Year of Japan Lecture Series (2013-2014)

Keith Johnson, professor at Georgia Regents University, gives a detailed presentation on Cyberpunk Ecologies: Manga, Anime, and the Posthuman.

Keith Johnson, professor at Georgia Regents University, gives a detailed presentation on Cyberpunk Ecologies: Manga, Anime, and the Posthuman.

Tad Watanabe, professor of Mathematics, KSU, Catherine Lewis, Mills College and Blake Peterson, Brigham Young discuss math and science education in Japan.

Tad Watanabe, professor of Mathematics, KSU, Catherine Lewis, Mills College and Blake Peterson, Brigham Young discuss math and science education in Japan.

Dr. Akiko Orita conducts research related to online privacy and identity. She received her M.A.in Media and Governance at Keio University, then served as a research associate working as an assistant of Professor Jun Murai to establish national IT strategy in Japan. She stood for the Diet election in 2002 as an official candidate appealing for individual control for privacy, but marked the third position. After earning her Ph.D. in Media and Governance at Keio University in 2007, she served as an assistant professor at Chuo Graduate School of Strategic Management, then moved to Keio University. In 2010, Dr. Orita was a member of a national high-level regulation reformation committee of IT strategic headquarters of Japan. Dr. Orita also has experience as a visiting assistant professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia USA in 2011 teaching in the Computer Science and Information Systems Department. She has worked at Kanto Gakuin University since 2013. Dr. Mikako Ogawa completed her PhD (Media and Governance) in 2010 and an MBA in 2003 from Keio University after having worked as a system engineer for 8 years. Her research areas include information sharing in the food supply chain, food traceability, and communication issues between food companies and consumers. She is a member of the Association for Information Systems, Japan Society for Management Information, The Food System Research Association of Japan, and the Japan Society of Foodservice Studies. Dr. Don Amoroso is Professor of Information Systems at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Donald Amoroso works with strategic innovation projects, especially information technology, in order to make changes in the competitive strategic environment and move organizations into a new space. Dr. Amoroso received his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and has spent more than twenty-five years in higher education and industry. His experience includes working in GE Capital as a director of Enterprise Solutions and with Solista/Gartner Group as a consulting partner. Dr. Amoroso is currently working in Japan and the Philippines to consult with telecom organizations on consumer adoption and the mobile strategy ecosystem in Japan and the Philippines. He is working with colleagues at 12 Japanese and 6 Philippine universities to develop research on each of the components of the mobile ecosystem. He has worked with organizations in 17 countries on global issues related to strategy, innovation, technology and leadership and has published 62 refereed journal articles.

Dr. Akiko Orita conducts research related to online privacy and identity. She received her M.A.in Media and Governance at Keio University, then served as a research associate working as an assistant of Professor Jun Murai to establish national IT strategy in Japan. She stood for the Diet election in 2002 as an official candidate appealing for individual control for privacy, but marked the third position. After earning her Ph.D. in Media and Governance at Keio University in 2007, she served as an assistant professor at Chuo Graduate School of Strategic Management, then moved to Keio University. In 2010, Dr. Orita was a member of a national high-level regulation reformation committee of IT strategic headquarters of Japan. Dr. Orita also has experience as a visiting assistant professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia USA in 2011 teaching in the Computer Science and Information Systems Department. She has worked at Kanto Gakuin University since 2013. Dr. Mikako Ogawa completed her PhD (Media and Governance) in 2010 and an MBA in 2003 from Keio University after having worked as a system engineer for 8 years. Her research areas include information sharing in the food supply chain, food traceability, and communication issues between food companies and consumers. She is a member of the Association for Information Systems, Japan Society for Management Information, The Food System Research Association of Japan, and the Japan Society of Foodservice Studies. Dr. Don Amoroso is Professor of Information Systems at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Donald Amoroso works with strategic innovation projects, especially information technology, in order to make changes in the competitive strategic environment and move organizations into a new space. Dr. Amoroso received his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and has spent more than twenty-five years in higher education and industry. His experience includes working in GE Capital as a director of Enterprise Solutions and with Solista/Gartner Group as a consulting partner. Dr. Amoroso is currently working in Japan and the Philippines to consult with telecom organizations on consumer adoption and the mobile strategy ecosystem in Japan and the Philippines. He is working with colleagues at 12 Japanese and 6 Philippine universities to develop research on each of the components of the mobile ecosystem. He has worked with organizations in 17 countries on global issues related to strategy, innovation, technology and leadership and has published 62 refereed journal articles.

Since the collapse of Japan's "Bubble Economy" in 1990, Japanese industry, finance, and society have struggled with persistently low growth, deflation, ineffective government policies, demographic shifts, and devastating natural disasters. What lessons does the Japanese experience of the past 25 years hold for the United States, as we struggle now with many of the persistent economic, political, and social issues that have afflicted (and paralyzed) Japan for a generation?

Since the collapse of Japan's "Bubble Economy" in 1990, Japanese industry, finance, and society have struggled with persistently low growth, deflation, ineffective government policies, demographic shifts, and devastating natural disasters. What lessons does the Japanese experience of the past 25 years hold for the United States, as we struggle now with many of the persistent economic, political, and social issues that have afflicted (and paralyzed) Japan for a generation?

Professor LeBaron discusses the macro history of Japan and the United States. National history teaches us what is distinctive about a particular land and people. Macro history emphasized the problems, and challenges that humans have shared because they are humans. Macro history examines the characteristics and behaviors that all humans have in common.

Professor LeBaron discusses the macro history of Japan and the United States. National history teaches us what is distinctive about a particular land and people. Macro history emphasized the problems, and challenges that humans have shared because they are humans. Macro history examines the characteristics and behaviors that all humans have in common.

Takashi Takahara discusses Oniitashi (ogre-tilemakers) and Japanese figurative ceramics.

Takashi Takahara discusses Oniitashi (ogre-tilemakers) and Japanese figurative ceramics.

Takashi Takahara discusses Oniitashi (ogre-tilemakers) and Japanese figurative ceramics.

In this illustrated talk, Professor Eric Muller discusses rare Kodachrome photographs of imprisoned Japanese Americans taken by internee photographer Bill Manbo at Wyoming's Heart Mountain Relocation Center in 1943 and 1944. The color photographs jar settled understandings of Japanese American incarceration. Not only are the images beautiful, but they show imprisoned Japanese Americans engaging in both culturally Japanese and culturally American activities, thus expanding many viewers’ appreciation of the range of cultural practices that were common in the wartime camps. Their brilliant color also strips away the sense that these are “historical” photographs, making the pictured events look as though they could be happening today. While the images allow greater emotional connection with the pictured subjects than many black-and-white photographs do, they also interrogate and complicate viewers’ common assumptions about the nature of life behind barbed wire and about the nature of this tragic episode of injustice.

In this illustrated talk, Professor Eric Muller discusses rare Kodachrome photographs of imprisoned Japanese Americans taken by internee photographer Bill Manbo at Wyoming's Heart Mountain Relocation Center in 1943 and 1944. The color photographs jar settled understandings of Japanese American incarceration. Not only are the images beautiful, but they show imprisoned Japanese Americans engaging in both culturally Japanese and culturally American activities, thus expanding many viewers’ appreciation of the range of cultural practices that were common in the wartime camps. Their brilliant color also strips away the sense that these are “historical” photographs, making the pictured events look as though they could be happening today. While the images allow greater emotional connection with the pictured subjects than many black-and-white photographs do, they also interrogate and complicate viewers’ common assumptions about the nature of life behind barbed wire and about the nature of this tragic episode of injustice.

In this illustrated talk, Professor Eric Muller discusses rare Kodachrome photographs of imprisoned Japanese Americans taken by internee photographer Bill Manbo at Wyoming's Heart Mountain Relocation Center in 1943 and 1944. The color photographs jar settled understandings of Japanese American incarceration. Not only are the images beautiful, but they show imprisoned Japanese Americans engaging in both culturally Japanese and culturally American activities, thus expanding many viewers’ appreciation of the range of cultural practices that were common in the wartime camps. Their brilliant color also strips away the sense that these are “historical” photographs, making the pictured events look as though they could be happening today. While the images allow greater emotional connection with the pictured subjects than many black-and-white photographs do, they also interrogate and complicate viewers’ common assumptions about the nature of life behind barbed wire and about the nature of this tragic episode of injustice.

