The Modern Japanese Studies Program Lecture Series is a series of guest lectures given by researchers from outside the university, or other people whose professional experience is relevant to Japanese Studies. The lectures aim to broaden students’ interests in the many aspects of Japanese Studies.
Here is a list of past and forthcoming guest lectures:
Mr. Roland Kelts discussing representations of Anime, Sushi & Cosplay. (Dec, 2015)
Upcoming Lectures
115) 島津 清彦 氏 (株式会社シマーズ 代表取締役社長)
Title: 日本を再発見する
4:30pm – 6:00pm, 24 May 2024 ; Workshop: 4:00pm – 6:00pm, 25 May 2024
114) Professor Hidekazu Sakai (Kansai Gaidai University)
Title: Japan’s Security Strategy in the Indo-Pacific Region:
Focusing on Taiwan, the Pacific Island States, and India
4:30pm – 6:00pm, 21 May 2024
113) Associate Professor Seung Hyok Lee (Tohoku Gakuin University)
Title: North Korea as a “Security Vaccine”? – Japan-NorthKorea Relations and Its Implications on Japanese Security Policy Transformations
4:30pm – 6:00pm, 17 May 2024
Past Lectures
112) Associate Professor Corey Wallace (Kanagawa University)
Title: Viewing Security Policy Transformation in Japan
22nd December 2023 Workshop: 23th December 2023
111) Mr. Atsuhi Kodo (World Food Programme)
Session 1: World Food Programme (WFP) and Japan
Session 2: 国際機関で働くとは (Career Development: Working for International Organisations)
8th December 2023 (Friday) / 2023年12月8日(金)
Session 1: 5pm-6pm / 17時-18時 (in English)
Session 2: 6:15pm-7:15pm/ 18時15分-19時15分 (日本語)
110) Professor Yukinori Watanabe (Sagami Women’s University)
Title: Exploring Communication Dynamics between International Tourists and Hospitality Staff in the Japanese Tourism Context
1st December 2023
109) Professor Hiroya Sugita (Kanagawa University)
Title: Gender and Politics in Japan
17th November 2023
108) 島津 清彦 氏 (株式会社シマーズ 代表取締役)
講演：世界一流のリーダーはなぜ経営やマネジメントに禅ZENを取り入れるのか
2023年11月13日
107) Professor Emeritus Takao Sebata (Nagasaki Prefectural University, Siebold Campus)
Title: The Most Generous People in the World: Characteristics of the Japanese Society and Japan’s Sovereignty
20th October 2023 Workshop: 21th October 2023
106) Dr. Alt Joachim (National Museum of Japanese History)
Title: What does “Victimhood” mean in Anime on World War II?
18th October 2023
105) Associate Professor Ammar Khashan (Ritsumeikan University)
Title: Bridging Arabic and Japanese: The Study of Islamic Finance in the Japanese Linguistic Landscape
6th October 2023
104) Professor Akiko Nanami (Hiroshima Shudo University)
Title: Focusing Japanese society under “Stay Home” scheme in the COVID era – Re-emergence of societal sickness and the way to tackle
14th July, 2023
103) Dr. Rudy Toet (Nagasaki University)
Title: The study of the Japanese language by Europeans in 17th- through 19th-century Nagasaki
7th July, 2023 Workshop: 8th July, 2023
102) Professor Paul Midford (Meiji Gakuin University）
Title: Overcoming Isolationism: Japan’s Leadership in East Asian Security Multilateralism
30th June, 2023 Workshop: 1st July, 2023
101) Ms. Shizuka Asanuma (CEO, Lacura Holdings Co., Ltd.)
Title: Japan’s Aging Society and the Work of Lacura Holdings
30th May, 2023
100) Dr. Koji Kobayashi (Associate Professor, Otaru University of Commerce)
Title: Challenges in International Advertising Production: The Case of Asics (and Onitsuka Tiger)
20th May, 2023
99) Ms. Reetta Purontakanen (Embassy of Finland in Tokyo)
Title: Finland-Is it the happiest country in the world?
