The book Unleashing Innovation the East Asian Way. Startup Ecosystems in Japan, South Korea and China (Springer Singapore 2026) provides new perspectives on startup ecosystems in East Asia – a region which has over decades shaped innovation and global competition. Focusing on Japan, South Korea, and Mainland China, the chapters sketch the dynamic and diverse development of East Asian startup ecosystems considering their wider historical and national contexts. The authors Ying Cheng, Adam Cross, Martin Hemmert, Agata Kapturkiewicz, Masahiro Kotosaka, and DIJ director Franz Waldenberger systematically analyze and compare startup ecosystems. In this way, they show commonalities and differences across East Asia. The chapters use both secondary sources and data from the authors’ decade long collaborative work. Published open access, this book aims to make these findings, which have so far only been presented in academic journals, accessible to a wider readership.

DIJ researchers Carolin Fleischer-Heininger and Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus have contributed articles to the DIJ’s Sustainability in Japan and Beyond blog and the TRAFO Blog for Transregional Research, respectively. Carolin’s article “Tracing Sustainability at the Aichi Triennale 2025 in Japan” reports on her experience as a visitor of the Aichi Triennale 2025, a well-established art festival mainly held in the city of Nagoya, from the perspective of someone who is visually impaired. “Addressing cultural, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability and often also gaining inspiration and authority from personal experience”, she writes, the Triennale “validates sustainability as a matter of responsibility and of justice to give voice to the perspectives that are less prominent in most debates on eco-social sustainability.” Dolf’s article “Beyond Binaries: Decentring Foreign Knowledge in 20th Century Korea”, part of the blog series “De-centering Academia: InterAsian Perspectives”, draws on the history of education in 20th century (South) Korea to examine the historical development and adaption of foreign epistemologies and knowledge systems in Korea. 

Contemporary Japan Volume 38 Issue 1 is out! The six original research articles include “Rainbows and Ratings: Assessing indices of LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the Japanese workplace” (Clasen & Conrad) on Japanese companies attempts at improving diversity, “Perks or burdens? Being ‘nearly (Im)mobile’ as IT foreign professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan” (Muranaka) on Vietnamese IT professionals, “Leadership in crisis: Comparing Prime Minister Abe’s and Chancellor Merkel’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic” (Gaunder & Wiliarty) on leadership style, institutional coordination, and policy narratives, “Portraying the refugee crisis: The framing of Afghan, Burmese, and Ukrainian asylum seekers in Japanese print media” (Mitsui & Green) on media portrayals of refugees/asylum seekers, “The Bibliography of Post-War Documentary Literature: Processing war and defeat in post-World War II Japan” (Jeong) on subjective narratives in postwar literature, and “Workers’ uprising: Japanese factories and labor movement in Thailand during the Pacific War” (Takahashi) on anti-colonial labor activism during the Pacific War. The articles are complemented by Wolfram Manzenreiter’s review of Kate Sylvester’s book Women and Martial Art in Japan.

Digital capitalism and science, disability and inclusion, recruitment strategies, and ‘akiya’ problem: the spring issue of our DIJ Newsletter features updates on our research, publications, and events as well as news from the Institute, our team, and our outreach activities. We hope you will enjoy exploring this new edition of the DIJ Newsletter. If you haven’t done so yet, you can subscribe to receive our Newsletters directly to your inbox. The full issues and subscription form are available here.