Expanding from Edo (Tokugawa) Era Japanese merchant stores from the 1600s, full-scale department stores emerged in Japan early in the twentieth-century, and were later joined by railway based department stores. This paper discusses department stores as a mirror of 20th century Japan, then looks at them for insights on 21st century Japan. During the 20th century Japan’s department stores were arbiters of culture, taste, and fashion, and a major means through which Japanese were introduced to Western cultures, customs, and styles. Department stores reflect Japan’s early twentieth-century tendency towards emulating the West, the expansion of this in following decades, its renewal in the post-World War II period, the eventual full consumer flowering of Japan in the bubble years, to the late century recession and [first] ‘lost decade’ resulting in the closure of many previously prominent department stores. The talk then discusses 21st century “restoration”–re-openings or renewals of department stores. Japan’s department stores are pivotal in revealing gender in relationship to culture and consumerism. Department store marketing in Japan reflects gender expectations and socialization, at times possibly even when store promotions claim to move away from such constructs. A long term emphasis on catering to female customers within the store, and the more recent development of men’s buildings and styling clinics reveal a great deal about shifting gender ideals. Linked to this, as important employment institutions in the service sector Japan’s department stores reflect shifts or changing attitudes towards gender roles and gender based employment or careers. Based on research during the late 20th century on Japan’s department stores at their peak, and in 2012-2013 during a year of grand openings or re-openings of department stores and other consumer complexes, this talk also suggests Japan’s department stores as a window on Japanese culture and society show the 20th century as one of Japan looking towards the West, and the 21st century as one with a greater focus on Asia and other non-Western countries. Millie Creighton is a Japan specialist and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, where she serves on the Executive Management Boards of the Centre for Japanese Research and the Centre for Korean Research. She has done extensive research in Japan on department stores, consumerism, tourism, popular culture, gender, minorities, work and leisure, and identity. She was awarded the Canon Prize for her work on Japanese department stores showing how department store marketing reflected nostalgia and the search for community, tradition and cultural identity. She has also published on Japanese department stores and the socialization of gender roles, along with work exploring the Equal Employment Opportunity Law and gendered careers through department stores. She recently received a fellowship to spend the 2012-2013 academic year in Japan at the National Museum of Ethnology, in Osaka, Japan conducting further research on consumerism and Japanese society and culture. In addition to work on department stores, she has been conducting research on Japan-Korea relations through popular culture exchanges, and was one of the founders of the World Association of Hallyu Studies (Hallyu refers to Korean Popular Culture Flows) and is one of the regional presidents.

Expanding from Edo (Tokugawa) Era Japanese merchant stores from the 1600s, full-scale department stores emerged in Japan early in the twentieth-century, and were later joined by railway based department stores. This paper discusses department stores as a mirror of 20th century Japan, then looks at them for insights on 21st century Japan. During the 20th century Japan’s department stores were arbiters of culture, taste, and fashion, and a major means through which Japanese were introduced to Western cultures, customs, and styles. Department stores reflect Japan’s early twentieth-century tendency towards emulating the West, the expansion of this in following decades, its renewal in the post-World War II period, the eventual full consumer flowering of Japan in the bubble years, to the late century recession and [first] ‘lost decade’ resulting in the closure of many previously prominent department stores. The talk then discusses 21st century “restoration”–re-openings or renewals of department stores. Japan’s department stores are pivotal in revealing gender in relationship to culture and consumerism. Department store marketing in Japan reflects gender expectations and socialization, at times possibly even when store promotions claim to move away from such constructs. A long term emphasis on catering to female customers within the store, and the more recent development of men’s buildings and styling clinics reveal a great deal about shifting gender ideals. Linked to this, as important employment institutions in the service sector Japan’s department stores reflect shifts or changing attitudes towards gender roles and gender based employment or careers. Based on research during the late 20th century on Japan’s department stores at their peak, and in 2012-2013 during a year of grand openings or re-openings of department stores and other consumer complexes, this talk also suggests Japan’s department stores as a window on Japanese culture and society show the 20th century as one of Japan looking towards the West, and the 21st century as one with a greater focus on Asia and other non-Western countries. Millie Creighton is a Japan specialist and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, where she serves on the Executive Management Boards of the Centre for Japanese Research and the Centre for Korean Research. She has done extensive research in Japan on department stores, consumerism, tourism, popular culture, gender, minorities, work and leisure, and identity. She was awarded the Canon Prize for her work on Japanese department stores showing how department store marketing reflected nostalgia and the search for community, tradition and cultural identity. She has also published on Japanese department stores and the socialization of gender roles, along with work exploring the Equal Employment Opportunity Law and gendered careers through department stores. She recently received a fellowship to spend the 2012-2013 academic year in Japan at the National Museum of Ethnology, in Osaka, Japan conducting further research on consumerism and Japanese society and culture. In addition to work on department stores, she has been conducting research on Japan-Korea relations through popular culture exchanges, and was one of the founders of the World Association of Hallyu Studies (Hallyu refers to Korean Popular Culture Flows) and is one of the regional presidents.