12nd May, 2023
98) Prof. Yoshikuni Igarashi（Vanderbilt University）
Title: Are We Allowed to Find Beauty in the Face of Death and Destruction: Ishiuchi Miyako’s Hiroshima and postwar Japan
11th May, 2023
97) Associate Professor Raymond Yamamoto (Aarhus University)
Title: Japan’s Digital Transformation and Its Challenges
6th January, 2023 Workshop: 7th January, 2023
96) Mr. Thomas Appleton (New Zealand Embassy)
Title: A Kiwi Diplomat in Japan
9th December, 2022
95) Colonel Kazuyuki Sato (Japan Self-Defense Forces)
Title: Defense of Japan
6th December, 2022
94) Mr. Hideki Hara (Managing Director, Department of Japanese Studies, The Japan Foundation)
Title: Introduction to the Japan Foundation: Why supporting Japanese studies abroad matters for Japan’s public diplomacy
2nd December, 2022
93) Mr. Joe Rush (In Touch Sports)
Title: Culture and Business in Japan
11th November, 2022 Workshop: 12 November, 2022
92) Ms. Netta Hongisto (Co-creation Expert, Demola Global)
Title: Exploring the future – why and how to do it?
9th November, 2022
91) Mr. Simon Metcalfe (Kyushu Tourism Organization)
Title: The Train Guy: Tips for working in Japan
1st November, 2022
90) Mr. Tyson Batino (Founder, Scaling Your Company)
Title: “From social sciences major to serial entrepreneur”
21st October, 2022
89) Dr. Junko Kitanaka(Keio University)
Title: Medical Anthropological Reflections on the “Healthy Brain”: The Rise of Preventive Psychiatry
21st January, 2022
88) Dr. Jennifer McGuire (Doshisha University)
Title: “Why is it only me?”: The Integration and Inclusion of Deaf Japanese
10th December, 2021
87) Dr. Raluca Nagy (University of Sussex)
Title: Challenges of Writing on Japan – From Anthropology to Fiction
4th December, 2021
86) Dr. Rieko Kage (University of Tokyo)
Title: Inviting Litigation Against the State? The Politics of Administrative Litigation Reform in Japan
26th November, 2021
85) Mr. Eric Johnson (Japan Times)
Title: All News is Local: Understanding the Role of Japan’s Regional Newspapers
23rd October, 2021
84) Professor Edward Boyle (Kyushu University)
Title: Mapping History: Surveying Contested Spaces
1st July, 2021
83) Dr. Polina Ivanova (Ritsumeikan University)
Title: Mapping History: Surveying Contested Spaces
1st July, 2021
82) Dr. Isaac Gagné (German Institute for Japanese Studies)
Title: Contents Consumption in the Digital Age: Realizing Fantasy through Digital, Material, and Social Exchange
10th June, 2021
81) Ms. Adrienne Renee Johnson (Shirayuri University)
Title: Troubling Gender in Visual Kei: Bending, Backlash, and Binary Blurring
28th May, 2021
80) Dr. Sachiko Horiguchi (Temple University, Japan)
Title: Documenting COVID-19 Responses Among Primary Care Physicians in Japan: Beyond Culturalist or Politi
cized Explanations of Pandemic Realities
14th May, 2021
79) Ms. Van Thi Tuyet Duong (豊田通商)
Title: 現プロ卒業生に聞く：就職活動について・総合商社について
26th April, 2021
78) Mr. Max Forrest
Title: Designing Culturally Relevant User Experiences: Working in Japan as a UX Researcher
23rd April, 2021
77) Representatives from 豊田通商
Title: 企業研究2020
16th January, 2021
76) Dr. Chelsea Szendi Schieder (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Title: “Coed Revolution: The Female Student in the Japanese New Left”
7th January, 2021
75) Dr. David Hopkins (Tenri University)
Title: “The post-war musical avant-garde and the creation of a new Japanese identity (or is it the recreation of an old Japanese identity?)”
10th December, 2020
74) Mr. Andrew Le (University of Tokyo)
Title: “Does the Party Ever Stop? Regulation and Resistance of Tokyo Nightclubs”
26th November, 2020
74) Mr. Andrew Le (University of Tokyo)
Title: “Does the Party Ever Stop? Regulation and Resistance of Tokyo Nightclubs”
26th November, 2020
73) Dr. Giancarla Unser-Schutz (Rissho University)
Title: “Komyushō and problematized communication in contemporary Japan”
12th November, 2020
72) Dr. Gavin Furukawa (Sophia University)
Title: “Activism on the Streets of Japan: Queer Challenges to Heteronormativity through Social Media”
29th October, 2020
71) Mr. Eric Johnston (Japan Times)
Title: “Just the Facts, Ma’am!”
22nd October, 2020
70) Dr. David Leheny (Graduate School of Asia-Pacific)
Title: “From Commemoration to Crisis and Back: The Meiji 150th Anniversary, the Tokyo Olympics, and COVID-19”
7th August, 2020
69) Dr. David Hopkins (Tenri University)
Title: “Indigenizing Popular Music in Japan, 1960s and 70s”
17th July, 2020
68) Dr. Clinton Godart (Tohoku University)
Title: “Nichiren Buddhism in Modern Japan”
3rd July, 2020
67) Mr. Shun’ichi Ito (Freelance)
Title: “A transnational, translocational contemporary urban migrant and alternative spaces of hope”
25th June, 2020
66) Dr. Marta Szczygiel (Tokyo University)
Title: “Is poo a taboo in Japan? An Examination of Japan’s toilet culture”
17th June, 2020
66) Dr. Marta Szczygiel (Tokyo University)
Title: “Is poo a taboo in Japan? An Examination of Japan’s toilet culture”
17th June, 2020
65) Dr. Raymond Yamamoto (Aarhus University)
Title: Is China’s rise a threat to Japan? A critical assessment of the rivalry argument from the perspective of development assistance
4th June, 2020
64) Mr. Dennis Chia (Boundless)
Title: Designing an Alternative Career Path in Japan (Case Study: Opportunities in Rural Japan)
22nd May, 2020
63) Mr. Eric Johnson (Japan Times)
Title: From Marco Polo to MASK Culture: Western “Media” Images of Japan Throughout History
6th February, 2020
62) Dr. Hisako Omori (Akita International University)
Title: Reciprocity and Trust: Cases of Children in State Care in Japan
13th December, 2019
61) Dr. Nathaniel Smith (University of Arizona)
Title: Kabukicho Renaissance: Multiculturalism, Marginality, and Urban Renewal in Tokyo
5th December, 2019
60) Mr. Iida Yoshichika (Hokkaido University)
Title: On Start-ups
25th November, 2019
59) JR East Japan
Title: Working in the railway industry
18th November, 2019
58) Dr. Sachiko Ito
Title: 業界研究の基礎
14th November, 2019
57) Mr. Ito Shunichi (Gungendo)
Title: What an Insider-Outsider-Foreigner-Native can accomplish in the inaka: From producing beer, making English content, and creating new exchange between the city and inaka
13rd November, 2019
56) Professor Tom Gill (Meiji Gakuin University)
Title: Doyagai: Japan’s Skid Row
18th October, 2019
55) Professor Chris Winkler (Seinan Gakuin University)
Title: Déjà vu all over again? Conservatism in the Age of Identity Politics
16th October, 2019
54) Professor Edward Boyle (Kyushu University)
Title: Japanese overseas development aid (ODA), concreate geopolitics and Northeast India
1st August, 2019
53) Professor Irina Holca (Tokyo University)
Title: Writing about animals and nature: the realistic prose of Shimazaki Toson, Shiga Naoya and Hirotsu Kazuo
18th July, 2019
52) Professor Taishō Nakayama (Kushiro Public University of Economics)
Title: Living with the Border: Remaining Japanese and Koreans in Sakhalin
11th July, 2019
51) Professor Nathan Hopson (Nagoya University)
Title: The Life, Times and Afterlives of “Tōhoku as Japan’s Oldest Colony
20th June, 2019
50) Dr. Sumiyo Nishizaki (Ritsumeikan University)
Title: Postwar experiences of Japanese civilian repatriates: A case of South Manchuria Railway employees
31st May, 2019
50) Dr. Sumiyo Nishizaki (Ritsumeikan University)
Title: Postwar experiences of Japanese civilian repatriates: A case of South Manchuria Railway employees
31st May, 2019
49) Dr. Ed Pulford
Title: Communism in Northeast Asia after Japanese imperialism
6th December, 2018
48) Dr. Flavia Fulco and Dr. Robin O’Day
Title: “Seeking Asylum in Japan: Oral Narratives of Refugees and the Strategies of Integration”
5th November, 2018
47) Mr. Samuel Gordon (Deloitte Tohmatsu)
“A Tokyo insiders view: Reflecting on Tokyo’s role as a financial center 10 years on from the Lehman Crisis”
9th November, 2018
46) Professor Florian Coulmas (University of Duisburg-Essen and Visiting Professor at Sophia University)
