Spring 2007

"Weddings, Imperial Succession, and Culture Change in Japan"

Dr. Keith Brown (Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh ) will give a talk titled “Weddings, Imperial Succession, and Culture Change in Japan .” He compares the two different weddings in 1962 and in the present time in the same village in Northeastern Japan, both of which he observed in the same village, and provides the basis for this examination of cultural change in post-war Japan, especially in terms of gender, family and social networks. The comparison of these two village weddings highlights an emergence of women from the back side of society to the forefront, as capable, feeling, important human beings. However, the extended debate about imperial succession and whether Aiko-sama, or any female, is an appropriate successor to her father, the Crown Prince, suggests that the politicians in the central government are not in step with the culture changes that are occurring in this village in Northeastern Japan , supposedly the backwater of Japan . Nevertheless, a close examination of the events of these two weddings shows a persistence of basic aspects of Japanese culture, e.g., the importance of the ie (the inter-generational stem family), the ancestors, the dozoku and other kin, and the neighbors and community.

Date: April 19, 2007
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"The Ansei Edo Earthquake as a Political Event"

Dr. Gregory Smits (Associate Professor of Japanese History, Pennsylvania State University ) will give a talk titled "The Ansei Edo Earthquake as a Political Event." In 1855 a powerful earthquake shook Edo (known as Tokyo today), the first serious earthquake to occur in the bakufu's capital since 1703. The Ansei Edo Earthquake, as it came to be called, caused roughly 8,000 – 10,000 civilian casualties and destroyed or damaged approximately 14,000 structures. The earthquake also produced an unprecedented volume of popular commentary in the form of popular literature, press reports, and, especially, catfish picture prints (namazu-e). Initially focused narrowly on the earthquake, this commentary quickly turned into a wider-ranging discourse on the state of society. The general consensus in the popular discourse was that the earthquake was an act of world-rectification (yo-naoshi), whereby the cosmic forces acted to correct a society that had become badly imbalanced (cosmic forces against the bakufu and, to a lesser extent, wealthy merchants). Edo 's residents also linked their earthquake to the recent visits by US Navy Commodore Matthew Perry. Moreover, the emergence of popular discourse on society in the wake of the earthquake presaged the rise of public opinion as a force in Japanese politics. In short, the Ansei Edo Earthquake was an event of considerable political significance.

Date: April 12, 2007
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"Long nights ALONE: A Tale of Romance in the Ancient Imperial Court in Kyoto"

Ms. Fumiko Mori Halloran (Bilingual Writer, Pen Name: Miki Fujita) has written eight nonfiction works and one novel in Japanese, published in Tokyo, to describe American society for Japanese readers. One book, From the City of Washington, won the prestigious Oya Soichi Best Nonfiction Award. For this seminar, Ms. Halloran will talk about her first novel in English, Long Nights Alone, published for American readers last year. It is presented in the form of a diary by a young aristocratic woman in Kyoto during the Heian period. The protagonist, Lady Bellflower, was married to a young aristocrat, but, at that time, aristocrats were entitled to multiple wives to ensure the continuation of their blood lines. Lady Bellflower wrote about her complicated relationship with her husband. Ms. Halloran’s novel was inspired by The Gossamer Years (Kagerō nikki), one of many masterpieces of Heian literature written by aristocratic women in Japan . .

Date: March 22, 2007
Time: 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"From Mozart to the Movies: A Year in the Life of a Translator"

Professor Juliet Winters Carpenter (Department of English, Doshisha Women’s College or Liberal Arts) will her life in 2006 as a translatoer.

“While some translators devote their entire career to the works of a single author, I find one of the most exciting things about my work is the chance to tackle a wide variety of projects. In 2006, I had five book-length translations published: a bilingual child's introduction to Mozart, a book of modern poetry, a murder mystery, an examination of the meaning of life from the perspective of Shin Buddhism, and a memoir of making movies with Akira Kurosawa. Each was different in terms of how I became involved in the project, how long it took, and the process involved. I will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of translation through the prism of these projects” by Juliet Winters Carpenter .

