The Biennial Conference of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia will be held at the University of Wollongong from 26 to 30 June 2017. The Call for Papers is now open.

The conference takes place seventy years since the revised Constitution of Japan came into effect on 3 May 1947. The same year witnessed the implementation of several other important legal and social reforms.

In this Conference we wish to reflect on Japan’s seven decades of postwar democracy. We invite participants to consider the constitutional and legal system, democracy and civil society, the political economy of postwar Japan and the cultural imagining and reimagining of Japanese society over this period. As new technologies assume an ever greater importance in a changing Japan, this conference will also include a subtheme of Japanese Studies in the Digital Age.

We invite papers on any of the following themes. Panels on other themes are also welcome.

• Debating the Constitution
• Democracy
• Debating the ‘postwar’
• Debating ‘transwar’ history
• Diaspora
• Diversity
• Dis/Ability
• Demographic Change
• Demilitarisation and Remilitarisation
• Decolonisation
• Deindustrialisation
• Denuclearisation (Datsu-Genpatsu)
• Dealing with Disasters
• Defining and redefining society through the arts
• Diasporic arts
• Debates in Japanese Studies
• Democracy in the Digital Age
• The Digital Age and Japanese Studies
• The Digital Age and Japanese Language Education
• The Digital Age and the Arts

For the 2017 conference, we ask that participants submit proposals for full panels rather than individual papers. Panels will be allocated 90 minutes and may either take the form of three 20 minute papers with 30 minutes for discussion, or three 15 minute papers, 15 minutes for discussant’s comments, and 30 minutes discussion. Full panels will include three speakers and a chair or a chair/discussant.

We ask senior colleagues to facilitate the inclusion of early career researchers and postgraduates. Panels should include a good mix of senior and junior colleagues, with attention paid to gender balance, diversity, location and institutional affiliation. The JSAA Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/The-Japanese-Studies-Association-of-Australia-212204828823231/> can be used to seek fellow panelists, or you may wish to use lists like H-Japan or H-Asia.

Individual presenters may wish to consider a poster session, particularly if the paper makes extensive use of visual materials, graphics, charts, tables, graphs or statistics. We are also open to more creative uses of the poster format, such as a photo-essay, manga, collage or other creative output.

Individuals may not present more than one paper or poster at the conference, but may participate in other sessions as chair or discussant.

Panel Proposals should include:

• Name, institutional affiliation and contact details of Organiser, Chair or Chair/Discussant, Panelists
• Panel Abstract (100 words)
• Individual Paper Abstracts (200 words each)
• Disciplinary Area (e.g. history, political science, law, literature, cultural studies, gender studies, linguistics, etc.)
• Keywords (3)

Poster Proposals should include:

• Name, institutional affiliation and contact details of Presenter
• Poster Abstract (200 words)
• Disciplinary Area (e.g. history, political science, law, literature, cultural studies, gender studies, linguistics, etc.)
• Keywords

A dedicated space will be set aside for display of posters at the conference venue, with designated times for discussion with poster authors.

Posters will be of a maximum size of A1 (59.4 x 84.1cm) (portrait). For guidelines on preparing posters for conferences, see, for example:

<http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/>

For administrative purposes, the main language of the Conference will be English. We will, however, accept panel and poster proposals in Japanese and presentations may be in Japanese. If your proposal is in Japanese, please include romanised versions of personal names and institutional affiliations.

Please submit proposals through the Conference website online submission system at <https://www.uowblogs.com/jsaa2017/>

Important Dates:

Date for submission of proposals: 9 December 2016

Date for notification of acceptance of proposals: 1 March 2017

Early Bird conference registration: 7 April 2017

Final Date for conference registration: to be advised

Please note: All presenters must be registered at the conference before they will be included on the official programme.

Refereeing Procedures:

All panel and poster proposals (other than invited papers) will be refereed by a review committee. Your indicated disciplinary area and key words will be used to select appropriate reviewers.

Conference website:

<https://www.uowblogs.com/jsaa2017/>

General Inquiries: jsaa.uow@gmail.com

Proposal Submission Inquiries: jsaa.uow.abstracts@uow.edu.au

JSAA Facebook page:

Like us on Facebook at <https://www.facebook.com/The-Japanese-Studies-Association-of-Australia-212204828823231/>.

Conference Twitter Feed:

Follow us on Twitter @jsaa2017

To join the JSAA:

In order to join the Japanese Studies Association of Australia please visit our website, <http://www.jsaa.org.au/>.