JAPAN - PREMODERN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY

4-6 September 2017

Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

September 4, day 1

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Yoshikazu Suzuki, Kobe University

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conditionscounterfactual conditionstemporal conditionsgeneric conditionshabitual
conditionsmain clause
speech intention

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conditional clause
topicalization

GUEST LECTURE
Ningy: The Unexpected World of Japanese Dolls
Alan Scott Pate
What is a doll? For the majority of cultures around the world, dolls are largely
restricted to the ludic world of the child. Playthings. Insignificant. In Japanese, the word for
doll is ningy, which translates directly as human form. And herein lies a vast world of
difference. In Japan, ningy have a legacy of 13,000 years of continuous development,
extending from the dog clay figures of the Jmon Period (14,000 to 300 BCE), to the
haniwa funerary figures of the Kofun Period (250-537 CE), to the elaborate hina-ningy of
the Girls Day display that peaked during the middle of the Edo Period (1615-1868). Over the
millennia, the Japanese have developed a doll form to meet nearly every social exigency,
from protective talisman to diplomatic gift, from parlor trick to substitute child for the barren.
So rich and diverse a culture has evolved around ningy, that treating them casually as mere

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dolls is to grossly underestimate their cultural and artistic puissance.
While a complete survey of Japanese ningy history and form is impossible in this
context, a brief foray into three, perhaps unexpected, traditions can serve to illustrate the
point. First, we will look at the basal connection of ningy and health practices, looking at
dolls as talismans as well as medical tools. A number of ningy forms developed over the
ages specifically to protect the child, the home, and the nation from malevolent forces, as
well as particular forms that meld with traditional medical practices; each evolved with its
own attendant set of beliefs and ritual practices. Secondly, we will delve into the world of
ningy as entertainment, where dolls serve as the primary actor; from the celebrated
bunraku-ningy puppet tradition to the lesser known karakuri mechanical dolls and including
the shockingly beautiful iki-ningy (living doll) traditions that delighted both Japanese and
Western audiences as they spread from beyond Japanese entertainment pavilions to private
and museum collections around the world. And finally, carrying us into the modern era, we
look at ningy as a high art form. By briefly reviewing the ningy geijitsu undo (art doll
movement) of the early 1930s we can see how Japanese doll artisans themselves struggled
with establishing ningy within a proper context following Japans wholesale adoption of
Western cultural rubrics that strictly segregated art from craft.
Through such a survey it is my hope that the historical, social and artistic facets of
ningy will draw further attention to this under-explored aspect of Japanese art and culture
and inspire further study and admiration.

SESSION 1, ROOM A - Modern Literature

The kitsuneken game in Miyazawa Kenjis The Bears of Mount Nametoko and the
Concept of Environment
Adrian BERCEA, Kansai University
Miyazawa Kenjis story, The Bears of Mount Nametoko, tells the drama of the hunter
Kojr, who has to kill bears to support his family. Living in the mountains in a time when
lumbering was prohibited, he has no other way of living but to go periodically to the village
and sell bear fur and liver to a sly merchant. However, he does not feel any pride in that and
the bears like him.
In the previous literature there was the tendency to stress the relation between Kojr
and the bears and to focus especially on Kojrs drama and his relation with the nature, but I
consider that the triadic relation among the merchant, Kojr and the bears makes up the
backbone of this story.
Kitsuneken is a rather old and more regional version of janken, the most common
rock-paper-scissors game in Japan. The word kitsuneken appears only one time in the story in
a small fragment used explicitly to reflect the ideal merchant-hunter-hunt relation where no
one has pre-eminence or dominance upon the other. Although the narrator reveals himself a
few other times throughout the story to express his point of view or sentiments, this fragment
has an evident rhetorical character and it is crucial in the economy of the story.
In this paper, rather than focusing on Kojr and his interior struggle as one destined
to live a dual life between nature and city, I will explain that kitsuneken functions as a
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mise en abyme reflecting the triad relation between Kojr, the merchant and the bears, on
which the story is built. I will also discuss the triad relation as a recursive pattern to be found
in other stories by Miyazawa, such as The Restaurant of Many Orders or Fur of the Glacial
Mouse used to express his idea of environmental balance.

A Depiction of Japanese Women in a Cultural Translation - Womens Image in Etsu

Sugimotos A Daughter of the Samurai
Andreea-Larisa AVRAM, University of Bucharest
Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto moved to the United States two decades before World War I,
and she published her first novel and best known work, A Daughter of the Samurai, almost
one decade after it. It has been argued1 that hers was the first piece of literature to introduce
Japanese culture to an American audience, in a manner that was both appealing and easily
approachable culturally speaking.
This paper aims to extract the instances in Sugimotos novel where she depicts
Japanese women and their role in society. We will compare these examples to those
Sugimoto gives with regards to American women in the same time period and, for a complete
overview, we will bring into discussion the depiction of American women by American
scholars2.
As we will see, womens role in Japanese society was well established, although it
seemed to be lower than that of women in the USA. However, womens suffrage in the USA
only took place at the beginning of the 20th century, so a comparison between the situations
in both countries may bring forth more similarities than differences.
As a result, our purpose is not only to show the image of Japanese women as
promoted by Sugimoto, but also to question if and how she succeeds in translating this
delicate aspect of the Japanese culture into a completely different one. Moreover, a
comparison between Japan and the USA with respect to womens position and role in society
will make for a complete overview of the situation. We propose an approach based in
imagology, applied to Sugimotos unique work of cultural translation.

Yoshiya Nobuko and the Occidentalism: Focusing on "To the Limit of the Sea" [JP]
Kyoko Kinoshita, Kansai University

1
Hirakawa, Setsuko. Etsu I. Sugimoto's A Daughter of the Samurai in America, Comparative Literature
Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, East-West Issue, pp. 397-407, 1993.
2
Chafe, William H. "World War II as a Pivotal Experience for American Women." In Women and War: The
Changing Status of American Women from the 1930s to the 1940s, edited by Maria Diedrich and Dorothea
Fischer-Hornung, pp. 21-34. New York: Berg, 1990.
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SESSION 2, ROOM B - Philosophy, Architecture, Aesthetics

[JP]
Anna Kato, Tokyo University

(2011)

The anatomy of the place where children play

Dana Milea, Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest
The idea for this research topic began to form when I came into contact with the
recollections of childhood play experiences pertaining to a young Japanese architect. She
captivatingly recounted how she conceived of the limits within and the boundaries of the
places where she played as a child and how these places and their possibilities used to expand
with time. Both the spaces and their limits seemed to be constantly subjected to two types of
constraints: physical (i.e. a reflection of the functionality of the space as play recipient) and
mental (strongly influenced by the voice of the authority of a responsible adult or, later, by
her own or by the group consciousness). This made me explore to what extent her experience
is similar to that of other Japanese and what are the forms that a play territory and its limits
can take.
Having a strong grip of what makes a child know where, through where and how far
he can go, how much he can explore and expand his playing territory is an important aspect

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for an urban planner. Even though children seem to be able to play no matter where, the
fact that cities as we know them are less and less friendly playgrounds for kids is a threat to
the mere existence of a society, a threat that must be addressed.
This study doesnt aspire to present itself as a synthesis for the topic it engages, but
rather as one of the first stepping stones towards a more comprehensive research
investigating the relation between children and the places where they play and its reflections
in architecture and urban planning related design processes.

