Job Opening: Dissolution of the Japanese Empire and the Struggle for Legitimacy in Postwar East Asia, 1945-1965

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   University of Cambridge, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Location:   United Kingdom
Position:   Postdoctoral Research Associate Position in East Asian History (Fixed Term)

Salary: GBP 28,132 – 36,661
Reference: GU02720
Closing date: 18 April 2014

Applicants are invited to apply for one fixed-term full-time post (two years) of Research Associate to the ERC-funded project, The Dissolution of the Japanese Empire and the Struggle for Legitimacy in Postwar East Asia, 1945-1965.

Applicants are encouraged to look at the project website (www.warcrimesandempire.com) and contact the project director, Dr Barak Kushner, bk284@cam.ac.uk, ahead of time.

Duties: The postdoctoral researcher will examine East Asian relations concerning the dissolution of the Japanese empire and war crimes, widely defined. The researcher will mainly focus on collecting, organizing and analyzing Chinese, Japanese or Korean related archives dealing with this topic. S/he will also examine relevant published texts and secondary research in related languages and appropriate bibliographical references. S/he will be expected to work toward producing his/her own monograph within their contract time and perhaps an additional peer-reviewed article. The researcher will also be required to assist in the administration of the project (including various symposia), especially organization of an international workshop and editing its proceedings. The topic of the first international conference will be the “Breakdown of Empire and Legitimacy in East Asia” (20-23 September 2014). Light teaching of up to one class or supervisions may be required.

Requirements: The applicant should have completed his/her PhD, submitted their thesis and had their viva (if necessary) by the time he or she arrives at Cambridge for the start of the position (After 1 September 2014). A demonstrable commitment to the aims of the project and genuine enthusiasm in such research will also be essential, as will the ability to work effectively as part of a team and on individual initiative. A research associate will be expected to have a thorough knowledge of at least one East Asian language, and score at least a 7 on the IELTS English language proficiency exam, or the equivalent. Candidates need not necessarily have knowledge of the Japanese language but their research must be related to the end of the Japanese empire and early Cold War.

Details about the Project: This five-year ERC funded project seeks to understand how political rule and legal authority were redrafted in postwar East Asia after the Japanese surrender in 1945. The research will shed light on the social and political transformations that continue to have resonance in our world in the form of East Asia’s regional alliances and Japan’s relations with its closest neighbors, China, North and South Korea, and Taiwan. The renovation of East Asia after the fall of the Japanese empire has mainly been written from a western perspective, owing to the preponderance of postwar American scholarship and its political dominance. Even with the economic rise and growing importance of modern China, the region’s understanding of its own past and its internal dynamics remain deeply rooted in the manner in which World War II ended. The legal restructuring of East Asia and Japan’s relations with its neighbors played a vital function in redressing former imperial relations in the early Cold War. The legal investigations and trials were the definition of international law, a relatively new concept itself, especially in East Asia. The legacy of these issues weighs heavily even today because it provided a new vocabulary to East Asian polities to consider the manner in which Japanese imperialism would be replaced and adjudicated in the postwar.

To apply online for this vacancy, please go to the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Faculty job vacancy page and the link to the application site at the bottom. (http://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/general_info/jobs/empirewarcrimes-ra.html)

Please quote reference GU02720 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

Interviews to take place in week commencing 28 April 2014.

Contact:
Dr Barak Kushner, bk284@cam.ac.uk

Website: http://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/general_info/jobs/empirewarcrimes-ra.html

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Job Opening: Japanese History, Bowdoin College

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   Bowdoin College, History and Asian Studies
Location:   Maine, United States
Position:   Visiting Assistant Professor, Japanese History

Bowdoin College invites applications for a one-year visiting assistant professorship in Japanese history, to serve as a joint appointment in the History Department and Asian Studies Program, beginning Fall 2014. Teaching load is two courses each semester.  Subfield open.  Candidate will be expected to teach classes and advise independent studies broadly in modern as well as premodern Japan.  Ph.D. preferred, but advanced ABDs will be considered.

A highly selective liberal arts college on the Maine coast with a diverse student body made up of 31% students of color, 5% international students and approximately 15% first generation college students, Bowdoin College is committed to equality and is an equal opportunity employer.  We encourage inquiries from candidates who will enrich and contribute to the cultural and ethnic diversity of our college.  Bowdoin College does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability status in employment, or in our education programs.    For further information about the college please visit our website:http://www.bowdoin.edu

Contact:
Bowdoin College accepts only electronic submissions.  Please visit https://careers.bowdoin.edu to submit letter of application, curriculum vitae, writing sample, syllabi of two proposed courses, and the names and contact information for three references who have agreed to provide letters of recommendation upon request.

Review of applications will begin March 14, 2014 and continue until the position is filled.

Website: www.bowdoin.edu

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Summer Program: Kyoto Traditional Theatre Training

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Paula

The intensive summer program in Kyoto Traditional Theatre Training invites applications to its 30th annual program, July 18-20 (orientation and overview of performing arts) and training (Jul 21-Aug 8). Master-teachers of the Kanze school noh, Okura school kyogen, and Wakayagi school of nihonbuyo classical dance offer an immersive, authentic experience to artists and scholars. Classes are in the air-conditioned studios of the Kyoto Art Center, with a costumed recital on the Oe Noh Stage. Please find information in Japanese and English.

http://www.kac.or.jp/10528/

http://www.kac.or.jp/eng/news/10528/

There are early bird and and student/artist discounts, and special rates on hotels, hopefully making this affordable to participants, Japanese and non-, from around the world.

Jonah Salz jonah@world.ryukoku.ac.jp Program director

http://www.world.ryukoku.ac.jp/kenkyuka/teachers/salz.html
http://kyototheatrenow.blogspot.jp/

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Job Openings: ASIANetwork, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows (3)

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   ASIANetwork
Location:   Illinois, United States
Position:   Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellows

ASIANetwork – Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Program

With the generous support of the Luce Foundation, ASIANetwork is supporting three teaching fellow positions for its member colleges in 2014-15.  For more information about our program and links to current position postings, see:

http://www.asianetwork.org/programs/postdoc/

Hendrix College:   Southeast Asian Studies (various disciplines)
Hope College:  Asian Music
Muhlenberg College:  Asian Theater and Performance

What is ASIANetwork?
A consortium of around 160 North American colleges, ASIANetwork strives to strengthen the role of Asian Studies within the framework of liberal arts education to help prepare succeeding generations of undergraduates for a world in which Asian societies play prominent roles in an ever more interdependent world.  For more information, see:  http://asianetwork.org

Contact: Gary DeCoker, Ph.D.
Director
ASIANetwork – Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Program
decokga@earlham.edu

Website: http://www.asianetwork.org/programs/postdoc/

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Funding: 2014 JETAANC Scholarship [High School Seniors, California]

Posted on February 26, 2014 by LM

money-150-2Education: Graduating high school senior attending undergraduate program starting in fall 2014
Other: resident of Northern California or Nevada (see details below)
Deadline: March 14, 2014

Background:
The JETAANC serves as a support network and resource for returning JET Program participants in their transition to the Northern California Area, and also provides assistance in the recruitment and orientation for the JET Program to the Consulate General of Japan, San Francisco. The organization also works to promote and support understanding of Japan, and organizes and actively participates in Japan-related events

Purpose:
The JETAANC Scholarship honors one high school senior each year that has demonstrated a genuine interest in Japan with a non-renewable $2000 academic scholarship. JETAANC requires that the recipient be accepted to an accredited institution of higher learning beginning Fall 2014 and who is a resident of one of the Northern California or Nevada counties that the JETAANC serves.

Selection Criteria:
The JETAANC Scholarship Committee will evaluate all applications based on the applicant’s demonstrated interest in Japan, academic accomplishments and interests, recommendations, responses to questions, and general impressions from the application form. A demonstrated financial need may be taken into consideration.

Eligibility:
Applicants must:

  • Be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
  • Plan to enroll (full-time) in an undergraduate program at an accredited 2 or 4 year institution of higher learning within the U.S. commencing Fall 2014
  • Be a high school senior that lives in one of the following counties: Monterey, Kings, Tulane, and Inyo counties and all California counties north of them, as well as all counties in Nevada
  • Possess a sincere interest in Japan, as demonstrated by at least one (1) year of directed interest

For procedure and full application details, see JETAANC’s website.

