Disaster Relief: Bach Collegium Japan Concert

Posted on March 17, 2011 by LM

Reposted from UMS Lobby.

The University of Michigan’s University Musical Society will donate 50% of all new ticket purchases to the Bach Collegium Japan concert on Thursday, March 24 in Hill Auditorium (map) to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief fund.

Bach Collegium Japan and its conductor Masaaki Suzuki arrived in the United States on Monday for a five-concert tour of Bach’s Mass in b minor, which will be performed in Hill Auditorium on Thursday, March 24 at 8 pm.  The group is the third Japanese ensemble presented on the UMS program this season.

Officials from the Bach Collegium Japan identified the American Red Cross as the fund that they would like to support.  UMS will track all ticket sales from March 16-24 for the Bach Collegium concert and donate 50% of the ticket price to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief fund.

“Our hearts go out to everyone in Japan and locally who is dealing with the aftermath of this terrible tragedy.  We have seen first-hand the incredible healing power of music. Nevertheless, we also wanted to do something concrete to signal our support for the many Japanese artists whom we’ve presented over the years,” said UMS President Kenneth C. Fischer.

Masaaki Suzuki, the ensemble’s music director, said, “This has been a very difficult time for my country. We are extraordinarily grateful to all of those in the United States who are offering their support.”

Half of the cost of every ticket purchased between now and the concert on March 24 will automatically be designated for the earthquake relief fund.  For further information, contact the UMS Ticket Office at 734-764-2538 or www.ums.org.

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Asian Studies Development Program National Conference in Boston

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Paula

Dear Fellow Asianists,

The Seventeenth Annual Asian Studies Development Program’s National Conference will take place from March 24-26, 2011 at downtown Boston’s historic Omni Parker House Hotel. Middlesex Community College will be hosting this event. Please make plans now to attend this conference and participate in over 35 panels with more than 90 speakers presenting on a variety of interesting topics.

Conference Link:

http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/asdp/conference.htm

Plenary speakers include, Peter Hershock, Coordinator of the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, HI, (presentation title: “In Pursuit of Equity: Globalization, Higher Education and the Emerging Value of Diversity), Jane Portal, who holds the Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, (presentation title: “First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army”) and Richard Samuels, the Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (presentation title: “Japan’s Grand Strategy”).

The nationally known Angkor Dance Troupe will also perform at the conference. There will be options for visiting local sites including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

The ASDP National Conference is an annual event that provides an opportunity for ASDP alumni and other interested college and university faculty members to share research related to Asian cultures and societies, as well as strategies for effectively infusing Asian content into undergraduate humanities, social science, business, and science curricula. It also provides an opportunity for ASDP alumni and other interested college and university faculty members to socialize and get reacquainted with fellow alums, meet new faces, and share new ideas. The conference fee is $150.

If you have any questions, please contact Middlesex Dean and Asian Studies Coordinator, Dona Cady (Conference Chair) at cadyd@middlesex.mass.edu,

(Phone: (781) 280-3721).

Conference Link:

http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/asdp/conference.htm

Sincerely,

Julien Farland
Professor of Philosophy
Middlesex Community College
NA 212
Bedford MA 01730
farlandj@middlesex.mass.edu
781 280 3944

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Job opening: Professorship in Japanese Studies with a focus on History/Society

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Paula

Institution:   Heidelberg University, Japanese Studies
Location:   Germany
Position:   Full Professor

Heidelberg University invites applications for a non-tenured appointment as a professor in Japanese Studies to start by November 1st, 2012.

We welcome applications by scholars with a research focus on modern Japanese history, politics, and society. Applicants should have substantial research and teaching experience. They should have an excellent command of Japanese. Candidates may offer courses in English but should develop a solid command of German within three years of their appointment. We encourage the appointee to collaborate in the Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context.

The State of Baden-Wuerttemberg ( 47, clause (2), LHG) requires appointees to hold a Ph.D. and the equivalent of the German Habilitation (e.g. second book, peer-reviewed articles).

The University of Heidelberg is an equal opportunity employer.

An initial appointment will be made for 5 years. There is a possibility for a life-time appointment after 2017.