The following works will be discussed:

• Welcome to Mozart (2006). Motsuaruto e yo koso (2006), illus. Jiri Votruba
• Overkill (2006). Obakiru (2004) by Mizuki Misumi
• The Hunter: A Detective Takako Otomichi Mystery (2006). Kogoeru Kiba (1996) by Asa Nonami
• You Were Born for a Reason: The Real Purpose of Life (2006). Naze Ikiru (2001) by Kentetsu Takamori, Daiji Akehashi, and Kentaro Ito
• Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa (2006). Tenki machi (2004) by Teruyo Nogami

Audience members are not required to read above works

Date: March 13, 2007
Time: 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Place: Center for Korean Studies Conference Room

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"The Welfare State and Long-Term Care in Japan : Problems, Achievements, Puzzles"

Dr. John Campbell (Professor, University of Michigan) will explore recent Japan's welfare policies. Japan has long been seen as relying more on family care than a “western-style” welfare state. Actually Japan’s welfare state is quite normal in the most important respects, but it has two distinctive features. First, its approach to anti-poverty and employment policy has relied on supporting employment in unproductive sectors—an approach that has run into trouble recently. Second, in the field of care for frail elderly people—sometimes called the “last frontier of the welfare state”— Japan’s Long-Term Care Insurance that started in 2000 is unusually generous. Not only is it more than twice as big as the similar German program, it relies less on family care and more on formal services.

Date: March 8, 2007
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"Increasing Punitiveness of Criminal Justice Policies in Japan"

Dr. Setsuo Miyazawa (Professor, Omiya Law School, Japan) will discuss the recent development of criminal justice policies. Japan used to have an international reputation as a country whose criminal justice system is benevolent and reintegrative. Whether that reputation ever reflected the reality or not, we can no longer characterize Japanese criminal justice in those terms. Dr. Miyazawa will first examine newspaper articles in order to establish that increasing punitiveness (genbatsuka) characterizes recent criminal justice policies in terms of both legislation and judicial decisions. The subsequent sections of his talk will examine two factors that contributed to the increasing punitiveness and its public acceptance. One factor is the victims’ rights movement, and the other factor is the concept of the subjective level of public security (taikan chian). He will argue that in this context of public discourse on criminal justice policies in Japan , empirical criminologists do not have opportunities to participate in policy-making processes, where political correctness is likely to take precedent to intellectual integrity. He will further examine the comparability of the Japanese and American situations and will argue that like in America, public distrust in government has ironically increased the investigative, prosecutorial, and sentencing power of the state in Japan . This talk will be concluded with the prospect that police, prosecutors, and judges are not likely to relinquish their increased power even when pubic trust in them is improved.

Date: February 16, 2007
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

"Meiji Melodramatic Fiction and its Readers"

Dr. Ken K. Ito (Associate Professor of Japanese Literature, University of Michigan) will discuss a cultural phenomenon that was brought about by a sensationally popular novel in Meiji. In June of 1902, a panel of readers and critics—which included not only literary luminaries such as Mori Ōgai and Ueda Bin but also lay readers of both genders and various backgrounds—met to discuss Ozaki Kōyō’s melodramatic novel Konjiki yasha (The Golden Demon). This tale about the exigencies of love in a world of money was one of the most widely consumed cultural products of pre-war Japan: it created a sensation when it was serialized in the Yomiuri shinbun between 1897 and 1903; as a book, it was published in multiple editions, with one Taisho-period edition going through 189 printings; it was made into five theatrical versions even before the serialization was complete; and it was eventually made into 19 film adaptations. Dr. Ito will sketch how this cultural phenomenon might have been interpreted and consumed in its own time by focusing on the panel discussion. The energetic, multi-vocal exchange emphatically delineates the role of social difference in the dynamics of reading. .

Date: February 15, 2007
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)

Please see the attached flyer for more details.

The contents of this site are copyright © 2001-2007 UHM Center for Japanese Studies. All rights reserved.
Center for Japanese Studies·School of Pacific and Asian Studies·University of Hawai'i at Manoa·1890 East-West Road, Moore 216·Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822·Tel: 808-956-2665·Fax: 808-956-2666·E-mail: cjs@hawaii.edu
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution