Updated: Mon 8/30/04

SPRING 2004

The Long, Hot Summer, revisited

Dr. Edward Seidensticker
Emeritus Professor of Japanese, Columbia University
Scholar and translator of Japanese literature

Date: Thursday, January 29, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

After a couple of years hiatus, Professor Seidensticker is back to share experiences (and opinions!) about his most recent stay in Japan.

Click here to see flyer.

Individual Freedom versus Social Justice: A Confucian Mediation

Dr. Henry Rosemont, Jr.
George B. and Willma Reeves Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts Emeritis at St. Mary's College of Maryland
Senior Consulting Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai

Date: Thursday, February 12, 2004
Time: 3:30 - 5:30 pm
Place: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, the Religion Department, the Outreach College, and the East Asia Council (Centers for Chinese Studies, Korean Studies and Japanese Studies).

The Iraq War and Japan's Political Landscape

Mr. Yukio Matsuyama
Former Chair and Honorary Chair of the Editorial Board, Asahi Shimbun

Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Click here to see flyer.

SOUTH PARK Goes Global: Identifying Japanese-ness in 'Chinpokomon'

Dr. Matthew Allen
Associate Dean, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland

Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Time: 12:00 pm
Place: East-West Center Burns Hall, 2121/2125

Co-sponsored by the International Cultural Studies Certificate Program and the Center for Japanese Studies. Click here to see flyer.

Schizophrenia and Shamanic Practice in Okinawa

Dr. Matthew Allen
Associate Dean, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland

Date: Thursday, February 26, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319) [Click here to view map.]

Psychological disorders are part of the landscape of all societies, according to the World Health Organization's report on world mental health. Indeed, 12 percent of all people's health disorders are estimated to be mental disorders (2001). In Okinawa, some psychological disorders, particularly schizophrenia, are also often interpreted as spiritual disorders, complete with a long history of such interpretation.

This talk will explore some of the contradictions between science and spiritualism in asking questions about how people in Okinawa themselves choose to mobilize certain help-seeking behaviors. Conclusions are based on field research with shamans and psychiatrists in Okinawa between 1996 and 2000.

Click here to see flyer.

Scenery for Kabuki

Mr. Hitoshi Hamatani
Retired Technical Director of the National Theatre of Japan, Tokyo
Resident at the Dept. of Theatre and Dance for spring 2004, through a Fulbright Scholar in Residence Grant from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.

"For a certain number of years, even after I had been bitten by the theatre bug, I just could not stand listening to radio programs of Gidayu chanting which my grandparents and parents greatly enjoyed. To me, it was simply enlongated vowel sounds, mourning or lamenting. My ear could not catch any of the words, so I could not understand why my parents enjoyed it so much. Yet, here I am, retired after 32 years at the National Theatre of Japan, one of the centers of Kabuki and its mother art Bunraku."

Date: Thursday, March 4, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 119) [Click here to view map.]

The late Dr. Earle Ernst called Kabuki a "nonillusionistic, uncompromisingly theatrical form" in the preface of his book, The Kabuki Theatre. From a Western point of view, it must be very unusual to see the same actor repeat what he does, year after year, doing the same role in the same scene in the same way; or to see popular scenes done by different actors, but with every other factor-except the actor-the same.

Most foreigners who watch Kabuki for the first time are impressed by it's colorful scenery and costumes, as well as with the onnagata actors. Particularly in many scenes in Jidaimono, actors are quite fancy colorful figures. How is this theatre form presented? This talk will explore all the theatrical and stylized elements of Kabuki-the scenery, costumes, wigs, make up, etc.

Click here to see flyer.

'Soldiers Zen' in World War II Japan: A Classic Case Study of 'Holy War'

Dr. Brian Victoria
Numata Distinguished Visiting Chair in Buddhist Studies, UHM
Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319) [Click here to view map.]

In the aftermath of 9/11 there is a tendency to regard 'holy war' as a unique expression of Islamic fundamentalism. The reality, however, is that religion-endorsed violence has existed, at one time or another, in all of the world's major faiths. One relatively unknown example of this phenomenon is the fervent, if not fanatical, support leaders of the Zen school offered Japanese militarism during W.W. II. Examining this support will contribute to a better understanding of the universal mechanisms making 'holy war' an enduring feature of contemporary religion and society.

Co-sponsored with the Dept. of Religion. Click here to see flyer.

Doing Fieldwork in Japan [Panel Discussion]

Dr. Takie Lebra
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UH

Dr. Robert J. Smith
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Cornell University

Dr. Patricia Steinhoff
Professor of Sociology at UH

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319) [Click here to view map.]

Drs. Lebra, Smith and Steinhoff will provide lively, personal accounts of conducting fieldwork in Japan, sharing their successes and failures in a wide-range of settings and circumstances. Dr. Lebra will address the question: "What is the 'field' for a Japanese native studying Japan?". Dr. Smith will reflect upon his research in a single community over more than a half century. Dr. Steinhoff will discuss her long-term research of radical political movements.

[The idea for this panel discussion came from the recent publication of DOING FIELDWORK IN JAPAN, edited by Theodore C. Bestor, Patricia Steinhoff, and Victoria Lyon Bestor. Dr. Steinhoff and Dr. Smith contributed chapters to the volume.]

Click here to see flyer.

Farm Families and Family Farms: The Changing Rural Scene in Northeastern Japan

Dr. Keith Brown
Professor of Anthropology, UCIS Research Professor,
Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh

Date: Thursday, April 1, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319) [Click here to view map.]

The presentation focuses on the multiplicity factors affecting rural life in Japan. Some of the factors are external, like the WTO trade negotiations, some are national like the government's rice subsidy programs, and some are cultural, like a concern about ancestors and a resistance to selling farm land when it no longer brings in a profit. One result of these various factors is the emerging car culture (e.g., one farm family of nine members has 6 cars) which significantly changes family and community life in rural Japan.

Click here to see flyer.

The Wajin's Whiteness: Law and Race Privilege in Japan

Dr. Mark Levin
Associate Professor, William S. Richardson School of Law, UHM

Date: Thursday, April 22, 2004
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319) [Click here to view map.]

Critical Race Theory can be applied usefully in the Japanese law context. This application enables a better understanding of the role of race in shaping Japanese law and a better understanding of the role of law in shaping racial and ethnic relations in Japanese society.

Co-sponsored with theWilliam S. Richardson School of Law. Click here to see flyer.

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