Season's Greetings from our JFI Team!

Published: December 23, 2015

Announcements

The 2016 Japanese Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) Annual Conference will now be hosted by UBC Vancouver campus, and will take place on October 28 – 30, 2016. The theme will be "Japan in the World". The organizer of the Conference is Professor Shige Matsui (UBC Law) and I (David W. Edgington) am very grateful to him for taking on this task at short notice. Details will be posted on the JSAC web site - so stay tuned!
 
Open call for applications for the new PhD program of Asian studies jointly hosted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Haifa in Israel.  Grad students pursuing any field of Asian studies (humanities, social science, etc.) are welcome to apply, and there is a good Japanese studies section in the program in both universities. They have also started Korean studies this year.  

Events

Upcoming Events

February 4, 2016
Lecture no. 2 in the Japan Lecture Series at Carleton University 2015-2016 is scheduled in the Auditorium of the Embassy of Japan in Ottawa. Titled When Modern Japan Was Young: A  Historical Journey through Meiji and Taishō ,the presentation serves as background to  an incomparable treasure of authentic photographs from the daily lives of Japanese during the first two periods of modern Japan - eternally  immortalized by a Canadian missionary with a vision for the future – and the subject of  the exhibition “Eye on the Enlightenment - John Cooper Robinson: Photographs from Meiji-Taishō Japan,”  which will be open to the public  in the Embassy of Japan between February 4-14. The presenter is Jacob Kovalio.
 
Recent Events

December 7, 2015
Lecture no. 1 in the 2015-2016 Japan Lecture Series at Carleton was held in the Senate Room of Robertson Hall at Carleton University. Jacob Kovalio gave a presentation titled “Pax Sinica? History, history-politics and other challenges in Japan’s relations with China, South Korea and the Indo-Pacific on the 70th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War.”
 
November 24-25, 2015
The 13th Canada-Japan Peace and Security Symposium was held in Ottawa.  Co-chaired by Brian Job (UBC) and Masashi Nishihara (RIPS), the symposium brings together senior officials, experts, and academics to discuss current regional security issues and to pursue opportunities for Canada-Japan cooperation.  On the Canadian side,  presenters included Paul Evans (UBC), Walter Dorn (RMC), David Welch (Waterloo), Irene Poetranto (Citizen Lab, U of T), and Margaret Purdy (former national security advisor).
 
September, 2015
Prince Takamado Japan Centre and the Department of History and Classics, the University of Alberta, hosted a SSHRC-funded international conference, “70 Years After Hiroshima: Conceptualizing Nuclear Issues in Global Context” in September 2015. Professor David A. Welch, the management team leader of the Japan Futures Initiative and Professor at the University of Waterloo, gave a talk on symposium, “Peace, Proliferation, and Article 9”. He was one of the distinguished speakers who were invited to the conference. The purpose of the conference was to conceptualize how Japan and the rest of the world have embraced the atom over 70 years, using it as a weapon, energy source, diplomatic tool, and medical cure. It also examined how the atom has been incorporated into popular discourses and culture in the form of films and literature. Given recent events in Japan–the opening of the first nuclear plant since the Fukushima accident, Japan’s move towards the reinterpretation of Article 9 and the subsequent rise of youth protests for peace–the conference received media attention and a large public audience. Professor Welch’s presentation, which dealt with Article 9, was particularly topical, and highly acclaimed by the audience and conference organizers. Japan’s recent decision to regard the collective self defense as constitutional, according to him, would not cause any immediate problems on the global security. As specialist of broader international affairs, including the nuclear war, his discussion added invaluable insights into Japan’s future.  The conference also featured Dr. Ritsuko Komaki, Radiation Oncologist from the University of Texas, who lived through the reconstruction era in Hiroshima after the dropping of the first atomic bomb and the Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., former MP, Senator, Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, and Honourary Citizen of Hiroshima. Other distinguished speakers from Japan were: Takao Takahara, Professor of International Politics, Meiji Gakuin University; Noriyuki Kawano, Professor of Peace Studies, Hiroshima University; and Osamu Ieda, Professor of History, Hokkaido University.
 

