Aging inhabitants, economic decline of the primary sector, outmigration of the young generations – the postgrowth state of Japan’s peripheries challenges local communities to sustain rural living in the globalized age. To stop or even reverse this structural decline, various actors such as regional governments and research institutions forge strategies of revitalization, following national aims as well as global frameworks. For the investigation of these new and complex formations of power and knowledge in rural Japan, actor-and-network theory (ANT) can provide a window to shed light on how different allies find their goals unified in a common project and how links between centers and peripheries are established. It can, moreover, help to understand the impacts that such projects may – or may not – have on the local communities, which are supposed to benefit from them.

Upon invitation by the Asia-Eurasia Research Institute DIJ director Franz Waldenberger will give a talk in Japanese on “Japan’s past and present through the eyes of a German” at the Japan-Germany Forum on June 15. The talk will take place online (Zoom) from 14.00-15.00h JST. It will be moderated by Hayase Isamu, chairman of the Japan-Germany Forum. Registration and details here

Thomas Piketty, French economist and author of Capital in the Twenty-first Century, will be the keynote speaker at the symposium ‘The Future of Liberalism: Japan, France and Germany in global context’. It will take place online from June 7 to 9 and features 18 international experts on liberalism and capitalism. On Day 1, Piketty’s keynote will be followed by a roundtable discussion with Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen) and Shigeki Uno (University of Tokyo). Day 2 features nine presentations, including by DIJ alumna Yufei Zhou on the “Transition of the Dominant Economic Ideology in China in the 21st Century”. On the closing day, DIJ director Franz Waldenberger will present his paper “Governance in a Knowledge Driven Society”. The symposium is jointly organised by the DIJ, the French Institute of Research on Japan at the Maison franco-japonaise (MFJ), and the Nippon Institute of Research Advancement (NIRA). Registration and details here

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US- and EU-led response to it are watershed events in global affairs with far-reaching political and economic implications for East and Southeast Asian stability. Governments in these regions have largely sided with the USA and the EU in the General Assembly of the United Nations; however, due to historically rooted and strategic reasons, most Southeast Asian governments did not join their efforts in sanctioning Russia. This online panel discussion will provide a critical assessment of the responses of countries across East and Southeast Asia. It features panelists Hee Kyoung Chang (Korea), Kasira Cheeppensook (ASEAN), Manuel R. Enverga III (Philippines), DIJ researcher David M. Malitz (Japan), Surachanee Sriyai (Thailand), Patrick Ziegenhain (Indonesia) as well as Claudia Derichs (moderation) and welcome remarks by DIJ director Franz Waldenberger and Nele Noesselt (director, IN-EAST). The panel is jointly organised by the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen (IN-EAST), the DIJ, the Chair of Transregional Southeast Asian Studies at Humboldt University Berlin, and the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. It takes place on Tuesday, April 26, 19-21h JST. Details and registration here

Jointly organised by the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore) and the DIJ, the workshop “Health Infrastructure and Asia’s Epidemiological Transitions: Historical Perspectives” will investigate Asian experiences in crafting health infrastructure over the long twentieth century. Asia has long been stigmatized as a source of global contagion, yet there has been relatively little historical examination of the everyday health challenges there, such as epidemiological transitions, climate change, and extensive internal and international migration. The workshop brings together scholars with different geographic foci within Asia to engage in a comparative and connective dialogue. It seeks to produce new ways of understanding the dynamics of health and disease under the processes of decolonization and development, but also with an eye to drawing lessons from the past that could lead to formulating better health policies in the present. The workshop takes place online on April 13-14 and is co-convened by DIJ’s David M. Malitz. Details and registration information here

DIJ social scientist Celia Spoden will present her latest research on “Cybernetic avatars and the vision of an inclusive society” at the Japanese-German conference Artificial Intelligence and the Human: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Science and Fiction (May 11-13). In her presentation, Celia focuses on the avatar technology OriHime which aims to counteract people’s loneliness and create new forms of social participation. Celia analyses how technologies such as the OriHime can make physical limitations less significant in cyber-physical spaces. In her paper she examines the cultural backgrounds as well as the social and ethical implications of this new technology. The conference takes place in Berlin and is jointly organised by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Japanese-German Center Berlin, and Waseda University.