Japanese Studies Radio Hour

2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the U-M Center for Japanese Studies. Throughout the year, the Japanese Studies Radio Hour will share special recordings from the CJS archives, starting with this special address by Beate Sirota Gordon, given on the occasion of CJS’s 50th anniversary in 1997. Complement this recording with Sirota Gordon’s The Only Woman in the Room: A Memoir of Japan, Human Rights, and the Arts.

CJS sits down with director Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour) and actress Hazuki Kikuchi (Happy Hour) to talk about their award-winning film Happy Hour. A special thank you to Rich Phillipson and Nicole Howeson for their dubbing work on this episode!

Brad and Prof. Allison Alexy (University of Michigan) sit down with Prof. Akiko Takeyama (University of Kansas) to talk about her new book Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stay tuned after the ending theme for a podcast extra!

A discussion at the 2016 Association for Asian Studies conference with Prof. Dyron Dabney (Albion College), Prof. Patricia Maclachlan (University of Texas, Austin), and Prof. Leonard Schoppa (University of Virginia) about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the field of Japanese Studies. Thanks to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission for organizing the panel that inspired this podcast!

Fukushima's Yamakiya Taiko Ensemble is one of Japan's leading taiko performance groups, having played such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. The leaders of Yamakiya Taiko (Genki Endo and Keisuke Suzuki) sat down with JSRH ahead of two Ann Arbor performances organized by local filmmaker Toko Shiiki and Prof. Erik Santos (U-M SMTD). We discuss the history of their troupe, their connection to Michigan, and what taiko drumming signifies for them as they negotiate the difficulties of life in Fukushima after the post-nuclear disaster.

This episode features a discussion with Prof. Mieko Yoshihama (University of Michigan School of Social Work) and Prof. Satsuki Takahashi (U-M CJS Toyota Visiting Professor / George Mason University Dept of Sociology and Anthropology) about their on-going research projects in northeastern Japan, which was devastated by a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster five years ago this month. To check out the PhotoVoice Japan book from the U-M library, please see this link: mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/013660947 For more on the PhotoVoice Project, please see this link (JPN only): photovoice.jp/

This is the first episode of the Japanese Studies Radio Hour (JSRH), featuring a discussion between Prof. David Leheny (Princeton University) and Prof. Kenneth McElwain (University of Tokyo) about the controversial security laws passed under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which authorize Japan’s military to take part in overseas combat missions for the first time since 1945.

Enjoy an entertaining and educational concert with shamisen virtuoso Sato Michiyoshi on his first US tour! Sato is an award-winning performer of Tsugaru-jamisen, a dynamic style of music played with a three-stringed Japanese banjo called a shamisen. The style has been adapted for contemporary audiences, and Sato himself glides between traditional, jazz, rock, and neo-folk modes, performing solo, with his father, and with his genre-crossing Kotobuki BAND. In this one-hour performance, Sato will focus on demonstrating the range and flexibility of the instrument. The event begins with introductory remarks by Joshua Solomon, a PhD candidate in the University of Chicago’s East Asian Languages and Civilizations program. Sponsored by the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the United States Department of Education.

Enjoy an entertaining and educational concert with shamisen virtuoso Sato Michiyoshi on his first US tour! Sato is an award-winning performer of Tsugaru-jamisen, a dynamic style of music played with a three-stringed Japanese banjo called a shamisen. The style has been adapted for contemporary audiences, and Sato himself glides between traditional, jazz, rock, and neo-folk modes, performing solo, with his father, and with his genre-crossing Kotobuki BAND. In this one-hour performance, Sato will focus on demonstrating the range and flexibility of the instrument. The event begins with introductory remarks by Joshua Solomon, a PhD candidate in the University of Chicago’s East Asian Languages and Civilizations program. Sponsored by the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the United States Department of Education.