Publications

Recent Publications

Kimie Hara

• 「北方領土問題」、五百旗頭真、下斗米信夫、アレクセイ・トルクノフ、ドミトリー・ストレリツォフ編『日露関係史－パラレル・ヒストリーへの挑戦』、東京大学出版会、2015；"Северные Территории вопрос”,Российско-японские отношения в формате параллельной истории: коллективная монография / под общ. ред. акад. А.В.Торкуноваи проф. М.Иокибэ; [науч. ред.: проф. Д. В. Стрельцови доц. С. В. Гришачев]; Моск. гос. ин-т междунар. отношений (ун-т) МИД России; Ассоциация японоведов. — М. : МГИМО-Университет, 2015　(“Northern Territories Problem” in Nobuo Shimotomai and Dmitri Strelitsov eds.,History of Japan-Russia Relations: a challenge to the parallel history, Tokyo University Press (in Japanese), 2015; Moscow State Institute of International Relations/MGIMO (in Russian), 2015
• “The San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Regional Conflicts: The Cold War Legacies”, in Mikyoung Kim ed., Routledge Handbook of Memory and Reconciliation in East Asia, Routledge, 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』、岩波書店 (“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) 2015
• “Asian Security: Past, Present and Future,” Friends of Europe, Guest Contribution, November 24, 2015

Member news and activities

Kimie Hara

• “San Francisco System and Its legacies,” 2015 JVD InternationalWorkshopReconciliation in the Asia-Pacific Region, Meet the Authors and Editors, East-West Center, Honolulu, HI, December 14-15, 2015
• Session I – Asian security today: living with a “cold peace”, The Asian Paradox – Rising wealth, lingering tensions. Friends of Europe, Brussels, November 10, 2015
• “Living with a Cold Peace & Planning for a More Stable Future: Considering the Helsinki Accords for East Asian Borders?” Maritime Cooperation and Regional Stability in East Asia: How can we reduce tensions and enhance mutual cooperation in East Asia? 2015 Workshop for Network of Experts on Maritime and Territorial Issues in the Asia Pacific region, Korea Maritime Institute, Busan, Korea, November 4, 2015
• “San Francisco Peace Treaty and Its Legacies: Politics, Security and Territories”International Symposium on World War II, Post-War International Order, Territorial and Maritime Dispute, China Institute of, Boundary and Ocean Studies, Wuhan University, China, October 24-25, 2015
• “The San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan & After-Effects,” 70 Years After the end of WWII in Asia: Lessons from History and Peace in the Balance, Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University, October 2-3, 2015
• “Maritime Cooperation for Peace of Asia,” 2015 Workshop for Network of Experts on East Asia Pacific Maritime & Territory, Korea Maritime Institute, Busan, Korea, August 21–23, 2015
• 「サンフランシスコ条約の盲点」、現代文化會議 (“Blind Spot of the San Francisco Treaty” Gendai Bunka Kaigi), Tokyo, August 8, 2015

Gil Latz

• Invited panel commentator, Shibusawa Eiichi Kinen Zaidan no Chosen (Rediscovery of the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation), Japanese Business History Annual Conference, Osaka, Japan, 9 October 2015.  The panel coincided with the Japanese publication of the same name, by Fuji Shupan Sha, 2015.  The English version of the publication is: Gil Latz, Ed. Rediscovering Shibusawa Eiichi in the 21st Century: The Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation, 1999-2014.  The Japan Journal: Tokyo, Japan, 2014

David Welch

• “The Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asian Security Dynamics.” Keynote lecture, symposium on “Challenges for Peaceful Reunification on the Korean Peninsula & Northeast Asian Security Dynamics” co-hosted by Global Affairs Canada and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa, December 3, 2015
• “Will the United States and China get caught in ‘the Thucydides Trap’?” Vassar-West Point Initiative Lecture, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 29, 2015
• “Foreign and Security Policies of the new Canadian Government: Prospects and Challenges.” Keynote speech presented to the 13^th Canada-Japan Symposium on Peace and Security Cooperation, Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa, November 24, 2015
• Panelist, “Japan Today” (with Joseph Caron, André Sorensen, and Stephen Toope),Japan Now lecture series, Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, October 5, 2015
• “Should Japan revise its peace constitution?” Presentation to the Prince Takamado Japan Centre 2015 Conference, 70 Years After Hiroshima, University of Alberta, Edmonton, September 19, 2015
• “East Asian tensions: Interest, identity, or misperception?” Presentation to the Japan Studies Association of Canada annual meeting, Tokyo, Japan, May 21, 2015

David W. Edgington

• In my capacity as President of the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) I helped organize a presentation by Dr. Tomoko Okagaki of Dokkyo University at the Centre for Japanese Research, UBC, in September 2015. Her talk was entitled "Japan’s Entry into International Society,” and a video recording of the presentation can be found on the JSAC website.