Timothy George will discuss the two parts of his current research project on Toroku, a hamlet in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyūshū devastated by arsenic poisoning that was Japan’s fourth officially recognized postwar pollution disease. He will first describe five key moments in the longue durée environmental history of Toroku, from neolithic times up to the early years of the arsenic mining that began there in 1920 and ended in 1962. Next he will trace events since 1990, when the Supreme Court imposed a settlement compensating the Toroku arsenic victims. Instead of disappearing, the citizens’ group that had formed to support the victims transformed itself into an international NGO, the Asia Arsenic Network, working mostly in Bangladesh. The Toroku story reinforces one of the fundamental truths of environmental history: there is no such thing as a history of just one small place.

Timothy George will discuss the two parts of his current research project on Toroku, a hamlet in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyūshū devastated by arsenic poisoning that was Japan’s fourth officially recognized postwar pollution disease. He will first describe five key moments in the longue durée environmental history of Toroku, from neolithic times up to the early years of the arsenic mining that began there in 1920 and ended in 1962. Next he will trace events since 1990, when the Supreme Court imposed a settlement compensating the Toroku arsenic victims. Instead of disappearing, the citizens’ group that had formed to support the victims transformed itself into an international NGO, the Asia Arsenic Network, working mostly in Bangladesh. The Toroku story reinforces one of the fundamental truths of environmental history: there is no such thing as a history of just one small place.

Speakers, Masako Racel, Doug Reynolds, Kazumi Hasegwa and Denis C. Gainty present at Year of Japan panel discussion on the topic of Perspectives on the Meiji Period.

Speakers, Masako Racel, Doug Reynolds, Kazumi Hasegwa and Denis C. Gainty present at Year of Japan panel discussion on the topic of Perspectives on the Meiji Period.

Kerim Yasar, Assistant Professor in Japanese, Ohio State University presents The Body in the Films of Akira Kurosawa.

Kerim Yasar, Assistant Professor in Japanese, Ohio State University presents The Body in the Films of Akira Kurosawa.

Giō is a female dancer loved and abandoned by the powerful and ruthless military leader Taira no Kiyomori. Her story appears for the first time in the Tale of the Heike, a 14th century narrative, but is soon appropriated by numerous literary and artistic genres such as Noh theater and illustrated hand scrolls and albums. Although Giō might have never existed, at least four tombs in Japan carry her name, and a Buddhist temple near Kyoto dedicated to her is visited every year by thousands of pilgrims and tourists. Prof. Strippoli’s talk will explore the transformations of the legend of Giō, a legend that contributes to our understanding of Japanese women’s history, literature, visual and performing arts, and cultural heritage.

Giō is a female dancer loved and abandoned by the powerful and ruthless military leader Taira no Kiyomori. Her story appears for the first time in the Tale of the Heike, a 14th century narrative, but is soon appropriated by numerous literary and artistic genres such as Noh theater and illustrated hand scrolls and albums. Although Giō might have never existed, at least four tombs in Japan carry her name, and a Buddhist temple near Kyoto dedicated to her is visited every year by thousands of pilgrims and tourists. Prof. Strippoli’s talk will explore the transformations of the legend of Giō, a legend that contributes to our understanding of Japanese women’s history, literature, visual and performing arts, and cultural heritage. Biographical Statement: Roberta Strippoli is a scholar of medieval Japanese literature and theater. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, an M.A. from Gakushūin University (Tokyo) and a Laurea from the University of Rome "La Sapienza." Professor Strippoli has worked extensively on medieval Japanese narrative, in particular otogizōshi, stories that circulated between the 15th and 17th centuries as illustrated hand scrolls and printed booklets. These stories were extremely popular in medieval and early modern Japan, but were not included in the modern literary canon because of their supposed childlike qualities. Along with fantastic characters, otogizōshi feature protagonists from all walks of life, an exception in traditional Japanese literature, which often focuses on the life of nobles, warriors, and monks. Professor Strippoli published a book on otogizōshi titled La monaca tuttofare, la donna serpente, il demone beone. Racconti dal medioevo giapponese (The Errand Nun, the Snake Woman, the Drunken Demon: Tales from Medieval Japan – Venezia: Marsilio, 2001). Professor Strippoli’s current research focuses on the legend of the dancer Lady Giō, a character from the 13th-14th century Japanese narrative The Tale of the Heike and is the subject of her talk at KSU.

