"Soseki's Meian Revisited: A Fresh Look at a Modern Classic"

Dr. Valdo Viglielmo (Professor Emeritus, UHM), whose doctorial dissertation was entitled "The Later Natsume Soseki: His Art and Thought" (Harvard, 1955) and who taught Japanese language and literature at UHM between 1965 and 2002, will give a talk on Natsume Soseki's last novel, Meian, unfinished because of Soseki's death on December 9, 1916. His English translation of that novel, Light and Darkness (Peter Owen: London, 1971), included an "Afterward," which in addition to presenting a survey of Soseki's life and work was a detailed critique of the novel. His talk will therefore focus on the major changes in his view of both Soseki and Meian since the publication of his translation. He will emphasize the philosophical and religious dimension of the novel and show how he differs from some of the major Soseki critics, both Japanese and Western.

Date: December 7, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"Japan, the Six-Party Talks, and U.S.-Japan cooperation on the North Korean issues"

Dr. Yoichiro Sato (Associate Professor, Regional Studies Department, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies) will give a talk about the U.S.-Japan cooperation on the North Korean issues. Despite the close security alliance between the United States and Japan and the image of close relations between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the two countries have naturally had divergent interests, perceptions, and policy preferences over the issues involving North Korea. The degree of convergence and coordination between the two countries has varied over different periods and different issues. Journalistic and scholarly perceptions of this coordination vary even more. Dr. Sato will present his view on this question based on his recent interviews with key U.S. officials.

Date: November 30, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

" The Queen Mother Cult and Early Kofun Japan "

Dr.Gina L. Barnes ( Professor Emeritus, University of Durham; Professorial Research Associate, Japan Research Centre & Department of Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) is one of the world's leading scholars in the emergence of complex societies and state formation in East Asia. Her areas of research include the agricultural transition, urbanization, and emergence of early state societies in East Asia as well as landscape archaeology in paddy field regimes. She has been instrumental in developing international collaborative research teams between Japan and the UK, and founded the Society for East Asian Archaeology (SEAA) in 1990, which has become the leading international forum for research in the archaeology of Japan, China, and Korea.

Date: November 16, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Crawford 115

This talk is co-sponsored with the Department of Anthropology and Center for Chiense Studies

"SHOGUN'S WOMAN: LADY KASUGA "

Dr. Yoshiko Dykstra (Numata Chair in Buddhism Studies) will give a talk about Kasuga no Tsubone, who controlled the Great Interior of Edo Castle in the early Tokugawa Period. Lady Kasuga, or Ofuku (her given name), was born as the daughter of Saito Toshimitsu who served Akechi Mitsuhide. Ofuku married Inaba Masanari and had four sons. Later she was employed by Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun, as the wet nurse of his grandson, Takechiyo. As Takechiyo became the third Shogun Iemitsu, Ofuku was promoted to the position of Kasuga no Tsubone, Lady Kasuga, and controlled the Ooku, Great Interior (or the shogun's harem) of Edo Castle.

Date: November 9, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"Hakata: Gateway to Japan"

For much of Japan's history, northern Kyushu served as the country's gateway to the outside world. Dr. Bruce Batten (Center for International Education, Obirin University, Tokyo) will discuss Kyushu's historical significance and introduce a number of recent archaeological findings from the vicinity of Hakata Bay in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Date: September 21, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"God Light Association (GLA) in Japan: Globalization, Glossolalia, and Re-imaging the Soul"

Ms. Christal Whelan (Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University) will discuss how the New Religion -- GLA or God Light Association -- represents a religious response to the increasing pressure to be international or kokusaika in Japan. Founded by Takahashi Shinji in 1969, GLA gained popularity in the early 1970s chiefly through its signature practice of glossolalia or "speaking in tongues." During these glossolalic conversations, Takahashi and his devotees purported to access their previous lives in Greece, India, and Israel and to speak in the tongues of those nations. Functioning as an embodied metaphor for 'globalization,' past-life glossolalia extended the boundaries of the self beyond political, geographical, ethnic, and gender limitations and served to mitigate the oppressive tension on the local level to be global.

Date: September 14, 2006
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.