Center for Japanese Studies Spring 2019 Events

June 1, 2019

Dynasties and Democracy in Japan
February 1, 2019
Colloquium
Speaker:
Daniel M. Smith, Associate Professor, Harvard University

Political dynasties exist in all democracies, but have been conspicuously prevalent in Japan, where over a third of legislators and two-thirds of cabinet ministers come from families with a history in parliament. In his new book, Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan, Daniel M. Smith introduces a comparative theory to explain the persistence of dynastic politics in democracies like Japan, and explores the implications of this theory for candidate selection, election, and cabinet promotion, as well as the impact of dynasties on the quality of representation.

Daniel M. Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of Government. His research focuses primarily on political parties, candidate selection, elections and electoral systems, and coalition government, particularly in Japan. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, San Diego, and his B.A. in political science and Italian from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has conducted research in Japan as a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology research scholar at Chuo University, and as a Fulbright research fellow at the University of Tokyo. Prior to joining the Department of Government, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

Taming Japan’s Deflation
February 11, 2019
Colloquium
Speaker:
Gene Park, Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University
Panelist/Discussant:
James A. Wilcox, Professor, Haas School of Business
Moderator:
Steven Vogel, Professor, Political Science, UC Berkeley

Around the world, governments have delegated political independence to central banks that wield tremendous power based on the belief that independence would allow these institutions to keep inflation in check. From the mid-1990s, Japan’s economy charted a unique trajectory: it fell into deflation and never fully emerged from it for nearly the next twenty years. Only with the election of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe at the end of 2012 and his appointment in early 2013 of new leadership at Japan’s central bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), did Japan finally launch a policy course capable of pulling Japan fully out of deflation. This presentation explains why it took so long for the BOJ to embrace bolder monetary policies to address this problem and the factors that led the government to shift course.

Dr. Gene Park is Director of the Global Policy Institute and Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). Prior to arriving at LMU, he taught at Baruch College, City University of New York. Professor Park was also a Shorenstein Fellow at Stanford University’s Asia Pacific Research Center. In addition, he spent two years as a researcher at Japan’s Ministry of Finance. He also has had affiliations with the Stockholm School of Economics and Keio University in Tokyo. He is a member of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation’s U.S.-Japan Network for the Future.

His published work includes Taming Japan's Deflation: The Debate Over Unconventional Monetary Policy, a co-authored book, from Cornell University Press (2018), a co-edited volume with Eisaku Ide entitled, Deficits and Debt in the Industrialized Democracies (Routledge, 2015), and Spending without Taxation: FILP and the Politics of Public Finance in Japan (Stanford University Press, 2011). Dr. Park received a B.A. in Philosophy from Swarthmore College and Ph.D. in Political Science from University of California Berkeley. He is a former Fulbright Scholar.

Co-Sponsors:
Clausen Center for International Business and Policy
Japan Society of Northern California

Beyond heteronormativity: Queer archaeology in Japan
February 11, 2019
Lecture
Speaker:
Jun Mitsumoto, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Museum Studies, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Center for Research on the Dynamics of Civilizations, Okayama University, Japan

This presentation focuses on issues of heteronormativity in Japanese archaeology. I will start off by describing the research environment of Japanese archaeology. What I would like to consider in this section is the reason the archaeology of gender and sexuality is not popular in Japan. Then I will take up some case studies regarding same-sex relationships and cross-dressing in prehistoric and protohistoric Japan. I will explore how such practical studies can oppose heteronormative interpretations, and what new information and perspectives can be gained through a reconstruction of the past.

About the Speaker: Jun Mitsumoto is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Museum Studies, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Center for Research on the Dynamics of Civilizations, Okayama University, Japan. He received his PhD in 2004 from Okayama University. His research interests include archaeology of the Yayoi and Kofun periods, archaeology of embodiment, and archaeology of gender and sexuality, particularly queer archaeology. He has also used 3D measurements to actively conduct field surveys and excavations in the Kofun-period mounded tombs in the Okayama area (2014-2018).

Co-Sponsors:
Archaeological Research Facility
Department of Anthropology

Design Field Notes: Karen Nakamura
February 11, 2019
Lecture
Speaker:
Karen Nakamura, Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley

Karen Nakamura is a cultural and visual anthropologist who researches disability in contemporary Japan at the University of California, Berkeley. Her first project was on sign language, identity, and deaf social movements and resulted in a monograph and edited volume. After that, her second project was on schizophrenia and community-based recovery in Japan and this resulted in a book, its translation, and two films.

