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DIJ Newsletter 68

Summer 2022

Screenshot 2022-07-11 at 15-06-51 Front Page - Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien
Welcome to the Summer 2022 issue!
Japan and the world are still in shock from last week's assassination of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō. His policies were considered controversial by many, but due to his long tenure, he was also seen as the face of Japan, especially abroad. Over the years, the DIJ and its researchers have analysed social, economic, and political aspects of Japan that are closely linked with Abe's name: Abenomics and Womenomics, the Tokyo Olympics, historical revisionism, and regional revitalization. In the middle of Abe's second term, we also published a volume in the DIJ monograph series that examines the politics of the Abe government from various angles (in German, Japan in der Ära Abe. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse). On July 15, DIJ director Franz Waldenberger will join an online round table discussion on the implications of Abe's assassination with political scientists and DIJ alumni Axel Klein and Alexandra Sakaki, hosted by the Japanese-German Center Berlin (in German, details and registration here).
Meanwhile, at the DIJ we held our first hybrid event with guests on site and co-organised a very popular online event on the Future of Liberalism in June. You will find more information on this event and a selection of recent and upcoming DIJ activities in this summer issue of the DIJ Newsletter.
We hope you will enjoy exploring this edition of the DIJ Newsletter. If you haven't done so yet, you can subscribe to receive it directly to your inbox here. We also welcome your feedback and updates to your email address via email to newsletter@dijtokyo.org
We wish you a pleasant summer and, once again, more than anything else: peace for all!
Torsten Weber

Research News ・Neues aus der Forschung 研究活動ニュース

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Image © partystock/freepik

New DIJ Project studies 'Green Finance'
Climate change is one of the most fundamental and urgent challenges of human civilization. How does the political economy influence climate policy choices? The new DIJ research project The Political Economy of Carbon Pricing and Green Finance: Comparing the EU and Japanese Discourses and Policy Approaches brings together experts from academia, business, and non-profit organisations to study different aspects of Green Finance. It is led by DIJ economists Markus Heckel and Franz Waldenberger.
Recent articles by DIJ researchers include:

Upcoming Event Kommende Veranstaltung今後のイベント

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Photo © Gunhild Borggreen

Symposium 'Art in the Countryside'
Since the beginning of the new millennium, regional arts projects and festivals have sprung up in many places in rural Japan. Hosted by the DIJ, 'Art in the Countryside. Symposium on Art and Regional Revitalization through case studies from Japan' will investigate the potential of the arts to develop creative responses to the multiple challenges and opportunities of the Japanese regions. The symposium takes place from August 12 to 14 and is co-organised by DIJ's Barbara Geilhorn and Gunhild Borggreen (University of Copenhagen).

DIJ News Aus dem DIJ研究所ニュース

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DIJ Visiting Professor Lisa Onaga
In August, the DIJ will welcome Lisa Onaga as a Visiting Professor. Lisa is a Senior Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), located in Berlin-Dahlem, and a historian of Japanese science and technology, working on sericulture and silk since the 1800s. At the DIJ, she will work on her new research on the history of the transformation and persistence of the silk-weaving culture on the island of Amami Ōshima. Specifically, she will be conducting fieldwork and archival research for her historical case study in relation to the post-1970s cataloguing of natural and cultural heritage sites.
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Cover page © DIJ

New DIJ Brochure
Everything you always wanted to know about the DIJ is now just one click away: in a compact and entertaining flip-book format, our brand-new DIJ brochure gives you insights into our current research, publications, events, programmes, staff, and much more. QR codes lead you directly to more information on our website. All information in our brochure is available in German, English, and Japanese.

Past Events Vergangene Veranstaltungen最近のイベント

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Poster © DIJ

Trinational Conference on Liberalism
In June, the online conference 'The Future of Liberalism' attracted more than 700 participants around the globe. Following the keynote speech by French economist Thomas Piketty (EHESS) and a round table discussion with Uno Shigeki (University of Tokyo) and Lisa Herzog (Groningen), the conference featured 16 speakers, including DIJ director Franz Waldenberger and DIJ alumna Yufei Zhou. Videos of the event will be available on the DIJ's YouTube channel shortly. The conference was jointly organised by the DIJ, the French Institute of Research on Japan at the Maison franco-japonaise, and the Nippon Institute of Research Advancement.
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Poster © NUS

Exploring Health Infrastructure in Asia
Co-convened by DIJ's David M. Malitz, the DIJ together with the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS) co-organised the international workshop 'Health Infrastructure and Asia’s Epidemiological Transitions: Historical Perspectives' in April. Including 19 papers on various disease risks and management covering mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and Kazakhstan, it explored East and Southeast Asian experiences in crafting health infrastructures. A report is now available on our website.

DIJ in the Media ・ In den Medienメディアで知るDIJ

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DIJ Expertise in German Media
During the past months, DIJ director Franz Waldenberger was interviewed twice by German media: in April he explained the popularity of nuclear energy in Japan for German radio station Deutschlandfunk. In June, he commented on the zero interest rate policy by the Bank of Japan and warned of a possible economic "horror scenario". His comments were published in the online version of Germany's flagship news programme, Tagesschau.

Alumni News Unsere Ehemaligen DIJ 同窓会

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Book cover © publisher

New Cultural Studies Handbook
Four DIJ alumni have contributed to the recently published Handbook of Japanese Media and Popular Culture in Transition (Japan Documents Handbook Series, 2022). Its 17 chapters include contributions by former DIJ senior research fellows Hilaria Gössmann (Trier, 1992-95) and Ronald Saladin (Trier, 2016-17) on Fukushima in TV dramas and films and on Japanese men's magazines respectively, as well as on NHK's morning dramas by former DIJ PhD student Elisabeth Scherer (Dusseldorf, 2008). The book is co-edited by Forum Mithani (Cardiff) and former DIJ PhD student Griseldis Kirsch (SOAS, 2005-06), who also contributed a chapter on imperial nostalgia on Japanese TV.
If you are part of the growing group of DIJ alumni and have recently published a book or have any other news to share with us, please contact us via newsletter@dijtokyo.org

Aktueller Begriff Catchword流行語

LINE問題で調査委 最終報告書 “経済安全保障の責任者設置を” NHKニュース

Screenshot © NHK

When Your Data is Not Safe: LINE Mondai
With its more than 86 million users in Japan, the messenger app LINE may be the most trusted digital service among Japanese. But is data shared via LINE really safe? In this edition of our Catchword series, DIJ's historian of science Harald Kümmerle explains the 'LINE mondai' (LINE problem) which made headlines in 2021 and has presumably changed the awareness of data infrastructure security in Japan.

Social Media Soziale Medienソーシャルメディア

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Join more than 1000 Followers on Twitter
One small step for the Twitter community but a giant leap for the DIJ: on July 8, we have reached and surpassed the 1000 followers mark on Twitter! The DIJ's account has existed for more than six years but has only grown rapidly since 2020 when we still had less than 300 followers. We are grateful to all our old and new followers around the globe for thousands of likes and retweets. We hope you will continue to find our tweets interesting, likeable, and worthy of retweeting. Thank you, Dankeschön & ありがとう!
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