The lecture will provide an introduction and overview into Japanese woodblock prints from the 17th to 19th century, commonly called ukiyo-e. Arguably the most recognizable of all Japanese art forms, ukiyo-e have spread over the world and become very popular outside of Japan. Works like Hokusai's Great Wave, large head beauties by Utamaro, and striking actors by Sharaku, were all produced with the same techniques, as were hundreds of thousands of other designs. At first the printing was done off a single woodblock until color printing encompassing several blocks was invented in the second half of the 18th century. The production process, for which the publishers played a crucial role, will be addressed as well as print collecting then and now. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Dr. Andreas Marks is the Head of the Japanese and Korean Art Department and Director of the Clark Center at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. From 2008 to 2013 he was the Director and Chief Curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in California. Before coming to the U.S., he was the Managing Director of an international exhibition and fair organizer based in Germany with branches in Calif., the U.K., Australia, and China. He has a master's degree in East Asian Art History from the University of Bonn, and a Ph.D. from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Dr. Marks has curated and co-curated 15 exhibitions on various aspects of Japanese art including paintings, prints, ceramics, weaponry, as well as works of bamboo. The special exhibition "The Audacious Eye: Japanese Art from the Clark Collections" (Oct. 6, 2013 – Jan. 12, 2014) that he curated, showing over 100 works from the 8th century until 2012, recently opened at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Amongst others, he is the author of "Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks, 1680–1900” (520 ill., Tuttle, 2010) and "Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints" (Hotei, 2012). His "Publishers of Japanese Prints: A Compendium" (576 pp., Hotei, 2011), is the first comprehensive reference work in any language on print publishers from the 1650s to 1990s. In late 2013, his new book, "Kunisada's Tōkaidō: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints" (364 pp., Hotei), will be published.

Wayne Van Horne, Associate Professor of Anthropology explains and demonstrates Karate.

Wayne Van Horne, Associate Professor of Anthropology explains and demonstrates Karate.

For almost a hundred years Japanese fighting men were employed across a wide area of Southeast Asia as mercenaries in the service of the kings of Siam, Cambodia, Arakan, Spain and Portugal and for the directors of the Dutch East India Company. This activity is described and discussed in the context of contemporary international relations and the spread of European colonialism in the region, noting in particular the impact on the recruitment and activity of mercenaries caused by Japan’s progressively strict regulations from 1621 onwards regarding the employment of its citizens, their overseas travel and Japan’s relations with neighbouring countries. The Japanese ‘Wild Geese’ (a colloquial term for mercenaries) were used in dramatic assault parties, as staunch garrisons and as willing executioners. A stereotypical image of the fierce Japanese warrior thereby developed that had a profound influence on the way they were regarded by their employers. Although this image, which began with the wakō (Japanese pirates,) was a positive one at first, their reputation acquired a negative sheen when employers experienced difficulties in disciplining them or began to question their loyalty. Two contrasts will be noted. First, the mercenaries’ role with regard to the rulers of Southeast Asian kingdoms was largely that of acting as long-term palace guards, while recruitment by European powers tended to be of shorter duration for specific campaigns. Second, whereas the Southeast Asian monarchs tended to trust their well-established units of Japanese mercenaries the Europeans admired them but also feared them, and in every European example a progressive shift in attitude may be discerned from initial enthusiasm to great suspicion that the Japanese might one day turn against them, as illustrated by the long-standing Spanish fear of an invasion of the Philippines by Japan accompanied by a local uprising. Ironically this fear was matched by a similar concern on the other side that Spain would invade Japan with the assistance of Japanese Christians who had been exiled and a ‘fifth column’ of Christian sympathisers within Japan itself. The part played by the suppression of Japanese Christianity in the creation of the independent groups of exiled warriors who posed such a threat is also discussed, and suggestions are made as to the reasons for the profound change of policy with regard to the employment of Japanese mercenaries which took place under the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada. It is finally suggested that if, during the 1630s, Japan had chosen engagement with Southeast Asia rather than isolation from it the established presence of Japanese communities overseas may have had a profound influence on the subsequent development of international relations within the area.

