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2. Organized Shinto’s Efforts to Restore the Imperial Rescript on Education in Postwar Japan
- Author:
- Hirokazu Yoshie and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In the 1960s, the Association for Shinto Shrines—comprising 98% of the shrines nationwide—began running a decade-old campaign to reinstate a prewar symbol of emperor-centered nationalism, i.e., the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo). Member priests petitioned prime ministers and other LDP politicians, published manuals for adults and picture books for children, and held summer camps for young students. These efforts were based on a modern translation into which the organization had rendered from the originally archaic rescript. Puzzlingly, this modern paraphrase completely concealed the authorship and centrality of the Meiji emperor, leaving only generic words of patriotism, which apparently defeats the purpose of the restorationism. His presentation makes sense of the campaign by analyzing organized Shinto’s discourse with it and considering its broader historical context. The narrative starts from the US occupation era (1945-1952), when the official invalidation of the rescript by Americans left conservative Japanese aggrieved. After failed attempts to revise the new constitution (1952-1964), the restoration movement gathered momentum amid left-leaning campus activism in around 1970. Convinced that it was a result of America’s ideological colonization, the Shinto organization argued that the restoration would serve to overcome that negative influence. But they tried to do so without disrupting popular sovereignty of postwar Japan, which required dilution of the text’s politically incorrect elements. The talk ends by suggesting the significance of looking at prewar legacies in our understanding of the role of the monarchy in postwar Japan.
- Topic:
- Education, Religion, History, and Shintoism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
3. Religion and Politics in Japan after the Abe Assassination
- Author:
- Levi McLaughlin and Benjamin E. Goldsmith
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Turmoil following the shocking murder of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō on July 8, 2022 by a gunman who bore a grudge against the Unification Church (UC) has reinforced the fact that we must attend to religion in order to understand politics in Japan. In this talk, Levi McLaughlin (North Carolina State University) will contextualize revelations about the UC and its political connections as he surveys how religions and religion-adjacent activists in Japan exert a decisive impact on vote-gathering, policymaking, and party politics. McLaughlin will draw on his ethnographic and historical research to provide an overview of Shinto-affiliated nationalists (including the lobby organization Nippon Kaigi and its signatories), Buddhists (including Soka Gakkai and its affiliated party Komeito), and other actors to reconcile the incommensurate image of Japan as non-religious with the persistence of Japan's religiously-inspired political engagements, and he will discuss precedents for the moral panic that has surged in the wake of Abe's assassination to interpret ways Japan's religion/politics nexus is now developing.
- Topic:
- Politics, Religion, Assassination, and Shinzo Abe
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
4. Japan on the Front Line
- Author:
- Noah Sneider, Philip Lipscy, and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- From population aging, to national security threats, to climate change and natural disasters, Japan is at the forefront of challenges that will soon confront many societies. What can the world learn from Japan’s experience? Noah Sneider and Phillip Lipscy will offer their perspectives on Japan as a “harbinger state,” a country that experiences many challenges before other countries in the international system. This event is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, National Security, Natural Disasters, and Aging
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
5. Prospects for Japan's National Security Policy in 2022 and the US-Japan Alliance
- Author:
- Yuki Tatsumi and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The US and Japan convened the Security Consultative Committee (more commonly known as "2 plus 2") on January 6. The SCC Joint Statement that was released afterwards set goals for the Alliance that were most ambitious in recent years. How would it affect Japan as it enters the period of revising its three key national security documents? What are the challenges for Tokyo as it moves forward, and for the Alliance writ large?
