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Robe, 'Retara Kapara Amip' LACMA M.71.87.1. Fragment. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Creative Commons license. Public domain LACMA.

Twenty-sixth Annual Japan Studies Association Conference
January 9-11, 2020


The Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach Hotel
Honolulu, Hawai'i

Submit an abstract by 20 October 2019.
​EXTENDED DEADLINE


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 2020 we will meet again 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.

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. 600 words) should be submitted via JSA’s website: http://www.japanstudies.org  by Sunday, 20 October 2019 (extended deadline). 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] 

The following themes can serve as useful points of departure:
​
  • Hokkaido, Ainu culture, and the "pioneer" legacy of Japanese settlers;
  • Okinawa: identity, history and culture; 
  • Cultural memory: historical perspectives, enduring challenges, possibilities for the future;
  • The legacy of Fukushima and nuclear futures -- healing and persistent challenges;
  • Pre-modern, modern or contemporary Japanese literature and culture;
  • Performance traditions and contemporary practice: music, theater, film, live arts;
  • Japanese aesthetics and material culture;
  • Historical, social, economic or political perspectives on Japan’s relationships with its national self and neighbors;
  • Multicultural identities in Japan;
  • Japan’s religious traditions, sacred texts and architecture;
  • Youth, popular and participatory culture in Japan; manga and anime; fan arts;
  • Pedagogy, field trips and study tours: teaching Japanese language and culture – reflections and strategies, hurdles and achievements;
  • Infusing Japanese Studies into the undergraduate curriculum – successful course/program development, faculty collaboration and ways to engage with institutional core goals;
  • New voices in Japanese Studies: graduate student research.

We encourage both east-west and inter-Asian comparative perspectives and would particularly welcome contributions by alumni of JSA’s Freeman Foundation intensive workshops on Japan (2002–2016) and participants in our mainland workshops in Wichita and Nashville, both organised with the generous support of the Japan Foundation. We also welcome presentations by participants in our Kyoto, Hiroshima-Nagasaki, and Okinawa workshops (2014--2017). We'd be pleased to see also those who took part in the workshops hosted by Hendrix College, Johnston County Community College, and Community College of Philadelphia in 2018-19.

​We recommend you contact colleagues with whom you share pedagogical and research interests and form a panel, or a round table, as this results in more engaging presentations and follow-up discussion.

The Venue: The Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach Hotel 

The Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach Hotel is located at 175 Paoakalani Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815, USA. It is in the center of Waikiki, only a couple of blocks away from its world famous beach. Visit the hotel's website at: http://www.hyattplacewaikikibeach.com/.

JSA has reserved a block of rooms for conference participants at competitive prices: $184 (plus tax) per night for either a single or double room. Free breakfast and internet are included. The $15 "daily resort fee" is also waived when you use the group code.


Information on accessing the conference accommodation page will appear here when it becomes available.

Click here for arrival information and maps​.

The link to the submission portal below is live.
​Please note that we will start accepting proposals in August 2019.
Access the Proposal Submission Portal