September 21, 2005
Japan Studies Workshop is ...
Japan Studies Workshop is for faculty, graduate, professional, undergraduate students, and other members in the community interested in learning more about…
-Japan, U.S.-Japan relations, and related issues in East Asia
-Theoretical & methodological applications into such Japan related studies, and
-Many other international & multicultural research projects.
Such studies could include U.S.-Japan cultural, economic, and political comparisons. Other possible themes include modern Japan, Japanese American history, international relations closely or partially related to Japan & East Asia, globalization & development projects involving Japan & East Asia, and other international/multicultural studies.
Japan Studies Workshop encourages international and multicultural interactions. We promote better understanding among students and scholars from the U.S., Japan, and other countries.
We present & introduce our work, provide feedback on paper & presentations, invite guest speakers, discuss current social events to develop them for research projects, and participate in research related activities.
We would like to build a friendly "Japan Studies" community at the U of Minnesota. Japan Studies Workshop is for exchanging information on Japan & related research topics and providing suggestions for your new research ideas, papers, and presentations. Everyone is welcome!
Posted by at 10:57 PM
About us
Purpose
-To share our ongoing research projects with the university community
-To learn current research "topics" and "methodological & theoretical application" issues on Japan and related international projects
-To support our Ph.D. Dissertation, Masters Thesis, and Senior Project research developments, as well as to encourage other collaborative projects
Members
-This Japan Studies Workshop is open to any faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students interested in research projects on Japan and related international topics for promoting international/multicultural understanding.
-Current participants of Japan Studies Workshop come from the following disciplines: Business, Economics, Global Studies, History, Political Science, Public Affairs, and Sociology.
-Students and scholars with diverse background participate in Japan Studies Workshop. Current participants are from the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. Japan Studies Workshop promotes diversity, cross-national, multicultural understanding.
-Students and scholars interested in Japan related international/multicultural research can show up to any scheduled meeting or e-mail us with any questions.
Meetings
-For each meeting, we have a research theme and invite a presenter. Following the presentation, we open up our group for discussion.
-The meetings for Fall 2005 semester is on the FALL 2005 SCHEDULE:
Please check this Blog for updates.
Origin
-Japan Studies Workshop has started with a large influence from the research activities of Chinese graduate students in social sciences. Some of the participants of the Japan Studies Workshop attended their forum organized by Reiping Huang in Sociology in Spring 2005. The forum was to think about issues around the recent anti-Japan movements in China and South Korea. This opportunity inspired Minako Fujitsuka and Hajime Miyauchi to form this Japan Studies Workshop which students and scholars could discuss and learn about current research issues on Japan and related international/multicultural topics.
Japan Studies Workshop meets biweekly and shares stories about their research projects.
Posted by at 10:38 AM
Contact Information
Coordinators
Chika Shinohara (Sociology)
Hajime Miyauchi (Global Studies & Sociology)
Minako Fujitsuka (Political Science & Economics)
Posted by at 10:00 AM
September 20, 2005
Workshop 1: Thinking about Methodological Applications into Gender and Crime Studies in Japan
Friday, October 14th 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. @ 1114 Social Sciences
Presenter: Chie Michihiro (Public Policy)
Abstract
Criminal Court Response to Violence Against Women and Girls in Singapore: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Reporting, 2000-2003
My Japan Studies Workshop presentation will consider one methodological application into “Gender and Crime” studies in Japan. My research highlights the importance of understanding contexts of a specific society in analyzing criminal courts’ responses to violence against women and girls. I took Singapore – a politically “strong” nation-state with similarly traditional gender role and family expectations to Japan – as a case to analyze the relationship between domestic violence sentencing and victim’s marital status. An analysis of Singapore revealed that the Singaporean government utilizes the family values rhetoric that emphasizes maintenance of marriage in the discourse of nation building. The family values rhetoric and the punitive criminal justice system shaped how the criminal courts treat marital intimate partner violence. I conducted a quantitative analysis of crime news of violence against women and girls collected from a Singaporean newspaper from 2000-2003. The result with the Singaporean data indicates that the criminal court judges might believe that it was more important to protect marriage than to protect the victims. I discuss a possibility of applying this research methodology into “criminal court and violence against women” study in Japan and South Korea with the Japan Studies Workshop participants. Considering similarities of gender role expectations & family values, strong state initiatives in this area, and recent alarms from the international communities (e.g. the United Nation’s CEDAW) to the governments in Singapore and Japan, I predict similar historical trends in the criminal courts treatment of marital intimate partner violence in Japan.
