Events and Activities
Open access book by Nicole M. Mueller studies Japanese Thomas Mann translations
In her new book Japanische Thomas Mann-Übersetzung zwischen Kulturheteronomie und Emanzipation: Tonio Kröger-Retranslations im digitalen Topic Modeling (Japanese Thomas Mann translation between Cultural Heteronomy and Emancipation: Digital Topic Modeling of Tonio Kröger Retranslations), DIJ researcher Nicole Marion Mueller uses innovative digital methods to study Japanese translation pluralism in the 20th century. Focusing on Japanese translations of Mann’s novel Tonio Kröger, she retraces the intensive reception of Mann’s literary works in Japan while paying special attention to the interrelations between translation and a variety of historical contexts and actors – most prominently the elitist kyoyoshugi movement rooted in Japan’s prewar education system. Nicole combines this extensive research work with a topic modeling-based mixed methods approach, which enables her to reveal the previously hidden interactions between the re-translated texts as well as patterns of influence and distinction spanning decades of translation history. The book is published by J.B. Metzler in the Digital Literary Studies series and available open access.
Working Paper by Harald Kümmerle on Japanʼs COVID-19 response, surveillance capitalism and cyber civilization
A new working paper by DIJ researcher Harald Kümmerle examines Japan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to other East Asian countries. Drawing on Shoshana Zuboffʼs perspective of surveillance capitalism and Jiro Kokuryoʼs theory of cyber civilization, it argues that Japanʼs aerosol and droplet simulations on the supercomputer Fugaku helped devise efficient countermeasures that did not aim for the complete elimination of the virus. The paper also demonstrates the importance of understanding how the measures in Japan related to the idea of trust and successfully relied on self-restraint (jishuku). Calibrating Social Theories of Digital Technology based on Japan’s COVID-19 Response: Surveillance Capitalism and Cyber Civilization is published open access as Working Paper No. 3 by Keio University’s Global Research Institute.
Open access article by Celia Spoden on end-of-life decision-making in ALS
How do people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) deal with their diagnosis and engage in end-of-life decision-making? This new study, co-authored by DIJ researcher Celia Spoden, Olga Wenzel, Anke Erdmann, Gerald Neitzke, and Irene Hirschberg, addresses these and related questions based on qualitative interviews with 13 people with ALS. Data collection and analysis followed a grounded theory-based approach and revealed close relationships between coping, informational needs, and the preparedness for decision-making. The authors identified the coping strategies ‘avoid thinking about end-of-life’ and its counterpart, ‘planning ahead to be well-prepared,’ and differentiated the latter into the patterns ‘withdrawing from life and taking precautions against life-prolongation’ and ‘searching for a new meaning in life and preparing for life-sustaining treatment’. The study recommends healthcare professionals to be sensitive to illness experiences beyond medical aspects and foster coping as a biographical process to better support people with ALS. The article is available open access here
Book chapter by Harald Kümmerle on mathematical knowledge production
A new book chapter by DIJ researcher Harald Kümmerle analyzes the structure, reception, and production of mathematical knowledge in the early 1930s. Based on a case study of the history of a paper on duality written by the Japanese mathematician Tannaka Tadao in 1938, the chapter provides insights into the development of Tannaka’s research and into processes of cooperative knowledge production, including influences from and exchanges with mathematical communities in Japan and abroad. “Tannaka Tadao‘s 1938 paper on the duality of noncommutative topological groups and its historical background” is published in Duality in 19th and 20th Century Mathematical Thinking (Science Networks. Historical Studies series, vol 63. Cham: Birkhäuser 2024), edited by Ralf Krömer and Emmylou Haffner.
Japan-Stipendien für Promovierende
Auch dieses Jahr vergibt das DIJ wieder attraktive Stipendien zur Förderung von Forschungsaufenthalten in Japan im Rahmen von Promotionsvorhaben. Die Stipendien sind mit zurzeit 2400 Euro/Monat dotiert und werden für die Dauer von drei bis maximal zwölf Monaten vergeben. Gefördert werden Forschungsaufenthalte, deren Beginn in den Zeitraum zwischen 1. Februar und 1. Dezember 2025 fällt. Über die Voraussetzungen sowie das Bewerbungsverfahren informiert unsere Ausschreibung und Stipendienordnung hier. Bewerbungsschluss für diese Ausschreibung ist der 15. September 2024.
DIJ mourns death of Kiyonari Tadao (1933-2024)
The DIJ mourns the loss of Kiyonari Tadao, who passed away on July 23 at the age of 91. After studying economics at the University of Tokyo, Kiyonari initially worked for a government organisation in finance. From 1972 until his retirement in 2005, he was Professor of Business Administration at Hosei University in Tokyo. From 1996 to 2005, he also headed the university as president and promoted its internationalisation. He was already associated with Germany during his time as a student and supported the DIJ in many ways after its foundation in 1988, for example by organising the library cooperation that still exists today. In 1994, he played a major role in the preparation and support of a DIJ-organised conference on economic integration and regional development in East Asia. The proceedings of the conference have been published in German in the DIJ Miscellanea series (volume 11, 1995) and also contain a contribution by Kiyonari on ‘Globalisation and Regional Transformation – East Asia and Kyushu-Okinawa’. The photo shows Kiyonari with the founding director of the DIJ, Josef Kreiner, at a symposium at Hosei University in 2008.
Hybrid Study Group on Attitudes Toward Facial Analysis AI
Computer vision AI systems present one of the most radical technical transformations of our time. Such systems are given unparalleled epistemic power to impose meaning on visual data despite their inherent ambiguity. This becomes particularly evident in computer vision AI that interprets the meaning of human faces in face recognition or emotion expression systems. Despite scientific, social and political concerns, facial analysis AI systems are widely deployed also in Japan, for example, for training employees to show certain facial expressions. This talk presents findings from a study of public perceptions of facial analysis AI across Argentina, Kenya, Japan, and the USA. It reveals similarities in justification patterns but also significant intra-country and inter-country diversity in response to different facial inferences. The study suggests that there is no “common sense” facial classification that accords with a general, homogeneous “human intuition”. Details and registration here
Hybrid Study Group on Taiwanese Dissidents and Japan
This talk explores a series of deportations of Taiwanese dissidents from Japan that occurred between 1967 and 1968. The four individuals in question faced the threat of death penalty in Taiwan for political crimes. The presentation demonstrates that these deportations, along with the resistance they sparked, had a profound and lasting impact on both Taiwan and Japan. They played a crucial role in the failure of the Japanese government’s attempts to toughen immigration laws, led to a series of court rulings that eventually established a de facto right to asylum in Japan by 1971, and resulted in the founding of Amnesty International Japan. These events also triggered an ideological shift within the Taiwanese independence movement and led to its ongoing entanglement with the international human rights movement. Details and registration here