Philosophy as a Method of Spiritual Progress

Roman Paca, Kanda University of International Studies
Many Japanese scholars seem to make a clear-cut distinction between thought and
philosophy; for example, when talking about Tokugawa intellectual history they use the
term shis (usually translated as thought), and when talking about Nishida and the
Kyto school they use the term tetsugaku (philosophy), which was coined by Nishi
Amane in the Meiji period. But why does this happen, and what is the difference between
shis and tetsugaku?
On the other hand, many researchers in the field of Japanese Studies have typically
used Western ideas, notions and concepts as a lens to examine Japanese texts, and there have
been very few attempts to turn the tables. There seems to exist a tacit understanding that
Western philosophy is different from Japanese philosophy (or from East-Asian
philosophy, for that matter), yet it is not always clear whether the attribute Japanese refers
to the geographical location, or to a cluster of embedded features that sets it apart.
In my presentation, I touch upon these issues in an attempt to answer the question
whether there is such a thing as Japanese philosophy. Drawing on Hadot (1995) and Smith
(2016), I discuss the possibility of viewing the philosophical discourse not as an end in itself,
but rather as a forma mentis where reason (the mind, or the heart) actually serves the
purpose of spiritual advancement.

Hadot, Pierre. 1995. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault.
Oxford: Blackwell
Smith, J. 2016. The Philosopher: A History in Six Types. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University
Press

SESSION 3, ROOM A - Manga, Anime, Visual Kei

Behind the Curtains of the Visual Kei Music Industry
Laura Paszkowsky (Heidelberg University)
Arisa Prestat (Copenhagen University)
Although Visual Kei has gained a lot of attention in the recent years across western
countries and therefore is no longer limited only to Japan, there is still, at least from an
academic perspective, not a lot of research done on crowd behaviour and the relationship
between the fans and band members at smaller visual kei concerts.

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 At first glance, one might presume that the popularity of the bands depends mostly
upon the quality of their music. However, networking with fans is another, perhaps even
more vitally important factor for bands to attain success. By making the fans feel as though
they have an essential relation to the band, they are able to make the customers come back for
more. In a lot of ways, Visual Kei can be compared to host clubs. However, compared to host
clubs, where both parties involved are made aware of the general conduct in such an
environment, it is much less transparent in the Visual Kei industry. While it is possible for
musicians to refuse such a lifestyle, many artists chose to accept since the concerts
themselves often lead to low profits. As an additional gain, the popularity of the band will
frequently increase if they accept the conditions of the system.
The consequences of this system are numerous. The system creates an environment of
competition between fans, resulting in additional conflicts. Furthermore, concert participants
who are not aware of the system will often clash with fans who regularly attend these
concerts. The musical quality of visual kei music is lowered as a whole due to the fact that
other factors play such an important part of the Visual Kei scene.
Due to lack of academic resources we will mainly depend on data collection through
participant observation at the Visual Kei concerts and surveys.

[JP]
Olga Ilina, Tsukuba University
19902000
2000

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Serial Experiments Lain1998

1988
2011

2001
1993
20032004

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AnimemaniacsMagazine20022012

201241AnimemaniacsMagazine
AniMag3
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Official PlayStation

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AnimeGuide
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The New Generation of Doujin: Changes in Doujin Distribution and Fan Culture
Tau Prestat, Copenhagen University
Doujin culture has undergone great changes over the last decades. Not only are the
three most popular derivative doujin series based on video games, but doujin fan culture and
the distribution possibilities of major conventions such as Comic Market are also
experiencing major developments. For instance, fan-made music arrangements of video game
soundtracks have become increasingly important in spreading attention to franchises through
internet memes and live concerts. Furthermore, doujin games are even beginning to create
more international awareness by being ported to the Playstation 4 and exported to the west.
Since events such as Comic Market reach above half a million participants
bi-annually, the size and influence of doujin culture should not be overlooked academically.
Touhou Project has acted as a catalyst for many of the changes in doujin distribution and fan
culture, and as such the primary focus of this research will be to examine the contemporary
fan culture of this particular franchise.
Due to the lack of academic resources relating to contemporary doujin culture, the
majority of the research will be conducted through participant observation at doujin
distribution events, as well as doujin stores. Furthermore, doujin circles and participants will
be surveyed and interviewed. Additionally, major internet phenomenon related to the success
of Touhou project will similarly be examined.

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www.animag.ru
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SESSION 4, ROOM B - Romania and Japan
Discovering Japan in 1915s Universul literar Romanian Magazine
Angela Drgan, Dimitrie Cantemir University
Japan has been present in Romanian media for a long time. In recent years,
technological advancement and entertainment industry products, such as anime or manga,
have been discussed most frequently in the news, on Japan. Political or economic news can
also be found but they are rather scarce.
This was obviously not the case at the turn of the 20th century when most of the
information on Japan revolved on its political and military involvement in the world.
Nevertheless, after the Russo-Japanese war, that took place from 1904 to 1905, one can
observe that Romanian readers were more interested in gaining knowledge about this nation.
Discovering Japans culture and understanding it were more often present in Romanian
magazines and newspapers.
My paper will focus on Universul literar magazine issued in 1915 and the article O
scrisoare din Japonia. Calea zeilor (A letter from Japan. The way of the Gods) that
explains Shintoism to Romanian readers. As in my previous presentations concerning Japans
image in the Romanian mass-media in the first half of the 20th century, my main concern is
the type of information, in this case religion, and its source, acquired directly or indirectly.

Book covers of James Clavells Shgun: A Case Study for the History of Japonisme in
Romania
Radu Leca, Affiliated Fellow, IIAS Leiden
The Romanian translation of the novel Shgun by James Clavell was first published in
1988 and then reprinted in 1992, 1994, 2007 and 2008. By analysing the covers of the various
editions, I show how their visual elements engaged with the cultural imaginary of communist
and post-communist Romania. Thus, the cover of the 1988 edition reproduced a historically
accurate folding screen. In doing so, it defined the novel as a historical saga that made present
a foreign reality as a form of respite from the mundaneness of the communist regime. In
contrast, the covers of the post-communist editions employed visual collages that included
stills from the TV series along with incongruous elements such as count Dracula, thereby
interfacing the text with visual and cinematic stereotypes. This change in iconography is
representative of the changing significance of the novel: from escapist history to a celebration
of unrestricted access to foreign media.
This study case unpacks the metonymic role of book covers in constructing the
imaginative space of the narrative. It exemplifies how the materiality and paratexts of a book
were just as important as its textual content when considering its cultural impact. The
iconography of book covers resonated with a wider field of exotic cultural tropes, forming a
part of the under-researched history of the influence of Japonisme in Romania.

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Friendship Societies and Cultural Diplomacy during the Cold War: The Romanian -
Japanese Case
Viviana Iacob, New Europe College, Bucharest
Friendship societies with western countries had a seminal role in pre-dtente Cold
War cultural diplomacy. In the absence of diplomatic relations, these associations initiated
the first contact with the West and paved the way to blooming cultural exchanges during the
dtente (from mid-sixties onward). Their activity was unidirectional in the early fifties, as it
entailed the circulation of publications and the organization of events with a rather reduced
impact such as exhibitions or conferences. Nevertheless, their main role was to gather
contacts and enlarge the network of individuals that could better serve the dissemination of a
socialist countrys culture beyond the Iron Curtain divide in the late fifties and early sixties.
My paper will focus on the work carried out by the Japan-Romania Friendship
Association (JRFA) founded in 1955 by a group of Japanese fellow travelers. By focusing on
the cultural exports that were characteristic to this association in the larger context of
East-West cultural relations between 1955 and 1965, I intend to underline what type of
cultural heritage was favored by Romanian cultural officials in exchanges outside the
socialist camp. My paper reveals a new genealogy to the internationalization of a Southeast
European culture during the Cold War. It points to specific institutionalizations of encounters
that constituted the basis for later transnational circulations of ideas and people from
Southeast Europe to multiple corners of the globe.

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September 5, day 2

KEYNOTE LECTURE
The Battle of Imphal and Hino Ashiheis Literature
Chikako Masuda, Kansai University
39

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(31)(15)(33)

SESSION 5, ROOM A - Postwar Literature

Learning from Japan- Haruki Murakamis Closed Circuit Terrorism
Alexandra Bnic, University of Bucharest
The paper is set to illustrate and analyse Haruki Murakamis perspective over
terrorism and how the event of March 20 1995, the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo
underground, transformed his notion of the narrative, and to put forward the research topic of
a Haruki Murakami terrorist novel: 1Q84 (2009-2010).
Haruki Murakami discusses terrorism in terms of closed and open circuits, in an
interview given in October 2001, he declared: The open circuit is this society, and the closed
circuit is the world of religious fanatics: Islamic fundamentalists or groups like Aum
Shinrikyo. I think they are all the same in a way. Their worlds are perfect, because they are
closed off () In Japan most people think that terrorism is the US own problem. But that
isnt right. The same thing can happen at any moment, in Tokyo, Berlin or Paris, because this
is a war between closed and open circuits, different states of mind (qtd in W French). He
deals with the topic of terrorism in nonfiction and fiction alike, Underground: The Tokyo Gas
Attack and the Japanese Psyche (2003, English translation) and 1Q84 (2009-2010), and in
the two mentioned works he sails from real life terrorists attack to literary made ones. The
outcome is a distinctive perspective over the event of terrorism in the contemporary society.

Yukio Mishima's "Bishin" and His Encounter with European Sculpture

Makiko Kitani, Doshisha University
Yukio Mishima has stayed abroad five times for several months over the course of his
life. He made the first trip as a special correspondent from the Asahi Shimbun Company,
travelling around the world from December 25, 1951 to May 10, 1952.
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 As the public was unable to travel overseas due to the American occupation back then
this first passage Mishima took seemed to receive a huge attention from the public. He
published essays and critics on foreign culture while traveling and had a dialogue with
Keisuke Kinoshita in Paris.
In a travel journal he published, Apollo no Sakazuki (The cup of Apollo, Oct 1952),
one of the most focused topic with the large amount of pages devoted was on European art
that he investigated in art galleries, especially on sculptures.
The first novel after his return to Japan, Manatsu no shi ("The death of Midsummer",
Oct 1952), was written as genuine Japanese novel ". According to Mishima, the novelists
who had been abroad are supposed to write some works on the foreign countries. But he
thought he would never write that kind of novels. However, he wrote the novel regarding to
Venus and the play, Antinous. Despite Mishima could not finish writing the later one, in the
work, Bishin ("The Venus", Dec 1952), he described the inviolable Beauty of the Venus.
In this presentation, I will analyze the relation between the Sculptures in Apollo no
Sakazuki and previous literary works. Then, through Bishin, I aim to discover how Mishima
sublimated European experiences into the his literature.

SESSION 6, ROOM B - Anthropology and Religion

Saikoku Pilgrimage and the Tradition of Omiyage
Mihaela Sighina, Kobe University
Like other Japanese pilgrimages such as Shikoku, the Saikoku route involves the
pilgrim in visiting a number of linked centres of power. The 33 Saikoku temples all enshrine
Kannon. Their engi and oral traditions abound with tales of her great compassion,
mercy and intercession, while images of Kannon are widely venerated as sources and
embodiments of her infinitely compassionate power. The route itself takes the pilgrim on
what is virtually a cultural and historical tour around western Japan, incorporating also many
of its most famous touristic sites as well. According to James Foard, there is some evidence
to suggest that the feudal authorities in Tokugawa Japan encouraged people from Edo and its
environs to go on pilgrimages to Saikoku because this helped develop a sense of
national identity, opening their eyes to the cultural and historical landmarks of Japan.
In response to the needs of ordinary pilgrims, individual temples as well as
commercial publishing houses began to publish pilgrimage-related books. Among these were
road guides (junrei annaiki, dchuki), lavish pictorial guides to famous places (meisho zue),
and pocket prayer-books (goeikash). Such works provided pilgrims with a common matrix
of stories, images, ritual incantations, and directions to help them on the road. In this
presentation, I will focus on such road guides, that serve not only as maps, but also provide
the traveler with the necessary information regarding the things needed on the road and those
that could be bought and taken home as souvenirs (omiyage). Although some of them have
disappeared, a significant number still exist today.
By discussing the history and tradition of such local products I intend to show
that these cultural perceptions of pilgrimage continue to be a very major element in the
pilgrimage today.

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A Consideration of Japanese Festivals in Urban Areas: From Historical Changes in the
Toka-Ebisu "Open Gate" Ceremony at Nishinomiya Shrine
Hironori Arakawa, National Institute of Technology, Akashi College
1106230

30
6000

Our Daily Rice and the Body of Christ: Staple and Ritual Foods in Japan and Romania
Carmen Spunaru Tma, Kobe University
In our highly advanced technology-oriented society, religion and religious beliefs play
a role as important as ever. Within these religious practices, food and eating have remained
constant in that they continue to be both a physiological necessity and an act ritually
performed. My paper aims to be an analysis of food that is offered to the gods or ancestors in
Japanese and Romanian cultures, as well as the customs of sharing said offerings with the
divine beings thought to be present during specific events, and among the participants, in
rituals that create new and strengthen pre-existing community bonds.
The current paper is part of a larger research project focusing on the specific meaning
of offerings made on various occasions, starting from daily occurrences (centered more on
the individual), such as placing a cup of sake on the house altar or on a grave in Japan, or the
offering of a cake to a friend, in the memory of somebody who had passed away and recently
appeared in a dream, in Romania, to bigger events that involve the entire community, such as
annual festivals in Japan, the consecrating of a new church or the performing of a rain charm
in Romania. As a case study, I intend to discuss the Tenjin Festival that takes place every
July in Osaka, and the meaning and role of rice, both as a staple food and something to be
offered to the gods, in an analysis that will touch upon eating as a social act, commensality
with the gods, reunion with deceased ancestors, or the simple act of survival.

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SESSION 7, ROOM A - Gender, Identity, Sexuality
Trendsetters and Masculine Beauty Standards in Contemporary Japan
Adrian Tma, Kobe University
One of the social aspects influenced by the drastic changes taking place in postwar
Japan is the aesthetics of the human body. My current research is concerned with masculinity
and how it is represented (and re-defined in contemporary Japanese society), and in this paper
I intend to focus on facial hair. Facial hair, a marker of masculinity in many cultures, is less
present in the Japanese society. For the past three decades, strong looking men represented a
minority, a part of a subculture centered around raw physicality (such as bodybuilding or
wrestling), while the aesthetic ideal was represented by androgynous men to whom the term
kawaii could be (and was) easily applied.
The present paper will look into the role that the media and other trendsetters played
in the transformation of the male body. What triggered the return to the ideal of the beautiful
youth of pre-modern Japan, and how have the standards changed to re-incorporate a
moustache or a beard in recent years? What caused the transition from the idea that facial hair
is dirty (and thus most Japanese companies still require their male employees to keep their
faces clean-shaven) to the concept of an elegantly bearded gentleman widely promoted by
fashion magazines nowadays? By answering these questions, my research attempts to offer a
better understanding of mens role in contemporary Japanese society, as well as the new
structure of aesthetic standards for masculinity.

Negotiating Discourse and Identities in the Japanese LGBT Boom

Ioana Fotache, Nagoya University
This presentation concerns current LGBT terminology and discourse within the
Japanese queer community, comparing and contrasting indigenous terms with adopted
Western loanwords, and introducing the attitudes that current LGBT people and activists
have towards them, based on current literature and participant observation techniques.
After decades of being restricted to underground magazines, cruising spots, gay bar
areas, and the entertainment sector, Japanese queer identity politics were pushed forward in
the 1990s Gay Boom by grassroots activists. The 2010s have seen a new era in Japanese
LGBT activisminformally referred to as the LGBT Boom, which has brought about a
proliferation of LGBT events and NPOs, as well as increased representation and discussion in
the public sphere. With 11 annual parades, 4 elected politicians, 6 wards recognising
same-sex partnerships to some extent, and an increasing number of advocates, dedicated
spaces, organisations, and awareness campaigns in every prefecture, the LGBT movement
seems to have established itself as a social force in contemporary Japan.
The LGBT Boom has not come without its backlash, as locals struggle to negotiate
their identities in a rapidly changing social climate. Critics point out that the contemporary
Japanese LGBT movement has become ensnared in the phenomenon of global queering,
wherein the terminology, references, and understanding of sexuality are redefined according
to a modern Western model, which can alienate the general population by using inaccessible
terminology or constructed identities that locals do not fully identify with. However, a

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transnational approach can recognise the ongoing process of identity negotiation and
collective identity formation that is creating a hybrid culture between the indigenous queer
tradition and the Western model.

Shouts from Hell: Countermoves from Inside Brothels

Yuhei Yambe, Kyoto University of Art and Design
The rapid development of mass media in the 1920s influenced various classes of
people in Japan. Even in the red-light district, many shgi (sex-workers) became able to
obtain lots of information by reading magazines and newspapers. Even though their freedom
was restricted by the police and the owners of the brothels, many shgi started to reform their
brothels through strikes like other women workers who were trying to get better working
conditions. At the same time, many shgi also escaped from brothels, and some even became
writers.
One of the most famous writers was Mori Mitsuko (1905-?). Mori escaped from
Yoshiwara Ykaku in April 1926, and she published her personal notes in a magazine called
Fujokai on August 1926. Mori clearly showed that it was possible to retire freely as well as
how she escaped. According to these personal notes, Mori wrote a letter to Yanagihara
Byakuren (1885-1967), a famous female poet, and asked for her help before escaping.
Mori's personal notes also strongly inspired another shgi, Matsumura Kyko
(1900-?). Matsumura read Moris work in a brothel, and used the same method to escape
from the brothel. After escaping, Matsumura wrote of an impressive moment when she read
Mori's words 'There is still some hope for us. There is a place to go for help () How can we
give up without fighting?' (Matsumura Kyko "Jigoku no Hangyakusha" Nyonin Geijutsu,
August 1929). Mori's message gave hope to Matsumura for survival in the brothel which she
called 'hell'.
In this presentation, focusing on writings by escaped shgi, I will explore how they
expressed their feelings through writing. I will also consider how their writings inspired other
shgi working at brothels.

SESSION 8, ROOM B - Travels and Travelogues

Ainu People of Japan in 1910s Travelogues
Marcos Centeno Martin, SOAS, London
The discrimination suffered by the Ainu people in Japan contrasted with the European
fascination for the Ainu culture between the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th
century. In fact, the Ainu were featured among the earliest thirty-three films shot in Japan by
European and North American explorers. This text deals with some these earliest film
representations of the Ainu people: the travelogues or travel documentaries featuring
journeys from the West to the East made by western explorers, such as Frederick Starr and
Benjamin Brodsky in the 1910s. These films are framed within their historical context and
are interrogated in two different ways: understanding film as a tool for ethnographic study;
and tackling the study of ethnographic film as such. A comparison between the film reality
and the social reality of the Ainu people reveals how these images projected a deceptive

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ethnicity. They were aimed to appeal to the Western audience by means of an exotic view
belonging to a time prior to the moment they were filmed. This analysis assesses the validity
of ethnographic documentary as historical testimony, exploring the limits of the
mise-en-scne and the premeditated mechanisms of codification on Ainu identity.

Hino Ashihei, the Troubled Traveler: Journeys to China and America

Stefano Romagnoli, Sapienza University, Rome
Hino Ashihei (1907-1960) is probably best known for his prewar novel Mugi to heitai
(Wheat and soldiers, 1938), which has been translated into several languages. However, in
the fifteen years that followed Japans defeat, Hino wrote a great number of works
including some travelogues. While these travelogues might be dismissed as minor literature,
Hino himself tells us that he considered his travelogues as a significant part of his work, no
less than his novels.
In this paper, I will focus two of such travelogues: Akai kuni no tabibito (Traveler in
the red country, 1955) and Amerika tankenki (A record of an expedition to America, 1959).
These are related respectively to two journeys Hino made to communist China, in 1955, and
to United States in 1958. While obvious differences existed both in the context and in
the dynamics of the journeys, nevertheless common themes and attitude can be traced in both
works. For instance, the issue of war responsibility, which arises on both a personal and
national level, and the problem of freedom whether denied or tainted by contradictions
that is addressed at various times.
Moreover, feelings of uneasiness and concern permeate Hinos travel experience. In
China, his past as a member of the invaders army is a constant source of worry. In the United
States, his present works about Okinawa openly critical of American policy and his past
as the enemy causes a fitful feeling of anxiety.
I will thus show how both travelogues stand at the intersection between Hinos
anticipations and actual impressions of the two foreign countries, and his experience as a
member of the Japanese army as well as his position as a postwar Japanese intellectual.

Echo of Micha Boyms Medical-Scientific Works (1612-1659) in Japan

Giovanni Borriello, University of Tuscia, Italy
There are many studies that focused on the Polish-Hungarian Jesuit missionary
Micha Boym (1612-1659) in China at the Ming court and on his medical-scientific activity,
which will lead him to the writing of works such as Clavis Medica ad Chinarum Doctrinam
de Pulsibus and Flora Sinensis.
However, little emphasis has been given to the influences that his medical and
botanical works have had on the spread of his sphygmological and phytotherapeutic
knowledge in the nearby Japanese Archipelago, where his in-depth studies will be made
known through the mediation of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) on Deshima and, in
particular, through the figure of the German doctor and botanist Andreas Cleyer
(1634-1697/98) at the service of the Company. Cleyer read Boyms writings and after
returning to Europe, he will be widely known in the West.

15
 In this article, I will seek to shed light on the spread of Boym's writings in Japan and
on the influence his study has exerted on the medical developments in the Archipelago, and
subsequently on how Boym's medical-scientific works thanks to the mediation of certain
doctors of the VOC, on all the aforementioned Cleyer, have managed to have great gloss and
diffusion in the same Europe.

16
September 6, day 3

SESSION 9, ROOM A - Japanese Literature in the World

Japonism in Polish Literature at the Beginning of 20th Century
Katarzyna Deja (Jagellonian University)
At the end of 19th century European culture faced its greatest crisis and looked to the
Far East in attempt to find a solution. From Vedas and Buddhism to ukiyo-e paintings,
Orient promised new solutions and new aesthetics. The great wave of japanism that swept
across Europe was a part of that search for new inspiration and it indeed played important
part in development of modernism aesthetics, however, only recently we have discovered,
through work of researchers such as Jan Walsh Hokenson, how modernist fascination with
Japan changed European art and literature. Following the footsteps of such researchers I am
trying to analyze forms of Japanese aesthetics in Polish literature of the beginning of 20th
century, when Polish writers discovered Japanese woodblock paintings, literature and theatre.
What I am particularly interested in is not simply Japanese prompts or exotic novels
set in a distant and clearly very different country, but literary works that were influenced by
forms of poetry or certain aesthetic categories that required a level of knowledge and
understanding of Japanese culture. Through analyzing what features of Japanese culture were
incorporated into Polish literature I hope to present that the interest in Japan was not only a
new wave of orientalism or exoticism, but a search for new forms of artistic expression, one
that perhaps forged Polish modernism into its shape.

On the Formation of the Tale about Homecoming Husband

Saida Khalmirzaeva (Hosei University)
The Odyssey, Central Asian Alpomish and Japanese Yuriwaka Daijin share
remarkable motif similarities. In all three of these stories the hero who leaves his land to fight
an enemy returns home after years of seclusion only to find his family being harassed by
traitors. The heros appearance has changed beyond recognition, which is why no one, even
his loyal servant, can recognize him. For a time the hero observes what has occurred during
his absence, finally revealing his identity by stringing his distinctive bow, punishing the
traitors and reuniting with his family.
Motifs, such as the hero saves his beloved, the hero returns on the day of his wifes
wedding or the hero strings his distinctive bow, are not peculiar only to the Odyssey,
Alpomish and Yuriwaka Daijin. We can find many various tales with similar motifs in
different parts of the world. They all can be identified as a tale-type Homecoming husband
(Returning husband) (ATU 974). However, a thorough research and analysis of tales and the
historical and cultural background of their dissemination areas suggests that the original story
could have been born in one place and then transmitted to other regions.
In my previous presentation on this topic I focused on the origin of Alpomish that was
supposedly born as a result of combination of the Odyssey and the Buddhist tale, the Tale
about Good Prince and Bad Prince. This time, firstly, I will present some other material and
17
research on the role of the Odyssey in the ancient world that should support my hypothesis.
Secondly, I will introduce some tales from the regions between Central Asia and Japan that
could become a link in the tale-types transmission chain. Finally, I will discuss some
factors that could have contributed to the dissemination of the tale-type and its vitality.

Why Literature? Shimazaki Tson's Works and National Language Education

Irina Holca (Kyoto University)
After starting his literary career as a Romantic poet in the late 1890s, Shimazaki
Tson turned to realistic prose soon after the beginning of the 20th century. His new style
poetry () collections (, 1897; , 1898; , 1898;
, 1901) were extremely popular among the Meiji youth, who did not stop at reading
them (quietly or aloud), but were also very keen on imitating the so-called Tson-ch to
create poems of their own. Later, in the early 1900s, as a judge in the reader contribution
competitions organised by magazines such as or , Tson influenced
the prose style of young wannabe writers, preaching for clear observation and description,
along with simplicity and sincerity.
On the other hand, his poems and prose have been included in national language
readers for middle school education since the turn of the century-- and some of them still are,
even today. In this presentation, I intend to look at how Tson's image as "educator" was
created, and how his literature was integrated in the national language education during the
Taish period, when modern literature was finally deemed worthy of young readers' eyes. To
this end, I will focus on the discourse of several teachers' guides ()
accompanying the textbooks used during this period, various articles published by language
instructors, linguists, etc in the magazine , as well as books on language and
literature education influential at the time. By analysing these materials aimed directly at
school teachers I am hoping to shed light on the way educational value was assigned to
Tson's work, but also on how literature was defined, used, and reshaped in order to meet the
needs of the national language classroom.

SESSION 10, ROOM B - Pop Culture and Performing Arts

Beyond Borders of Meaning: The Transcultural Vampire in Japanese Animation
Alice Teodorescu (Independent researcher)
As Susan Napier, Japanese popular culture researcher, states, anime can be considered
the Other of animation that offers an exhilarating vision of difference in which identity
can be technological, mythological, or simply an ecstatic process of constant metamorphosis
and that can be defined as a strong form of expression in the new transnational culture
(p.292, 2005).
Part of this universe of Otherness is the vampire myth with its many personifications,
from the monstruos to the beautiful bishnen, as a sign of shifting cultural contexts or an
integral part of the popular culture database (Azuma, 2009) that pinpoints the hybridity of
Japanese animation. As myths draw on familiarity, beyond national, cultural or symbolic
borders, their reinterpretation in the animated medium develops a new form of critique or

18
reinforcement of the world in relation to globalization, shared meanings and
cosmopolitanism.
What is the new place of the vampire in Japanese animation? How does it relate to the
current kawaii aesthetics of the "beautiful boy"? Drawing on Hiroki Azuma's concept of the
database and on the foucaldian meaning of heterotopia (Foucault, 1984), the current status of
the vampire will be addressed, so as to highlight a transcultural space of meaning developed
through anime: the affective heterotopia.
Works cited
Azuma, H. (2007) The Animalization of Otaku Culture. Mechademia, 2, 175-188
Foster, M. D. (2009). Pandemonium and parade: Japanese monsters and the culture of ykai.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Foucault, M. (1984). Of other spaces. Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuit, 1-9.
Napier, S. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. Experiencing contemporary Japanese
animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Revue as a Liminal Theatre Genre: Its Characteristics and Socio-cultural Meanings

Makiko Yamanashi (Hosei University)
Revue is known as a modern visual spectacle consisting of vibrant dancing and
singing, lavishing costume and mechanically advanced stage set. This theatre genre matured
in Europe and America by the 1930s, and its popularity generated an international trend. In
Japan, the all-female Takarazuka Revue staged Mon Paris in 1927, which is commonly
known as Japans first revue. It was indeed the first nation-wide hit of European style revue
production, but a number of other minor productions laid the ground for the genre to thrive
for a century in Japan while revue is almost begone abroad.
My approach regards revue as a composition of betweenness build between
seemingly opposing elements such as the classic and the innovative, the analog and the
scientific, the occidental and the oriental, the professional and the amateur, the feminine and
the masculine. This is to re-define revue as an inter-national, inter-cultural, inter-medial -
namely as a liminal genre.
For Japan in the process of westernisation, revue functioned as a modern icon that
would challenge preexisting socio-cultural norms and project new criteria on stage. This
presentation will investigate the ways in which revue has established its prominent position in
Japan both in Japanese theatre history and womens history. There are two significant merits
in this discussion. Firstly, revue is a hybrid theatrical form that reflects a dynamic integration
and assimilation of the foreign culture in Japan. Secondly, revue can be seen as the
progressive genre that has provided Japanese women a springboard to perform in public and
to nature acknowledged actresses. In these perspectives, the reason why revue is still a strong
force in todays Japanese theatre industry will be revealed, and further its social meaning will
be suggested.

Modernity Revisited: The Dialectics of Revolution and the Nostalgia for Intellectual
Activism in Takarazuka Revues 1789: "The Lovers of Bastille"

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 Maria Grjdian (Nagasaki University)
This presentation focuses on Takarazuka Revues strategies to re-invent the concept
of modernity specifically in the context of the French Revolution of 1789 by means of
re-contextualizing history in the performance 1789 The Lovers of Bastille (originally a
French rock-opera premiered in 2012). Founded in 1913 by Kobayashi Ichiz, one of the
most significant entrepreneurs in prewar Japan, the all-female popular musical theatre
Takarazuka Revue proved itself along its centennial existence both a faithful mirror of and an
influential model for the Japanese society. Simultaneously conservative in its gender
representation and progressive in its performance practice, a contradictory symbol of the
Japanese modernity and Japans leading figure in entertainment industry, emerged from the
syncretic, cross-gender tradition of the centuries-old classical Japanese stage arts and
challenging that very tradition through the creative employment of Western music and
dramatic plots, Takarazuka Revue reconstructs in a specific way asymmetric interactions
between identity and alterity, model and copy, history and geography, obtrusively displayed
in sparkling tunes, fairy-tale-like sceneries and gorgeous costumes. Especially since 1974
the year in which the world premiere of the blockbuster The Rose of Versailles took place
marked an unexpected tendency in Takarazuka Revues public appearance, visible both in the
increasing lavishness of its performances and in the intensified commercialization of the
increasingly androgynous otokoyaku figures (female impersonators of male roles).
This presentation takes into account the multiple layers in Takarazuka Revues
administration and self-orchestration (performance politics, the economical supervision of
brand-related consumption, the socio-cultural management of actresses and fandom (fans and
fan communities) as well as the performances themselves. The transition from ethics to
aesthetics and from imagination to ideology in Takarazuka Revue's marketing of
historical-geographical spaces, reflects and condenses its metamorphose from an insignificant
socio-cultural medium to a powerful political-economic message in postwar Japan as well as
Japan's emerging awareness from being an "outsider" to the Western world to gradually
becoming an "insider" of the Asian community.

SESSION 11, ROOM A - Visual Arts, Aesthetics

Mitate and Quotation in Japanese Visual Arts: The Spread of Imagination in Art
History
Deborah Levy (University of Vincennes-Saint-Denis Paris 8)
Based on several years of research at Tokyo University, this communication presents
result of the thesis, Mitate and Quotation in the Morimura Yasumasas Artworks
Self-portrait of History of Art, defended the 30th of May 2017. Indeed, this presentation will
testify about the presence of mitate in the Japanese postmodern art from the eighties. Fukuda
Miran, Morimura Yasumasa, Ogawa Shinji, Ozawa Tsuyoshi and Sumi Maros productions
quote the most famous European paintings and iconography to signify the ambiguity between
Eastern and Western notions of art, originality, copy and imitation.
However, we will certify that artists make another type of quotations. Although
Japanese contemporary arts are considered in the Postmodernism and Simulations

20
movements, this communication will show that the reading of the mitate allow a specific and
an exclusive re-examination of Japanese art history. After comparing mitate-e from the Edo
period and contemporary artworks, we ascertain a clear definition of mitate as an analogical
transposition based on outward forms to create a new image. Through the postmodern
productions, we will understand that mitate is incorporated within a traditional framework,
whose contacts with a foreign culture seem essential to develop an imaginary and a
figurative representation. Consequently, the demonstration of the playful mitate in the
Japanese contemporary visual wakagumi attests that artists bring into play the vision of the
image, rather than its signification. Artists and contemporary mitate-e testify the exchanges,
influences and impacts between Western and Japanese arts to introduce a first gap with
European art history and its conceptions.

The Influence of the English Landscape Garden on the Meiji Stroll Garden: Fact or
Speculation?
Oana Loredana Scoru (Kyoto University)
The stroll gardens built in the Meiji period (1868-1912) fall into two categories: the
Japanese style garden, and the Western style garden. This presentation will focus on the
former type. The first of its kind is considered to be Murinan Garden (1894-1898) made by
Ogawa Jihei VII, also known as Ueji, for the prince Yamagata Aritomo. On the one hand, the
overall structure of these gardens is similar to the typical stroll gardens of the Edo period
(1603-1868), such as Katsura Riky Garden, or Koishikawa Krakuen Garden. On the other
hand, new techniques replace the traditional techniques, such as the miniature landscapes
(shukkei) and the reproduction of famous landscapes (mitate). The landscape architecture
researcher Amasaki Hiromasa and the garden historian Ono Kenkichi, who analyze in detail
the new elements of the Japanese style stroll gardens of the Meiji period, mention the
possibility of an influence from the English landscape garden, without however making
further inquiries into this issue.
My paper will explore the possible influence that English landscape gardens could
have had on the changes of the Japanese style stroll garden. I will first analyze the new
elements of this style, focusing on Murinan Garden, Isuien's East Garden, and Sankeien
Garden. Then I will inquire into the possible relation between these elements and the
characteristics of the English landscape garden, a style that took shape in the 18th century and
is represented by gardens such as the Garden of Rousham House or Croome Court. Thus,
while agreeing with Amasaki and Ono that a direct influence is rather difficult to assert, I will
discuss the possibility of the existence of an indirect influence, by means of new ideas that
entered from the West, and created a new background for the design of Japanese style stroll
gardens.

Esoteric Iconography as Curiosum: What Sells a Buddhist Art Exhibition Today?

Monika Kiss (ELTE University, Budapest)
In my presentation I am inquiring into the process of exhibiting Buddhist images. It is
an often repeated notion that modern world brought with itself the decline of religions. It

21
seems that since science invaded and resolved the everyday life of ordinary people, the gods,
to whom the had turned to in order to have good crop, good health or long life, are not needed
anymore. The need for religion today becomes distant, and all its agents become curiosities.
This is true for Buddhist images that were used for hundreds of years: most of them are
stashed away in private or public collections, waiting to be displayed from time to time. We
can see the magnificent paintings of serene Buddhas, or the compositions of wrathful my
king statues in great museums all around the world, but how do we comprehend them in their
new environment?
All images of especially esoteric Buddhist deities share not just a religious but a
ritualistic characteristic that can be fully understood in their most natural environment: during
a ritual inside a temple hall. Most people today go to museums to see and experience things
they have not before, so the jobs of curators becomes gradually more difficult to show
something new to the modern audience equipped with gadgets which give them information
in an instant. (Respectively, sometimes their effect is not more than instantaneous.) Do the
hundreds of different iconographies of esoteric Buddhism still have their former effect on
audiences or are they just the kind of curiosum that lures people into the museums? And if
they are used as attraction tools, is it something that we should regret or cherish?

SESSION 12, ROOM B - War, Peace and Nuclear Energy

Depiction of the National Self and the Asian Other in Postwar Japanese War Films,
1945-1965
Dick Stegewerns (University of Oslo)
Cinema was one of the most popular and influential formats of popular culture in the
postwar period. The forces implementing the Allied occupation of Japan were keenly aware
of the power of the medium of film and enforced a policy of strict censure on the one hand
and endorsed subjects on the other. During the occupation period the recent war was in
general underexposed and many facets of the war were completely hidden. However, once
the occupation was lifted the silver screen became one of the major venues for the
competition for Japans collective war memory. The genre of the war movie was firmly
re-instated within most big studios and all war film subgenres were created or re-created
during the 1950s.
Since Japan to a large extent was cut off from the Asian continent during the first two
decades after the Second World War, the many films dealing with this war were the major
genre to project the East Asian neighbours on the cinema screen. In various subgenres the
venue of the East Asian continent was re-introduced and Japanese relations with its
inhabitants were re-enacted. On the basis of the competing interpretations of the war by the
filmmakers these representations could be vastly different.
This paper will analyze Japanese war films from the period 1945-1965 that depict the
countries and regions formerly included in Japans colonial or wartime empire. It will trace
continuities and changes in the depiction of the national self and the Asian other in this body
of films, and aims to provide explanations for these continuities and changes.

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Japan and Cinematic Peace Propaganda in UNESCOs Orient Project 1957-1959
Miia Huttunen (University of Jyvskyl, Finland)
During the early decades of the Cold War, film became a significant tool for
constructing meaning for the general public. UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) reacted by promoting the role of film as a means to
maintaining peace. In 1959, UNESCO and the British Film Institute published a catalogue of
Eastern films titled Orient. A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian
Culture, with the aim of familiarising Western audiences with Eastern cultures. Out of the
139 feature films included in the catalogue, 37 were Japanese. Approaching the project as an
example of peace propaganda, I analyse the plot summaries of the Japanese films included in
the catalogue in order to address the question of how was the catalogue utilised to send a
message of peace and to shape opinions accordingly. With a focus on sympathetic characters,
the films are described as stories of peoples struggles towards a better future. The plot
summaries emphasise the universal themes of humanism and hope everyone despite their
national and cultural background can relate to. The message constructed through the plot
summaries in the catalogue thus contributes to UNESCOs aims to build the defenses of
peace in the minds of men through its emphasis on maintaining sustainable peace built on
intercultural understanding.

A Comparative Study about Literature and Nuclear Energy in Japan and Germany
Ryuji Yorioka (Tokushima University)
Unlike Germany, which has vowed to shut down all its nuclear power plants in the
wake of the Fukushima disaster, the Japanese administration is still much dependent on
nuclear energy even today. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare and examine how the
issue of nuclear energy is treated by writers in these two countries that have shown such
staunchly different approaches.
This study focuses on discussions and discourses regarding nuclear energy found in
post-World War II literatures in Japan and Germany. In particular, differences are drawn and
further analysed from discourses between prominent German and Japanese writers such as
Gnter Grass, Shohei Ooka, Kenzaburo Oe and Makoto Oda. By doing so, the study hopes to
find a possible solution to this global crisis within the realm of literature.
The result indicates that, when compared with their German counterparts, Japanese
writers were more introversive and prudent in nature, possibly weighted down by a deep
sense of victimisation and a strong accountability toward the war, which then prevented them
from sufficiently taking into consideration the cross-boundary and bipartisan nature that
characterises the nuclear issue.

SESSION 13, ROOM A - Society and Economy

Socioeconomic Views on Japans 80s Boom and Subsequent Recession
Irina Grigorovici (Kyushu University)
Most of the countries around the world have been influenced, up to a certain extent,
by a different culture and civilization, whether because of geographical proximity, historical

23
evolution or globalization. Japan has been no exception. Most recently, after WWII, Japan
has been exposed to the U.S. influence, from which it has adopted and adapted a lot. Authors
then began observing how the Japanese society tried to find answers to questions regarding
its identity and what features embody the Japanese self. Yet, the economic growth seemed to
have erased that stage, a similar kind of confusion returning at the time of the 90s recession.
As sociology specialists have pointed out, while globalization can indeed favour
homogeneity, there is another evolution that can occur as naturally. A nation, by comparing
itself with a different culture, can also start defining its own identity more clearly, by
emphasizing its own ethnical features, up to the point where it creates a stronger sense of its
national self.
This papers hypothesis suggests that the confusion stage was a result of the rapid and
intense incorporation of many opposite values during the post-WWII period and that the
nationalistic trend beginning with the 70s, until late 80s, was only a different side of the
same identity issue. The paper raises the question of a possible layer of induced economic
carelessness during the economic boom, maybe pushed by a historic sense of inferiority
towards the West, with consequences on the subsequent recession. This reflects Japans
continuous focus on the U.S. during the post-WWII growth period, as the country, to give
some examples, bought US banks, golf lands and entire resorts, or ended up financing up to
30% of the U.S. debts.
While solutions can retrospectively be found in terms of economic policies that could
have made a difference, the paper will try to focus more on a socioeconomic perspective,
taking into account the spiraling relationship between society and economy, as an economic
imbalance also leads to uncertainty within the society and uncertainty, in turn, to political
imbalance that adopts disrupted/frail policies within an increasingly pessimistic environment,
while, respectively, economic optimism leads to euphoria, and that, to a more nation-aware
political rule, trending towards an inflationary economy.

The March Forward: The Mechanization of Shoe Production in Meiji Japan

Martha Chaiklin (Independent scholar)
One of the most iconic images of modernization in Japan is the photograph of
Sakamoto yoma in full samurai regalia, except for his feet, which were shod in brogans.
Nevertheless, Ryomas boots were not a symbol of modern production, but instead were
probably custom-made by hand using time-honed techniques. Images of Japanese people
dressed in Western clothing are commonly used to exemplify modernization, yet the shift
from traditional dress forms was neither immediate or linear.
Shoes represent one important aspect of this change and in terms of technological
development are a more interesting case study than clothing. Specifically, weaving and
sewing are some of the earliest mechanized technologies, but shoe construction is complex
and requires a number of steps that require different technologies.
This paper will examine how western footwear was adopted and produced in
nineteenth century Japan. Contemporary newspapers, magazines, company histories and
fiction will be utilized to place mechanization within a social, political and economic context.

24
It will discuss the interaction between the Meiji government, especially the Ministries of the
Army and Navy, and the private sector and the introduction of technologies that led to a
from traditional footwear produced by burakumin or as a by-industry on farms to
cordwainers, cottage industry and ultimately mechanized mass production.

SESSION 14, ROOM B - Teaching and Education

Focusing on Japanese Culture in English Classes for Japanese Students
John Rucynski (Okayama University)
Government initiatives such as the Global 30 and Top Global University
programs illustrate a growing emphasis on the need for deeper global awareness in higher
education in Japan. This is a welcome change for English language teachers who have always
seen the English classroom as a place for integrating language education and cross-cultural
awareness. It is an opportunity to implement Cates (2004) vision to teach English not only as
a subject to memorize for exams or standardized tests, but rather to help students learn about
the rich variety of people in our multicultural world (p. 31).
Unfortunately, ELT materials have not completely kept pace with this shift. Although
many English language teachers endeavor to integrate language and culture teaching, finding
suitable materials can be a huge challenge. A growing number of ELT course books do
include rich cross-cultural content, but it is impossible to cater to the needs and interests of all
students in a class, especially if different students have aspirations to study or live in a
specific foreign country. In addition, many course books are designed to be used by students
in a wide range of countries, making it difficult to focus on individual cultures and their place
in the world.
Regardless of which foreign countries students are particularly interested in, however,
there is one common cross-cultural skill which all students needthe ability to explain their
own culture in English. In this session, practical classroom ideas for helping students describe
Japanese culture in English will be introduced. The presenter will demonstrate how to modify
traditional language learning classroom activities such as presentations and speaking tasks to
place a greater emphasis on cultural identity. Additionally, ELT materials which make use of
foreign perspectives of Japanese culture will be introduced.

On Constructing Models of Japanese Teaching Training Programmes: Cooperation

among Universities
Manami Fujihira (Osaka University)
On 22 August 2016, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the new standard for
Japanese language teacher training courses. The new standard explained that Japanese
language teacher training courses must include at least one credit for the practicum class.
Before the new standard, practicums were not obligatory in these courses. Consequently,
each university developed its own type of practicum or its training courses with no
practicums. This was revealed in previous studies on practicums focussing mostly on case
studies. To comply with the new standard, we believe that the primary task is to construct and
exhibit the model framework of practicums and to develop cooperative relationships among

25
universities.
The current problems of the practicums in the training courses offered at universities in Japan
are as follows:
1) It is difficult for some universities to arrange training schools or classes.
2) It is difficult to track trainees practice if practicums are outsourced to
overseas or domestic universities/schools.
3) The types of training schools that universities of trainees arrange may not
match the trainees career plan.
4) Problems have not been shared among universities and there has not been an
overview of training programmes.
Center for Japanese Language and Culture (CJLC), Osaka University has been
certified as the Joint Usage Center for education in Japanese language and culture. This
allows us to cooperate with several universities in Japan and to share our human and
educational resources. The aim of this study is to examine what CJLC can offer Japanese
language teacher training courses and their practicums at the Joint Usage Center to solve the
problems outlined above and to discuss the remaining issues.

SESSION 15, ROOM A - Japan and Europe

Japan Meets the West: New Documents about the First Japanese Embassy to Italy
(1585)
Carlo Pelliccia (CLEPUL- Universidade de Lisboa)
One of the most significant events that marks the encounter between Japan and the
West in the Early Modern age is the organization of an embassy (Tensh shnen shisetsu,
1582-1590) of 4 young aristocrats, chosen by Arima Seminary, who were sent to Europe to
show loyalty and respect to Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, 1572-1585) and Philip II
(1527-1598), king of Spain and Portugal.
This mission was promoted by the Jesuit visitor Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606)
and supported by three daimys of the Kysh. Apart from its economic and missionary
aspects, this mission constituted an opportunity to engage in dialogue and gain knowledge
about the Other; it was a moment for exchange and communication between two different
socio-cultural systems.
This paper, through the analysis of unpublished documents in Italian archives,
discusses events, cities, characters, and new questions about the legation and this journey to
Italy (from 1 March to 9 August 1585). The reports and travel letters under consideration are
aimed at presenting, on the one hand, the concern that various Jesuits, religious, and civil
authorities have for Japanese young people, and on the other hand, the description of some of
the characteristics of Japanese people, who were still greatly unknown to Europeans at the
end of the sixteenth century.

Urashima Tar and the School of Archetypal Criticism

Maria Crbune (University of Tbingen)

26
 The Japanese legend of Urashima Tar provides us with a unique opportunity to
gaze upon the development of literary genres in Japanese literature across centuries. Starting
in the Nara period, through the Heian, Kamakura, Edo periods and up until the Meiji period
and the present, countless versions of the tale have been written, including those by some of
Japans best-known writers, Mori gai, Kda Rohan, Shimazaki Tson and Dazai Osamu.
The tales rich and complex history may be analyzed from the perspective of archetypal
literary criticism, as grounded by Northrop Fryes work Anatomy of Criticism, in 1957. In
this book the literary critic attempts to extend the comparative, morphological method used in
the analysis of fairytales and folktales (in the tradition of Wladimir Propp) to the rest of
literary genres, bringing about a structuralistic view of literature. It is my belief that one can
trace the different versions of the tale of Urashima, with the cultural background of Shinto,
Buddhism and Taoism, against Northrop Fryes classification of fictional modes, from the
mythical mode, the mode of romance (consisting of ballads, legends, fairytales and
folktales), to the high mimetic mode, the low mimetic mode and ironic mode. Thus one may
gain insight into the storys development and enrich its analysis, as of late based on the
thematic pattern followed by most versions, with an analysis of the literary style reflecting
characteristics not only of different historical periods, but also of different fictional modes.

SESSION 16, ROOM B - Premodern interactions

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Diplomacy with Manila in Castilian Documents (1592-1598)
Jonathan Lopez-Vera (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)
In 2013 and 2014, because of the anniversary of the visit of a Japanese embassy to
king Philip III in 1614 there were constant mentions to the 400 years of relations between
Spain and Japan. Did these relations really exist? In this presentation we analyze the first
official relations between Japan and Castile, or more specifically, between the government of
Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the one in Manila, through Castilian documents between 1592 and
1598.
We analyze original documents from the Archivo General de Indias, in Seville,
consisting mainly of letters and reports to the court of Philip II. Through them, we witness
how the timid official relations between the two countries were marked by mistrust and fear
on the part of the Castilians, and how the evangelical cause represented in this case by the
order of the Franciscans was instrumental in the course of events. In this documentation we
see some episodes that were particularly significant in this period, such as the wreck of the
galleon San Felipe in the Japanese coasts and the subsequent execution of the so-called 26
martyrs of Nagasaki.
Lacking an analysis of the relations between the two countries during the subsequent
period, the Tokugawa government, we can conclude by stating that the official relations
between Japan and Castile during the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi were clearly poor: both in
terms of quantity and quality. Japan was only interested in trade and possibly in
Castilian-Filipino vassalage; and Castile was only moved by the evangelization of the
Japanese and preventing an invasion of the Philippines. With the exception of the latter,
nobody achieved any of these goals, so we can consider these relations as a failure.

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Chinese Anecdotes in the Mgy-sh (the Commentaries Written in Kana on Meng-qui
(Beginner's Guide)
Kiyoyuki Tsuta (Osaka University)
Classical Chinese culture or literature has widely influenced Japanese culture and
literature. In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are focused on. A wide
variety of anecdotes has been adopted into pre-modern Japanese literary works, or it has
impacted on Japanese thought and culture. In this situation, however, the images of anecdotes
were not as original as they had been. Japanese own contents have often introduced into
adopted anecdotes. In former research, these adoptions are studied mainly based on Japanese
literary works. But the import of Chinese anecdotes into Japanese literary works varies from
one work to another because of their characters, therefore we cannot consider pure influence
of adoption of Chinese anecdotes.
This research focuses on the shmono (the commentaries written in kana on Chinese
classic books). Since the shmono is compiled for lectures, it hardly contains editors'
rhetorical features. Therefore, modifications in the shmono mean that the editors of the
literature consider cited anecdotes in Chinese historical texts as shown in modified versions.
In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are extracted from Mgy-sh (a
shmono on Meng-qui (Beginner's Guide)). I point out there are some anecdotes which are
modified from originals, and I suggest that these modifications often occur in romance
relationships. It is concluded that there are differences in cultures and thoughts between Japan
and China on the background to this phenomenon.

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