For almost a hundred years Japanese fighting men were employed across a wide area of Southeast Asia as mercenaries in the service of the kings of Siam, Cambodia, Arakan, Spain and Portugal and for the directors of the Dutch East India Company. This activity is described and discussed in the context of contemporary international relations and the spread of European colonialism in the region, noting in particular the impact on the recruitment and activity of mercenaries caused by Japan’s progressively strict regulations from 1621 onwards regarding the employment of its citizens, their overseas travel and Japan’s relations with neighbouring countries. The Japanese ‘Wild Geese’ (a colloquial term for mercenaries) were used in dramatic assault parties, as staunch garrisons and as willing executioners. A stereotypical image of the fierce Japanese warrior thereby developed that had a profound influence on the way they were regarded by their employers. Although this image, which began with the wakō (Japanese pirates,) was a positive one at first, their reputation acquired a negative sheen when employers experienced difficulties in disciplining them or began to question their loyalty. Two contrasts will be noted. First, the mercenaries’ role with regard to the rulers of Southeast Asian kingdoms was largely that of acting as long-term palace guards, while recruitment by European powers tended to be of shorter duration for specific campaigns. Second, whereas the Southeast Asian monarchs tended to trust their well-established units of Japanese mercenaries the Europeans admired them but also feared them, and in every European example a progressive shift in attitude may be discerned from initial enthusiasm to great suspicion that the Japanese might one day turn against them, as illustrated by the long-standing Spanish fear of an invasion of the Philippines by Japan accompanied by a local uprising. Ironically this fear was matched by a similar concern on the other side that Spain would invade Japan with the assistance of Japanese Christians who had been exiled and a ‘fifth column’ of Christian sympathisers within Japan itself. The part played by the suppression of Japanese Christianity in the creation of the independent groups of exiled warriors who posed such a threat is also discussed, and suggestions are made as to the reasons for the profound change of policy with regard to the employment of Japanese mercenaries which took place under the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada. It is finally suggested that if, during the 1630s, Japan had chosen engagement with Southeast Asia rather than isolation from it the established presence of Japanese communities overseas may have had a profound influence on the subsequent development of international relations within the area.

For many people their introduction to the samurai – Japan’s hereditary warrior class - happens when they visit a museum and see a suit of Japanese armour. It often looks like a very ornate beetle, and one of the most interesting parts is the face mask with its grinning teeth and horse-hair moustaches. This item often provokes a common question, ‘Why would anyone want to fight in this?’ In this talk I will go ‘behind the mask’ to examine the truth about these legendary warriors. The use of the word ‘samurai’ as a term to describe a fighting man in fact developed quite late in recorded Japanese history. Japan was already no stranger to conflict, including threats from overseas, when a reigning emperor abandoned plans for a conscript army and turned instead to recruiting powerful landowners who had honed their military skills on the wild frontiers of the settled Japanese state. It took another two centuries for these same landowning families to realise what political power they could exercise, a revelation that resulted in a fierce civil war. The outcome was the governance of Japan by the military samurai class for the next 700 years, although much of that time was to be characterised by petty rivalries and civil wars. Japan would be reunified under firm control in 1591, by which time most of the traditions of the samurai as they are understood today were firmly in place. These recognised behaviour patterns and values included loyalty (a concept honoured as much in the breach as in the observance) personal honour, ritual suicide, head-collecting and the cult of the sword. When wars effectively ceased in 1615 ‘armchair samurai’ had free rein to elaborate upon such authentic traditions, developing among other things the questionable notion of bushido (the warrior’s code) and the almost totally fraudulent idea of the hereditary cult of the ninja. The modern age has done little to dispel such concepts and commercial interests have if anything enhanced them. Visitors to Japan can now tour concrete castles built as replicas of places that never had any military value and watch displays by actors dressed as warriors who never existed practising martial arts that were originally created as school sports. Even Kurosawa’s classic film Seven Samurai, created with the aim of debunking the samurai myth, turned out to be its most potent glorification. December 2013 will see Hollywood’s own version of homage to the samurai ideal in the release of 47 Ronin, an unashamed fantasy starring Keanu Reeves based on one of Japan’s most cherished samurai legends. The lecture will conclude with a brief behind- the-scenes glimpse at this remarkable take on one of the world’s greatest warrior societies. How new is Hollywood’s fantasy, and how much does it differ from Japan’s own fantasy of the samurai that has endured for centuries?