Posted by at 11:58 AM
Workshop 2: Explaning the U.S. History with the WWII 'War Brides' from Japan
Friday, October 28th 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. @ 1114 Social Sciences
Presenter: Masako Nakamura (History)
Abstract
Disciplining and Integrating the Women of Racially "Ineligible for
Citizenship" into the Imagined "American Families": Brides Schools for
Japanese Wives of American Servicemen and the U.S. Occupation of Japan
Abstract is unavailable
Presentation Slide is unavailable
Posted by at 11:56 AM
Workshop 3: Learning about the Democratization Processes of South Korea and Japan
Friday, November 4th 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. @ 1114 Social Sciences
Presenter: Eunhye Yoo (Sociology)
Abstract
State, Intellectuals and Citizens in the Public Sphere During 1945-1950: Comparative Analysis on Korea and Japan
Using Habermas’s concept of “public sphere,” I take an alternative approach to explain the development processes of civil society in South Korea and Japan after World War II. My study draws special attention to cultural resources created by intellectuals in the South Korean and Japanese public spheres. Both South Korea and Japan similarly received mass flows of the American capitals and democratic political ideologies during the few years of the U.S. occupation following the war. However, Japan experienced a rather smooth transition to democracy, when South Korea faced challenges with political dictatorships. What socio-political conditions in history made these contrasting outcomes in the development of the public sphere for civil society? The public sphere is a critical condition in transition to democracy. However, few focus on the preconditions for the public sphere moving towards civil society. I argue that cultural resources in the public sphere are critical in explaining the development processes towards democracy. Extreme physical violence by the state paralyzed the audience-oriented communication among citizens, suppressing open and active discussions on a variety of issues, but particularly on politics during this period in South Korea. Due to this, South Korean intellectuals suffered from the lack of cultural resources. This repression from the state resulted in the failure of promoting democracy with their cultural resources in South Korea. More open and active discussions on politics in the public sphere created a great amount of cultural resources for citizens and intellectuals to engage in further elaborations on “their own democracy” in post-war Japan. In Japan Studies Workshop, I intend to elaborate the importance of incorporating the experiences (e.g. physical violence) in the private sphere into explicating the public sphere.
Posted by at 9:14 AM
First Meeting Minutes
On September 16, Friday, we talked about the future activities of the group.
Minutes:
1.Introduction
2.Assigned the work in the group
- Coordinator - Chika Shinohara
- Coordinator & Treasurer - Keiko Morimoto
- Public Relations - Hajime Miyauchi & Minako Fujitsuka
3. Assigned the workshop presenters
- We roughly made a schedule for the workshops for the fall semester. We will contact you to confirm your presentation date.
Our next meeting is October 14, Friday at 5pm. Please check this website for updates.
Posted by at 8:53 AM
September 19, 2005
First Workshop Minutes
The theme of our first workshop on October 14, 2005 was "Thinking about Methodological Applications into Gender and Crime Studies in Japan."
Chie Michihiro (Public Policy) gave us her presentation on "Criminal Court Response to Violence against Women & Girls: A Singapore Case Study," which led us to further discussion on the subject.
Presentation:
1. Research Question
"How does the Victim-Perpetrator Relationship Matter in Criminal Court Sentencing?"
