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

Japan is a highly attractive, but difficult market for multinational companies. Their presence is by far the lowest among the OECD when measured by the stock of foreign direct investment relative to GDP. One of the biggest hurdles is the recruitment of qualified personnel. What strategies do foreign companies in Japan pursue to address the human resource challenge? To what extent do their strategies incorporate practices applied in their home market? This DIJ Roundtable presents findings from interviews with 25 experts from the field of human resource management in ten German companies in Japan. The presentation by Matthias Pilz will be followed by a panel discussion with Shigeki Egami and Carolina Kawakubo, moderated by Franz Waldenberger, a Q&A session, and a networking reception. Details and registration here

Die Jause geht weiter! In Frankreich ist das café philosophique eine Veranstaltung zum Philosophieren, an der jede Person teilnehmen kann. Auch in Japan gibt es bereits ähnliche Programme auf dem Land. The University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy (UTCP) und das Deutsche Institut für Japanstudien (DIJ) organisieren gemeinsam ein philosophisches Café auch in Tokyo, allerdings mit einer kleinen Besonderheit: Wir möchten deutschsprachigen Personen die Möglichkeit des Austauschs bieten und daher das Café auf Deutsch abhalten. Das Organisationsteam (Yukiko Kuwayama, UTCP und Sebastian Polak-Rottmann, DIJ) freut sich, Sie dieses Mal auf den Campus Komaba der Universität Tokyo einzuladen, um gemeinsam in entspannter Atmosphäre über ein Thema zu diskutieren. Fachliche Vorkenntnisse benötigen Sie nicht. Bei Interesse melden Sie sich bitte bis zum 27. Februar an. Weitere Informationen hier

In 1907, amidst the national triumph following the Russo-Japanese War and the domestic unrest symbolised by the Hibiya riots, Haga Yaichi published Kokuminsei jūron [Ten Essays on National Character]. As an heir to the kokugaku tradition, a “father” of Japan’s literary canon, and a transmitter of German philology, Haga identified ten characteristics of the Japanese people in this widely circulated volume. While scholars in the 1970s embraced it as a precursor to nihonjinron, recent scholarship has reinterpreted it primarily as a tool of governmental suppression. This presentation challenges both interpretations through a close reading and contextual analysis. It aims to expand our understanding beyond familiar themes of imperial loyalism or agrarian nostalgia, reframing kokuminsei as a dynamic site of identity production.  Details and registration here