She is currently running the Berkeley Disability Lab and the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society Disability Studies research cluster while finishing a third project which explores the intersections of disability, gender, and sexuality, which will result in a book titled: Trans/Japan. After that, she is working on a project on prosthetic, replacement, and augmentation technologies in contemporary Japan and the USA.

About Design Field Notes:
Each informal talk in this pop-up series brings a design practitioner to a Jacobs Hall teaching studio to share ideas, projects, and practices. This semester, Design Field Notes and the Institute's other public programs engage questions of inclusion, accessibility, and justice under the title For Whom? By Whom?: Designs for Belonging. To learn more about upcoming events across our series, visit programs.jacobshall.org.

Co-Sponsor:
Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation

American Sutra: Buddhism and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII
February 25, 2019
Colloquium
Speaker:
Duncan Ryūken Williams, Professor of Religion and East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Southern California
Panelist/Discussants:
Mark Blum, Professor, Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair in Japanese Studies, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley
Carolyn Chen, Associate Professor, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies, UC Berkeley

Duncan Ryūken Williams (USC) will discuss his new book “American Sutra” about Buddhism and the WWII Japanese American internment. The fact that the vast majority of Japanese Americans were Buddhist was responsible for why nearly 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-third of whom were American citizens, were targeted for forcible removal from the Pacific coast states and incarcerated in remote interior camps surrounded by barbed wire. Ironically, their Buddhist faith also was also what helped the Japanese American community endure and persist at a time of dislocation, loss, and uncertainty. Based on newly translated Japanese-language diaries of Buddhist priests from the camps, extensive interview with survivors of the camps, and newly declassified government documents about how Buddhism was seen as a national security threat, Williams argues that Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in U.S. history.

Sponsors:
Asian American Studies
Department of Ethnic Studies
Center for Buddhist Studies
Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion

Workshop on Tannishō Commentarial Materials
March 1-3, 2019
Conference

The Centers for Japanese Studies and Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, together with Ōtani University and Ryūkoku University in Kyoto announce a workshop under the supervision of Mark Blum that will focus on critically examining premodern and modern hermeneutics of the Tannishō, a core text of the Shin sect of Buddhism, and arguably the most well-read religious text in postwar Japan. 2019 will be the third year in this five-year project that meets twice each year: we will meet in Berkeley from March 1 to 3 and in Kyoto at Ōtani University from June 21 to 23. Organized around close readings of the most influential materials produced in early modern, modern, and postmodern Japan, the workshop aims at producing a critical, annotated translation detailing the salient ways in which this text has been both inspirational and controversial, as well as a series of essays analyzing a wide spectrum of voices in Japanese scholarship and preaching that have spoken on this work. For the early modern or Edo period, the commentaries by Enchi (1662), Jukoku (1740), Jinrei (1808), and Ryōshō (1841) will be examined. For the modern period, works by Andō Shūichi (1909), Chikazumi Jōkan (1930), and Soga Ryōjin (1947) will be the major concern. And for the postwar/postmodern period, due to the sheer volume of publications (over 300 titles), reading choices will be selected at a later date in consultation with participants.

Format: The language of instruction will be primarily English with only minimal Japanese spoken as needed, and while the texts will be in primarily in Classical Japanese and Modern Japanese, with some outside materials in kanbun and English. Participants will be expected to prepare the assigned readings, and on occasion make relevant presentations in English about content.

Dates: Exact dates will vary from year to year based on academic calendars, but for 2019 the meeting hosted by U.C. Berkeley will take place from the 1st to the 3rd of March at the Jōdo Shinshū Center in Berkeley, and in Kyoto the seminar will be hosted by Ōtani University from the 21st to the 23th of June.

Cost: There is no participation fee, but in recognition of the distance some will have to travel to attend, a limited number of travel fellowships will be provided to qualified graduate students, based on preparedness, need, and commitment to the project.

Participation Requirements: Although any qualified applicant will be welcome to register, graduate students will be particularly welcome and the only recipients of financial assistance in the form of travel fellowships. Affiliation with one of the three hosting universities is not required. We welcome the participation of graduate students outside of Japan with some reading ability in Modern and Classical Japanese and familiarity with Buddhist thought and culture as well as native-speaking Japanese graduate students with a scholarly interest in Buddhism. Although we welcome students attending both meetings each year, participation in only one is acceptable.

