Events category: Webinar

28 September 2023

Youth political representation in an aging Japan

Young people in Japan are considerably underrepresented in many of the country’s political institutions, leaving decision-making mostly in the hands of older politicians. This age bias in politics may have profound consequences for the structuring of welfare policies in Japan, which faces a declining birth rate and rapidly aging population. In this webinar, Dr.McClean explained why young politicians are so rare, provided evidence that many Japanese voters would like to see this age bias corrected, and demonstrated how the shortage of young politicians significantly affects both democracy and the social policies promoted and implemented by the government.

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11 October 2023

Has Ainu culture disappeared? No, it is alive and strong.

Chiri Yukie (1903-1922) published Ainu Shin’yōshū (Collected Ainu Mythological Tales) in 1923. It was the very first book published by an Ainu person in the Ainu language, and it remains the most widely read work of Ainu literature to this day. Professor Nakagawa, a renowned researcher into the Ainu language, has been recording Ainu literature across Hokkaido since 1976. In this talk, on the 120th anniversary of Yukie Chiri’s birth and the 100th anniversary of her book, Professor Nakagawa discussed the enchanting world of Ainu tales and the ongoing movement to revive Ainu language and culture.

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26 September 2023

Declining Birth Rates and Innovative Policy

Birth Rates in Japan and the UK have been declining significantly over recent decades, a trend also seen in other OECD countries. Continued long-term declines in fertility may produce large economic and social challenges for the societies affected. These could include changes in policy and institutions that make childbearing and women’s careers more compatible and ways to share the support of an ageing population more equitably through different pension and child support arrangements. In this webinar, moderated by Willem Adema from the OECD’s Social Policy Division, the panelists analyzed the multifaceted factors driving the decline in birth rates in Japan and the UK, establishing correlations with educational level and socio-economic status, and exploring innovative policy responses.

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1 June 2023

Global Chip War

The semiconductor industry is at the centre of the geopolitical dispute between the US and China, given its importance to the development of future technologies. The production of advanced semiconductors is concentrated in Asia, with Taiwan producing around 90% of the world’s most advanced chips. Tensions in this area have the potential to affect the global supply chain, affecting countries around the world. In this webinar, the panellists discussed the current status of the global competition over microchips, the challenges we face, and the implications for the global economy and future relations between countries.

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16 May 2023

The War in Ukraine from a Japanese Perspective

More than a year into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, there is no clear sign yet of the end of the conflict. The war has led to a series of far-reaching consequences, including escalating nuclear threats, increasing tensions between the US and China, and a rethink of the security strategy for the Indo-Pacific region. In this webinar, Dr Michito Tsuruoka analysed the war in Ukraine from a Japanese perspective. He explored what the war means for Japan, the Japanese government’s response, its commitment to the rules-based international order with Japan holding the G7 Presidency this year, and the potential impact on Japan’s relations with the US and Europe.

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10 May 2023

Film Screening & Discussion - Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop

Johnny Kitagawa’s legendary male-only talent agency trained young boys to become superstars. But for over 50 years, Japan has kept Kitagawa’s dark secret – a long history of allegations of sexual abuse, made by boys in his agency. Even after the music mogul’s death in 2019, the Japanese media remained largely silent. Why? Journalist Mobeen Azhar explores the suffocating reality of being a J-pop idol and the influence that Kitagawa had on the media, and exposes the brutal consequences of turning a blind eye.

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3 April 2023

Quiet Exits: Japan as an Emerging Emigration Country

Emigration by Japanese citizens has increased considerably in recent decades. The number of Japanese nationals living overseas exceeded 1.3 million in 2015, and the number of those holding permanent residency in other countries hit a record high of 557,034 in 2022, despite COVID-related mobility restrictions. In this seminar, Dr Nana Oishi discussed the multi-dimensional factors that drive Japanese young people and mid-career professionals to move overseas. Based on quantitative surveys and in-depth interview data, she elucidated the complexity of the contemporary Japanese diaspora. She also advocates for the establishment of policies to facilitate ‘brain circulation’ and ‘human resources circulation’ more broadly.

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21 March 2023

Handbook of the Ainu Language

Handbook of the Ainu Language is the first book in English to describe the Ainu language fully and systematically. It aims to preserve invaluable knowledge about Ainu, a language-isolate previously spoken in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kurils, which is now on the verge of extinction. Ainu was not a written language, but despite the existence of a huge documented stock of oral literature, it is significantly under-described in terms of grammar. It is the only non-Japonic language of Japan and is typologically different not only from Japanese but also from other Northeast Asian languages. In this book launch, the author of the book explained the Ainu Language and its main features.

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16 March 2023

Making Audiences: A Social History of Japanese Cinema and Media

Film has always been a key technology for producing and disseminating attachments to ‘the social.’ Making Audiences explores the century-old relationships between Japanese media and social subjects, analyzing the connections between cinema audiences and five significant discursive terms: minshu (the people), kokumin (the national populace), toa minzoku (the East Asian race), taishu (the masses), and shimin (citizens). Fujiki narrates the history of Japan’s transmedia ecology, illuminating cinema’s enmeshment with other forms of media, from vaudeville to the internet, so that cinema audiences emerge as simultaneously shaped by and shaping social history.

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25 January 2023

A History of Popular Culture in Japan

A History of Popular Culture in Japan provides the first historical and analytical overview of popular culture in Japan from its origins in the 17th century to the present day, using it to explore broader themes of conflict, power and meaning in Japanese history. E. Taylor Atkins shows how Japan was one of the earliest sites for the development of mass-produced, market-oriented cultural products consumed by the urban middle and working classes. In this book launch, E. Taylor Atkins presented an overview to help understand four centuries of popular culture in Japan as an arena for struggles over power, resources, identities, nationhood, ideology, political rights, civil liberties and personal autonomy.

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