Popular imaginations of Japanese society are deeply intertwined with work, often oscillating between stereotypes of the exhausted salary man and idealized concepts of optimization (kaizen) or life purpose (ikigai). While work has been a celebrated pillar of Japan’s postwar identity, it has also faced scrutiny for fostering inequality and precarity. Beyond the familiar tropes, our keynote speakers unpack the complexities of Japanese labor history and corporate culture. Chelsea S. Schieder will present her research on the 1971 Mitsui Miike coal mine lawsuit following Japan’s largest postwar industrial accident. Shifting the focus to the everyday intersection of corporate life and culture, Hiromichi Hasebe explores how Hitachi corporation shaped organizational identity through its in-house magazine. Together, these presentations provide a re-evaluation of how Japan’s labor landscape from postwar factories to today’s AI-powered workplaces, continuously negotiates the meaning of work. Details and registration here

Tokyo continues to attract a disproportionate share of Japan’s university enrollments and corporate headquarters, outpacing comparable European mega-cities in terms of functional concentration. While the overall population has risen modestly over the past five years, but the city is aging; the proportion of residents over 65 is high and continues to increase. Large‑scale infrastructure projects proceed on schedule, and the public‑transport network routinely handles tens of millions of passenger trips daily with high punctuality. Air quality measurements place Tokyo among the cleanest major cities. Resilience strategies encompass the world’s largest underground flood control system and AI‑driven sea level projections that anticipate substantial future impacts. Exploring these themes, this talk demonstrates how hyper‑concentrated mega-cities can sustain functionality and adaptability through coordinated governance, technological innovation, and proactive risk mitigation. But will this be enough, when the next big disaster strikes? Details and registration here

Are human rights a shield to protect victims of human rights violations or are they a sword wielded by human rights lawyers to attack everyone disagreeing with their opinions? Do people in Japan care about human rights or are they just window-dressing for the international community? Language connected to human rights is essentially contested. This talk presents human rights narratives collected from various human rights actors in Japanese society. These narratives form the basis of human rights discourse in Japanese civil society, media, the legal landscape, academia, and politics. The study uses mixed methods to map the political discourse quantitatively and qualitatively to then trace back how discursive shifts occurred. An interdisciplinary approach helps understanding human rights in contemporary Japanese society within in a world which increasingly puts pressure on liberal norms. Details and registration here

This study explores how older adults maintain psychological well-being despite inevitable physical decline, a phenomenon often described as the “well-being paradox”. Using data from the SONIC (Septuagenarians, Octogenarians, Nonagenarians Investigation with Centenarians) study, cluster analysis identified a distinct group of older adults who exhibit low physical function yet high psychological well-being. In addition, we examined the longitudinal relationship between changes in physical function and psychological well-being, and tested the moderating role of self-transcendence. The results show that self-transcendence significantly buffers the negative impact of physical decline on mental health, life satisfaction, and negative affect. However, it does not protect against the decline in positive affect. These findings suggest that aging well is not merely the preservation of function but involves a transformation in how individuals relate to their physical limitations.  Details and registration here

As Japan aims to address labor shortages, automation and the implementation of everyday technologies, such as self-checkout cashiers, can be increasingly observed. This presents an opportunity to test if the self-image of Japan as a technological leader holds true, and to examine how political ambitions impact individuals’ daily lives. The talk first explores the macro level by drawing on expert interviews with policymakers, researchers, and producers of self-checkout systems to analyze how these actors conceptualize the role of everyday automation. The talk then turns to the micro level and examines how self-checkout machines are experienced by individuals in daily life. By linking institutional perspectives with lived experiences, the presentation highlights how continuing automation reconfigures everyday practices and social interaction. It demonstrates how sociotechnical transformations unfold across contexts, offering insights for Science and Technology Studies and policy debates in ageing societies. Details and registration here

As of February 2026, women hold only 4.3 percent of Japan’s mayoral offices. This figure reflects the country’s well-documented challenges with gender equality in political participation. Directly elected by voters, mayors occupy a prominent position in Japanese local politics. They can shape local policies and advance individual agendas, making them key drivers of local change. This situation raises an important question: how do female mayors perceive their roles and contributions within their local communities and the broader political landscape? Drawing on interviews with female mayors, this presentation aims to produce a contextually grounded understanding of how they perceive and perform their political roles. Through a multi-layered approach, the speaker seeks to explain how female mayors navigate gendered structures through everyday political practice, and to situate their individual perspectives within broader debates on gender and political representation in Japan. Details and registration here

In recent years, digital technologies have not only given rise to new sociocultural realities but have begun to profoundly alter the ways in which knowledge is produced, validated, and disseminated. Against this backdrop, this workshop explores the intersection of varieties of science and varieties of digital capitalism through a comparative and interdisciplinary lens. Bringing together perspectives from STS, economics, and Japanese studies, along with insights from practice, the workshop seeks to open-up a productive dialogue on how emerging technologies, digital capitalism, and scientific cultures co-constitute one another. The two-day workshop is jointly hosted by the DIJ and RWTH Aachen University. The sessions on March 12 (“Digital Technology in Context”) will be live-streamed. They will examine the co-evolution of digital technologies, digital capitalism, and scientific cultures through institutional, sociocultural, and epistemic contexts — with a specific focus on Japan. Details and registration here