Application Procedure: Applications must be sent for each year that one wants to participate. To apply to register for either or both of the workshops for 2019, send C.V. and short letter explaining your qualifications, motivations, and objectives to Kumi Hadler at cjs@berkeley.edu by the end of January, 2019. Applications are by email only, and application deadlines will remain as end-January in subsequent years as well. Requests for a travel fellowship money should be included in this letter with specifics of where you will be traveling from and if you plan to attend one or both meetings that year. Questions about the content of the workshop may be sent to Professor Blum at mblum@berkeley.edu. Communication regarding the Kyoto meeting may be sent to Professor Michael Conway at conway@res.otani.ac.jp.

*This talk is open to the public
Title: Literary Representations of Buddhist Funerals
Date: Saturday, March 2, 5:00-6:30
Venue: Jodo Shinshu Center
Speaker: Michihiro Ama, University of Montana
Moderator: Mark Blum

In this lecture, Natsume Sōseki’s The Miner and “A Rainy Day” in To the Spring Equinox and Beyond are treated as works of path literature. During the Buddhist funerals, periods of transition in the lives of the literary characters and new sensations regarding life and death are identified through the connection of the term “path” as a synonym for passage. The funerals lead the fictional characters to reflect on their existence and the Buddhist funeral fictionalized in A Rainy Day was also cathartic for Sōseki himself. The lecture is based on my forthcoming book titled, The Awakening of Modern Japanese Fiction: Path Literature and An Interpretation of Buddhism, which aims to extract unrecognized Buddhist elements from the disciplinary divide between modern Japanese literary studies and Buddhist studies.

Co-Sponsors:
Center for Buddhist Studies
Otani University
Ryukoku University
BCA Center for Buddhist Education
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Shinshu Center of America

Beyond Imperial Aesthetics: Theorizing Art and Politics in East Asia
March 19, 2019
Panel Discussion
Panelists:
Naoki Sakai, Cornell University
Mayumo Inoue, Hitotsubashi University
Moderators:
Miryam Sas, UC Berkeley
Steve Choe, San Francisco State University

Observing that the division between theory and empiricism remains inextricably linked to imperial modernity, manifest at the most basic level in the binary between “the West” and “Asia,” the authors in the forthcoming collection Beyond Imperial Aesthetics (co-edited by Mayumo Inoue and Steve Choe, Hong Kong University Press, 2019) reexamine art and aesthetics to challenge these oppositions in order to reconceptualize politics and knowledge production in East Asia.

If the seemingly universal operation of capital and militarism in East Asia requires locally specific definitions of biopolitical concepts to function smoothly, this book critiques the circuit of power between the universalism of capital and particularism of nation and culture in the context of East Asia after 1945. Treating aesthetic experiences in art at large as the bases for going beyond imperial categories, the contributors discuss new modes of sensing, thinking, and living that have been unimaginable within the mainstream modality of Asian studies, a discipline that has reproduced the colonial regime of knowledge production.

Moderated by the book's co-editor Steve Choe, this book event will feature presentations by the book’s contributor Naoki Sakai and co-editor Mayumo Inoue, followed by a commentary from Miryam Sas.

Presenters:
Naoki Sakai (Comparative Literature and Asian Studies, Cornell University)
Mayumo Inoue (Comparative Literature, Hitotsubashi University)
Commentator:
Miryam Sas (Comparative Literature and Film & Media, UC Berkeley)
Moderator:
Steve Choe (Film Studies, San Francisco State University)

Co-Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS)

Key Issues in the Current Global Economy
April 5, 2019
Conference

What are the contours of superpower competition? How do middle powers interact with great powers in the 21st century? In East Asia, what options do middle powers in Asia such as Taiwan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and other have? What lessons might we have from middle power strategies from the age of US-Soviet Cold War competition? This conference will explore super and middle powers in an era of strategic competition, financial regulation, industrial policy and green goods, and industrial policy, IP, investment, and trade conflict.

