Thirtieth Japan Studies Association Conference—In Person!
January 3-5, 2024
(Wed.-Fri.)
The Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach Hotel
Honolulu, Hawai'i
Established in San Diego in the spring of 1994, the JSA has assisted its members – primarily teachers from American two- and four-year colleges and universities – to acquire first-hand knowledge about Japan and infuse it into the curriculum of their home institutions. Through workshops and study-tours, and the professional networking they enable, JSA’s members have been inspired to engage in curriculum development, design study-abroad programs, and initiate Japan-related or comparative research, an outlet for which they have found both in the organization’s Japan Studies Association Journal and its annual national conference.
In January 2024 we will meet in sunny Honolulu to share our continuous and new pedagogical and research interests in Japan’s literary and cultural traditions, historical and economic developments, sociopolitical and religious past and present. We invite proposals for individual presentations, discipline-specific or interdisciplinary panels, roundtables on pedagogy and teaching innovation and staged readings.
Thank you to the University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies for their support.
In January 2024 we will meet in sunny Honolulu to share our continuous and new pedagogical and research interests in Japan’s literary and cultural traditions, historical and economic developments, sociopolitical and religious past and present. We invite proposals for individual presentations, discipline-specific or interdisciplinary panels, roundtables on pedagogy and teaching innovation and staged readings.
Thank you to the University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies for their support.
Conference Theme: What's Next for Japan?
The tumultuous beginning of the Reiwa Era appears to have settled into a period of relative calm and stability. Japan has known such periods before in its recent history. Yet each of these periods of stability have ended in the sudden advent of crisis and return of the continuing upset and tumult which appears to have punctuated Japanese life since 1989 if not before. Japanese may enjoy these periods of relative calm, but they also anxiously anticipate their end. So many challenges currently face Japan and the Japanese; demographic, climatic, security, economic, and also existential. Which facet, or combination of facets, will confront the Japanese with their next crisis? We welcome paper and panel proposals from all academic disciplines which examine the attempts of Japanese to face these challenges. We equally look forward to paper or panel proposals for discussing how faculty can convey these challenges to their students in their teaching.
Keynote Presentation: Ethan Segal
Michigan State University
Can Samurai Teach Critical Thinking: Using Myth and History in the Classroom
Samurai have long fascinated movie-goers, manga-readers, and members of the general public (and, of course, college students). Although no one alive today has ever met an actual samurai, many people have a strong sense of who samurai were and what they were like based on encountering them as characters in novels, films, video games, and more. But how accurate are the images we get from such pop culture sources? This talk highlights major moments in the historical development of samurai that challenge many popular misconceptions. It also suggests ways to use lessons about samurai to help students develop better critical thinking skills.
Ethan Segal is Associate Professor of History and Chairperson of the Japan Council at Michigan State University. He is the author of Coins, Trade, and the State: Economic Growth in Early Medieval Japan (2011) as well as a variety of articles and book chapters. Topics of his research include monetary and economic history, women and gender, foreign relations and early forms of nationalism, and depictions of Japanese history on television and in film. His research has been supported by a variety of grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship that allowed him to conduct new research in Tokyo last year.
Professor Segal is the recipient of several teaching awards at Michigan State, including the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities (2006 and 2018). He is also active in the Midwest Japan Seminar and has been a speaker for and leader of teacher training workshops for NCTA (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia), the Japan Foundation, and SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education).
Samurai have long fascinated movie-goers, manga-readers, and members of the general public (and, of course, college students). Although no one alive today has ever met an actual samurai, many people have a strong sense of who samurai were and what they were like based on encountering them as characters in novels, films, video games, and more. But how accurate are the images we get from such pop culture sources? This talk highlights major moments in the historical development of samurai that challenge many popular misconceptions. It also suggests ways to use lessons about samurai to help students develop better critical thinking skills.
Ethan Segal is Associate Professor of History and Chairperson of the Japan Council at Michigan State University. He is the author of Coins, Trade, and the State: Economic Growth in Early Medieval Japan (2011) as well as a variety of articles and book chapters. Topics of his research include monetary and economic history, women and gender, foreign relations and early forms of nationalism, and depictions of Japanese history on television and in film. His research has been supported by a variety of grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship that allowed him to conduct new research in Tokyo last year.
Professor Segal is the recipient of several teaching awards at Michigan State, including the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities (2006 and 2018). He is also active in the Midwest Japan Seminar and has been a speaker for and leader of teacher training workshops for NCTA (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia), the Japan Foundation, and SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education).
Keynote Presentation: Michiko Yamanae
Hiroshima World Friendship Chair, 2012-2022
Continuing the Work of Hiroshima’s World Friendship Center in the 21st Century
For 78 years since August 6 and 9, 1945, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have increased their visibility and given witness to their experience. The World Friendship Center (WFC) has been a vital part of channeling the horror of those two days into implementing the words “never again.” In 2023, as the hibakusha themselves have died or considerably aged, members of the WFC are working to continue their legacy. Our Plenary Speaker, Ms. Michiko Yamane, will describe WFC’s Quaker beginning, and her work with dozens of hibakusha and other volunteers. She will discuss how the WFC envisions its future work for peace and the abolishment of nuclear arms.
JSA’s Plenary Speaker, Michiko Yamane, is among the forefront of those working to keep the message of Hiroshima’s Peace Studies alive into the future. Starting forty years ago, she has supported countless hibakusha by interpreting their talks into fluent English, while supporting them with friendship. Ms. Yamane has traveled to the U.S. many times, and to Germany, Poland and Korea on WFC's Peace Ambassador Exchange program. As the Chairperson of the World Friendship Center from 2012 to 2022, she worked with rotating volunteer pairs of American WFC Directors, and the hibakusha Peace Park guides. After stepping down as WFC Chairperson, Ms. Yamane continues as a volunteer at a nursing home for 100 hibakusha, and learned ventriloquism for her puppet to bring joy to the aged!
Ms. Yamane helped to build WFC as an active space with special programs around the year, and to maintain a guesthouse for individuals pursuing peace studies. Our JSA faculty and student groups have benefitted from WFC’s hibakusha guides and lectures, and more college faculty can benefit from its resources.
For 78 years since August 6 and 9, 1945, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have increased their visibility and given witness to their experience. The World Friendship Center (WFC) has been a vital part of channeling the horror of those two days into implementing the words “never again.” In 2023, as the hibakusha themselves have died or considerably aged, members of the WFC are working to continue their legacy. Our Plenary Speaker, Ms. Michiko Yamane, will describe WFC’s Quaker beginning, and her work with dozens of hibakusha and other volunteers. She will discuss how the WFC envisions its future work for peace and the abolishment of nuclear arms.
JSA’s Plenary Speaker, Michiko Yamane, is among the forefront of those working to keep the message of Hiroshima’s Peace Studies alive into the future. Starting forty years ago, she has supported countless hibakusha by interpreting their talks into fluent English, while supporting them with friendship. Ms. Yamane has traveled to the U.S. many times, and to Germany, Poland and Korea on WFC's Peace Ambassador Exchange program. As the Chairperson of the World Friendship Center from 2012 to 2022, she worked with rotating volunteer pairs of American WFC Directors, and the hibakusha Peace Park guides. After stepping down as WFC Chairperson, Ms. Yamane continues as a volunteer at a nursing home for 100 hibakusha, and learned ventriloquism for her puppet to bring joy to the aged!
Ms. Yamane helped to build WFC as an active space with special programs around the year, and to maintain a guesthouse for individuals pursuing peace studies. Our JSA faculty and student groups have benefitted from WFC’s hibakusha guides and lectures, and more college faculty can benefit from its resources.
Submitting an abstract or a panel proposal
Abstracts for an individual presentation (approx. 250 words) or proposals for a themed panel, roundtable or staged reading (approx. 500 words) should be submitted via JSA’s website: http://www.japanstudies.org by Friday, December 1, 2023. Please make sure that you include the name(s), institutional affiliation and contact information for each presenter along with individual presentation titles.
We would also welcome your suggestions for a Japanese literary, historical or theoretical text to provide the focus of the now traditional general discussion session.
For more information, please contact the Conference Program Co-Chairs:
Prof. Andrea Stover, Belmont University: [email protected]
Prof. Paul Dunscomb, University of Alaska Anchorage: [email protected]
You may also contact JSA Treasurer:
Prof. Stacia Bensyl, Missouri Western State University: [email protected]
We would also welcome your suggestions for a Japanese literary, historical or theoretical text to provide the focus of the now traditional general discussion session.
For more information, please contact the Conference Program Co-Chairs:
Prof. Andrea Stover, Belmont University: [email protected]
Prof. Paul Dunscomb, University of Alaska Anchorage: [email protected]
You may also contact JSA Treasurer:
Prof. Stacia Bensyl, Missouri Western State University: [email protected]
Accommodation and Registration Information
HOTEL COSTS AND CONTACT INFORMATION SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
We will be meeting once again at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach.
The room cost is $229, single or double. There is a destination fee of $12 (all hotels are charging up to $35 a day for a resort/destination fee).
All guests must make their reservations NO LATER than December 1, 2023.
Here are the three options to make your reservation:
Option 1: Link to reservation
Option 2: Call our hotel reservations directly at the hotel: +1 808 922 3861 Group Code: G-KCC6
Option 3: E-mail: [email protected]
We will be meeting once again at Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach.
The room cost is $229, single or double. There is a destination fee of $12 (all hotels are charging up to $35 a day for a resort/destination fee).
All guests must make their reservations NO LATER than December 1, 2023.
Here are the three options to make your reservation:
Option 1: Link to reservation
Option 2: Call our hotel reservations directly at the hotel: +1 808 922 3861 Group Code: G-KCC6
Option 3: E-mail: [email protected]
Register for the 2024 Conference and Become a Japan Studies Association Member or Renew Your Existing Membership!
When you register and pay for the January 2024 JSA Annual Conference, your JSA Membership Fee of $45 for 2024 is included!
Registration for the 2024 JSA Conference is $200 for part-time, retired, student, unemployed or independent scholars; or $300 for full-time employees. This offer is open until December 15th, 2023; after that date there will be an additional $25 late fee added.
Registration for the 2024 JSA Conference is $200 for part-time, retired, student, unemployed or independent scholars; or $300 for full-time employees. This offer is open until December 15th, 2023; after that date there will be an additional $25 late fee added.