- Topic:
- National Security, Bilateral Relations, and Alliance
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Asia, and United States of America
6. Family and Inequality: “Diverging Destinies” in Japan
- Author:
- James M. Raymo and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- “Diverging destinies” is a term used by family demographers and sociologists to describe growing socioeconomic differentials in family behavior and their implications. Drawing primarily on evidence from the U.S., research on diverging destinies has demonstrated that those at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum are increasingly engaging in family behaviors that are associated with reduction in the resources available to their children (e.g., nonmarital childbearing) while those at the upper end of the spectrum are engaging in family behaviors associated with increased resources (e.g., stable marriage). This pattern of family bifurcation has potentially important implications for the reinforcement of inequality both within and across generations. Despite tremendous interest in both family change and growing socioeconomic inequality in Japan, social scientific efforts to link these trends are limited. In this talk, Professor James Raymo will summarize the results of several recent papers (both published and in progress) on socioeconomic differences in family demographic behavior and children’s well-being in Japan. In general, the findings of these studies show patterns of family bifurcation consistent with predictions of the diverging destinies framework, but of a magnitude that is less pronounced than observed in the U.S. Among the most pronounced differences in Japan are a strong negative educational gradient in divorce and substantial differences in the well-being of children in single-mother and two-parent families. In thinking about the relevance of diverging destinies in Japan, he stresses the theoretical and empirical value of considering intergenerational family relationships, gender inequality, and the changing economic environment.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Inequality, Family, and Socioeconomics
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
7. Japan, Parasitology, and Framing Developmental Ambitions
- Author:
- Alex Bay, Aya Homei, John P. DiMoia, Simon Toner, and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This panel considers the central and formative role of parasitology in Modern Japan (1868-present); and, moreover, explores how Japanese parasitology affected the home islands and the region, not just during the imperial period (Meiji, Taisho, early Showa), but also during post-1945 Showa, suggesting some form of reconfiguration in the post-colonial era. The three papers span specific parasitic diseases and micro- / local Japanese history (Bay), to next considering larger questions of Japan’s public health and ODA (overseas development assistance) structure (Homei), as well as how these ambitions ultimately affected regional partners and neighbors such as South Korea and Vietnam (DiMoia). Simon Toner is the panel discussant, and Paul Kreitman will moderate. If the panel brings together a specific field and a nation-state at its beginning, the aim ultimately is to move forward, looking at how this field influences environments at the micro, regional, and global levels. In sum, the ambition of this panel is to examine parasitology not only as field of practice within Japan / Japanese empire, but also to look at (1) its colonial / imperial implications, and (2) its post-colonial / developmental ambitions. In this sense, the panel seeks to join and contribute to a newer, emerging literature for Japan looking at pre / post-1945 continuities, as well as looking at the effects of Japan’s ODA (overseas development aid) efforts within broader East Asia and Southeast Asia.
- Topic:
- Development, History, Public Health, and Parasitology
- Political Geography:
- Japan and East Asia
8. Mobility and Empire in Japanese History
- Author:
- David Ambaras, Martin Dusinberre, Takahiro Yamamoto, Youjia Li, and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This panel will gather four scholars engaged in ongoing research on the history of mobility (and immobility) within and beyond the borders of Imperial Japan. Takahiro Yamamoto (University of Heidelberg) will present on “Identification documents and human mobility in the Japanese empire,” exploring how foreign diplomatic pressure and the need to surveil the mobility of colonial populations influenced the Japanese government’s border control policy. Martin Dusinberre (University of Zurich) will present a paper titled "The Archiving of Japanese Mobility in late-nineteenth century Queensland", analysing the history of Japanese migration to Australia under British colonial rule. Youjia Li (Harvard University) will focus on the role of human locomotive power in Japan's formal empire in her paper "The Unexpected Network: Push-car Railways and the Change of Local Mobility in Colonial Taiwan" . David Ambaras (North Carolina State University) will serve as discussant.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Migration, Border Control, History, Colonialism, Empire, and Mobility
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
9. Japan's 2021 Elections: What to Watch For
- Author:
- Tobias Harris, Amy Catalinac, Kenneth McElwain, and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event took the form of a one-hour roundtable (~10 minutes for each speaker plus Q&A) of experts’ views on what to watch for in the 2021 Japanese general election, which will be held on October 31st.
