What's On

Date: Friday 21 February, 2025

Venue: The University of Edinburgh

If you are Ph.D. student whose research focuses on Japan, why not attend the Japan Foundation/British Association for Japanese Studies Ph.D. Workshop 2025!

This year, our workshop will be held at The University of Edinburgh, with the theme 'Career Development in Japanese Studies'.

Student attendees will be divided into groups and will spend their morning sharing their research with one another in short presentations, before receiving specialist feedback from peers and the experienced academics assigned to the group!

This is an opportunity to gain experience in presenting your work, no matter what stage of your research you are in. Whether you want to develop your ideas at the start of your research project, or if you want to practice presenting your completed findings, the morning session will be of huge benefit! It is also a fantastic opportunity to learn more about your peers' research, and current developments in postgraduate research in the field.

During the afternoon session, funding organisations will present on their programmes and opportunities to help postgraduate speeches.

Then, there will be a keynote speech on the theme of career development, delivered by an established academic. The day will end with a chance to grill the assembled panel of academics on their wide-ranging experiences and expertise, followed by a drinks reception!

As ever, the workshop will also include breaks to allow attendees to network with one another and the lecturers in between sessions.

It is always an inspiring and enlightening event, and we look forward to seeing many of you there!

Student Submissions:

As an essential part of the workshop, attendees will be asked to present their research in small groups. Further information about this will be provided after the registration deadline. However, if you have any questions about this, please email Mara Patessio at BAJS, mp78@soas.ac.uk.

Financial Support: 

Travel Grant: JF will offer a partial travel grant for student participants. Once an initial 30 GBP is covered, JF will provide up to 110 GBP maximum for public transportation to the event. For any questions, please contact Iona Vos LO_JapaneseStudies@jpf.go.jp.

Hotel Grant: As many attendees will be travelling to Edinburgh from further away locations, BAJS has generously decided to offer a two-night hotel grant, of maximum 90 GBP a night per attendee. This maximum amount is based on absolute necessity. BAJS would be very grateful if students could still cooperate, by seeking budget/cheaper accommodation, or organising shared accommodation with other attendees, to try and avoid reaching the maximum amount. For any questions about the hotel grant, please contact Mara Patessio mp78@soas.ac.uk.

Please note:

Attendance to this event is limited to 40 students, on a first come, first served basis. As the number of participants is limited, please only register if you know you can attend, and email Iona Vos at LO_JapaneseStudies@jpf.go.jp if you have registered but need to cancel your place.

Ph.D. students will be prioritised. MA students will join a waitlist, with MA places being confirmed after the deadline has passed.

Deadline for registration for all students is Monday 20th January 2025.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Iona Vos at LO_JapaneseStudies@jpf.go.jp.

To register for this event, click here!

As part of our on-going partnership with The University of Edinburgh, we are proud to support the next talk in their Asian Studies Seminar Series, "Theory and Film in the Political Reconstruction of Post-War Japan" with Dr Ferran de Vargas.

In the first decades after World War II, one of the most important questions in Japan was what could be done to prevent authoritarian powers from leading the people into another disastrous conflict. This question implied the need to understand the antidemocratic past in order to build a new future of freedom and social justice.

This talk first explores how different interpretations from three great left-wing ideological spheres arose from the endeavour to address this key issue. Orthodox Marxism focused on the economic structure of Japan in terms of the oppressive relations of production between social classes. Liberal progressivism focused instead on the social-cultural superstructure, especially regarding the allegedly irrational relationship between the individual and the collective. Finally, the New Left tended to see the subjective feeling of social alienation generated by the rapid development of capitalist modernity as the core of the problem.

After presenting the most representative theories of these ideological spheres, the talk will address how post-war Japanese cinema, through the example of specific films, conveyed these debates beyond intellectual circles to the general public.

This talk will first present three left-wing ideological spheres that arose in post-war Japan, to address the question of what could be done to prevent authoritarian powers from leading people into another disastrous conflict. Then, it will explore how these ideas were conveyed, via cinema, to the general public.

This event is free to attend and no booking is required. Just turn up!

For more information, click here.

Date: Wednesday 27 November, 16.00 - 18.00

Venue: Room LG.08, 40 George Square, The University of Edinburgh