Informasia #1, January 16, 2023

Charles De Wolf
“Tales of Times Now Past:
Konjaku Monogatari in Cross-Cultural Perspective”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/789855109

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X5WymNQPbhZvUMdcPD4WgpTpXRdWnwR9/view?usp=share_link

Abstract

Charles De Wolf (cmdewolf@yahoo.com)

Rather than risk testing my listeners’ patience by telling them whatthey already know or can easily learn for themselves simply by Googling Konjaku Monogatari, I intend to begin with a general discussion of what we have come to call folklore and of the cultural frameworks in which we perceive it. I shall then turn to the massive collection, consisting of over one-thousand tales,
compiled in medieval Japan, and suggest with various examples how it is both similar to and distinct from the stories with which most of us, both East and West, have long been familiar.

Charles De Wolf joined us from his vacation home in Waikiki, Hawaiiwhere he surfs the academic waves in search of a large white dog.
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Informasia #2, February 20, 2023

Andrew Fitzsimons

"'Glory’s aftermath ’: Translating Bashō"

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/801012722

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FYur30UTPjyXMJ4x5OpktYys1tvtUT5a/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Andrew Fitzsimons (ayfitzs@jcom.zaq.ne.jp)
In this talk I want to look at the figure of Bashō: Bashōthe wandering Zen master, the philosopherof nature, the refiner and definer of a quintessential Japanese sensibility, articulatedthrough the brevity of haiku, and show how that figure is complicated by a reading of the variousness of the
poems he actually produced. I want to show how translating Bashō revealed him to be a far more interesting and multi-faceted character, a poetconcerned with what poetry is always concerned with, language itself, and with not only the natural world but the peopled world of Edo-period Japan.

Andrew Fitzsimons' Research Map: https://researchmap.jp/7000005931?lang=en

His informative Gakushuin page: https://www.gakushuin.ac.jp/univ/let/eng/english/03_tc11.html

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Informasia #3, March 20, 2023

Pierre-Emmanuel Bachelet
"Castaways, Japan-SEAconnections"

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/809940955

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFxjHtu1stavG0s-g41bOG6bLSf2iXpH/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Pierre-Emmanuel Bachelet (pierreemmanuel.bachelet@ens-lyon.fr)
During the Edo period, one of the most common events inJapan’s interactions with the outside world was the arrival of castaways on Japanese shores, particularly from Korea and China. It was also common for Japanese people to be shipwrecked abroad – their return to Japan was the
subject of extensive investigations and enquiries, particularly from the late 18th century onwards, when these castaways came into contact with Russia and the Western powers and their return was seen as a threat.

While these aspects have been the subject of an abundant scholarship, this is less the case for the connections between Japan and Southeast Asia, which constitute the core of our research. The study of east Asia, and Southeast Asian castaways in Japan, is thus a new way of analysing these connections, while contributing to the rich discussion on the extent of Japan’s openness to the world in the Edo period.

More specifically, this presentation will show that the issue of castaways elicited a variety of responses from the Japanese authorities, ranging from routine and almost indifferent treatment to genuine concern about the potential for unrest caused by returning Japanese. The Southeast Asian authorities, for their part, took advantage of these interactions to try to revive diplomatic relations with Japan. In any case, the movements of castaways produced a deep interest in the geographical knowledge of the outside world in Japan, as evidenced by the production of maps in the aftermath of these incidents.
Based on Bachelet's January 2023 lecture: https://iao.cnrs.fr/actualite/transpacific-lecture-series-pierre-emmanual-bachelet/

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Informasia #4, April 17, 2023

Robert Morton

‘Abandon all hope, you who enter’ -Sir Rutherford Alcock and Japan (1859 – 1865)

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/818678017

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hiv5ljLP1NZUyfciIDPPzyNiFkpCXwlN/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Robert Morton (robertmorton1@yahoo.co.uk)

Very few scaled the heights to reach the levelof Minister to Japan or especially Minister to China – the most important British official east of India. This means that Alcock’s story would inevitably have been out-of-the-ordinary, but there were things about him that made it more than that.