A student panel leads discussion on Japanese culture and experiences while in Japan.

A student panel leads discussion on Japanese culture and experiences while in Japan.

In the late 19th century Japanese religion was forever transformed by a government fiat declaring that Buddhism and Shinto were two separate religious traditions. This political order, officially distinguishing the deities, rituals, images, texts, and clergy of the two traditions, sought to erase and redefine the religious landscape of the previous millennium. The institutional and ideological effects of this action are still felt today in the common understanding of Buddhism and Shinto as individual and separate religions. To reveal the hidden history of Japanese religion and illuminate an obscured past that continues to inform our understanding of the present, this talk introduces and illustrates the complex relations between Buddhist and Shinto traditions in Japan. D. Max Moerman is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is the author of Localizing Paradise: Kumano Pilgrimage and the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan (Harvard, 2005) and the forthcoming Geographies of the Imagination: Buddhist Cosmology and the Japanese World Map, 1364-1865.

In the late 19th century Japanese religion was forever transformed by a government fiat declaring that Buddhism and Shinto were two separate religious traditions. This political order, officially distinguishing the deities, rituals, images, texts, and clergy of the two traditions, sought to erase and redefine the religious landscape of the previous millennium. The institutional and ideological effects of this action are still felt today in the common understanding of Buddhism and Shinto as individual and separate religions. To reveal the hidden history of Japanese religion and illuminate an obscured past that continues to inform our understanding of the present, this talk introduces and illustrates the complex relations between Buddhist and Shinto traditions in Japan. D. Max Moerman is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is the author of Localizing Paradise: Kumano Pilgrimage and the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan (Harvard, 2005) and the forthcoming Geographies of the Imagination: Buddhist Cosmology and the Japanese World Map, 1364-1865.

This lecture aims at revealing the connection between the rise of Indian economic nationalism in British India and the formation of international economic order of Asia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly focusing on the activities and views of prominent early Indian nationalists of moderate factions, like Dadabhai Naoroji, and the economic activities of Indian merchants to accelerate Indian overseas trade. I interpret the activities of early Indian nationalists as ‘collaborators’ to the British Raj. The presence of ‘collaborators’ was essential for British rule in India, especially at the end of the 19th century, when the rising tide of Indian economic nationalism emerged. This paper tries to create a kind of global history from Asian perspectives, by using relational history approach. It also analyzes the interaction between the British Raj and the Indian economic nationalists from new perspectives of ‘collaboration’ and ‘autonomy’. The main actors of ‘collaboration’ are a prominent Indian merchant in Bombay, the Tata family, and the largest Japanese shipping company in Meiji-period, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (N.Y.K.) for the export of Indian raw cotton to Japan and China. The development of business activities of N.Y.K. was closely related to Japanese industrialization, centered round Osaka (Kansai) area in the late nineteenth century. Biographical Statement: Dr. Shigeru AKITA is Professor of British Imperial History and Global History at Osaka University, Japan. His many publications include The British Empire and the International Order of Asia (in Japanese, Nagoya University Press, 2003), and The International Order of Asia in the 1930s and 1950s (London: Ashgate, 2010, co-edited with Nick White). This year, he was awarded YomiuriYoshino Sakuzo Prize, which recognizes the best book published in Japan in the past year in the fields of politics, economics, and history.

Abstract: This lecture explores new approaches to the creation of global history, by introducing several attempts to create world/global history studies by Japanese scholars from non-European Asian perspectives. Such studies of world history in Japan started with comparative histories of economic development and modernization in Eurocentric structures and paradigms in the late 1940s. According to the Digital Library (book reviews) of the Research Institute for World History in Tokyo, Japanese scholars have published more than 20 series of books on world history: one in the 1950s, seven in the 1960s, four in the 1970s, four in the 1980s, nine in the 1990s and two in the 2000s. Most of the contents were merely an assemblage of national histories in chronological order from ancient to contemporary times. However, a few series were published on the strong academic initiatives of world historians in intimate collaboration with prominent academic publishers. Recently, through a unique joint research project in the Kansai area (Kyoto/Osaka), world/global history studies in Japan have tended to shift from comparative history to relational history. Japanese efforts to overcome Eurocentric paradigms may provide a good example to locate the study of global history within the context of non-Eurocentric perspectives.

