13th International Conference of EAJS in Tallinn from 24.-27.08.2011
Report on participation on the 13th International Conference of European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) in Tallinn from 24.-27.08.2011
From August 24 to 27 2011 I participated in the 13th International Conference of European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) in Tallinn. My participation was supported by a grant from the Graduate School "Society and Culture in Motion", Halle.
The EAJS is the world biggest association of Japan scholars. The EAJS conferences are held once in three years and these events are described by the EAJS as “a good opportunity to meet and talk with a wide range of scholars in the field of Japanese studies from different European countries and Japan. Outstanding scholars from Japan are usually invited as guest speakers and give an overview of recent developments in their special field of interest.” The 2011 conference in Tallinn was the largest conference in the EAJS history and with more than 700 participants the largest academic conference ever to be held in Tallinn.
The conference was opened with welcoming addresses by Prof. Tiit LAND (Rector of the Tallinn University), Prof. Harald FUESS (President of EAJS), Prof. Rein RAUD, Professor of Asian and Cultural Studies and previous Rector of the Tallinn University, and HOSHI Hideaki (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Estonia), and a keynote speech by UENO Chizuko (Tokyo University).
The program of the conference was divided into 13 disciplinary sections and subsections and one interdisciplinary section. The following sections were conveyed:
Section 1: Urban and Environmental Studies, Section 2: Language and Linguistics, Section 3: Literature, Subsection 3a: Modern Literature, Subsection 3b: Pre-modern Literature Subsection, Section 4: Visual and Performing Arts, Subsection 4a: Visual Arts, Subsection 4b: Performing Arts, Section 5: Anthropology and Sociology, Section 6: Economics, Business and Political Economy, Section 7: History, Subsection 7a: A Century of Japanese Democracy, Subsection 7b: Topics in Japanese History, Section 8: Religion and History of Ideas, Section 9: Politics and International Relations, Section 10: Translating and Teaching Japanese, Interdisciplinary Section.
The conference ended with a plenary EAJS general meeting and a closing ceremony.
In her keynote speech, with the title “Japan at a Critical Turning Point?“ the renowned Japanese feminist sociologist UENO Chizuko, while stressing that she was the first woman ever to be invited to give a keynote speech at an EAJS conference addressed a variety of recent topics in Japanese society and politics, while linking them to her activity as director of the non-profit-organisation “Wimenzu Akushon Nettowâku (WAN)” and publications. The issues she raised ranged from abstract concepts of public and private in Japan, voluntary engagement, the role of middle aged women in Japanese society, the impact of the disasters of East-Japan on the 11th of March 2011, the impact of job and career insecurity for young people, decreasing fertility of educated and wealthy young women as well as the growing number of elderly people, and finally Japanese relations to its foreign neighbours.
After the plenary opening the participants split up and went to their sections. I went to the Section 6: Economics, Business and Political Economy, where I would also give a talk on Friday. The Section was convened by Prof. David Chiavacci (University of Zurich) and Dr. Iris Wiczorek (DFG, Tokyo) and held under the title of “Another Economic Crisis for Japan: Adaptation or Turning Point?”
The section was opened with a short welcome by the convenors and a keynote speech by Tokyo University Professor of educational science HONDA Yuki, from, on the topic “Japan’s Double Disaster: Impact of the Economic Bubble Burst and 3.11 Earthquake on the Youth Labour Market.” In her speech she gave a very pessimistic outlook for Japanese young people searching employment, and concluded that for them the recent deregulation off the labour market was as much a metaphorical catastrophe as the 3.11 Earthquake was a real one, which, besides its human tragedy and loss of lives, of course had negative effects on the economic situation of the survivors.
The section was continued with sessions on the following topic:[1] 1) “Economic Crisis and Reform,” 2) “Japan’s Changing Position in the World Economy,” 3) “Law and Regulation of Japanese Economy,” 4) “Economic Periphery and State Policy,” 5) “Strategies and Potential Economic Sectors,” 6) “Labour Market between Adaptions and Continuities,” 7) “Japan in Global Economy.” The section further included two panels. One on “The Inequalities in Japan, Revisited,” chaired by Sébastien LECHEVALIER from L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and one on: “The Shortage of Coins in Early-Modern and Modern Japan: Towards an Explanation for the Structural Contradictions,” chaired by KATO Kei’ichiro. I attended the panel on inequalities in Japan as well as sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 (in which I presented a paper, which will be published within the SCM working paper series) and 7.
Besides participating in my section, I listened to an open panel titled “Meet the Editors,” in which the editors of several scientific journals on Japanese and Asian topics; Asian Ethnology, Contemporary Japan, Japan Forum, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Monumenta Nipponica, as well as Japonica Humboldiana and the Russian Journal of Japanese Studies presented their Journals. The main topics of this panel were the question of keeping up the printed versions of the journals or going completely digital, as well as the review process, and the advantages and disadvantages of peer review; for example it was mentioned that if the review process was more intense and the reviewers are more actively involved in editing the article, the lesser a reader will able to judge weather the article is an original contribution of the author. Another important topic was the question of the reliability of international rankings of journals. This trend was harshly criticised by all editors, as these rankings where mainly done by counting quotations, and where not able to reflect scientific quality and value, especially not in the fields of regional studies. It was also reported that the Monumenta Nipponica, one of the most prolific journals on Japanese history was not ranked among scientific Journals on history, because it was considered an interdisciplinary Journal, as it covers different historic fields, as archaeology, art, religion and so forth.
I also joined the final discussion of the subsection 7a: “A Century of Japanese Democracy” and listened to a very interesting presentation given by Prof. Ian Neary on “Discrimination after the Dowa Projects” dealing with the issue of Burakumin, a sort of cast in Japan, whose members undertake great efforts not to be discovered as such.
In the final plenary EAJS general meeting the participating members decided on a rise of the annually membership fee and the seat of the association to be changed from Munich to Berlin. Rein RAUD was announced as newly elected president of the EAJS. The next international EAJS conference was announced as to be held at University of Ljubljana in Slovenia in 2014.
[1] For a complete list of the chairs, speakers and discussants please refer to the official conference program: (http://www.tlu.ee/?LangID=2&CatID=4195 ).