- Topic:
- Politics, Elections, and Domestic Politics
- Political Geography:
- Japan and East Asia
10. Japan's 2021 Elections: What Happened, What's Next?
- Author:
- Yusaku Horiuchi, Yesola Kweon, Charles McClean, and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 11-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event will take the form of a one-hour roundtable (~10 minutes for each speaker plus Q&A) of experts’ views on the main takeaways from the 2021 Japanese general election, which was held on October 31st, 2021. This roundtable of experts will explain the results of the election, and what they might signify for Japan’s domestic and foreign policy going forward. This event is cosponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the APEC Study Center.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Politics, Elections, and Domestic Policy
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
11. Immigration and Racism in Japan: Litmus test for liberal democracy?
- Author:
- Eric Chung, Atsuko Abe, Garcia Liu-Farrer, Michael Sharpe, and Takako Hikotani
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event will discuss the growing debate around whether or not Japan will become a country of immigration and the related and under addressed subject of racism. Japan is one of the few liberal democracies in the world to have successfully resisted immigration in its postwar economy. However, in the last twenty years, immigration in Japan has increased substantially with various side doors for unskilled labor as well as official entry points for skilled labor with options for fast tracked permanent residency. In 2018, Prime Minister Abe proposed some 500,000 unskilled workers by 2025 to fill jobs in industries with labor shortages while at the same time declaring that this is not an immigration policy. In the face of ageing population and low birthrate, Japan find itself at a crossroads of whether, how, and when to accept the increasing reality of immigration as a solution to its demographic decline and labor shortage. Will Japan follow the path of Western liberal democracies in accepting immigrants and extending rights of citizenship? How are immigrants being received? Do immigrants exercise political rights and build coalition with other marginalized groups? What is the role of race, ethnicity, and racism in all of this? Will Japan go the way of Western liberal democracies or in the direction of illiberal autocracies such as Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates. This event will provide an opportunity to discuss issues of immigration and racism in Japan. It will bring together leading scholars in the field of immigration and racism with a focus on Japan.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Labor Issues, Immigration, Democracy, and Racism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
12. Japan’s Diplomacy in 2030
- Author:
- Noriyuki Shikata, Takako Hikotani, and Gerald Curtis
- Publication Date:
- 02-2020
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The Abe administration (2012-) and its diplomacy has been remarkably stable despite the geopolitical challenges and instability of its alliance partner, the United States. Is Japan going to stay its course, or are we going to witness major changes in the years ahead? How will Japan respond to recent developments, such as the Coronavirus outbreak? Noriyuki Shikata, Former Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Beijing, will discuss how he forecasts Japan’s diplomacy in 2030.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Geopolitics, Alliance, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Asia, and United States of America
13. Social Entrepreneurship in Japan - a talk with Lin Kobayashi
- Author:
- Lin Kobayashi
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- During this event on November 3rd, 2017 titled "Social Entrepreneurship in Japan: Ideation, Implementation, and Sustainability of a 40 Million Dollar Education Project," Lin Kobayashi, Founder and Chair of the Board of the International School of Asia, discussed how she developed the seventeenth United World College and what it means for students, faculty, and the future of the ISAK. The talk was moderated by Alicia Ogawa, Director of Project on Japanese Corporate Governance and Stewardship at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business, Columbia Business School.
- Topic:
- Education, Entrepreneurship, Economy, Business, and Social Entrepreneurship
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
14. How to Think About Postwar Asia: Demobilization in the Former Japanese Empire
- Author:
- Victor Louzon
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Victor Louzon, the 2016-18 International Network to Expand Regional and Collaborative Teaching (INTERACT) Postdoctoral Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, provides educators and the public with ways of thinking and teaching about postwar Asia, particularly the end of the Japanese empire. Part 1. The Origins of the Cold War or the End of Empire? (0:19) Part 2. A Mobilized Empire (3:23) Part 3. The Challenges of Demobilization (6:14) Part 4. Demobilizing Minds (9:58)
- Topic:
- War, History, and Empire
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
15. The Nuclear Disaster, Tsunami, and Manga: The Representation of Recent Disasters in Japanese Popular Culture
- Author:
- Yukari Fujimoto and Hikari Hori
- Publication Date:
- 03-2016
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Video from the March 11, 2016 Weatherhead East Asian Institute event about discussing the representations of March 11, 2011's "triple disaster" in Japan in popular media. Featuring Yukari Fujimoto, professor at Meiji University. Moderated by Hikari Hori, assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
- Topic:
- Natural Disasters, Culture, Disaster Management, and Nuclear Energy
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia