As societies age, eldercare faces mounting challenges that technology alone cannot solve. The article „Care-led innovation: the case of eldercare in France and in Japan“, co-authored by DIJ researcher Sébastien Lechevalier, Yuko Tamaki Welply, Christophe Humbert, Katsunori Shimohara, and Jean-Marie Robine, introduces the French–Japanese research project INNOVCARE, whose aim is to develop fundamental research on the heterogeneous and evolving needs of older adults and to incorporate it into the conception and development of these technologies, with the aim of promoting a form of innovation led by care. Comparing France and Japan and emphasizing dignity, relational autonomy, and quality of life, the study highlights how an ethics of care approach can bridge the gap between social needs and technological innovation, aiming to empower both those receiving care and their caregivers. The article is published open access in the International Journal of Care and Caring (April 2025, early view).

What can literary and artistic works reveal about their time – and how do they shape it? In her new book Terayama Shūji – Literat, Theatermacher, Filmregisseur. Zur Konstruktion seines Nachkriegsjapan im Zeichen globaler, nationaler und lokaler Verflechtungen, DIJ researcher Carolin Fleischer-Heininger explores the construction of postwar Japan through literary, dramatic, and cinematic works of Terayama Shūji (1935–1983). Her study considers the different spatial frames of reference – Aomori, Japan and the world – that guided Terayama’s views and analyses his works with regard to formal and stylistic characteristics. As she shows, Terayama shaped Japan’s cultural landscape by mirroring Japanese society and its narratives. Consequently, Terayama became one of Japan’s most influential and controversial cultural figures. Drawing on theories of globalization and cultural history, Fleischer-Heininger also examines how Terayama’s works negotiate narratives of national identity and historiography in postwar Japan.

The spring issue of our DIJ Newsletter features updates on our research, publications, and events as well as news from the Institute, our team, and our outreach activities. We hope you will enjoy exploring this new edition of the DIJ Newsletter. If you haven’t done so yet, you can subscribe to receive our Newsletters directly to your inbox. The full issues and subscription form are available here.

The new issue of Contemporary Japan includes research articles on new forms of labor market dualization in the platform economy (Deborah Giustini), an analysis of Murakami Ryu’s Popular Hits of the Showa Era from the perspective of precarity (Barbara Greene), a discussion of media discourses of the peaceful use of nuclear power in the early postwar period (Jincao Wang), an analysis of Japanese identity construction through railway technology (Taku Tamaki), narratives of multiculturalism and community-building among Nikkei in the city of Toyota (Scott Ma and Mariana Alonso Ishihara), and an assessment of political rhetoric, public contest outcomes, and populism in 21st century Japanese politics (Petter Lindgren). The book review section covers publications on Jesuit enterprise in Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on the impact of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on psychological science, on East-West encounters in Japanese art, and on the history of the Japanese business community in Düsseldorf.

DIJ researcher Carolin Fleischer-Heininger’s latest publication “Perspektiven auf Blindheit in Beruna no shippo (1996) von Gunji Nanae“ studies the discussion of blindness as a disability in Gunji’s autobiographical novel Beruna no shippo. A close reading, taking into account theories from Disability Studies, shows that the novel is aimed at a general public that promotes guide dogs. At the same time, the novel portrays blindness – in particular with regard to mobility and motherhood – as a difference and as a deficit. Carolin’s analysis is preceded by an introductory section on the author, the novel, and the context in which it was written and received. It also includes comments on blindness as a disability in Japan and in Japanese literature as well as a review of related research. Her chapter was published in Formationsprozesse japanischer Literatur: Selbstreflexionen, Metafiktion und die Relevanz des Mediums (EB-Verlag 2025), edited by Lisette Gebhardt and Christian Chappelow. 

A new open access paper, co-authored by DIJ’s Sébastien Lechevalier and Malo Mofakhami analyses the diverse effects of the first wave of digitalization on job satisfaction through a comparison between Japan and France. The study neither finds substantial differences between the two countries regarding the impact of digital use on work organization practices nor a direct effect of digital use on job satisfaction. However, digital use is correlated to some work organization practices, such as autonomy, flexibility, and learning, through which it has positive mediated effects. The major source of the digital divide, in terms of satisfaction, is, in both countries, related to the perceived absence of digital skills by some workers. „Assessing job satisfaction in the era of digital transformation: a comparative study of the first wave of tasks digitalization in Japan and France“ is published online first in the European Business Review (Springer). 

A new book chapter by DIJ researcher Carolin Fleischer-Heininger analyses the novel ‘Chiryō-tō’ (Therapy Station, 1990) by the Japanese Nobel Prize laureate Ōe Kenzaburō with regard to its two contrasting visions of the future. The first shows a technology-based, exclusive society of the ‘chosen’, the second an inclusive community of ‘failures’. Using the depiction of intellectual disability – particularly through the character of Hikari – the novel criticises destructive narratives of progress and creates a vision of a more humane society. The text is interpreted as a time-critical commentary on Japan’s affinity for technology and as a plea for more inclusion. Carolin’s chapter „Zwischen destruktivem Fortschritt und inklusiver Menschengerechtigkeit: Zukunftsentwürfe als Zeitkritik und Kompass in Chiryō-tō von Ōe Kenzaburō (1935–2023)“ is published in the volume Regenerative Zukünfte und künstliche Intelligenz: SDG-Forschung, Konzepte, Lösungsansätze zur Nachhaltigkeit (SpringerVS 2024), co-edited by Kai Gondlach, Birgit Brinkmann, Mark Brinkmann, and Julia Plath.

The winter issue of our DIJ Newsletter features updates on our research, publications, and events as well as news from the Institute, our team, and our alumni. We hope you will enjoy exploring this new edition of the DIJ Newsletter. If you haven’t done so yet, you can subscribe to receive our Newsletters directly to your inbox. The full issues and subscription form are available here.