2. Method
Chie Michihiro conducted her research on the case in Singapore, where there is a strong belief in maintaining marriage. She analyzed court cases on the Straits Time (a major English newspaper in Singapore) and examined the relationship between the victim's relationship to the perpetrator and the length of sentencing.
3. Findings
"The perpetrators who victimized their former or current spouses [were] sentenced, on average, 53.4% shorter jail term, than other perpetrators." This means for the same kinds/degrees of violence against women, sentences were shorter if the perpetrator assaulted his current or former wife. Thus, the press in Singapore during 2000-2003 reported that on average perpetrators were being punished less if they had assaulted their former or current marital partners. They received, however, longer sentences when they had assaulted girls and women who were not their marital partners.
4. Question
How does this apply to Japan?
Further Questions (in discussion):
- Are the marital partners sentenced a shorter term on average than other intimate partners because the victims (who are spouses of the perpetrators) are less likely to demand for harsh punishment?
- Is there any difference between the sentences given to perpetrators of different ethnic groups?
We encourage everyone to comment on this topic or share further questions for inquiry.
The next workshop will meet on October 28th, Friday, 5:30-6:30 p.m. in 1114 Social Science Building. Masako Nakamura will present on 'War Brides' from Japan to the United States.
Posted by at 11:00 PM
September 15, 2005
Analyzing Gender & Sexuality in Japan: Using "Takarazuka" As An Example
Tuesday, October 18_*
*12 noon – 1:00 p.m. Nolte Library*
*Screening of /Dream Girls /**(1993) by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams*
Description (from Women Make Movies) This fascinating documentary, produced for the BBC, opens a door into the spectacular world of the Takarazuka Revue, a highly successful musical theater company in Japan. Each year, thousands of girls apply to enter the male-run Takarazuka Music School. The few who are accepted endure years of a highly disciplined and reclusive existence before they can join the Revue, choosing male or female roles. Dream Girls offers a compelling insight into gender and sexual identity and the contradictions experienced by Japanese women today.
*_Thursday, October 20_*
*1:00 – 3:00 p.m.* *Collaborative workshop with Jennifer Robertson, Nolte 335.*
*“Robot Revue: Anthropometry as Performance in the Takarazuka Revue”*
This workshop will be open to 15 participants. Graduate students and faculty may sign up by contacting Josephine Lee at jolee@umn.edu
*7:30 p.m. Lecture by Jennifer Robertson. Nolte Center 125. Free and open to the public.*
*“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: ‘History’ and the Disturbing Ethics of ‘Japanese’ Bioethics.”*
Robertson will trace the unsettling history behind the concept of “East Asian bioethics” coined in the mid-1990s, and raise questions about processes of history-making (and –unmaking) in bioethical debates. A barometer of socio-political attitudes and orientations, bioethics poses reflexive questions about cultural, national and global identity. The century-old janusian relationship between eugenics and bioethics continues to inform the popular perception of the nature and future of postmodern Japan, which since the mid-1990s has been shaped by an asymmetrical and ahistorical celebration of pan-Asianism. The bioethical dilemma posed and produced by a politics of renewal and strategic “dehistoricization,” together with “re-Asianization,” is introduced and analyzed.
Posted by at 11:14 PM
Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization
The Department of Geography Coffee Hour presents:
What is "Neoliberalism" Good for? Exploring the Concept through the Looking-glass of World Bank Power
A talk by Michael Goldman, McKnight Presidential Fellow, and Associate Professor of Sociology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His books are Privatizing Nature: Political Struggles for the Global Commons (Rutgers, 1998) and just released, Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization (Yale,2005).
Friday, October 28th, 3:30pm
445 Blegen Hall, West Bank
3:15pm for coffee and cookies
Posted by at 11:17 AM
The 5th EWC International Graduate Student Conference
Aloha,
The 5th East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference will be held in Honolulu, February 16 – 18, 2006, with theme: Sustaining a Resilient Asia Pacific Community: Issues and Solutions. This conference appeals broadly to graduate student scholarship in social sciences, arts, and humanities, and to policy-oriented intersections with applied sciences and engineering, to address issues on the Asia-Pacific region at the local, regional, national, and global scale.
