Events and Activities
DIJ Newsletter 53, April 2016
The Newsletter, which since June 1997 appears two times a year in German and English, contains information about DIJ research projects, events and publications.
Bulletin 36, 2016
Das im Frühjahr 2016 erschienene Bulletin informiert ausführlich über die Aktivitäten des Deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien im vergangenen Jahr (2015).
Diese auf deutsch herausgegebene Publikation kann direkt beim DIJ in Tokyo bezogen werden.
Negotiating “Superstition” and “Religion”: The Case of the “Immoral Heresies Tenrikyō and Renmonkyō” in Meiji Japan
The rise of the so-called new religions (shinshūkyō) amidst Japan’s traditional religions Buddhism and Shintō had attracted much commentary already in the Meiji period, ever since they started vying for official recognition in Denominational Shintō. Research has tended to lock early groups like Tenrikyō and Renmonkyō in the narration of a modern Japan, placing them firmly in the pre-modern and superstitious “enchanted garden” of the Weberian modern “disenchanted” world.
In the context of the critique of modernization theory it is necessary to re-examine the formation of the new religions in the Meiji period.
Contemporary Japan 28, No. 1
Ethnographies of Hope in Contemporary Japan
In this issue, contributors consider feelings, perceptions, and narratives of hope and hopelessness in Japan: tracing, as it were, the work of hope.
Hope (kibō) in this context can be understood as at once a disposition, a tool, and a collective resource. People may actively seek out or attempt to foster hope; but hope is also, at times, felt as external: bestowed upon some and not others. That is to say, hope can be situational. Both fostered hope and situational hope can have an impact on people’s actions, but it is the latter that highlights the significance of the “independent action of hope in the world” (Reed 2011: 533). The contributions to this issue, in this sense, enlarge our understanding of what hope does.
Meeting the Challenge of Globalization – Comparing Korean and Japanese Global Human Resource Management
Japan and South Korea are home to numerous multinational firms, particularly in highly globalized manufacturing industries such as automobiles and electronics. Both countries also have distinct business cultures and management systems which arguably lend strong competitiveness to their leading multinationals. However, the business activities of Japanese and Korean firms are increasingly being transferred to overseas locations, resulting in the need to attract, nurture and retain talent from all over the world.
How can firms with strong national roots manage their global human resources competently without giving up their home-grown competitive strengths? How can they effectively integrate managers who neither know the business cultures nor the languages of their firms’ home countries?
Adoption of Corporate Social Resposibility by Japanese Companies
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a topical issue in many countries. What are the drivers for the global spread of explicit CSR- practices that are demonstrated to the outside- even in countries where companies had addressed CSR implicitly? What catalyzes organizations to adopt CSR and how does their adoption influence other companies’ likelihood to adopt CSR? This book approaches the recent world-wide adoption of CSR practices as part of the global spread of management concepts.
Research on the Corporate Governance of Listed Stock Companies in Japan.
2015, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien / Stiftung D.G.I.A., Tokyo, 29 p.
Gestalt und Gehalt
Der Formalismusstreit in der japanischen Literaturtheorie der 1920er-Jahre
Der „Inhalt” und seine „Form” sind seit jeher Objekt der Begierde jedes Literaturtheoretikers. Viele verkünden, in deren Relation den Stein der poetischen Weisheit gefunden und sich mit ihm den richtigen Zugang zur literarischen Formästhetik verschafft zu haben – so auch die japanischen Literaten, welche gegen Ende der 1920er-Jahre einen heftigen Streit um jene poetische Weisheit ausfechten.
Dabei prallen zwei gegensätzliche Kunstkonzepte aufeinander: Während die Neosensualisten wie Yokomitsu Riichi oder Inukai Takeru um jeden Preis das Konzept der Kunstautonomie verteidigen, bangen die Marxisten wie Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke oder Kurahara Korehito um den Utilitarismus der Literatur.
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Contemporary Japan
current issue Vol. 37, No. 2
Contemporary Japan is open year-round for rolling submissions, with accepted publications published immediately online. Please see the instructions for submission here.
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