In that he was a middle-class boy who rose sofar, he was remarkable for his time, but not unique. Where he was really different was in the way he did it, resisting almost every position he gained,and the higher the position, the more he resisted taking it. So his was a very haphazard progress, in which he moved forward by zig-zag movements instead of in a straightline.

He started his professional life as a medicalman, working as a battlefield surgeon to British battalions fighting in civil wars in Portugal and Spain in the 1830s. Problems with his hands led to his
giving up that career and he entered the consular service, being among the first batch of consuls to take up positions in China following the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing. His promotion to Japan as first British Minister was deeply unwelcome to him and his time there was undeniably frustrating, although there were significant achievements: establishing a Legation in Edo (Tokyo), defeating the leading anti-foreign domain, getting a decent trade started and introducing Japan’s arts and crafts to the west, all against the background of violence and widespreadanti-foreign hostility.

His career in Japan ended with a recall – thepreliminary to being dismissed – but he turned things around and was promoted to Beijing, after which he had a long and highly productive retirement.

This talk will tell the story of this contrary, lucky, talented man, focusing on his time in Japan while giving an overview of the rest of his life and career.

Robert Morton, Research Map: https://researchmap.jp/read0084854?lang=en

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Informasia #5, May 15, 2023

Paul Hoff
"Izuvia: A History"

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/827037612

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-8IxPq3vgk0AzQs-9dMHxFNMSmlCUxbo/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Paul Hoff (phoffp@gmail.com)
Izuvia, situation within the Izu Peninsula andarchipelago area of Shizuoka prefecture (formerly composed of the ancient provinces of Totomi, Suruga, and Izu), stragetically positioned along coast
south of Tokyo, has intertwined numerous historical, agricultural, and artistic traditions over the centuries. Aristocrats, warriors, merchants, pilgrims, and all manner of travellers traversed (mainly on foot) along the Tokaido and other byways, often on their way to and from Kyoto. However, the area also attracted seekers of leisure with its access to hot springs, mountain hiking, beachside
resorts, and fishing.

Paul Hoff, a longtime resident of the coastal resort town of Ito in Shizuoka-ken (just south of Tokyo), has investigated the Izuvia area, which lies upon the Philippine plate. Please join us for an enlightening peek into the rich historical threads that created this wonderfully civilized area of Japan.

Paul Hoff on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehoffster/?hl=en

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Informasia #6, June 19, 2023

Rob Barnard
"A Search for Relevance: Why traditional crafts are important in modern culture”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/837559464

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13AVgWUyMwKppNfLnyF-r71QB4en-8_S7/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Rob Barnard (barnard0311@gmail.com)

Rob Barnard’s book, A Search for Relevance,collects previously published essays that chronicle the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that helped confirm his perception that pottery is capable of
expressing the same kind of serious thoughts and feelings found in all other forms of art. These articles act as a public diary of his personal search for relevance as a potter in contemporary Western society.

Rob will be talking about what led him to Japan,his studies with Yagi Kazuo, the importance of Japanese pottery and its impact on the Western pottery and how he positions his work between both Japanese and Western culture’s view of beauty.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rob.barnard.7355

Instagram: rob_barnard_pottery

Website: www.rob-barnard.com

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Informasia #7, July 17, 2023

Peter Orosz
"Take a Hike!: Walking from Wakkanai to Rambling the Ryukyus"

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/845901347

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VaY8mBAC9Y5K4WOWiaSQ_B8U0Ww442bF/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Peter Orosz (peter@ilovewasting.ink)

Website:https://ilovewasting.ink
In progress: It is now almost certain that I will be going back to Japan in late summer to pick up the line of my grand walk around the country on September 15, in Wakkanai, with the goal of making it full circle to Kagoshima then going on to the end of the Ryukyus.

This journey is what I wish to talk about in July.

