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Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies On Site
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DIJ Newsletter 83
Spring 2026
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Welcome to the Spring 2026 issue!
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In Japan, March is not only the month of cherry blossoms but also the month of farewells. More specifically: of moving on. The school and academic year, like the fiscal year, traditionally ends on March 31. For millions of children, teenagers, and young adults in Japan, a new chapter in life begins on April 1 after their graduation from elementary, middle, or high school, or from university. For elementary school children, after six years, this means saying goodbye to friends, teachers, their school, and also to their school backpacks, known in Japanese as randoseru (from the Dutch word “ransel”). Initially introduced to strengthen democratisation, they are practically a mandatory part of the Japanese school uniform during elementary school. As the Japanese daily newspaper Asahi reports, half of these school backpacks are discarded after six years. But an ever-increasing number are now also being recycled. A leading leather processing company reports that in 2025 it had recycled nearly 20,000 backpacks on behalf of their owners. In 2019, the number was under 5,000. Recycled randoseru are particularly popular when repurposed as wallets or key pouches. This is both financially and environmentally friendly, while also preserving the sentimental value of parting with an everyday item from childhood.
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This edition of the DIJ Newsletter includes updates on our research, including in the field of sustainability, as well as new publications, recent events, Alumni news, outreach and social media activities, and a farewell to one of our colleagues ー it is March after all!
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If you haven't yet done so, you can subscribe to receive the DIJ Newsletter directly to your inbox here. We also welcome your feedback and email address updates via email.
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From all of us at the DIJ, we wish you a pleasant cherry blossom viewing season, and a good start in case you should embark on a new chapter in your life next month!
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Research News ・Neues aus der Forschung ・研究活動ニュース
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Image © Trafo/DIJ
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'De-centring Academia' Blog Series
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New Publication ・Gerade erschienen ・ 新刊
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Cover © T&F
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New Issue of Contemporary Japan is Out
Contemporary Japan Volume 38 Issue 1 contains six original research articles on LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the Japanese workplace (Clasen & Conrad), on Vietnamese IT professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan (Muranaka), on leadership style, institutional coordination, and policy narratives in response to the pandemic (Gaunder & Wiliarty), on the framing of asylum seekers in Japanese print media (Mitsui & Green), on subjective narratives in postwar literature (Jeong), and on anti-colonial labor activism during the Pacific War in Thailand (Takahashi). The research articles are complemented by Wolfram Manzenreiter’s review of Kate Sylvester’s book Women and Martial Art in Japan.
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Recent journal articles, book chapters, and outreach articles by DIJ researchers:
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- Barbara Holthus, “Disaster preparedness and response for companion animals in Japan”. In: H. Wu, K. Breen, S. E. DeYoung (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Human-Animal Interactions in the Global Context of Climate Change, Disasters, and Other Crises. Palgrave Macmillan. 2025. 205-221.
- Harald Kümmerle, "Carl Schmitt’s Afterlife in Decolonial Theory: Rereading Walter Mignolo". Trafo - Blog for Transregional Research (10 March 2026).
- Sébastien Lechevalier, “Care-led innovation. A new paradigm and an application in the Japanese context of Society 5.0”. Innovcare Discussion Paper Series 2025-01 (December 2025).
- David M. Malitz, “A Kingdom ‘One and Indivisible’ A (Non-)History of political Decentralization in Thailand”. In: I. Sablin, E. Moniz Bandeira (eds.), From Empire to Federation in Eurasia: Ideas and Practices of Diversity Management. Routledge. 2026. 201-216.
- David M. Malitz, “‘Länder der gleichen Religion‘? Der Buddhismus und die japanisch-siamesischen Beziehungen im Zeitalter der absoluten Monarchie Siams“. In: S. Döll (Hg.), Wege, Sehepunkte, Panoramen: Japanologische Festschrift für Klaus Vollmer. Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens. 2026. 607-628.
- Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus, “’Training the Heart, the Head, and the Hand’: Colonial Education, Missionaries, and Industrial Schools in Korea, 1906–1930”. In: O. Charbonneau, K. V. Walther (eds.), The Gospel of Work and Money: Industrial Education and Its Global Legacies. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2026. 163-184.
- Celia Spoden/Giulia De Togni/Benedetta Catanzariti/Andreas Christou/Aurora Constantin/Chihyung Jeon/Kristiina Jokinen/Marta Romeo/Heesun Shin/Sasha Lee Smit/Roger A. Søraa/Sethu Vijayakumar/Melody Zixuan Wang/Kevin Wiggert/Robin Williams, “REALIGN Toolkit: Reflexivity, Adaptability, Leadership, and Inclusion as Pillars of Responsible Research and Innovation”. Wellcome Open Research, 11:8 (5 January 2026).
- Franz Waldenberger, "The impact of demographic change on aggregate final consumption: Japan’s experiences and prospects from a national accounting perspective". The Journal of the Economics of Ageing. Vol. 34 (June 2026, online first).
- Torsten Weber/Anke Scherer, “Geschichte und Gesellschaft 80 Jahre nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs“. In: D. Chiavacci, I. Wieczorek (Hg.), Japan 2025. Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Iudicium. 2025. 228-245.
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DIJ News ・Aus dem DIJ・研究所ニュース
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Photo © DIJ
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Saying Goodbye to Harald Kümmerle
This month we bid farewell to Principal Researcher Harald Kümmerle (History of Science, Digital Humanities). Director Franz Waldenberger presented him the traditional DIJ farewell album. Harald joined the institute in 2020 in the research field of Digital Transformation and later became head of the DIJ's Knowledge Lab. He also initiated reading groups on Carl Schmitt and on 'Imaginaries and Modernity'. Most recently, Harald started the new blog series “De-centering Academia: InterAsian Perspectives" (see above). As of April 1, he will join the Meta Learning Center at Future University Hakodate as Associate Professor. We wish him all the best for his new position!
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Photo © DIJ
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Introducing Our New PhD Students
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In February and March, we welcomed four new PhD students: Johanna Fritzi Momm (FU Berlin), Stefanie Schwarte, Christoph Marc Völker (both LMU Munich) and Mena Mesenhöller (Düsseldorf). Johanna’s research focuses on the mechanisms of discursive change in human rights discourse in the Japanese Diet. Stefanie examines the underrepresentation of women in Japanese political leadership positions, focusing on female mayors. Christoph’s project studies research trips of Japanese historians of art and architecture around the year 1900. Mena investigates the implementation of self-checkout machines in Japanese supermarkets.
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Photo © DIJ
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Four New Interns Join the DIJ
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Since January, four new interns have joined the DIJ: Viktoria-Sophie Gerlach (FU Berlin) assists Barbara Holthus with her research on pets in Japanese society and the declining birth rate. Philipp-Ben Wakker (Heidelberg) supports David Malitz and Dolf Neuhaus with their research projects in transregional history. Binedikt Pal (TU Darmstadt) assists Franz Waldenberger with his research in the field of economics, while Lisa Förtsch (Düsseldorf) supports Torsten Weber in science communication and with his research on war memory. If you are interested in joining our team as an intern, please check our guidelines (in German). We look forward to your application!
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Past Events ・Vergangene Veranstaltungen・最近のイベント
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Photo © DIJ
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Roundtable on Recruitment Strategies
Japan is a highly attractive, but difficult market for multinational companies. One of the biggest hurdles is the recruitment of qualified personnel. What strategies do foreign companies in Japan pursue to address the human resource challenge? The joint DIJ-AHK Roundtable "Big in Japan? Recruitment and training strategies of German companies in Japan" presented findings from interviews with 25 experts from the field of human resource management in German companies in Japan. The presentation by Matthias Pilz was followed by a panel discussion with Shigeki Egami and Carolina Kawakubo. A video of the event is available on the DIJ's YouTube channel.
