During this year’s annual conference of the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan (VSFJ) in Berlin, 14 current and former DIJ employees met for an alumni dinner. The photo shows (from left to right): Cosima Wagner, Isa Ducke, Elisabeth Köller, Ruth Achenbach, Michaela Oberwinkler, Gabriele Vogt, Ursula Flache, Momoyo Hüstebeck, Helmut Demes, Harald Conrad, Barbara Holthus, Hanns Günther Hilpert, Phoebe Holdgrün, and Axel Klein. At the conference’s sections meetings, several DIJ researchers and alumni gave research presentations, including current deputy director Barbara Holthus on animal abuse and PhD student Jasmin Rückert on photo albums of Japanese soldiers as well as alumni Michaela Oberwinkler (Düsseldorf) on emoji in digital communication, Steve R. Entrich (Duisburg-Essen) on effects of transnational experiences on the Japanese labour market, and Carola Hommerich (Sophia University) on changing attitudes towards environmental problems and climate change.