Events category: Seminar

30 January 2014

Looking Back at Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbor: Avoiding War 1936-41

It is relatively rare for a historian to get the chance to engage in critical reflection of his own work. In this short talk, Dr Antony Best, Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics, addressed the most significant issues that he discussed in his first book “Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbor: Avoiding War in East Asia, 1936-1941” (Routledge, London, 1995). This book delves into the history of Britain and the origins of the Pacific War, including the role of intelligence and the economic factors that helped to propel Britain and Japan towards conflict. In addition, he reflected on the changes to the historical record since the date of its first publication in 1995 and how the book might now be revised in the light of different new methodological approaches towards the writing of history. In particular, he discussed how the study of public opinion and institutions beyond Whitehall can be usefully incorporated in order to provide a more complete picture of British interaction with Japan in this crucial period.

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26 November 2013

Multisensory Internet Communication and Virtual Love

The era of hyperconnected internet allows for new embodied interaction between humans, animals and computers, leading to new forms of social and physical expression. The technologies being developed will in the future augment or mix the real world together with the virtual world. Humans will be able to experience new types of communication environments using all of the senses, where we can see virtual objects in the real environment, virtually touch someone from a distance away, and smell and taste virtual food. Our physical world will be augmented with sensors connected to the internet, buildings and physical spaces, cars, clothes and even our bodies. In this seminar we also asked the question: will this merging of computing with the physical world lead to us developing personal feelings for computers, machines, and robots?

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13 November 2013

Japan’s Direction: Pacifism and Legitimate Use of Force

How is the Japanese debate about the use of force evolving? In a fast-evolving East Asian security environment, there is an intensifying debate among Japanese politicians and legal experts about when the use of force in international relations is acceptable, and the interpretation, and possible revision, of Japan’s post-War “Peace Constitution”.

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3 October 2013

Why Japanese Studies? Considering the Past, Present and Future

This roundtable aimed to stimulate a discussion on Japanese Studies in the United Kingdom and the wider world in celebration of fifty years of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield. By reflecting on the past, present and future of Japan and Japanese Studies, the speakers Professor Glenn Hook (Chair), Professor Hugo Dobson, Graham Healey, Dr Mark Pendleton and Sir David Warren will offer their own answers to the question, ‘Why Japanese Studies?’

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4 July 2013

Contemporary Japanese Poetry: Word, Image, Film and Translation

This event brought together one of Japan’s most prominent contemporary poets, the multi-award winning Gozo Yoshimasu, and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and translator Forrest Gander. Recently, Gozo Yoshimasu has been working with the medium of film, combining the moving image with his poetry. For this event, he showed some of his film work and gave a poetry reading. Forrest Gander will discuss his translations of the work of Gozo Yoshimasu and other Japanese poets and his relationship with Japanese poetry.

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2 July 2013

Economic Integration with the Neighbours - a Good Thing?

Japan is seeking closer economic relations with its neighbours by signing up to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The UK, by contrast, is heading in the opposite direction, with increasing talk of leaving the EU. So who is right? The EU was founded largely as a way of binding former enemies together through trading links. The same motivations may be a factor in Asia, which suffers a continued legacy of friction and disputed borders. In that sense, is it job done for the EU? What does Japan stand to gain from the TPP? And can Prime Minister Abe push a deal through against the opposition of powerful forces such as the agricultural lobby?

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18 June 2013

Long Term Re-designing: Mass Media and Grassroots Activism After 3/11

In this talk, Professor Shin Mizukoshi of the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies at the University of Tokyo and Dr Kiyoko Toriumi will outline the challenges of various research projects after 3/11, and will consider the role and perspective of media and communication studies. With their networks of researchers and practitioners from diverse fields such as design, engineering, arts, media and education, they have been involved in rebuilding communities in the disaster area. They will illustrate the challenge facing trans-disciplinary projects in this talk whilst elaborating on some of these projects. This talk will foster a discussion on how media studies could be approached through practical collaboration with other fields.

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21 May 2013

Energy Security in the Middle East and North Africa

The security of energy supply remains the most important objective of current energy policy in the UK, Japan and for countries across the globe. For this reason, nations often work to reduce their reliance on energy imports. Any disruption of energy supplies as a result of political turmoil and/or terrorism in oil- or gas-producing nations can have serious economic, political and security implications for many countries.

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30 April 2013

China and Regional Security: How Should Neighbouring Powers Respond?

China’s continuing enhancement of its international presence is a result both of the country’s growing economic and military strength. Since 2008, China has been increasingly assertive in its approach to territorial issues. Can China and its neighbours still build stable and cooperative ‘win-win’ strategic relationships to deal with regional security issues such as North Korean nuclear aggression, boundary questions and navigation and resource rights? This seminar examined these themes and considered them from a neutral British perspective.

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18 April 2013

Can “Abenomics” Lift Japan Out of its 15-Year Deflation?

Japan has struggled with chronic deflation since its financial and real-estate bubble burst 20 years ago, triggering a severe financial crisis in 1997-1998. Against this backdrop, the LDP won the general election last December, ushering into the limelight again Shinzo Abe who has since embarked on a new economic initiative, nicknamed “Abenomics, ” which has pushed equity markets up by more than 30%. In this seminar the speakers address the question: ‘What is “Abenomics”, and can it achieve its goal of lifting Japan out of deflation?’

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