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Job Opening: Seasonal American Language & Culture (ALC) Program Director, Volunteers in Asia

Posted on February 25, 2014 by LM

job opening - 5Institution: Volunteers in Asia (VIA), Stanford University
Location: Stanford, CA
Type: seasonal
Deadline: March 31, 2014
Term: June 9, 2014 – early Sept
Education: 4-year degree

Job Summary:

VIA seeks a seasonal program director to run VIA’s American Language & Culture (ALC) program which has been offered since 1977 to Asian university students to build English academic skills through courses offered by Stanford University and explore U.S. contemporary culture through activities such as Silicon Valley company visits and local volunteering.

The ideal candidate will have background in international education and experience running international exchange programs. The seasonal program director will be hired over three months (early June through early September, 2014 with flexible start and end dates) to run one of the ALC sessions. The program dates for 2014 are from July 27 to August 30. The position will be based at the VIA office at Stanford University.

The seasonal ALC Program Director is part of a staff team dedicated to furthering international education through delivering innovative, transformative programs, and the position is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to gain international program experience.

Who we are:

VIA is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to increasing understanding between the United States and Asia through public service and cross-cultural education programs. VIA’s Stanford Programs division fosters an entrepreneurial approach to designing experiential programs that provide in-depth, personal, and provocative cross-cultural experiences for students from top Asian universities for 36 years. In 2013, over 250 students from mainland China, Japan, Korea, Macau, and Taiwan participated in six transformative short-term programs. VIA has offices at Stanford University and in San Francisco. The Stanford Programs staff will be based at the Stanford office.

Responsibilities:

Pre-program period

  • Arrange program logistics including activities, itineraries, transportation, lodging, and meals
  • Post program content to the program website
  • Communicate program content to participants prior to their arrival
  • Work with Stanford English for Foreign Students (EFS) department for English class arrangements
  • Work with other VIA program directors to prepare for the Stanford student coordinator training week
  • Obtain California Commercial Driver’s license for driving 15-passenger van

Program period

  • Reside in the dormitory during program period
  • Run Stanford student coordinator training with other program directors
  • Manage program activities with other program directors and Stanford student coordinators
  • Manage program budget and maintain accurate expense records
  • Attend weekly teachers meeting with EFS staff
  • Drive 7- or 15-passenger van to transport participants

Post-program period

  • Summarize program evaluation results
  • Provide VIA feedback on program strengths and weaknesses
  • Update program website

Required Qualifications:

  • Commitment to VIA’s mission to provide innovative experiential learning programs that promote cross-cultural understanding, build partnerships, and offer transformative experiences for our participants
  • A strategic thinker, creative problem solver, and self-starter who can be innovative in designing and delivering programs that can maximize impact for the people we serve
  • Excellent detail-oriented, multi-tasking, logistical skills in planning events and outreach
  • Effective communicator with excellent verbal communications skills and writing skills for professional correspondence. Ability to communicate in English with the fluency of a native speaker.
  • Ability to work evenings and weekends during program
  • Willingness to obtain Class B Commercial Driver’s license and drive a 15-passenger van
  • Legal right to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience in program management
  • Experience working with university students
  • Experience in Asia, especially Japan, Korea, mainland China, or Taiwan
  • Familiarity with the San Francisco Bay Area and Stanford
  • Computer skills (Familiarity with: Macintosh computers, Microsoft Office, and Joomla)

Hire Period:

Early June – early September, 2014

Salary details: Total salary of $9,000 (Monthly salary of $3,000 for 3 months)
Benefits: Room & board and program-related expenses covered during program period

See full applications details on Idealist.org.

