JFI New Site, JFTOR Move and New Address, Naval Marine Archive

Published: September 2015

Announcements

JFI website has a new home

Visit our new website for Japan Futures Initiative: uwaterloo.ca/jfi, to view our newsletters, events, publications, and much more.

Japan Foundation (Toronto) Move

We are excited to announce that after almost twenty years at our current location in the Colonnade Building, we will be moving our office, library and gallery to a new location at the Hudson’s Bay Centre, 2 Bloor St. East. As of September 1, 2015, our new address is:

Our new cultural centre will open to the public in mid to late October. Please visit our website, www.jftor.org, for updates. We look forward to serving you in our new location.

Naval Marine Archive

The Naval Marine Archive in Picton, Ontario, has a number of uncatalogued materials in their archive related to Japan which they do not have the language resources to identify, and may be of interest to JFI members. Current information and the location of the Archive, is available on the Naval Marine website. Questions and comments can be directed to info@navalmarinearchive.com.

Events

Upcoming Events

September 10-14, 2015
The 2015-16 Japan Foundation Toronto/JSAC Joint Lecture Series will commence with a series of talks by Professor Tomoko Okagaki (Dokkyo University). She will give presentations about "Japan’s Entry into International Society,” at the following locations and times:

• Balsillie School of International Affairs on September 10^th, 2015, register now to reserve your seat.
• Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs on September 11^th, 2015, register online to reserve your seat
• University of British Columbia on September 14^th, 2015, register now to reserve your seat.

Registration for each event is required.

October 3, 2015
The 21st East Asian Festival will be held at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. This is a free event offered to the community each year, and will include food trucks featuring Asian and Canadian inspired dishes, a Sapporo Beer Garden, entertainment, face painting, raffle prizes, calligraphy, and origami. Open to everyone.

Recent Events

June 4-5, 2015
A JFI panel made up of Professors Kimie Hara, Keith Hipel, Carin Holroyd, James Tiessen, and Ken Coates (video) participated in the annual conference of the European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) at the University of Pavia in Italy, June 4-5, 2015. The panel was supported by the Japan Foundation Grant for Intellectual Exchange Conferences.

May 25-26, 2015
JFI-cosponsored Suntory Foundation REEXAMINING JAPAN IN GLOBAL CONTEXT project held its 8^th Forum on “Zero-Growth Economy” 「定常経済」, at the International House of Japan, Tokyo. The featured presenters were Dr. Peter Victor (York University) and Dr. Ittaka Kishida (RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science). A copy of the Summary Forum Report will be available on the Suntory Website.

May 20-23, 2015
JFI hosted a roundtable panel, “Identity and Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy,” with Professors David Welch, Kimie Hara, Masayuki Tadokoro, and Takamichi Mito, at the Annual Conference of the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) held at the Canadian Embassy and Chuo University in Tokyo.

March 25, 2015
JFI co-hosted a presentation by Dr. Rieko Kage (Tokyo University) entitled "Why do countries introduce jury systems? Insights from Japan and East Asia".

March 4, 2015
JFI co-hosted a presentation by the Japanese Consul-General Yasunori Nakayama on Japan's Security Policies.

December 22, 2015
JFI co-hosted a presentation by Professor Sayuri Shimizu (Rice University) entitled The Transpacific Field of Dreams.

Publications

Forthcoming Publications

John J. Kirton

• The Global Governance of Climate Change, Ashgate, September 2015

Recent Publications

David Welch

• “Disputology: The US and East Asia’s Sovereignty Disputes,” The Diplomat (7 June 2015),
• キューバ危機 - ミラー・イメー ジングの罠 (The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Concise History). Japanese language edition. Tokyo: Chikura Shobo, 2015 (with Don Munton)