Enclosed is the call for papers announcement for your reference. The deadline for abstract submission is on October 24, 2005 PST. More information about the conference is available at: www.eastwestcenter.org/studentconference/
Kindly regards,
Wilmar Salim
Chair
The 5th EWC International Graduate Student Conference
C/o EWC Education Program
1601 East-West Road, Burns Hall 2083
Honolulu, Hawaii 96848
U.S.A.
Posted by at 11:00 AM
Access to MagazinePlus Database
EAST ASIAN LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
From: Su Chen
Subject: MagazinePlus Database is available to access
Date: 10Oct05 4:06pm
Dear Professors and Friends,
Finally, we have the access to MagazinePlus database, the largest index to
Japanese journal articles, conference proceeding, dissertations and others.
The access to the database is not very convenient due to the way of the
license agreement set up by Nichigai. For comply with the license
agreement, the EAL prepared "MagazinePlus Database Use Agreement" with
consultation of the General Consulate at the University, for faculty
members and students who wishes to have the access to the database.
Once you signed the agreement, you will receive the URL of the database
immediately.
Please stop by the EAL to sign the form and pick up the URL. Please let me
know if you can't, we should be happy to make an arrangement for you to
sign the form and receive the URL where is convenient to you. Please kindly
let me know what would work for you.
I can't give the URL over the email or phone at the advice of the General
Consulate; she said if we want to keep using the database, this is what we
have to do.
Thank you very much for your understanding. The URL is for you to access
the database from anywhere, which is an excellent feature.
The form and URL is available for you to sign and pick up during EAL
opening hours which are:
Mondays to Thursdays: 9:00am to 8:00pm
Fridays: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Saturdays: 12:00noon to 5:00pm
Thank you very much for your attention! Please let me know if you have
questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Su Chen
East Asian Library
Posted by at 12:00 AM
September 14, 2005
Updates on the First Meeting!!
The first meeting will be held this week as scheduled!!
Date: September 16th, Friday
Time:5pm
Place: Mapps Coffee and Tea (on the West Bank, 1810 Riverside Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55454)
This meeting will be informal; we will go through the basic policies and the purpose of the group and introduce ourselves to one another.
Bring a friend who would be interested in participating in the workshops!!!
Posted by at 12:43 AM
September 3, 2005
CANCELLED Workshop 5: Finding Out the Role of Christian Imagery in the Japanese Animation
CANCELLED
Presenter: Keith G Coggshall (Anthropology)
Abstract
Reproduced Imagery of Christianity in the Japanese Animation: Anthropological Theories of Imagery and Culture
In my Japan Studies Workshop presentation, I will explore the role of Christian imagery within Japanese Animation films and TV programs. Christianity has always been a popular theme within the Japanese Anime from the films of a famous animation producer, Mamoru Oshii, whose projects includes Urusei Yatsura (1980s) and Innocance (2004) to a hit television series like Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-). Intriguingly, this is the case despite the fact that less than one percent of the total population of Japan is Christian. What is the role of the Christian imagery in these popular animation projects - produced in Japan and broadcasted worldwide today? By examining the imagery of Christianity in popular Japanese animation, I will show how a western religious imagery illuminates stories in Japanese popular culture with anthropological theories of visual imagery and culture. What role do these images play within popular Japanese and American cultures today?
Posted by at 2:13 PM
September 2, 2005
Agenda for the First Workshop
The first workshop will be held on September 16th at 5pm (Room TBA).
Agenda
-Ice Breaker (Introducing ourselves)
-Discuss about the workshops, assign the presenters on the scheduled dates
-Small Discussion (possibly included in the Ice Breaker; topic provided by Hajime and Minako)
Posted by at 4:18 PM