Speakers:
Vinod AGGARWAL, UC Berkeley
Edward ALDEN, Council on Foreign Relations
Jan Joel ANDERSSON, Swedish Institute of
International Affairs
Daniel BALKE, UC Berkeley
Melissa CARLSON, UC Berkeley
Konan CHAN, National Chengchi University
Yi-Fen Niki CHIANG, National Chengchi University
Mark COHEN, UC Berkeley
Ralf EMMERS, Nanyang Technological University
James GREEN, Georgetown University
Eelke HEEMSKERK, University of Amsterdam
Will HUNT, UC Berkeley
Masahiro KAWAI, University of Tokyo and ERINA
Robyn KLINGLER VIDRA, King’s College London
Min Gyo KOO, Seoul National University
Wei-Yu KUO, National Chengchi University
Wen-Chieh LEE, National Chengchi University
Kuang-Ta LO, National Chengchi University
Tim MARPLE, UC Berkeley
Jonas MECKLING, UC Berkeley
Seung-Youn OH, Bryn Mawr College
Clara PARK, University of Colorado
Ishana RATAN, UC Berkeley
Andrew REDDIE, UC Berkeley
Mark SOBEL, , Official Monetary and
Financial Institutions Forum
Chung-min TSAI, National Chengchi University
Eleni TSINGOU, Copenhagen Business School
Wei-Feng TZENG, National Chengchi University
Shinn-shyr WANG, National Chengchi University

Co-Sponsor:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS)

China's Growing Sharp Power: Western, Asian, and African Perspectives
April 19, 2019
Conference

A group of leading experts on China and American foreign policy recently released “Chinese Influence and American Interests: Promoting Constructive Vigilance,” a report documenting Chinese efforts to influence American society. The report examines China's efforts to influence American institutions, including state and local governments, universities, think tanks, media, corporations, and the Chinese-American community, and differentiates between legitimate efforts--like public diplomacy--and improper interference, which demands greater awareness and a calibrated response. The report also includes perspectives from other countries, including those in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

On Friday, April 19, contributors to the report, including co-editors Larry Diamond and Orville Schell, and outside experts will gather at UC Berkeley to compare and discuss the forms and effects of Chinese “sharp power” across Western, Asian, and African countries.

The event is co-sponsored by the Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of European Studies, Canadian Studies Program, Institute for South Asia Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Center for African Studies.

Panels/Speakers:
Western Country Perspectives Panel
Moderator: Larry Diamond, Stanford University
Canada: Paul Evans, University of British Columbia
Czech Republic: Martin Hala, Charles University and AcaMedia
France/EU: Mathieu Duchatel, Institut Montaigne
New Zealand: Anne-Marie Brady, University of Canterbury
United States: Larry Diamond, Stanford University

Asian Country Perspectives Panel
Moderator: Kevin O'Brien, UC Berkeley
Southeast Asia: Andrew Mertha, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Japan: Yoshihide Soeya, Keio University
Korea: See-won Byun, San Francisco State University
South Asia: Tanvi Madan, The Brookings Institution
Taiwan: Kwei-Bo Huang, National Chengchi University

African Country Perspectives Panel
Moderator: Mariane Ferme, UC Berkeley
Historical Context: Jamie Monson, Michigan State University
Human Capital Investments: Lina Benabdallah, Wake Forest University
Sub-Saharan Africa: W. Gyude Moore, Center for Global Development
Zambia: Ching Kwan Lee, University of California, LA

Wrap-up Panel
Moderator: Orville Schell, Asia Society
John Pomfret, former Washington Post Bureau Chief
Orville Schell, Asia Society
Yawei Liu, Carter Center

Co-Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS)
Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)
Center for Korean Studies (CKS)
Canadian Studies Program (CAN)
Institute for South Asia Studies
Institute of European Studies
Center for African Studies
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

Agroecology in Japan and the Americas: History, Practice, and Future Directions
April 26, 2019
Workshop

This workshop highlights similarities and differences between agroecological approaches in Japan and those in the Americas with a focus on their historic and geographic contexts, and presents future visions of sustainable farming practice and resilient human-environmental interaction. Agroecology can be defined as a trans-disciplinary approach rooted in both traditional and scientific knowledge that seeks to design and manage productive, biologically diverse, resilient, and primarily small-scale agricultural systems. Starting with the discussion of Miguel Altieri’s seminal work on agroecolocy in South America and California, presenters in this workshop examine the roots, characteristics and goals of past and present agroecological approaches on the both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