“Japanese Times”
22nd October, 2018
45) Mr. Eric Johnston (Japan Times)
“Scandal Rags or Fearless Journalism? A Guide to Japan’s Tabloid Press”
11th October, 2018 at 16:30
44) Dr. Kathryn Goldfarb (University of Colorado, Boulder)
“Materializing relationships: Embodying absent kinships in Japanese child welfare”
13th July, 2018 at 16:30
43) Professor John Traphagan (University of Texas, Austin)
“Rethinking Japan’s Countryside: The Emergence of Neo-rurality”
6th July, 2018 at 16:30
42) Dr. Wooyeal Paik (Yonsei University)
“Evolving International Relations between India and Northeast Asia (Japan, China and South Korea) in Comparative Perspective”
3rd July, 2018 at 18:15
41) Prof. Ted Goossen (York University), Emeritus Prof. Motoyuki Shibata (University of Tokyo), Mr. Hideo Furukawa (Author)
Special Panel Session: “Modern Japanese Literature and Hokkaido”
18th June, 2018 at 16:30
40) Professor Marie Anchordoguy (University of Washington)
“Japan’s Ecosystem for Start-up Companies: Changes since the late 1990s”
15th June, 2018 at 16:30
39) Dr Patrick Galbraith (Tokyo University)
“‘Otaku’ Research:” Problematic Manga/Anime Fans in Japan in the Past, Present and Future”
7th June, 2018 at 18:15
38) Professor Helen Hardacre (Harvard University).
“The Japanese Enthronement Ceremonies of 2019: Pageantry and Politics.”
30th May, 2018 at 18:15
37) 祁答院 弘智 (株式会社リレイション)
「未来と共に、今を生きる！～神山プロジェクトから学んだこと～」
14th November, 2017 at 18:15
36) Dr. Kato Etsuko (International Christian University)
“East Meets West, then East: Asia as Practice, Site and Discourse for Self-searching Japanese Migrants in English-speaking Asia?”
27th October, 2017 at 18:15
35) Dr. Kato Fumitoshi (Keio University)
“Curry Caravan: An approach for communicative placemaking”
23rd October, 2017 at 18:15
34) Mr. Eric Johnston (The Japan Times)
“The Legal and Social Environment of Journalism in Japan”
19th October, 2017 at 18:15
33) Professor Joy Hendry (Oxford Brookes University)
“An Anthropological Lifetime in Japan”
13 October, 2017 at 16:30
32) Dr. Hisako Omori (Akita International University)
“Revisiting Japanese Sense of Self: The Case of Roman Catholics in Tokyo”
14 July, 2017 at 16:30
31) Dr. Tosh Minohara (Kobe University)
“The Path to Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Challenge to the International Order and the Realization of the Thucydides’ Trap”
6 July, 2017 at 16:30
30) Dr. Dan White (Hosei University)
“Ironman Japan: Fieldwork Training Regimes for an Affective Anthropology”
30 June, 2017 at 16:30
29) Dr. Eyal Ben-Ari (Kinneret College)
“Bringing Dead Soldiers to Rest in Peace: The Japanese Case in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective”
14 June, 2017 at 18:15
28) Dr. Kenneth Mori McElwain (University of Tokyo)
“What Do People Mean When They Talk About Constitutional Revision?”
26 May, 2017 at 16:30
27) Dr. Sven Saaler (Sophia University)
“From the ‘history problem’ to the ‘history war’: Historical Revisionism
in Twenty-First Century Japan”
12 May, 2017 at 16:30
26) Dr. Ken Victor Leonard Hijino (Kyoto University)
“Local Politics and National Policy in Japan”
23 January, 2017 at 18:15.
25) Mrs. Yumiko Manzaki (Former TV broadcaster at HBC)
“Pronunciation and Presentation Skills in Japanese”
24 November, 2016 at 18:15.
24) Mr. Dominic Al-Badri (Delegation of the European Union to Japan)
“EU-Japan Relations: More Than Just Trading Partners”
11 November, 2016 at 18:15.
23) Dr. Vivian Blaxell
“Undead Empire: Ruins of Japanese Imperialism”
1 November, 2016 at 18:15.
22) Dr. Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni (Tel Aviv University)
“Professional Housewives, Salaryman and Ikumen in Contemporary Japan: Are We Facing a New Gender Contract?”
27 October, 2016 at 18:15.
21) MJSP Student Talk Event
“Shintotsukawa Revitalization through local/global food making Shintotsukawa Workshop: Students’, Locals’ and Faculty’s Experiences”
21 October, 2016 at 18:15. See the event poster here.
20) Mr. Eric Johnston (The Japan Times)
“On the Front Lines: The Realities of Reporting Japan”
17 October, 2016 at 18:15.
19) Dr. Philip Seaton (MJSP, Lecture given as part of the Nitobe College Lecture Series)
“What is Internationalization?”
7 October, 2016 at 18:15. See the event poster here.
18) Dr. Akiko Takeyama(University of Kansas)
“Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club”
8 July, 2016.
17) Dr. Kathryn Goldfarb (University of Colorado Boulder)
“Beyond Blood Ties: Intimate Kinships in Japanese Foster and Adoptive Care”
7 July, 2016.
16) Dr. Keith Jackson (Doshisha Business School, SOAS)
“Developing and Expressing Multi-Cultural Identities: A Conflict Resolution Perspective”,
23 June, 2016.
15) Dr. Allison Alexy (University of Michigan)
“Gender, Fantasy, and the Reasons of Divorce”, 22 June, 2016.
14) Dr. John Person (State University of New York, Albany)
“The Rightwing in Imperial Japan”, 10 June, 2016.
13) Dr. Huiyan Fu (Regent’s University)
“Exclusion and Unequal Inclusion: Interrogating Labour Flexibility Through the Lens of Temporary Agency Work”,
25 May, 2016.
12) Dr. Johannes Wilhelm (Vienna University)
“Doing Fieldwork in a Japanese Fishing Village”,
29 January, 2016.
11) Dr. Alexander Bukh (Victoria University of Wellington)
“Imperial Japan and Soviet Soft Power Strategies in Asia: A Comparative Analysis”, 27 January, 2016.
10) Mr. Roland Kelts (author of Japanamerica:How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US, contributing writer for The New Yorker and The Japan Times, and visiting scholar at Keio University),
“Anime, Manga, Sushi & Cosplay: How Japan Enchants the West”, 4 December, 2015.
9) Prof. Ted Goossen (York University, Toronto, Canada),
“Translating Murakami Haruki, from ‘Hear the Wind Sing’ to ‘Scheherazade’ ”, 13 November, 2015.
8) Prof. Angus Lockyer (SOAS, University of London),
“Japan in the World:Why Studying One Country Isn’t Enough”, 5 November, 2015.
7) Mr. Chris Pickering (Executive Director, Hokkaido Tourism Management),
“Inside the Niseko Tourism boom” and Emeritus Prof. Peter Ackermann “Far from home – Migration, tourism and transcultural encounter in Japanese perspective.”, 28 October, 2015.
6) Prof. Christoph Wulf (Freie Universitaet Berlin),
“Anthropology in a globalized world. Challenges and New Perspectives”, 20 October, 2015.
5) Mr. Eric Johnston (Deputy Editor, The Japan Times, Osaka Office),
“Japanese Journalism: A Foreign Journalist’s View”, 19 October, 2015.
4) Dr Garren Mulloy (Daito Bunka University),
“Peaceniks vs Gunji (Military) Otaku in Japan”, 9 October, 2015.
3) Dr Michele Mason (University of Maryland),
“Comingling Histories: Ikezawa Natsuki’s Novel Representations of Colonial Hokkaido”, 7 August, 2015.
2) Dr John Traphagen (University of Texas),
“Entrepreneurs and Return Migration in Rural Japan”, 24 July, 2015.
1) Dr Nathaniel M. Smith (University of Arizona),
“Rightist Relativity: How Post-3.11 Civil Society, the Rise of Xenophobic Activism, and Abe’s Agenda have differentiated the Right”, 10 July, 2015.
Inaugural MJSP Lecture Series: “Reconstruction in Tohoku as experimental ground for pioneers? Current projects, challenges and perspectives”
■5 February, 2015: H.E. Bruce Miller, Australian Ambassador to Japan: “Australia and Japan – relationships for the future: Tohoku, a case study”