Contact: Please send applications, including c.v., list of publications, and teaching record, to the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy by mail and e-mail before April 30st, 2011:

Postal address:

Dekan der Philosophischen Fakultaet
Universitaet Heidelberg
Vossstr. 2, Geb. 37
Heidelberg 69115

e-mail: philosophische-fakultaet@uni-hd.de

Website: http://idb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FDB$.startup?MODUL=LS&M1=1&M2=0&M3=0&PRO=8867

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Book announcement: Women and Public Life in Early Meiji Japan: The Development of the Feminist Movement

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Paula

Author: Mara Patessio

WOMEN AND PUBLIC LIFE IN EARLY MEIJI JAPAN focuses on women’s activities in the new public spaces of Meiji Japan. With chapters on public, private, and missionary schools for girls, their students, and teachers, on social and political groups women created, on female employment, and on women’s participation in print media, this book offers a new perspective on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japanese history. Women’s founding of and participation in conflicting discourses over the value of women in Meiji public life demonstrate that during this period active and vocal women were everywhere, that they did not meekly submit to the dictates of the government and intellectuals over what women could or should do, and that they were fully integrated in the production of Meiji culture.

Mara Patessio shows that the study of women is fundamental not only in order to understand fully the transformations of the Meiji period, but also to understand how later generations of women could successfully move the battle forward. WOMEN AND PUBLIC LIFE IN EARLY MEIJI JAPAN is essential reading for all students and teachers of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japanese history, and should also be of interest to scholars of women’s history more generally.

Website: http://cjspubs.lsa.umich.edu

“In this clear and wonderfully informative study, Mara Patessio steps beyond the more traditional focus on ‘great lives’ or ‘important movements’ to explore the complicated social networks that drew Meiji women together across boundaries of class and region earlier imagined as impermeable. While offering affecting portraits of notable female educators, students, writers, and activists, Patessio suggests that a host of other voices, until now largely forgotten, was every bit as significant in contributing to the emerging nation and fomenting the feminist movement in Japan.”

—Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis

Direct Link: https://www.cjspubs.lsa.umich.edu/books/list/mono71.php

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A return to normalcy

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Paula

Just as important in these times of hardship when we’re flooded with information on and images of disaster is effort towards a return to normalcy. Therefore Shinpai Deshou will be posting as usual, though we will continue to include helpful links concerning the Japan relief efforts here on our Facebook page. Our thoughts are with all of those in Japan or with friends and family there.

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Links concerning the earthquake/tsunami relief

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Paula

So as to not edit and re-edit a post on this page, we are posting various relief effort links concerning the earthquakes/tsunami in Japan on our Facebook page. We encourage you to circulate these links and look into how you can help!

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Call for Papers – US-Japan Women’s Journal, Winter 2011

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Paula

U.S.- Japan Women’s Journal is seeking submissions for our upcoming issues. USJWJ publishes articles on a wide range of topics related to gender and welcomes submissions from all humanities and social science disciplines. Send your paper title, abstract of 200-250 words, and contact information by email attachment by April 1, 2011 to receive consideration for inclusion in our 2012 issues.  Authors whose proposals fit the scope of USJWJ will be invited to submit full-length papers for the referee process.

Final manuscripts should be 25-35 pages in length, double-spaced, following The Chicago Manual of Style. Electronic submission preferred. Direct questions and submissions related to arts, literature, and film to Jan Bardsley (bardsley@email.unc.edu) and those on history, social science, and comparative gender issues to Sally Hastings (sahnolte@purdue.edu).

For information on obtaining a copy of this issue, past issues, or a subscription to U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal, please contact Ms. Yoshie Inoue at:

Center for the Promotion of Art and Science
Josai University 1-1 Keyaki-dai
Sakado, Saitama, Japan 350-029
Phone: 049-271-7731
Fax: 049-271-7981
e-mail: rev-jou@josai.ac.jp

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Earthquake Relief

Posted on March 11, 2011 by LM

This is Leah Zoller, writing from Ishikawa prefecture. On Friday, 11 March 2011, at 2:46 pm JST, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Miyagi Prefecture. There is extensive damage, flooding, and fires in Northeastern Honshu. A tsunami has hit the coast near Miyagi and Fukushima, and the area near the Fukushima prefecture nuclear power plant is being evacuated.

This morning at 3:59 am and 4:32 am, two earthquakes hit Nagano and Niigata prefectures.

Although there is no lack of information online, The Japan Times has one of the more detailed articles here.

Stay up-to-date with earthquake and tsunami information at the Japan Meteorological Agency. (Japanese and English)

If you are looking for your loved ones or want to let people know you are okay in Japan, please use/register at

Google People Finder (English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean)–you can also post information for other people

Red Cross Safe and Well

 

To donate to relief efforts:

If you want to help aid efforts from the US, you can text-message donations of $10 to the Red Cross, or donate on the website link. If texting, text the letters REDCROSS to 90999 to make the $10 donation. (This will be added to your cell phone bill).

If you are in Japan, Red Cross Japan is accepting credit card and conbini donations. The website is experiencing high volume and may be down sometimes.