I will be putting together my talk next week and will most likely have a lot of questions by the end of the week. / Peter Orosz

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Informasia #8, August 21, 2023

Mark Rosa
“The Native Writing of Okinawa’s Further Isles”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/856587683

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7kScUMOjEv6BwdT0RNSJwR5DiMCgaHt/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Mark Rosa (heiankyo794@gmail.com>)
Consider this question: Long before the Ryukyu Kingdom wasabsorbed into Japan, how did the far-flung islanders communicate? For instance, what was Yonaguni's native language, and the native "kaida"writing system?

- What do these languages sound like?
- History behind the development of partial writing.
- Coming of Japanese school system in 1885.
- 1910s-1930s writers start commenting that only olderpeople can still write these characters Also, decifering a short, one-page document discovered in the National Ethnology Museum in Osaka.

Publications Newly-Discovered Paper Records in Kaida Writing(2010) https://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/records/27573

Paper Records Contining Okinawan Kaida Characters (2016)https://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/records/27425
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Informasia #9, September 18, 2023

Jeri Foley
“Art, Architecture, Film & Fashion: How Japan and the Westcaptivated each other’s imagination through design”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/865719391

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sqEM0cOt0gA6oPE4Jye1v656pVdyI-uM/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Jeri Foley (images_ygg@mac.com)
Japan and the west influenced each other's arts, from their earliest encounters, including Monet, Hokusai, Van Gogh, Hiroshige, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mizoguchi, Louis Vuitton,and even Betty Boop. How were some of the most famous names and characters of the art and design world either influential or influenced (some subtlety, others dramatically) by the introduction?

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Informasia #10, October 20, 2023

Robert Hellyer
"Green with Milk and Sugar: When Japan Filled America's Tea Cups"

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/874938388

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-fAQp9W-gyhRg3G8cEhc4UaUVBp3BxD5/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Robert Hellyer (hellyer@wfu.edu)
As a historian of early modern and modern Japan, RobertHellyer's talk will no doubt be based on his explorations of "not only a social and commodity history of tea in the United States and Japan, but also new insights into how national customs have profound if often hidden international dimensions."

The book link: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/green-with-milk-and-sugar/9780231199100

Robert Hellyer is a Professor of History at Wake ForestUniversity in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

He is in Kyoto at the moment, on sabbatical. More details forthcoming.

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Informasia #11, November 20, 2023

Caitlin Coker (Hokkaido University)

"Privileged/Othered Bodies inJapan- what can our bodies do?”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/886427803

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MCKeG0rrnlPQJeoH9lR7jdffmFI6TXQU/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Caitlin Coker (caitlincc@gmail.com)
I have researched physical performance-mainly Ankoku Butoh and poledance- in Japan since 2006. As an anthropologist, firsthand experience of dancingand performing together with people is one way I attempt to understand different movement practices. As I researched and attended graduate school with Kyoto as my base, my research had always been encouraged by others, and my presence- an English-speaking white female foreigner- had been, for the most part, embraced warmly.

It was not until I received a tenured position at a nationaluniversityin Japan that I became the target of sexual and racial harassment. This harassment reveals my vulnerable position in this society, and most of all, suggests that my own female body’s presence in my research is taboo.

Starting with my own experience, I want to think more deeplyabout how the intersection of gender, race, physicality, and sensuality shape our lives in Japanese society. I also want to approach this positionality as a source of possibilities for what our bodies can do; in my case, I am experimenting withthe integration of dance as a way of thinking, a movement praxis, in the university classroom.

After my talk, I would love to hear about everyone’sexperiences of living and working in Japan and how you all understand these experiences.

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Informasia #12, December 18, 2023

Sven Saaler
"Public Statuary and Nationalism in Modern and Contemporary Japan”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/895947711

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1utf4u7SWN3iVVr7AQAhLMXNPaQboRz7e/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Sven Saaler (saaler@sophia.ac.jp)

Sven Saaler (Professor of Modern Japanese History at Sophia University in Tokyo).
In recent years we have seen a worldwide increase in debatessurrounding memorials that celebrate historical personalities. In the United States, statues of generals who commanded the troops of the Confederacy in the Civil War (1861-65) have been demolished or strongly criticized as
inappropriate . . .

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