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Call for Papers: For a New Wave to Come: Post-1945 Japanese Art History Now

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]PoNJA-GenKon10th Anniversary  Conference

Japan Society, New York  City
September 12, 2014, Friday, afternoon  workshop
“Reports from the Field: On Archival Documents” co-organized with Japan Society and NYU’s  East Asian Studies
15-20 minute  presentations

September 13, 2014, Saturday, afternoon  symposium
“New Scholarship” (tentative  title)
co-organized with Japan  Society
15-minute presentations (student panel, x5  papers)
20-minute presentations (professional panel,  x 4 papers)

For both, we would like you to send us  below:

1) your proposal, no more than 500  words
2) your CV, no more than 2  pages
3) if you want to attach image(s), no more  than 1MB (please learn to scale
down)
Send to:  mailponja@gmail.com
Due: March 20

Please specify CFP A/student, CFP  B/professional, or CFP C/workshop. For all of these, you are welcome to submit  more than one proposal (two new ideas or two terrific archival documents) or  apply for more than one slot (panel and workshop). This is because we want to know what members are working on as much as possible. Although we don’t have specific critical frameworks right now, a theme or two may emerge from a bigger  pool of proposals. However, we would also like to have as many members  presenting, so you will have only one paper to present during the two days of  the program.
General Parameters
Proposed papers should be based on original and critical research within the following  parameters:
1) the paper must address the work of art  and related media (e.g., visual culture, such as film, design, architecture,  manga, etc.) produced after 1945
2) the artist(s) must have been either born  in Japan, of Japanese descent, or active in Japan
3) the work must demonstrably relate to  aesthetic or socio-political situations in Japan after  1945.
CFP A/student, 9/13
CFP B/professional, 9/13
With this conference, we would like to  understand and present the latest scholarship in our field. In other words,  proposals should address: “What’s cooking now?” Therefore, we want unpublished  materials that will hopefully point to new directions of our  field.
CFP C/workshop, 9/12
Recently, archives have emerged as a new  subject in art history worldwide. While creating and organizing an archive is a  relatively new effort, using one as a researcher/scholar has been a historian’s  basic methodology. Although archival discoveries feed into our scholarship, the  thrill or surprise of finding something unexpected in an archive barely enters  into our discourse. However, that is in no small manner one of the driving  forces behind our efforts in constructing history. This workshop is planned as  an occasion to share our experiences. As such, the presentation can be less  formal than the 9/13 panels.
Just one archival document may provide a  glimpse into history, or even a new revelation about history. Conversely, a  document may only deepen questions, pointing to new avenues of inquiry. Archival  materials are in that sense, “objects” of interest for any historian, in art or  otherwise. Part of the “return to objects” (as opposed to theory), this workshop  invites presenters to share their archival findings and demonstrate how they  relate to their study of history.
Here, archives can be broadly interpreted.  It can be institutional or private, it could be a library’s special collection  (such as Tokyo Bunkazai Kenkyuujo’s “exhibition postcard collection”) or  uncataloged museum holdings(such as Matsuzawa Yutaka materials from Art &  Project at MoMA). Those materials require active “digging up” from hidden (i.e.,  unpublished or unpublicized or unlisted) places.

Please direct any question to  mailponja@gmail.com
Organizing Committee
Co-Chairs: Reiko Tomii and Miwako  Tezuka
Honorary chair: Alexandra  Munroe
Members: Ming Tiampo, Midori Yoshimoto, and  Mika Yoshitake

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Funding: Frank Gibney Award for Graduate Student Essay: Journal of American-East Asian Relations

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Paula

money [150-2]The Journal of American-East Asian Relations invites submissions for the Frank Gibney Award. The Award is given by the editors to an essay in the field of American–East Asian Relations written by a graduate student and submitted by his or her supervisor. The author will receive a $1,000.00 prize and the selected article will be published in the Journal.

The Award honors the life and goals of Frank Gibney (1924–2006), president of the Pacific Basin Institute and Professor of Politics at Pomona College and an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Journal. Gibney, who wrote or edited more than a dozen books on Japan and Asia, began his study of Japan as a military intelligence officer during World War II and the Occupation of Japan. He became a correspondent and editor at Time,
Life, and Newsweek magazines, and then joined Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1966 to develop its presence in Asia.

Deadline for submissions for the 2014 Award is April 30, 2014.

Please send inquiries and submissions to Charles W. Hayford, Immediate Past Editor, at: Chayford@AOL.COM

Instructions for Authors:
brill.com/sites/default/files/ftp/authors_instructions/JAER.pdf

Previous Recipients:

* (2008) Tristan Grunow, University of Oregon (Advisor Jeffrey Hanes), “A Reexamination of the ‘Shock of Hiroshima’: The Japanese Bomb Projects and the Surrender Decision,”  Journal of American-East Asian Relations 12. 3-4.

