DIJ researcher Celia Spoden will participate in this year’s annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Vancouver to present her latest research on cyber-physical spaces and avatar technologies. Celia’s presentation “Avatar Robots, Work, and Disability: Neoliberal Responsibilization or Questioning Ableist Notions of Labor?” is part of the panel “From Fingerprint Identification to Avatar Robots: Past and Present of Technology in Japan’s Engineering of the Future”. With papers stretching from the Meiji to the Reiwa eras, the panel asks what is really new—or actually old—about latest technological milestones such as service robots and data economy. Celia’s paper explains how the employees of an avatar robot café in Tokyo, where individuals with disabilities and chronic illnesses work remotely by controlling robots to serve customers on-site, utilize the avatar robots as their extended embodiment and challenge notions of disability, productivity, and labor.

Together with the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto (Nichibunken), the DIJ will co-host the international symposium The Current State of Animal Welfare Movement Research (main language: Japanese) on February 14-15. It aims to explore the animal welfare movement in Japan from multiple perspectives, including ethics, history, and society. The term “animal welfare movement” here refers to all social activities aimed at human-animal coexistence, improving animal treatment, protection, and legal recognition. Four researchers from Japan and abroad, including DIJ sociologist Barbara Holthus (“The Sociology of Humans and Pets: Happiness, Loneliness, Multispecies Families”, in Japanese), will give presentations to examine human efforts concerning animal treatment under the umbrella term “animal welfare movement,” re-examining the nature of human-animal relationships. Participation in the symposium is only possible online. 

The present geopolitical landscapes are shifting, with global powers realigning their strategies. The Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), a concept proposed by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, aims at promoting peace and prosperity in the region, particularly in the fields of fundamental values, economic prosperity, and peace and stability. Southeast Asia has been one center of this strategy with a particular focus on maritime security and safety. The conference Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific Imaginaries takes an interdisciplinary approach to study FOIP strategies. It features two DIJ panels, including research papers by David M. Malitz (“Japanese-Indian Relations and the Imaginations of an Indo-Pacific Region”) and Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus (“Developmental Imaginaries: Japan’s Educational Aid Programs and the Shaping of the Indo-Pacific Order”). The conference is co-hosted by University of the Philippines – Visayas, the Japan Foundation Manila, and the DIJ and takes place 29–30 January 2026 at the National Museum of the Philippines, Iloilo. 

Im Jahr 2023 gewann der Roman „Hunchback“ von Ichikawa Saou den renommierten Akutagawa-Preis, jetzt liegt er in deutscher Übersetzung vor. Aus diesem Anlass veranstaltet das Japanische Kulturinstitut Köln  zusammen mit dem Arbeitsbereich ­Soziologie und Politik der Rehabilitation, Disability Studies der Universität Köln den literaturwissenschaftlichen Abend “Das Thema der Behinderung in japanischer und deutschsprachiger Gegenwartsliteratur: Von Ichikawa Saous „Hunchback“ zu Christoph Kellers „Jeder Krüppel ein Superheld“. Die zwei Vortragenden sprechen prägnante Beispiele der japanischen und deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur an, die Fragen rund um Autonomie, Sexualität und gesellschaftliche Barrieren aufwerfen. Zu Japan spricht DIJ-Literaturwissenschaftlerin Carolin Fleischer-Heininger („Ichikawa Saous korrektives Porträt einer Körperbehinderung im Kontext japanischer Gegenwartsliteratur“). Im Anschluss an die Vorträge lädt die Übersetzerin von „Hunchback“, Katja Busson, die Vortragenden zu einem moderierten Gespräch ein. Der Veranstaltung findet am 27. Januar an der Universität Köln statt. Es wird eine Verdolmetschung in Deutsche Gebärdensprache angeboten.