 

If you have information on relief efforts or how to find people, please comment.

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Fun Link Friday: Women and Ramen

Posted on March 11, 2011 by LM

On the week of International Women’s Day, I’d like to share some fun links about one of my  favorite subjects: the intersection of food and gender.

First is Felicity Hughes’s “New-Style Ramen Targets Female Noodle-Lovers,” which ran in Japan Pulse on 5 March 2011. Hughes discusses the recent boom in “ramen for women”: both ramen shops’ attempts to attract female customers and ramen shops/menu items that are reported to be popular with women. Ramen has the image of being “men’s food”—I remember the crowds of salarymen gathering outside the ramen stands at Hirakata Station but never saw any women in their ranks. Since the way we think about food is, in part, due to gender socialization, seeing how restaurants attempt to draw in a female clientele is a lesson in gender-based marketing. On one hand, I’d be happy to be able to enjoy ramen without fear of a sodium-induced heart attack; on the other, I find the dishes meant to target female customers play into societal pressures on women concerning youth, beauty, and cuteness.

Because there is a difference between marketing and consumption (we are not passive receptors of marketing, after all), I decided to check out the Women’s Ramen Club (女性ラーメン部) blog, the online version of the eponymous magazine. The blog, which contains over 50 reviews of ramen restaurants, is written by magazine editor Kiyori Matsumori, guitarist mitchy, and fabric-store owner Amano Sachiko and is “a blog for women who love ramen to introduce this food.”

One particularly interesting line in a review was that a restaurant has “a menu with women in mind” (女子を意識したメニュー ). Judging from the reviews written, a female-friendly shop has a good atmosphere, a fairly balanced sex-ratio (read: feels safe), and creative, healthy fare. There’s even a category on the side-bar to read reviews of restaurants owned by women (女性店主).

I admire the work of the Women’s Ramen Club to break into this male-dominated field, but I see no reason why men shouldn’t also want to enjoy healthy, interesting ramen or want to patronize female-run businesses. This is an excellent resource for Japanese-speakers regardless of sex, and I know where I’ll be researching restaurants for my next trip to Kanto.

-Leah

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Job Opening: Asian Collection Librarian at Rice University

Posted on March 10, 2011 by LM

Original posting, more information, and application here.

Asian Collection Librarian at Fondren Library, Rice University

Applications received by March 18, 2011 will receive first consideration.

This position strengthens the collection development process in Fondren Library by acting as bibliographer for Asian-language materials in the humanities and (to a lesser degree) the social sciences. This individual will be extensively engaged in communicating with faculty and administrative staff, collecting information regarding curricular and research developments with potential library impact, while sharing information about library resources and services.

Responsibilities:
– Manage a library collection including: selection, evaluation, appraisal, purchase, retention, and organization of teaching and research level library materials in a variety of formats. Discuss, consult, and advise academic faculty on the selection, acquisition, and retention of library materials.
– Provide reference and user education services to students, faculty and the public. Instruct and assist patrons individually and in small groups in the use of print and electronic resources. Direct users to sources of relevant materials located elsewhere on or off campus, including using the Internet, databases, and other resources to find the best possible source of information.
– Assist with user education and instruction by planning, publicizing and carrying out library orientations. Prepare written and digital guides and bibliographies when needed. Work with faculty on providing specific user education to classes by creating instruction on research tools specific to the course.
– Actively support fund raising for Asian Studies information resources through planning and strategy with Development staff and in partnership with Chao Center and Fondren Library staff. Find opportunities to promote information services to campus and community groups.
– Support development of digital services and publications, especially in support of faculty research or teaching interests.
– Evaluate and provide recommended new or revised polices and services for the collection development and reference departments
– Participate in professional activities.
– Other duties and responsibilities as required.

Requirements:

  • Master’s degree in library science or related field (ALA-accredited); two years of experience in an academic library, including reference, instruction and/or collection development.
  • Demonstrated ability to work well with faculty, staff, students, and administrators. Demonstrated ability to work both independently and with teams.
  • Excellent command of modern and classical Chinese language, as well as excellent spoken and written English.
  • Knowledge of Japanese and/or Korean. Proficiency in Pinyin and Wade-Giles Romanization systems. Knowledge of Chinese publishing and book trade. Knowledge of current research trends and methods in Asian Studies. Proficiency with standard word processing and web page CMS interfaces.
  • Familiarity with the arrangement and description of special collections materials, standards of bibliographic control and preservation, and archival principles and practices in an academic library, including reference, instruction and collection development.

Apply at Rice’s website

Inquiries: Melinda Reagor Flannery at 713-348-3773 or reagor[AT]rice[DOT]edu

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