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Photo © DIJ
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Digital Capitalism and Science Workshop
Digital technologies have not only given rise to new sociocultural realities but they have also begun to change the ways in which knowledge is produced, validated, and disseminated. The workshop "Digital Capitalism & Varieties of Science", co-organised by Stefan Böschen (RWTH Aachen) and DIJ's Nicole M. Mueller and Harald Kümmerle, explored the intersection of varieties of science and varieties of digital capitalism through a comparative and interdisciplinary lens. Focusing on Japan, thirteen speakers from academia and industry examined the co-evolution of digital technologies, digital capitalism, and scientific cultures through institutional, sociocultural, and epistemic contexts. Videos of selected sessions are available on our YouTube channel.
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Library News ・ Aus der Bibliothek ・ 図書室ニュース
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Cover © Japan Special Libraries Association
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Publication on DIJ Library and Copyright
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DIJ librarian Megumi Ono contributed an article about copyright issues to the Japan Special Library Association's quarterly magazine, Senmon Toshokan. The article explains the process of receiving designation from the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to become eligible to reproduce library materials under the Copyright Act. "A Report on the Application Process for 'Designation under Item 6' Relating to Article 31 of the Copyright Act: The Case of the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo Library" (in Japanese) aims to serve as a resource for libraries currently considering the same application.
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DIJ in the Media ・ In den Medien・メディアで知るDIJ
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Screenshot © FR
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Newspaper Reports on Akiya Problem
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Around 14 percent of all residential buildings in Japan are vacant houses (akiya). By 2030, this figure could rise to as much as one third. For the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau DIJ anthropologist Sebastian Polak-Rottmann explained why Japan is particularly affected: “The key point is that these houses generally fall into disrepair over time. They are a symptom of population migration, as well as of the fact that rural areas are unattractive to many people.” His expertise on the effects of demographic change on interpersonal relationships was also cited in the Augsburger Allgemeine and the Salzburger Nachrichten.
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Image © MWS
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Podcast on Disability and Inclusion
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How can avatar technologies facilitate social participation and inclusion for disabled people? The latest episode of the Max Weber Foundation podcast series 'Wissen entgrenzen' (in German) introduces Celia Spoden's research on the OriHime robot in Tokyo’s DAWN Avatar Robot Café. The podcast also features the research by Melike Şahinol (Orient-Institut Istanbul) on the co-production of prosthetics for children in Turkey. The joint conclusion: technologies alone do not ensure inclusion. What matters is that users are involved in the design process and how technologies are integrated into social practices.
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Social Media ・Soziale Medien・ソーシャルメディア
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Screenshot © DIJ
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Join 600 DIJ Followers on Bluesky
In July 2026, the next issue of the DIJ Newsletter will provide you with fresh updates from our institute. If you don't want to wait until summer, we invite you to join our currently 600 followers of the DIJ's social media account on Bluesky. This way you will be the first to receive announcements of upcoming events, new publications, other activities of our institute and its researchers, job and fellowship advertisements. Follow us here!
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Alumni News ・Unsere Ehemaligen ・DIJ 同窓会
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Images © publishers
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Publications on Work and Monetary Policy
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In his new book Japan und die Zukunft der Arbeit, DIJ alumnus Volker Elis (Senior Research Fellow, 2006-11) studies the emergence and worldwide adoption of Toyotism as the dominant production model in the manufacturing and service sectors. It also examines underlying cultural stereotypes and influences on post-Fordist capitalism both within and outside Japan. DIJ alumnus Markus Heckel (Senior Research Fellow, 2018-24) has co-authored the research paper “The effectiveness of monetary policy: Evidence from market operation-based monetary policy indices”, published in the Journal of International Money and Finance. It analyses Japan’s unconventional monetary policy on the basis of four newly introduced indices.
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If you are part of the growing group of DIJ alumni and have recently published a book, received your PhD, or have any other news to share with us, please contact us via email.
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