DIJ research fellows Dolf-Alexander Neuhaus and Torsten Weber, doctoral researchers Merle Kartscher and Francesca Lerz as well as eight DIJ alumni will participate as presenters, discussants, and chairs in the Annual Meeting of the Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ). Dolf will present his paper “The Essence of Japanese Development Aid? Genealogies of Liberal Thought from Empire to Postwar” in the panel “Imagining Empire, Constructing Asia: Knowledge and Authority in Japanese Thought from Prewar to Postwar”, chaired by Torsten who will also serve as discussant. Merle will give her paper “Women on the Savage Border: Discourses of Indigeneity and Gender in the ‘Taiwan aikoku fujin'” in the panel “(Re)Creating Japanese Colonial Peripheries: Gender, Education, and Science Across Empire and Cold War” and Francesca will present her paper “Negotiating Identity: Zeami’s Nō Aesthetics in Medieval Japan” in the panel “Reimagining Nō Theatre: Tradition, Modernity, and the Multiplicity of Identity”. The conference takes place at Sophia University Tokyo from July 4-5, 2026. Programme and details here.