All meeting rooms are on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt Place.
Wednesday, January 7th
8:30-11:00 am
JSA Board Meeting
Room: Lokahi 3, 2nd floor
11:30-1 pm
Executive Board Meeting
2:00-5:00 pm
Conference registration
Table outside Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
5:30-7:00 pm
Conference meet and greet
Meet in conference hotel reception gallery (in the lobby) for welcome drinks
7:00-
Dinner on your own
JSA Board Meeting
Room: Lokahi 3, 2nd floor
11:30-1 pm
Executive Board Meeting
2:00-5:00 pm
Conference registration
Table outside Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
5:30-7:00 pm
Conference meet and greet
Meet in conference hotel reception gallery (in the lobby) for welcome drinks
7:00-
Dinner on your own
Thursday, January 8th
8:30am-2:30pm
Conference registration
Table outside Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
9:00-9:30
Opening Remarks, President of JSA Joseph L. Overton
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
9:30-10:30
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Keynote Presentation: Matt Alt
“How the planet’s tastes turned Japanese (and what that means for you)” Manga and anime, video games and virtual idols, City Pop and cozy lit: Japan's pop culture is ascendant around the globe, drawing more attention to the nation than ever before. Japan's "fantasy-industrial complex" produces escapes with planetary pull, but the reasons why they resonate with fans may surprise. In the 1990s and Aughts, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the West, economically, socially, and demographically; the products that it produced began answering questions Western consumers hadn't yet thought to ask. Now, the planet has caught up, and Japan is transforming yet again: from the cutting edge into an unlikely oasis from the ceaseless disruption unfolding in the outside world. Join Matt Alt, author of "Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World" for a presentation and discussion about how the world's tastes turned Japanese -- and what that means for Japan Studies educators going forward.
10:30-10:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
10:45-12:00
Panel 1 Consumerism, Hobbies, and Technology
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Andrea Thimesch
Hanae Kramer, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Life in a Bubble: Exploring a Segment of the Japanese Economy from 1986 to 1991
Robert Curl, Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, What’s Japanese About Japanese Game Preservation? - A Report from the Front Lines of History
10:45-12:00
Panel 2: Modern Boundaries: Geographical, Political, and Personal
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Wade Huntley
Seunghyun Kim, Korea University, Divergent Trajectories in Japan’s Maritime and Space Securitization: Comparative Analysis of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy and the Basic Space Act
Kevin Pollack, Kent State University, Strategic Hedging and Middle-Power Autonomy: Japan’s Response to the U.S.–China Rivalry
Toake Endoh, Waseda University, The Nexus Between Populism and Politicization of Immigration in Reiwa Japan
12:00-1:15
Lunch on your own
1:15-2:30
Panel 3: Literature, Culture, and Violence
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Michael Charlton
Veronic Hendrick, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, Murder and Mistrial: The Failure of Law in David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars
Hiroko Saito, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Shizué Ishimoto’s Autobiography and Its Influence on the US-Japan Relationship
Barbara Seater, Raritan Valley Community College Barbara, The “Comfort Women” and “Comfort Stations”: The Sexual Abuse of Women in Fiction, Poetry, and Memoirs
1:15-2:30
Panel 4: Forests of Memory
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Barbara Lass
Stacia Bensyl, Missouri Western University, Twenty-first Century Ainu: Reconciling the Past and the Present
Jennifer Welsh, Eastern New Mexico University, Rich! Exotic! Loyal! and…Hairy?: Kakizaki Hakyō’s Portraits of Ainu Chieftains and Perceptions of the
Ainu
Deborah Williams, Johnson County Community College, Toshi Yoshida’s Sacred Grove in Twentieth-Century Japanese Visual Culture
2:30-2:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
2:45-4:00
Panel 5: Integrating Post Post-War Japan in Comparative Perspective
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Eve Blobaum
Eve Blobaum, Johnson County Community College
Stacy Burbidge, Johnson County Community College
Peyton Reichert, Johnson County Community College
Andrea Thimesch, Johnson County Community College
2:45-4:00
Panel 6: Preservation, Remembrance, and Impermanence
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Jennifer L. Welsh
Gretchen Jude, University of Utah, Understanding Showa Culture Through Kahi Memorial Stelae and Popular Geisha Recordings: Media Materiality for Enlivening Pedagogy
Victor Xavier Vieira Goulart, University of Colorado Boulder, Sonic Impermanence and Disaster: Async as Musical Response to Post-3.11 Japan
Michael Giammasi, Thomas Jefferson University, Quiet Instruments: The Stone and Water Works at Noguchi’s Chase Manhattan Bank Sunken Garden and Its Effects on Public Health and Social Welfare
Conference registration
Table outside Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
9:00-9:30
Opening Remarks, President of JSA Joseph L. Overton
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
9:30-10:30
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Keynote Presentation: Matt Alt
“How the planet’s tastes turned Japanese (and what that means for you)” Manga and anime, video games and virtual idols, City Pop and cozy lit: Japan's pop culture is ascendant around the globe, drawing more attention to the nation than ever before. Japan's "fantasy-industrial complex" produces escapes with planetary pull, but the reasons why they resonate with fans may surprise. In the 1990s and Aughts, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the West, economically, socially, and demographically; the products that it produced began answering questions Western consumers hadn't yet thought to ask. Now, the planet has caught up, and Japan is transforming yet again: from the cutting edge into an unlikely oasis from the ceaseless disruption unfolding in the outside world. Join Matt Alt, author of "Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World" for a presentation and discussion about how the world's tastes turned Japanese -- and what that means for Japan Studies educators going forward.