This lecture explores new approaches to the creation of global history, by introducing several attempts to create world/global history studies by Japanese scholars from non-European Asian perspectives. Such studies of world history in Japan started with comparative histories of economic development and modernization in Eurocentric structures and paradigms in the late 1940s. According to the Digital Library (book reviews) of the Research Institute for World History in Tokyo, Japanese scholars have published more than 20 series of books on world history: one in the 1950s, seven in the 1960s, four in the 1970s, four in the 1980s, nine in the 1990s and two in the 2000s. Most of the contents were merely an assemblage of national histories in chronological order from ancient to contemporary times. However, a few series were published on the strong academic initiatives of world historians in intimate collaboration with prominent academic publishers. Recently, through a unique joint research project in the Kansai area (Kyoto/Osaka), world/global history studies in Japan have tended to shift from comparative history to relational history. Japanese efforts to overcome Eurocentric paradigms may provide a good example to locate the study of global history within the context of non-Eurocentric perspectives.

This lecture explores new approaches to the creation of global history, by introducing several attempts to create world/global history studies by Japanese scholars from non-European Asian perspectives. Such studies of world history in Japan started with comparative histories of economic development and modernization in Eurocentric structures and paradigms in the late 1940s. According to the Digital Library (book reviews) of the Research Institute for World History in Tokyo, Japanese scholars have published more than 20 series of books on world history: one in the 1950s, seven in the 1960s, four in the 1970s, four in the 1980s, nine in the 1990s and two in the 2000s. Most of the contents were merely an assemblage of national histories in chronological order from ancient to contemporary times. However, a few series were published on the strong academic initiatives of world historians in intimate collaboration with prominent academic publishers. Recently, through a unique joint research project in the Kansai area (Kyoto/Osaka), world/global history studies in Japan have tended to shift from comparative history to relational history. Japanese efforts to overcome Eurocentric paradigms may provide a good example to locate the study of global history within the context of non-Eurocentric perspectives.

Pradyumna P. Karan, Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky, discusses how Japanese geography shapes Japanese society. Earthquake, tsunami and the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl: The triple disasters of March 2011 hit Japan when it was already feeling vulnerable, its confidence shaken by debt, deflation and political inertia. And yet, those terrible days also revealed Japan’s strengths, most notably the sense of community that created order and dignity amidst the rubble. The lecture will highlight geographic realities of contemporary Japan. Within the context of geography, it will discuss the environmental, socioeconomic and political challenges facing Japan today, and how Japan is responding to these challenges. P. P. Karan is University Research Professor of Geography and Japan Studies and Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. He has held professorships at distinguished universities in the United States, Canada, Japan, Asia and Europe. He has authored and edited several books on Japan including The Japanese City (1997), The Japanese Landscapes (1998), Japan in the Bluegrass (2001), Japan in the 21st Century (2005), and Local Environmental Movements: A Comparative Study of Japan and the United States (2008). His current research in Japan involves geographic analysis of recovery and reconstruction efforts following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of March 2011 in Tohoku region.

Pradyumna P. Karan, Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky, discusses how Japanese geography shapes Japanese society. Earthquake, tsunami and the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl: The triple disasters of March 2011 hit Japan when it was already feeling vulnerable, its confidence shaken by debt, deflation and political inertia. And yet, those terrible days also revealed Japan’s strengths, most notably the sense of community that created order and dignity amidst the rubble. The lecture will highlight geographic realities of contemporary Japan. Within the context of geography, it will discuss the environmental, socioeconomic and political challenges facing Japan today, and how Japan is responding to these challenges. P. P. Karan is University Research Professor of Geography and Japan Studies and Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. He has held professorships at distinguished universities in the United States, Canada, Japan, Asia and Europe. He has authored and edited several books on Japan including The Japanese City (1997), The Japanese Landscapes (1998), Japan in the Bluegrass (2001), Japan in the 21st Century (2005), and Local Environmental Movements: A Comparative Study of Japan and the United States (2008). His current research in Japan involves geographic analysis of recovery and reconstruction efforts following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of March 2011 in Tohoku region.