* (2010) Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci, Brown University (Advisors Professors Naoko Shibusawa and Robert G. Lee), “Birth Control and Socialism: The Frustration of Margaret Sanger and Ishimoto Shizue’s Mission.” Journal of American-East Asian Relations 17.3

* (2012) Wataru Yamaguchi, Keio University (Advisor Koji Murata), “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Shift in Japanese Diplomacy at the Beginning of the Second Cold War, 1979: A New Look,” Journal of
American-East Asian Relations 19.3-4

Charles W. Hayford
Immediate Past Editor
Journal of American-East Asian Relations
http://www.brill.com/journal-american-east-asian-relations
Evanston, IL 60208-2220

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Book Announcement: Henry Black – On Stage in Meiji Japan

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Paula

Henry BlackHenry Black – On Stage in Meiji Japan

By Ian McArthur

ONE OF Japan’s first foreign-born entertainers is the subject of my new book,  the first about him in the English-speaking world.

Henry Black – On Stage in Meiji Japan tells of Australian-born British citizen, Henry Black (1858-1923), who made a career as a storyteller (/rakugoka/) and actor in Japan in the 1880s and 1890s. The book examines Black’s role in bringing nineteenth-century European notions of modernity to Japan in the Meiji era. The book would suit scholars of theatre, Meiji social history, the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement, the Meiji reform debate and the role of newspapers and popular literature in cultural transfer.

Black enthralled Japanese audiences with adaptations of popular mystery novels by European authors, including Charles Dickens, Mary Braddon and Fortune de Boisgobey. He also performed magic and hypnotism, lived with his same-sex Japanese partner, and indulged a passion for sake. His voice is on the first disc-shaped recordings made in Japan in 1903 for the London Gramophone Company, thanks to his cooperation with American entrepreneur Fred W. Gaisberg.

In the 1870s Henry Black and his newspaper editor father, John Black, addressed meetings of the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement, which sought to promote  equal rights and an elected parliament.

Henry Black later affiliated with the San’yuha, one of Japan’s top guilds of  storytellers. As a storyteller, Black continued to promote the prodemocracy  movement’s ideals in theatres. His adaptations of European sensation fiction were also serialised in newspapers and published as stenographic books (/sokkibon/).

Henry Black also performed kabuki roles. His signature role was Banjuiin Chobee, for which he received tuition from the great kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX.

Black became a naturalised Japanese citizen in 1893.

/Henry Black: On Stage in Meiji Japan/is the first English-language book about Black. I have used translations of Black’s adaptations of European fiction, as well as newspaper and diary entries, to demonstrate his participation in the Meiji-era modernity debate. It includes photos of Black in kabuki roles and illustrations from his /sokkibon/.

*/Henry Black: On Stage in Meiji Japan/***

*By Ian McArthur*

RRP: AUD/US$34.95 paperback

ISBN: 978-1-921867-50-7

273 pages (includes photos of Black in kabuki roles and illustrations from his /sokkibon/)

More information at

http://www.publishing.monash.edu/books/hb-9781921867507.html

*The book contains the following chapters*

1. In the beginning
2. Old Japan New Japan
3. The move to Tokyo
4. A novice on the stage
5. The activist years, 1878-1886
6. From English teacher to /rakugoka/
7. In the golden age of the narrators
8. Adapting European sensation fiction
9. Sensation fiction as modernity
10. Adapting Dickens: dystopia and modern life
11. Face creams and tooth powder
12. Narrating the Meiji woman
13. Learning from the great Danju-ro-
14. A question of identity: the “imported Japanese”
15. The uncertain years, 1895-1900
16. Saved by new technology
17. The end of an era, 1908
18. No different from a Japanese

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Fun Link Friday: Wasei-Eigo Poll

Posted on February 21, 2014 by LM

Check out the results of the “‘English’ words Japanese don’t realise aren’t English” poll on What Japan Thinks for a list of useful wasei-eigo words. I actually think these lists are great for learning the correct way to use these terms in Japanese. There’s also a link to the original Japanese poll as well.

WJT wasei eigo poll

Note: some of the terms are intelligible in English (“coin laundry,” “book cover”) but perhaps are not the words people tend to use for that concept.

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