kazuo's Action Documentaries
Kazuo Hara and Japanese Film Studies
Abe Mark Nornes, Screen Arts & Culture, University of Michigan
Aaron Gerow, Film Studies Program, Yale University
Akira Mizuta Lippit, Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
May 3, 2009
Center for Japanese Studies
Three of the top film studies scholars from around the country will conduct a panel discussion on Hara Kazuo's body of work and the future of Japanese film studies at universities worldwide.
Program:
10:00–10:30 am — Opening Remarks and Introduction of Guest Speakers
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- Miryam Sas, Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
- Comments by Kazuo Hara (with translation)
10:30 am – 12:00 noon — Panel presentation
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- Documentary and Historical Context — Abe Mark Nornes, Screen Arts & Cultures, University of Michigan
- On "Chika" — Aaron Gerow, Film Studies Program, Yale University
- Subjects and Subjection in Hara's Films — Akira Mizuta Lippit, Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
12:00–12:40 pm — Question & Answer