miscellanea nipponica

Continued from my earlier post , here are some more impressions from Düsseldorf University’s recent “Japan in Diaspora” symposium.

Continue reading ‘Japan in Diaspora / Diaspora in Japan (2)’

Beim sogenannten “Jahr der Geisteswissenschaften” springt zwar kein Geld, aber immerhin ein bißchen Werbung für mein Fach heraus:

Prof. Dr. Gesine Foljanty-Jost von der Universitt Halle-Wittenberg erklärt, woran die Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler ihres Fachs forschen, wie ansteckend das Lesen von Mangas sein kann und weshalb es in der Japanologie nicht nur um Japan geht, sondern auch um Deutschland.

Link zum Video

Though occupied with preparing a talk on studying in Japan and cramming for my exams, I managed to attend at least part of the symposium on Japanese Diaspora Studies at Düsseldorf’s Heinrich-Heine-Universität that I wrote about earlier. This was, to the best of my knowledge, the first conference on this topic in German Japanese Studies. It was quite lively, with contributions from German, Japanese-American, Chinese and Japanese scholars and discussions routinely held in three languages, as befit the subject. In this first post, I will summarize the opening speeches by Shingo Shimada and Harumi Befu. I will try to provide summaries to some of the other contributions later, notably Kyungsik Suh’s well-received account of his zainichi identity and language politics, and Ludger Pries’s more theory-focused paper on the concept of trans-national space.

Continue reading ‘Japan in Diaspora / Diaspora in Japan (1)’

The second part of my on-going, barely organized link dump on the online study of Japanese religions concerns itself with Shintō and folk religion. If you aren’t yet familiar with Japanese religion and its study on the web, I recommend you check out the first part first, where I have attempted to provide a basic guide. If you feel ready for more, read on below the fold…

Continue reading ‘Researching Japanese Religions on the Web (2) - Shintō and Folk Religion’

“Das Ereignis der lichtenden Botschaft der Anmut”

*prust*

Edit: …aber immerhin, wenn fünf Jahrzehnte später ein schöner Essay über Sei Shōnagon dabei herauskommt…

Try saying that quickly five times in a row. I wasn’t aware of this program until now, but it sounds pretty attractive:

Working closely with the National Institute for Japanese Language, this program is designed to recognize outstanding achievements by leading non-resident and non-Japanese researchers of the Japanese language and/or Japanese instruction, as well as those of younger non-Japanese researchers with fresh points of view. These researchers and instructors are invited to Japan to further their studies.

Check out the details here.

Two quick items of interest for anybody who cares about the phenomenon of overseas Japanese diaspora culture(s).

1. An upcoming symposium at Düsseldorf’s Heinrich-Heine-Universität.

“Diaspora” is a concept which is paid more and more attention to within the current discussion of cultural and sociological studies. By global migration, transnational economic cooperation and cultural self-assurance the awareness of cultural differences has become more noticeable. Within this context the multicultural discourse broaches the issue of cultural diversity and the cohabitation in a modern society. Because of this the concept of “Diaspora” becomes more important. The pejorative connotation of former times is eclipsed by new positive aspects of the idea. In the new discussion, Diaspora means a position between two or more different cultures and is revealed as the new paradigmatic life situations in times of globalization.

The symposium, which will feature, among others, Harumi Befu, will be held on Oct 3rd, 2007. Check out their Website.

2. (via Frog in a Well), here is an interesting article by Nobuko Adachi in Japan Focus on the issue of Japanese-Peruvians in Peru, the United States, and Japan.

Japan is bigger than just Japan. Japan is metaphor and allegory, successful case study and cautionary example, tragedy and comedy, Eden and the Land of the Lotus Eaters. All these multiple narratives cannot possibly be correct at the same time, unless we remove Japan from its strict geographical denotation and explore a more abstracted Japan in conjunction with our normal surveillance of reality.

Thus speaks W. David “Marxy” Marx in what he calls the first manifesto to his new group blog Néojaponisme (his co-bloggers are Jean Snow and Ian Lynam, both Tokyo-based like Marxy). Marxy’s old blog was - and hopefully will continue to be - highly insightful, for the often critical and thoughtful posts as much as for the, ahem, passionate debates in the comments section on contemporary Japanese society and pop culture. Some of the friction generated in these debates has obviously spilled over into his new project, as the following passage shows:

As Japan blossoms in the international garden, a few cling to Néo-Orientalisme, a Romantic ideology updating the old lust towards submissive geisha and beautiful ukiyo-e with an obsession for Japan’s post-1980s cultural and technological accomplishments. Japan certainly provides the world with alternate social, economic, and political systems for serious consideration, but we should not make the mistake of believing that we have discovered a utopian parallel to our own society. If we really want to advocate certain policy triumphs in Japan for global betterment, we must fully understand the sometimes painful realities behind the working order.

I wonder who these “few” might be? Anyway, count me among the regular readers of this very promising new web journal.

TOKYO - Edward Seidensticker, a leading scholar and translator of Japanese literature including the epic “Tale of Genji,” has died in Tokyo. He was 86. Seidensticker died on Sunday after slipping into a coma from a head injury suffered in April, Tetsumi Yamaguchi, a longtime associate and caregiver, told the Associated Press Tuesday. more…

Read a simple, but heartfelt obituary at Neo-Literati. I, too, remember Seidensticker chiefly for his (sometimes criticized, but) beautiful translation of Kawabata’s Snow Country. His life’s work will not be forgotten.

UPDATE: Read another thoughtful post on Seidensticker’s death at Nagaijin.

Reputed Japanese Studies scholar Tessa Morris-Suzuki has posted a video blog at myspace.com that introduces her Japan Focus article on the penomenon of Japanese immigration to, of all places, North Korea:

Between 1959 and 1984, these few were among the 93,340 people who migrated from Japan to North Korea in search of a new and better life. There were several particularly ironic features of this migration. First, it took place precisely at the time of Japan’s “economic miracle”. Secondly, although it was described as a “repatriation”, almost all those who “returned” to North Korea originally came from the south of the Korean peninsula, and many had been born and lived all their lives in Japan. Third, the glowing images of life which tempted them to Kim Il Sung’s “worker’s paradise” came, not just from the North Korean propaganda machine but from the Japanese mainstream media, supported and encouraged by politicians including key members of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

While the article itself is very interesting, I’m also pretty intrigued by a scholar from my field using new technology to promote her work. I know of few other Japanologists who even write a blog, let alone a vlog.

via I, Shingen