Call for participation: 2012 Intellectual Exchange Programme between Japan and Europe

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Paula

Japanese Study Seminar – Taisho Prewar (Showa)

Centre Européen d’Etudes Japonaises d’Alsace (CEEJA) and the Japan Foundation (JF) would like to invite you to submit an application to participate in the Japanese Study Seminar – Taisho/Prewar (Showa) which is scheduled on 8 and 9 September 2012 at CEEJA, in Kientzheim, France. The official language of the seminar will be JAPANESE only.

This Japanese Study Seminar aims to encourage networking among young researchers on Japan in Europe and deepening further promoting Japanese studies in Europe.

Participants will join a two-day intensive workshop in cozy and intimate atmosphere of CEEJA’s facility in Kientzheim and present and discuss their current research projects among each other as well as a guest Mentor from Japan.

The theme of this year’s seminar will be “Taisho/Prewar (Showa). ” We are calling for young researchers in Europe who specialize in politics, history, society, literature, arts, language, thoughts, economy, city and architectures, religions, etc. of this unique juncture of the Japanese modern history.

[Mentor]
Prof. Toshikazu Inoue is a professor at Gakushuin University,
specialized in Japan`s diplomatic history. He is the author of
many books, including “Kiki no Naka no Kyocho Gaiko” (Cooperative
Diplomacy during the Crisis),”Nihon no Gaikou-shi Kogi” (Lectures
on Japan’s Diplomatic History), “Showa-shi no Gyakusetsu” (Paradox
of Showa History),” “Senzen Showa no Shakai” (Society of Showa
Pre-war Period.)

[Obligations]
About 10 participants will be selected to make 20-minutes-each presentations on their research and engage in discussions in JAPANESE. Prior to the seminar, all participants are expected to
submit their papers, in Japanese or in English, which would be edited and compiled afterword for publication.

[Eligibility and Application Procedures]
An applicant should be currently enrolled in a graduate or post-graduate program (it does not have to be Japanese-studies program), or already holds a junior teaching/researching position at academic institutions in Europe. Priority will be given to non-Japanese. They will be reimbursed, after the seminar, their transportation fee (economy class of air fare within Europe, 2nd class of train ticket, etc.) with a submission of the receipt(s). During the seminar, accommodations and meals will be offered.

The participants are expected to arrive at CEEJA on September 7th and leave on September 10th.

Please send in your current curriculum vitae and a summary of your research interest in Japanese or in English in an A4-size paper via e-mail to oca@jpf.go.jp. The deadline of the application is 18 June.
Applicants will be informed of the selection result at the beginning of July.

Europe, Middle East and Africa Section, Japanese Studies and
Intellectual Exchange Department, The Japan Foundation
Phone:81-3-5369-6071,

Email: oca@jpf.go.jp
Visit the website at http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/intel/new/1204/04-01.html

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Job Opening: Modern Japan Hist., St. Mary’s College CA, pt time lecturer

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Paula

Institution:  St. Mary’s College – California, History
Location:   California, United States
Position:   Lecturer in Modern Japan

Lecturer in Modern Japan
Saint Mary’s College of California

Closing Date/Time: Sun. 05/13/12 11:59 PM Pacific Time
Salary: Depends on Qualifications

Continue reading →

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Job Openings: History (including Asia), Assistant and Associate Professor

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Paula

Institution: Kyoto University, The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research
Location:   Japan
Position:   Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, up to 20 positions, all fields

Call for Applications

Kyoto University, Hakubi Center for Advanced Research
Associate/Assistant Professor, up to 20 positions, all fields

In 2009, Kyoto University inaugurated the Hakubi Project to Foster and Support Young Researchers, in which the university appoints promising young researchers as program-specific faculty members (Associate Professor/Assistant Professor) and supports their research activities on themes of their own choice, so as to develop visionary researchers who will pioneer new paths in their respective academic fields. Kyoto University calls for applicants for the 2013 academic year (beginning April 2013).

The Positions

The Hakubi Project aims to provide researchers with the conditions to support cutting-edge research in their respective fields. As such, there are no teaching requirements and administrative duties are kept to a minimum. The project targets researchers in all academic fields including humanities and the social and natural sciences  appointing up to 20 researchers each year. Applicants should hold a doctoral degree (or equivalent research abilities). Applications are accepted from all nationalities.

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Funding: Sackler Library Travel Grant Program 2012 for Japanese and Chinese Art Studies

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Paula

The Freer|Sackler Library Travel Grant Program 2012 assists students and scholars of Chinese and Japanese art residing outside the Washington, DC, metropolitan area who wish to use the library’s collections for their research. Funding for this program is provided by the Washington Art Library Resources Committee (WALRC).

The purpose of the grants is to provide some travel and lodging support to scholars wishing to use the Freer | Sackler Library’s collection for research.

The Library of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery originated as a collection of four thousand monographs, periodical issues, offprints, and sales catalogs that Charles Lang Freer donated to the Smithsonian Institution as part of his gift to the nation. With more than eighty-six thousand volumes, the Library now is considered one of the finest repositories of Asian art resources in the United States.  Also, since 1996 the Library has been a depository library for exhibition/collection catalogs published in Japan, making over 4200 catalogs available via interlibrary loan.

Library website: http://www.asia.si.edu/research/library.asp

Five grants of $1,000 each will be awarded on a competitive basis to graduate students and established East Asian art scholars. Travel grants are valid for one year from the date awarded.

The application deadline is June 1, 2012. Applicants for a travel grant are expected to provide a description of the project, including scope, research objectives, and anticipated results. They also are expected to provide a general budget and timeline estimate for their proposed visit to the Freer|Sackler Library. See the application form (PDF, 58kb) for more details on requirements.

Please email applications or any questions to Reiko Yoshimura, head librarian, at yoshire@si.edu.

http://www.asia.si.edu/research/library-travel-grant.asp

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Book Announcement: Nobuo Tsuji, “Lineage of Eccentrics”

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Paula

Nobuo TSUJI’s seminal work *Kiso no keifu*, originally published in 1970, offered a reappraisal of “eccentric” artists Iwasa Matabei, Kano Sansetsu, Ito Jakuchu, Soga Shohaku, Nagasawa Rosetsu, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi.  A new English edition, *Lineage of Eccentrics: Matabei to Kuniyoshi*, is now available from Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

Translated by Aaron Rio (PhD Candidate in Japanese Art, Columbia) and copy edited by Yayoi Shionoiri (MA in Modern Art, Columbia), the book also includes a foreword by Takashi Murakami, a new preface by Tsuji, full-color plates, and black and white reproductions throughout.

*Lineage of Eccentrics* will be of interest to scholars and students working in both premodern and contemporary Japanese art.  It will also be useful to collectors, curators, and artists alike.  Although this edition maintains much of Tsuji’s original format, there are several important revisions and additions to the text itself, as well as updated collection data and appendices.

A limited number of copies are available for sale at the National Gallery of Art, being sold in conjunction with *Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by Ito Jakuchu*.  Inquiries for purchase of copies can also be made to Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. at info@kaikaikiki.co.jp.

http://www.amazon.com/Lineage-Eccentrics-Matabei-Kuniyoshi-Nobuo/dp/4939148424/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334425441&sr=1-7

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FLF: A Magical Adventure: Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea

Posted on April 20, 2012 by reedra01

Disney World, where dreams come true and magic still lives. It is the most visited recreational park in the world. There is nothing else quite like it. Most of us have experienced the wonderful world of Disney in some way or another, be it through the movies, countless character goods, or through the parks themselves. The sheer mass appeal of Disney has permeated almost every culture in the world and Japan is certainly no exception.

Last October, I had the chance to go to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea with some fellow ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers). It was the first time I have been to a Disney park outside of the United States and also the first time I have been when the park is decorated for a holiday, in this case Halloween. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting my experience to be very different from my U.S. Disney experiences but I was pleasantly surprised.

We traveled to Tokyo Disneyland from Akita prefecture by night bus or yakobasu which conveniently took us right up to the gates of the park. The downside of the night bus was the overall discomfort especially for people who are more than 5ft tall. At 5ft 2in, I had it the easiest in our group and had few problems sleeping for the duration of the 12 hour ride. On the up side, waking up with the pearly gates of Disney right in front of us brightened everyone’s mood.

We had heard that Tokyo DisneySea was geared towards adults and we were all excited to go there first. In true Disney fashion, the shops were the first things we saw after entering the park. The merchandise was the usual Disney fare but worthy of note was the fact that it seemed like everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, was wearing some kind of Disney hat, costume, or head piece. I felt almost naked and rather blasphemous without a Tigger tail or a Mickey Sorcerer’s hat.

We had a lovely breakfast at “Mediterranean Harbor” which is also the location for most of the shows in DisneySea. A volcano known as Mt. Prometheus, the iconic centerpiece of the entire park, smoked ominously behind the harbor while we ate our egg salad sandwiches.

One of the design highlights of DisneySea was the steampunk style of “Mysterious Island,” especially the center of the volcano with the staircase leading down to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride. The Journey to the Center of the Earth ride is also located in this area of the park. The detail throughout Mysterious Island was amazing and a lot of fun to explore. The most disappointing thing about DisneySea was the length of the rides. I felt like most of them were much too short (2 to 3min long) compared to the rides in Tokyo Disneyland (many of them are 10 to 15min long).

The most surprising thing for me was the storyline of the Tower of Terror ride. Tower of Terror is my favorite Disney ride and I bullied everyone into getting fast passes for that ride first. If you are familiar with the ride in the US, then you know that the theme is the classic Twilight Zone. Since the Twilight Zone television series is essentially unknown in Japan, the story for the ride had to be completely changed. Instead, we learned about the Hotel’s owner Harrison Hightower III, a very wealthy explorer and collector of artifacts who died in a freak elevator accident after returning from his travels with a mysterious artifact from Africa called Shiriki Utundu. Shiriki Utundu was the only thing found in the elevator after the incident. The Hotel was closed for 13 years after Mr. Hightower’s untimely death but lucky for you they decided to open its doors to the public once again. I highly recommend Tower of Terror as a unique Tokyo DisneySea experience.

Tokyo Disneyland is very similar to the U.S.’s Magic Kingdom and it is divided into the familiar Adventureland, Fantasyland etc. sections. The most amazing difference for me was the Haunted Mansion ride, also one of my favorites. As a special Halloween treat, the entire ride was themed after The Nightmare Before Christmas. Instead of Grim Grinning Ghosts, you are serenaded by the Nightmare Before Christmas characters singing the songs from the Tim Burton classic. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique opportunity to experience this version of the ride.

One of the other unique aspects of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea was the wide variety of popcorn. In addition to the usual salt, caramel and chocolate popcorn you can find flavors like curry, butter soy sauce, honey, milk tea, black pepper, strawberry, and cranberry. We had a great time trying all the different flavors.

Enjoy exploring the Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea websites! If you have been to either one before I would love to hear about your experience. What surprised you the most?

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Job Opening: Assistant Director of International Admissions, American University

Posted on April 19, 2012 by LM

Institution: American University
Location: Washington, DC
Category: Admin – International Programs and Services
Admin – Admissions and Enrollment
Application Due: Open Until Filled
Type: Full Time

Description:
This Assistant Director (AD) position is responsible for the recruitment and admission of freshman and transfer applicants from specific countries or regions outside the United States, and includes international recruitment travel. The international AD is also responsible for the evaluation and file review for freshman and transfer applications from any country outside the US as needed. This position is responsible for assisting with the coordination and staffing of on-campus programs and online events for prospective students.

Preferred Requirements: Regional expertise in South and East Asia areas.

For full information and to apply, see posting on HigherEdJobs.com.

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Call for Papers: Workshop on Natural Disaster and the City

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Paula

Call for Papers
Workshop on Natural Disaster and the City
Historical Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Japan, 1945-2010

16-17 January 2013
Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University will be holding a workshop on Natural Disasters and the City: Historical Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Japan.

This workshop invites papers that undertake inter-disciplinary and transnational approaches to the study of natural disasters. It aims to historically contextualise the causes and consequences of disasters and to compare them across societies. The focus is on cities in Southeast Asia and Japan after World War Two, as expressed along three general lines of inquiry.

First, the workshop will explore how the vulnerability of urban populations was influenced by new or accelerated human processes that were most manifest in cities in the postwar period, such as population growth, urbanisation, migration, national integration, economic development, and environmental degradation. Below the macro, the workshop considers how urban communities have coped with hazardous living, how far responses have been fractured by various forms of
social stratification and whether local perspectives and agency have diverged from state and international approaches to disaster prevention and rehabilitation. Finally, the workshop examines why some disasters have not merely been events occurring at the tail end of
long-term processes, but have themselves become catalysts for historic change in the postwar period.

Relevant themes include:

– Historical factors affecting the risk faced by urban populations.
– Cities as sites of risk, response and rehabilitation.
– Cultures of disaster and coping mechanisms of urban communities.
– Micro-histories, ethnographies and memories of urban disasters.
– Disasters as catalysts for historical change.

The session welcomes contributions from historians, geographers, sociologists, and anthropologists, among others, and from both established scholars and PhD students at an advanced stage of their research. Papers can examine individual cities or compare different
cities.

Pls submit a 500-word abstract and a copy of your CV to Loh Kah Seng
lkshis@cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp by 30 June 2012.

Convenors:
Professor Yoko Hayami
Dr Loh Kah Seng

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IES Asia Pacific Scholarship for undergrad study abroad

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Paula

Open to students who have applied to study for a term or academic year in IES Abroad Auckland, Beijing, Christchurch, Delhi, Melbourne, Nagoya,Shanghai, Sydney, or Tokyo.

AWARD

Ranges up to $3,000

DEADLINE

  • Fall/Academic Year: May 1
  • Spring/Calendar Year: October 25

ELIGIBILITY

  • Recipients must be accepted to and enroll in an IES program.
  • Recipients must attend a college or university that is a Member or Associate Member of the IES Abroad Consortium.  In addition, your home school must have a policy of transferring at least 75% of institutional aid for study abroad.
  • Mimimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 (out of 4.0) required
  • Return Requirement: If awarded one of these scholarships, at the conclusion of the IES Abroad program you agree to submit a 1-page statement about your experience abroad, including how it has affected you personally, professionally, and academically and how this scholarship supported your endeavors.  Once submitted, this statement becomes property of IES Abroad and excerpts may be used in any/all IES Abroad electronic and printed publications. Additional details and instructions will be emailed to you after your program ends.
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Symposium: AX Anime and Manga Studies 2012

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Paula

Los Angeles, CA: June 29 – July 2, 2012

Anime and manga are visual culture and media, popular entertainment, commercial products, objects of interest and sometimes obsession – and for many people, their first and sometimes only contact with Japan. Scholars in Japan and around the world have increasingly become interested in the themes, topics, and issues of anime and manga – and of all Japanese popular culture.

The goal of the AX Anime and Manga Studies Symposium is to highlight cutting-edge research and critical thinking about Japanese animation and comics by examining emerging trends in anime and manga studies around the world. Anime Expo is the largest gathering of fans of Japanese popular culture in the U.S., and, as an integral component of the AX program, the Symposium will also serve to introduce anime and manga studies to a general, non-academic audience. Another goal of this event will be to establish crucial connections and facilitate
bridging gaps between scholars and fans.

Speakers are invited to present papers on any topic related to Japanese comics and animation, global anime and manga fandom, and the anime/manga industry in Japan and elsewhere. Individual presentations can focus on themes and topics such as:

– Close readings of particular individual anime and manga texts.
– Uses of anime and manga to present viewpoints on Japanese and world history
– Japanese animation and comics in historical perspective: anime and manga before Tezuka.
– Anime and manga as a corpus: Sequels, remakes, reinterpretations, reimaginings.
– Anime and manga adaptations and adaptations of anime and manga: Failures and successes.
– Global conversations with Japanese popular culture – Non-Japanese uses of anime and manga, e.g., Animatrix, Batman, First Squad, Iron Man, Supernatural, etc
– The role of the creator and director (and individual creators/directors) in the development of anime and manga.
– Cultural production approaches to Japanese visual culture: Examining production, promotion, marketing, international licensing and distribution, translation and sales to understand anime’s global impact.
– The activities of anime/manga fans – for example, fanfiction, cosplay, anime music videos, and website development. Other ideas are also welcome.
– Beyond mainstream anime and manga: Experimental and non-mainstream Japanese animation and comics.
– Anime and manga in the classroom: Theories and experiences of teaching Japanese visual culture.
– Popular culture responds to reality: The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and future directions in Japanese visual culture.

The symposium particularly welcomes studies of recent and new anime and manga (including, but definitely not limited to Durarara!!, Eden of the East, Madoka, and Redline) and papers that engage with recent Japanese and Western scholarship on these and other related topics.

This list is not exhaustive, and other topics and approaches will be welcome as well.

All submissions will undergo peer review.

The Symposium program will also feature several roundtable panel discussions, bringing together scholars from different institutions to share different perspectives on anime and manga and the anime/manga studies field.

Roundtable panel 1: Anime and manga studies at 30: Issues and directions.
Roundtable panel 2: Fan cultures and practices in Japan, America, and beyond.
Roundtable panel 3: The future of Japanese visual culture.

If you are interested in presenting your paper, please submit the title, a 300-500 word abstract words, and your CV. All abstracts will undergo peer review.

Potential panel speakers are invited to submit a summary of your experience and background, a formal CV, and a 300-500 word statement of your interest and specific approaches to one of the Roundtable Panel topics. Additional panel topics may be considered. Please forward your submissions by no later than May 15, 2012, to Mikhail Koulikov at mkoulikov@gmail.com.
All speakers will receive complimentary admission to Anime Expo 2012.
Some reimbursement of travel expenses may be available.

The 2011 program is available online at
http://www-dev.anime-expo.org/ex-online/inside-ax/programming/ax-anime-and-manga-studies-symposium/

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