1:00-1:10 Welcoming Remarks
1:10-1:40 Miguel Altieri (UC Berkeley): Agroecological Restoration at Multiple Scales: From Farm to Landscape
1:40-2:10 Kazumasa Hidaka (Ehime University): An Agroecological Approach towards Sustainable Farming Practice in Japan: Lessons from Satoyama and Traditional Ecological Knowledge
2:10-2:40 Junko Habu (UC Berkeley): Traditional Knowledge, Small-scale Organic Farming and the Consumer Movement in Post-WWII Japan: Continuity and Change in Social and Agricultural Landscapes
3:00-3:30 Joji Muramoto (UCSC): Agroecology in California Strawberries: A Vision for the Post-Methyl Bromide Era
3:30-4:00 Clara Nicholls (UC Berkeley): Designing Climate-Change-Resilient Farms
4:00-5:00 Discussion

https://junkohabu.com/2019/03/25/agroecology-in-japan-and-americas/

Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS)
Archaeological Research Facility
Department of Anthropology
Berkeley Food Institute

New Discoveries in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology
April 29, 2019
Speakers:
Peter V. Lape, Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum, University of Washington
John W. Olsen, Regents’ Professor Emeritus & Executive Director, Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology, Anthropology, University of Arizona
Panelist/Discussant:
Gyoung-Ah Lee, Anthropology, University of Oregon
Moderator:
Junko Habu, Anthropology, UC Berkeley

This event celebrates the publication of the Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology by inviting two editors of this volume, both of whom are prominent scholars in the field of Asian Archaeology. Prof. John W. Olsen (University of Arizona) will talk about his recent archaeological expeditions in Mongolia and Tibet with a focus on Paleolithic archaeology in these regions. Professor Peter V. Lape (University of Washington) will discuss social change in Island Southeast Asia over the past 5000 years.

Abstracts and biographical statements are attached here.

Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS)
Department of Anthropology
Archaeological Research Facility
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
Center for Korean Studies (CKS)
Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)

Japan's Imperial Underworlds: Intimate Encounters at the Borders of Empire
May 1, 2019
Colloquium
Speaker:
David Ambaras, North Carolina State University

In this presentation, I examine the histories of people who moved, the relationships they created, and the anxieties they provoked, in the spatial and social borderlands between Japan and China from the 1860s to the 1940s. Japan’s imbrication in new geopolitical structures and spatial flows engendered forms of intimacy that were seen as problematic, or even horrific, because they transgressed notions of territory marked by stable, defensible borders and notions of place marked by distinct identities and social roles. Yet rather than see those borders and roles as already established and thus violated, I use cases of transgressive intimacy to highlight the ways in which territoriality and spatial imaginaries were being articulated in the imperial era. Excavating long-forgotten histories of child trafficking, marriage migration, and piracy, I argue that mobile subjects in marginal locations not only destabilized official projects for the regulation of territory and the policing of underworlds, but also stimulated fantasies that opened new spaces for the elaboration of imperial power in its material and discursive forms. I emphasize that for the people who lived it, the Japanese nation-empire was one of several overlapping spatial formations that emerged from modern Japan’s relations with a region in which the historically central Chinese presence continued to loom large.

About the speaker: DAVID AMBARAS is Associate Professor at North Carolina State University. His research explores the social history of modern Japan and its empire, particularly through a focus on transgression and marginality. He is the author of Japan's Imperial Underworlds: Intimate Encounters at the Borders of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2018); Bad Youth: Juvenile Delinquency and the Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2006); and articles and book chapters on class formation, urban space, wartime mobilization, and ethnic intermarriage. He is co-director of the digital project Bodies and Structures: Deep-mapping Modern East Asian History. Ambaras holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and degrees from the University of Tokyo, the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Paris), and Columbia University. He is recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Co-Sponsors:
Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)

Fiction or Reality: Thinking Fukushima through Art
May 3, 2019
Seminar
Speaker:
Saeko Kimura, Professor, Tsuda University
Moderator:
Miryam Sas, Professor, UC Berkeley

While we share the sense that fiction and plastic arts reflect a different relationship to reality than that of documentary or journalistic writing, writing on Fukushima often encounters a difficulty in distinguishing between the fictional and the real. How have recent Japanese artists and writers after 3-11 broached and responded to this difficulty in dividing the real from the imaginary? Is such a distinction possible? To consider this question, we will read Tawada Yoko’s The Emissary (which received the National Book Award for translation in 2018) in relation to the required removal of Yanobe Kenji’s controversial sculpture “Sun Child”from Fukushima (in September 2018, just a month and a half after its installation).

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