The new open access book Die Institutionalisierung der Mathematik als Wissenschaft im Japan der Meiji- und Taishō-Zeit (1868–1926) by DIJ researcher Harald Kümmerle examines the rapid institutionalization of mathematics as a scientific discipline in Meiji and Taishō-era Japan. This development was based on a rich pre-existing tradition of knowledge and is analysed with a focus on the foundations, the course, and the characteristics of knowledge circulation. To this end, Harald’s study examines the organisational formation, standardisation, professionalisation, and disciplinary formation of mathematics in Japan. The book is published in the Acta historica Leopoldina series (vol. 77) by Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart. It is based on Harald’s PhD dissertation which was awarded the Johannes Zilkens Dissertation Award in 2020.

We have just published a new issue of Contemporary Japan (vol. 35, no. 2), containing a special section on “Gender, Family and Work in the 21st Century: Challenges and Transformations”, guest edited by Glenda S. Roberts. The special section includes articles on the masculinization of deprivation by Kimio Itō & Allison Alexy, on women’s life and career choices in urban Japan by Vincent Mirza, and on gender equality and well-being among urban professionals in Paris and Tokyo by Glenda S. Roberts & Hiroko Costantini. This issue also contains two research articles on the politics of education by Kazuya Fukuoka and on robotic devices and ICT in long-term care by Gabriele Vogt and Anne-Sophie L. König. Rounding out the issue, our book review section covers three English language publications on urban migrants in rural Japan, on education and social justice, and on censorship in Japan. Please see the full issue here

The autumn issue of our DIJ Newsletter includes introductions of new DIJ team members and guests, Alumni news, a new Catchword (doryoku gimu), a call for applications for PhD fellowships, information on new publications as well as a selection of our recent and upcoming academic and 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.

“A Long-Term View of Thai Nationalisms: From Royal to Civic Nationalism?” by David M. Malitz is now available as an open access article (Asien, No. 164/165, July/October 2022). Rejecting a linear evolution of Thai nationalist ideas, it traces the development of very different political imaginations of a Siamese/Thai political community from the early nineteenth century through the student protests of 2020/2021. It does not consider, therefore, these recent demands for reform of the country’s monarchy to represent a radical rupture with established Thai political culture. Rather, the student protests constitute a new iteration of a long-standing trend of contesting official nationalisms in the country. This is evident in the students’ own symbolic embracing of the history of the Siamese Revolution of 1932. For analytical purposes, the article employs a twofold approach: it differentiates between inclusive and exclusive imaginations of the national community on the one hand and between its democratic versus autocratic political organization on the other.

The new publication Research into Japanese society: Reflections from three projects involving students as researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic (University of Vienna 2023), co-edited by Antonia Miserka and DIJ’s Sebastian Polak-Rottmann, collects three group projects from Sophia University, the University of Vienna and FU Berlin that involve students as researchers at different stages in their academic lives. In all three cases, students actively participated in gathering data for a group project and reflected on their experiences. The volume shows that students, rather than being mere receivers of knowledge, may also actively be part of the collaborative production of knowledge. It also demonstrates how research in a team can be conducted, albeit in an adjusted manner, during the ongoing pandemic. The fifteen contributions include a chapter co-authored by Sebastian and DIJ alumnus Hanno Jenztsch (“Rural spaces, remote methods—the virtual Aso Winter Field School 2022”) and a conversation between Sebastian and John W. Traphagan (University of Texas at Austin) on his book Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan.