On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Asia, DIJ historian Torsten Weber was interviewed by several German media. For German radio Deutschlandfunk, he explained why the day of Japan’s official surrender, September 2, only plays a minor role in Japan’s commemoration of World War Two. In articles published by Deutsche Welle and German newspaper taz on the occasion of the emperor’s declaration of defeat on August 15, he commented on differences in addressing war guilt between postwar Germany and Japan. An article published by science magazine Spektrum der Wissenschaft introduced Torsten’s research on historical revisionism in Japan and history politics in East Asia. Also in August, an article co-authored with Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus on the impact of Japan’s defeat on postwar and contemporary East Asia (“Divided States, Divisive Memories”) was published on the Max Weber Foundation’s The Ends of War blog. It had first appeared in German in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “Beschönigung der Kriegsverbrechen”. 

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 2026 fällt. Über die Voraussetzungen sowie das Bewerbungsverfahren informiert unsere Ausschreibung und Stipendienordnung. Bewerbungsschluss für diese Ausschreibung ist der 30. September 2025.

You are an early career researcher looking for funding for research stays abroad of up to one month? If your countries of interest match, why not consider applying for a Gerald D. Feldman Travel Grants for researchers in the humanities and social sciences? Offered by the Max Weber Foundation (MWS), the travel grants allow you to conduct your own research project in two or three of the countries which are home to MWS institutes and branches or at the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History in Israel. We particularly encourage applicants whose research includes Japan. Application deadline: 5 October 2025. Please see the full call, list of possible host countries, and application guidelines here

DIJ social scientist Celia Spoden was awarded the Mark Bookman Prize by the Anthropology of Japan in Japan (AJJ) association for her presentation  “Avatar Robots as an Alter Ego: New Opportunities for Work or Technological Fixes?” at the joint Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS)/AJJ conference in Kobe. Drawing on fieldwork in Tokyo’s DAWN Avatar Robot Café and on interviews with people with disabilities who remotely control an avatar robot from their homes and serve the guests in the cafe, Celia’s paper explores her interlocutor’s motivations and experiences working through the avatar, their perceptions of social participation, work, and disability, and how these perceptions have changed using the avatar. It shows how the avatar robots open up new opportunities for social participation, lead to a feeling of independence and belonging, and challenge common understandings of “disability.” The prize is named after the late Mark Bookman, who was an emerging scholar and a leading authority on disability issues in Japan, and is designed to boost the career of a gifted young scholar researching people with disabilities or other minority groups in Japan.

Weak Yen and high inflation: as a consequence, poverty is spreading in Japan, a country previously known as ‘middle class society’. For the radio feature “Armut in Japan: Wenig Akzeptanz, wenig Hilfe”, Deutschlandfunk Kultur interviewed DIJ director Franz Waldenberger and deputy director Barbara Holthus about the causes of poverty in Japan and countermeasures taken by society and politics. Elderly people, children, and single mothers are particularly vulnerable to slip below the poverty line. According to Holthus, one reason is the lack of social security for people working part-time. However, poverty is not a major issue in Japanese politics, Waldenberger explains. “Because there is little pressure from the population on the government, poverty is not much discussed in the public and not a priority for Prime Minister Ishiba’s government”. The radio feature (in German), part of Deutschlandfunk’s Weltzeit series, is available here.

In January, delegations from the German Embassy in Tokyo (photo) and from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – German Research Foundation visited the DIJ. Headed by Ambassador Petra Sigmund, the German Embassy delegation, including Timotheus Felder-Roussety (Social Counselor) and Oliver Pieper (Head of the Research and Technology Division), visited our institute to learn about our research and outreach activities. After the presentation of our current research projects, we had an exciting discussion about the changing significance of Japan in the region, the role of China, Prime Minister Ishiba’s political agenda, digital transformation, and imaginations of the future. We also had a very fruitful exchange with the delegation from the DFG, including director Ingrid G. Krüßmann, Johanna Kowol-Santen, Aiko Sato, Saiki Hase, Gerrit Schlepper and Raoul Wagner. It was agreed to further intensify our scientific exchange and cooperation.

DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus and historian Torsten Weber have contributed their expertise to German TV and radio features. For the ZDF documentary “The truth about our pension” (in German), Barbara Holthus explains how Japanese society has adapted to having the world’s oldest population and the lessons that Germany may learn from Japan’s experience. Barbara was also interviewed for the Nippon Navigator podcast series on a broad range of issues, including work-life balance, social movements, pets, the Tokyo Olympics, and the upcoming Expo 2025. In the history podcast “John Rabe: ‘The good German of Nanjing'” (in German), broadcast by the German radio station WDR, Torsten Weber explains the role the German businessman John Rabe played in providing help to Chinese civilians during the Japanese-Chinese War and in documenting the Japanese atrocities in Nanjing in 1937/38.

Das Deutsche Institut für Japanstudien wünscht erholsame und frohe Festtage und einen guten Start in ein erfolgreiches Jahr der Schlange!

The German Institute for Japanese Studies wishes you a happy holiday season and a successful Year of the Snake!

ドイツ日本研究所一同、皆様のご多幸と来るべき新年が成功の年になることを祈念いたします。