 Kimie Hara

• Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in United States–Japan–China Relations, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 28, No. 2, July 13, 2015.
• “Japan-Russia: Northern Territories/Southern Kuriles” Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly ed., Border Disputes: A Global Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, July 2015
• 「継続するサンフランシスコ体制 ― 政治・安全保障・領土」、成田龍一・吉田裕編『記憶と認識の中のアジア・太平洋戦争 ― 岩波講座アジア太平洋戦争戦後篇』 (“Continuing San Francisco System – Politics, Security and Territories” in Ryuhei Narita and Hiroshi Yoshida eds., The Asia-Pacific War in Memory and Recognition ― Iwanami Series on the Asia-Pacific War, Post-War volume) Iwanami Shoten, July 2015.
• The San Francisco System and Its Legacies: Continuation, Transformation and Historical Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific, Routledge, January 2015
• China-Japan Border Disputes: Islands of Contention in Multidisciplinary Perspective, Ashgate, May 2015 (edited with Tim F. Liao and Krista Wiegand)

Seung Hyok Lee

• North Korea in South Korea-Japan relations as a source of mutual security anxiety among democratic societies, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, September 2015

Member news and activities

David Edgington (Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia)

• As President of the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) I helped organize a four-day Conference on "Culture, identity and Citizenship in Japan and Canada", which took place 20-23 May, 2015 at the Embassy of Canada to Japan and at Chuo University, Tokyo. The full program is on the JSAC official web site: http://www.jsac.ca/. This conference was held jointly with the Japanese Association for Canadian Studies (JACS) and the Japan-Canada Interdisciplinary Research Network on Gender, Diversity and Tohoku Reconstruction (JCIRN).
• Recent Presentation: "How Safe is Safe?: The Geography of Decontamination in Fukushima", paper presented at the JSAC 2015 International Conference, Tokyo (May 2015)
• Summer Field Research: Aspects of Recovery from the 3.11 Disaster in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima; interviews with local municipalities and NGOs (June 2015)

Natasha Fox (PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia)

• Presented the paper titled, “DRR and LGBT Communities: Inclusion, Invisibility, and Challenges in Post-3.11 Tohoku” at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Vancouver, June 3, 2015
• Presented the paper titled, “DRR and LGBT Communities: Inclusion, Invisibility, and Challenges in Post-3.11 Tohoku” at the annual Japan Studies Association of Canada Conference, Canadian Embassy, Tokyo, May 22, 2015
• Chaired the panel, “Disaster Research: Lessons from Tohoku” hosted by the Japan Canada International Research Network on Gender, Diversity and Tohoku Reconstruction (JCIRN), at the annual Japan Studies Association of Canada Conference, Canadian Embassy, Tokyo, May 22, 2015
• Co-organized an event, “Faces of Japanese Diversity; Demystifying Japan’s Homogeneity”, Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives and Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria Legacy Art Gallery, April 29, 2015
• Gave a talk titled “Japan’s Post-3.11 Triple Disaster Anniversary and LGBT Communities” at the panel, “Women Crossing Borders: Gender and the Asia-Pacific”, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria, March 3, 2015

Kimie Hara (Professor and the Renison Research Professor, University of Waterloo)

Recent presentations include:

• “Senkaku/Diaoyu in the San Francisco System” Reconstruct the Origins of Territorial Disputes from Multiple Governmental Archives, Macau University of Science and Technology, May 27-30, 2015
• “Continuing Legacies of the San Francisco System: Past, Present, and Future Options”, The long shadow of the San Francisco Peace Treaty: East Asia from post-war settlement to 21st century tensions — and beyond, Australian National University, April 17, 2015.
• ”Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands in United States-Japan-China Relations” (Workshop Presentation), The long shadow of the San Francisco Peace Treaty: East Asia from post-war settlement to 21st century tensions — and beyond, April 15, 2015.
• “Border Disputes in North East Asia: 70 Years after the War against Japan” Association for for Borderland Studies (ABS) Annual Conference, Portland, OR, April 8-11, 2015.
• Borderland Studies (ABS) Annual Conference, Portland, OR, April 8-11, 2015.

Japan Watch

By: Seung Hyok Lee, PhD

“Brother Against Brother: Lotte Feud Exposes Fratricidal Rivalries Among Heirs To Korea's Chaebol,” Forbes, Aug 3, 2015, by Donald Kirk

As Japan watchers focused on what Prime Minister Abe would say on August 15^th and whether certain specific terms would be incorporated into his statement marking the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II, an episode unfolded in both Tokyo and Seoul that has been largely overlooked in the West.  This episode, nevertheless, indicates an interesting dimension of the complexity in non-political relations between Japan and South Korea.

Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate (chaebol) with intricate and historically-rooted business operations in both Japan and Korea, is now in turmoil, as the two sons of the founder are battling each other for succession. According to the Forbes article by Donald Kirk and other Korean and Japanese media sources, the family feud started when Shin Dong-bin, the younger brother who is known as Shigemitsu Akio in Japan, took control of both Lotte Holdings based in Japan and Lotte Group in Korea by ousting his father Shin Kyuk-ho (known as Shigemitsu Takeo in Japan).   Regarding the move as an illegitimate coup, the older brother, Shin Dong-joo (Shigemitsu Hiroyuki), took his 92-year-old father on a plane from Seoul to the Tokyo headquarters of Lotte Holdings and launched a counter-coup, firing his younger brother in the name of the founder and arguing that his father proclaimed him as the rightful successor to the Lotte empire.  Shin Dong-bin, determined to keep both titles, counterattacked yet again, claiming that his older brother had manipulated their father, whose mental capacity is not fully robust.  At this point, he seems to have the upper hand and the counterattack by his older brother seems to have failed. In order to reassure investors, Shin Dong-bin made a statement that as the CEO he will improve the transparency of decision-making processes by empowering stock-holders.

The episode might have simply ended as a reality show version of a Korean soap opera, but it is August; the timing could not have been worse.  As the details of the feud became public knowledge, it interestingly also forced the family into the uncomfortable position of having to clarify Lotte’s “national identity” to the media both in Japan and South Korea.

The nationality question first became prominent in Korea. Although the founder and his sons have Korean citizenship, their family history vis-à-vis Japan is complex.  Shin Kyuk-ho was born in the southern part of Korea during the colonial period, but his second marriage was to a Japanese woman, Takemori Hatsuko (later Shigemitsu Hatsuko), who gave birth to the two feuding sons. Since this was not widely known before the current drama, many Koreans were not pleased to learn that the two sons did not speak fluent Korean when they were interviewed on TV (Shin Dong-bin speaks better Korean, but with a strong Japanese accent).  Koreans were also not pleased to learn that their Japanese mother is currently the sole peacemaker between the two. These impressions reinforced public beliefs that Lotte has been using the Korean market for making money while its true national identity lies with Japan.  In an attempt at damage control, Lotte has put on a giant Korean national flag on the side of the Second Lotte World Tower in Seoul, and Shin Dong-bin made a public statement on August 3 that Lotte “is Korean – 95% of the shares come from Korea.”

Lotte’s national identity issue did not end with the question of the language proficiency of its leaders.  Potentially far more devastating for its business in Korea are media speculations that the Japanese wife, along with Shin Kyuk-ho, adopted the last name Shigemitsu after her maternal uncle Shigemitsu Mamoru, a prominent wartime diplomat/politician who was sentenced to seven years as a war criminal by the postwar Tokyo tribunal.  Recognizing the potential impact of the rumor—especially in this most emotionally-charged month in Korea-Japan relations—Lotte officially denied it, saying that Lady Hatsuko was not related to Shigemitsu Mamoru and that she simply followed her husband’s Japanese last name. There are additional speculations as to why Shin Kyuk-ho adopted this particular surname, but the point is that Lotte’s image has already been tarnished.

Lotte’s family feud has also brought the conglomerate’s nationality issue to the attention of the Japanese media. Although Lotte has been an occasional target of anti-Korea groups in the past, it has been successful in parrying attacks by keeping a low profile or, for example, hiring national figure-skating star Asada Mao for its TV commercials. But Shin Dong-bin’s latest statement that Lotte is Korean has caused displeasure, considering that it runs nearly 40 companies in Japan alone, ranging from a chocolates and sweets businesses to a professional baseball team.        
In the end, the heart of the drama is not, in this era of multinational corporations, about Lotte’s nationality, as its business has benefitted both Korean and Japanese economies. It is about a conglomerate still practicing an anachronistic style of management as if it were a small family-run store. However, the publicization of Lotte’s national identity question once again symbolizes the unfortunate and complex state of relations between Japan and South Korea even outside the political realm, when, under a different regional circumstances, the conglomerate could have played a positive role as a symbol of mutually-beneficial interconnection in postwar bilateral relations.