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。

Die bundesunmittelbare Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland sucht für die Leitung ihres Deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien in Tokyo zum 1. Oktober 2026 eine/n neue/n Direktorin/Direktor (m/w/d). Die Amtszeit beträgt fünf Jahre. Eine einmalige Wiederbestellung ist möglich. Aufgabe des Instituts ist die wissenschaftliche Erforschung des modernen Japan und der deutsch-japanischen Beziehungen mit den Methoden der Geistes-, Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Das Institut fördert die Zusammenarbeit mit Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern in Japan, der Region und darüber hinaus u.a. durch gemeinsame Forschungsvorhaben, Konferenzen, Publikationen und die Vergabe von Stipendien. Neben der Forschungsförderung verfolgt das Institut auch den Auftrag der Max Weber Stiftung, das gegenseitige Verständnis zwischen Deutschland und Japan zu fördern. Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier

We are recruiting one librarian for our DIJ library. Tasks include general library duties, managing e-resources, research assistance/consultation and library usage instruction to researchers, and the acquisition of books and periodicals from domestic and international publishers. We welcome applications from qualified candidates with a university degree, librarian qualification, at least five years of experience in library service, experience in cataloging materials in English and in using e-resources, such as databases e-books/journals, and internet. The successful candidate should be able and willing to run the library as sole librarian. Applicants must be fluent in English and in Japanese, and preferably German. They must either have Japanese nationality or otherwise be in possession of a Japanese working visa. The employment would be first on a two-year basis, preferably starting on March 1, 2025, with the option of a permanent position thereafter, if certain conditions are met. Individuals interested in this position are invited to submit a cover letter stating their motivation for this position and CV in English via our online application system no later than December 1, 2024. Please see the full job advertisement in English and in Japanese

The DIJ mourns the loss of Kiyonari Tadao, who passed away on July 23 at the age of 91. After studying economics at the University of Tokyo, Kiyonari initially worked for a government organisation in finance. From 1972 until his retirement in 2005, he was Professor of Business Administration at Hosei University in Tokyo. From 1996 to 2005, he also headed the university as president and promoted its internationalisation. He was already associated with Germany during his time as a student and supported the DIJ in many ways after its foundation in 1988, for example by organising the library cooperation that still exists today. In 1994, he played a major role in the preparation and support of a DIJ-organised conference on economic integration and regional development in East Asia. The proceedings of the conference have been published in German in the DIJ Miscellanea series (volume 11, 1995) and also contain a contribution by Kiyonari on ‘Globalisation and Regional Transformation – East Asia and Kyushu-Okinawa’. The photo shows Kiyonari with the founding director of the DIJ, Josef Kreiner, at a symposium at Hosei University in 2008.