10:30-10:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
10:45-12:00
Panel 1 Consumerism, Hobbies, and Technology
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Andrea Thimesch
Hanae Kramer, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Life in a Bubble: Exploring a Segment of the Japanese Economy from 1986 to 1991
Robert Curl, Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, What’s Japanese About Japanese Game Preservation? - A Report from the Front Lines of History
10:45-12:00
Panel 2: Modern Boundaries: Geographical, Political, and Personal
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Wade Huntley
Seunghyun Kim, Korea University, Divergent Trajectories in Japan’s Maritime and Space Securitization: Comparative Analysis of the Basic Act on Ocean Policy and the Basic Space Act
Kevin Pollack, Kent State University, Strategic Hedging and Middle-Power Autonomy: Japan’s Response to the U.S.–China Rivalry
Toake Endoh, Waseda University, The Nexus Between Populism and Politicization of Immigration in Reiwa Japan
12:00-1:15
Lunch on your own
1:15-2:30
Panel 3: Literature, Culture, and Violence
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Michael Charlton
Veronic Hendrick, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, Murder and Mistrial: The Failure of Law in David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars
Hiroko Saito, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Shizué Ishimoto’s Autobiography and Its Influence on the US-Japan Relationship
Barbara Seater, Raritan Valley Community College Barbara, The “Comfort Women” and “Comfort Stations”: The Sexual Abuse of Women in Fiction, Poetry, and Memoirs
1:15-2:30
Panel 4: Forests of Memory
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Barbara Lass
Stacia Bensyl, Missouri Western University, Twenty-first Century Ainu: Reconciling the Past and the Present
Jennifer Welsh, Eastern New Mexico University, Rich! Exotic! Loyal! and…Hairy?: Kakizaki Hakyō’s Portraits of Ainu Chieftains and Perceptions of the
Ainu
Deborah Williams, Johnson County Community College, Toshi Yoshida’s Sacred Grove in Twentieth-Century Japanese Visual Culture
2:30-2:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
2:45-4:00
Panel 5: Integrating Post Post-War Japan in Comparative Perspective
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Eve Blobaum
Eve Blobaum, Johnson County Community College
Stacy Burbidge, Johnson County Community College
Peyton Reichert, Johnson County Community College
Andrea Thimesch, Johnson County Community College
2:45-4:00
Panel 6: Preservation, Remembrance, and Impermanence
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Jennifer L. Welsh
Gretchen Jude, University of Utah, Understanding Showa Culture Through Kahi Memorial Stelae and Popular Geisha Recordings: Media Materiality for Enlivening Pedagogy
Victor Xavier Vieira Goulart, University of Colorado Boulder, Sonic Impermanence and Disaster: Async as Musical Response to Post-3.11 Japan
Michael Giammasi, Thomas Jefferson University, Quiet Instruments: The Stone and Water Works at Noguchi’s Chase Manhattan Bank Sunken Garden and Its Effects on Public Health and Social Welfare
Friday, January 9th
8:30-9:45
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Keynote Presentation: Matt Alt, Dr. Alisa Freedman, Dr. Bill Tsutsui
“Japanese Popular Culture Studies: Perspectives from the Field”
Our panel will discuss the past, present, and future of the field of Japanese popular culture studies from various perspective, including those of journalists and insiders in Japan's culture industries, researchers, teachers, project leaders, editors, and fans. Topics include major developments and turning points in the field, changes in access and globalization, and rewards and challenges of teaching and researching Japanese popular culture.
9:45-10:00
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
10:00-11:15
Panel 7: Japanese Studies in Transition: Engaging Post–Postwar Japan through Law and Education
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Stacia Bensyl
Brandon Marc Higa, Kapi‘olani Community College, Bridging Law and International Relations: Expanding the Pedagogical Horizons of Japanese Studies in a Shifting Higher Education Landscape
James Parker, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Unlearning Assumptions, Learning Connections: Japanese Studies for Interdependent Futures
Discussants:
Professor Mark Levin, Director, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Dr. Joan Pan, Associate Director, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
10:00-11:15
Panel 8: Battles and Bandits: Shaping Media and Morale
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Jennifer L. Welsh
Lun Jing, Leiden University, The “zeroth” Kōhaku Utagassen: NHK, SCAP, and the 1945 Red and White Music Match
Michael Charlton, Missouri Western State University, Robin Hood of Japan: Ishikawa Goemon and the Bandit Myth
11:15-12:00
Plenary JSA Membership Meeting
Everyone is welcome
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Joseph Overton, JSA President
12:00-1:15
Lunch on your own
1:15-2:30
Plenary Panel
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
1950s Japanese Culture and Its Legacies: Music, Mobility, and Cultural Exchange
Dr. Alisa Freedman, Dr. Jayson Chun, Scott Kikkawa
2:30-2:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
2:45-4:00
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Special Panel on Japanese Baseball in Memory of Dr. Paul Dunscomb
Barbara Lass, City College of San Francisco, The Samurai Sword and the Baseball Bat: Anthropological Perspectives on the Role of ‘Samurai Culture’ in Japanese Baseball
Wade Huntley, Naval Postgraduate School, From Oh to Ohtani: Evolution of
the Interactions of Japanese and U.S. Professional Baseball
4:15
Special Announcement & Film Discussion w/Dr. Bill Tsutsui
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Keynote Presentation: Matt Alt, Dr. Alisa Freedman, Dr. Bill Tsutsui
“Japanese Popular Culture Studies: Perspectives from the Field”
Our panel will discuss the past, present, and future of the field of Japanese popular culture studies from various perspective, including those of journalists and insiders in Japan's culture industries, researchers, teachers, project leaders, editors, and fans. Topics include major developments and turning points in the field, changes in access and globalization, and rewards and challenges of teaching and researching Japanese popular culture.
9:45-10:00
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
10:00-11:15
Panel 7: Japanese Studies in Transition: Engaging Post–Postwar Japan through Law and Education
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Stacia Bensyl
Brandon Marc Higa, Kapi‘olani Community College, Bridging Law and International Relations: Expanding the Pedagogical Horizons of Japanese Studies in a Shifting Higher Education Landscape
James Parker, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Unlearning Assumptions, Learning Connections: Japanese Studies for Interdependent Futures
Discussants:
Professor Mark Levin, Director, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Dr. Joan Pan, Associate Director, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
10:00-11:15
Panel 8: Battles and Bandits: Shaping Media and Morale
Room: Lokahi 1, 2nd floor
Chair: Jennifer L. Welsh
Lun Jing, Leiden University, The “zeroth” Kōhaku Utagassen: NHK, SCAP, and the 1945 Red and White Music Match
Michael Charlton, Missouri Western State University, Robin Hood of Japan: Ishikawa Goemon and the Bandit Myth
11:15-12:00
Plenary JSA Membership Meeting
Everyone is welcome
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Chair: Joseph Overton, JSA President
12:00-1:15
Lunch on your own
1:15-2:30
Plenary Panel
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
1950s Japanese Culture and Its Legacies: Music, Mobility, and Cultural Exchange
Dr. Alisa Freedman, Dr. Jayson Chun, Scott Kikkawa
2:30-2:45
Coffee/tea break: Outside Pua Melia Ballroom
2:45-4:00
Plenary Session
Room: Pua Melia Ballroom, 2nd floor
Special Panel on Japanese Baseball in Memory of Dr. Paul Dunscomb
Barbara Lass, City College of San Francisco, The Samurai Sword and the Baseball Bat: Anthropological Perspectives on the Role of ‘Samurai Culture’ in Japanese Baseball
Wade Huntley, Naval Postgraduate School, From Oh to Ohtani: Evolution of
the Interactions of Japanese and U.S. Professional Baseball
4:15
Special Announcement & Film Discussion w/Dr. Bill Tsutsui