Reading Colonial Japan: Text, Context, and Critique

Michele M. Mason
Professor of Modern Japanese Literature and Cultural Studies
University of Maryland, College Park

Tuesday, July 10, 2012, from 6.15 pm to 8.30 pm

(The talk will be in English)

The Japanese empire lasted from 1869 to 1945 and reigned as the only non-western colonial power of the 20th century. Impacting the lives of millions of Asians and Micronesians, the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of this era are still felt today.

How was the Japanese imperial project understood, imagined, and lived? "Reading Colonial Japan" is a unique anthology that deepens knowledge of Japanese colonialism(s) by providing an eclectic selection of translated Japanese primary sources and analytical essays that illuminate Japan's many and varied colonial projects. The primary documents highlight how central cultural production was to the colonial effort, while accentuating the myriad ways colonialism permeated every facet of life. The genres explored include legal documents, children's literature, cookbooks, serialized comics, and literary texts by well-known authors of the time. These cultural works, produced by a broad spectrum of "ordinary" Japanese citizens (a housewife in Manchuria, settlers in Korea, a manga artist in mainland Japan, and so on), functioned effectively to reinforce the official policies that controlled the lives of the colonized throughout Japan's empire.

By making available and analyzing a range of sources that represent "media" during the Japanese colonial period, "Reading Colonial Japan" draws attention to the powerful role that language and imagination played in producing the material realities of Japanese colonialism.

Sabine Früstrük (University of California, Santa Barbara) describes RCJ as "a splendid collection of colonial writings in translation, paired with critical essays that address historical and theoretical concerns in original and engaging ways. It is an exceptional achievement and a truly important addition to cultural studies, Asian studies, history, and the study of colonialism/postcolonialism, migration, and translation."

”There will be a book sale/signing by the author."

The library committee is now offering a cocktail party - “meet the author” -starting at 6:15 pm, followed by dinner at 6:45 pm. Drinks can be ordered on a pay basis from the bar in the room.

Book Break charges 2,000 yen (including tax) for the event. Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7473. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

Otaku Spaces

Text by Patrick W. Galbraith
Photos by Androniki Christodoulou

Tuesday, June 5, 2012, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

(The talk will be in English, but questions in Japanese are welcome)

Otaku have had a wild ride in the last 20 years. In the 1990s, enthusiastic fans of manga, anime and games were thought to have lost touch with reality and were raised up by media pundits as symbols of the decline of Japanese society. In the 2000s, Asō Tarō was campaigning for the top spot in the LDP government and appealed to the importance of otaku for developing "Japanese cool" and soft power. Yes, otaku have had a wild ride, from representatives of subculture deviance to popular and even national culture.

Despite the current trend towards naturalization and trivialization, we know as little about "otaku" today as we did when the doors to private spaces were thrown open to collective shock and moral outrage. The Japanese mass media has done much to frame the discussion, oscillating between easily recognizable stereotypes of "bad" and "good" otaku, in the process missing the majority of people. Even if it is more often played for laughs these days, otaku are still presented as socially awkward and sexually suspect.

Otaku Spaces (Chin Music Press, 2012) brings the discussion back to individuals, interviewing 20 men and women from all walks of life who identity themselves or are identified by others as otaku. They discuss their activities as consumers and collectors, and their feelings about otaku as a label, identity and culture. Each person takes ownership of not only his or her narrative, but also image, posing for portraits in their rooms. They interact with the space and camera, performing and drawing attention to our expectations of otaku.

Readers will also visit otaku stores and neighborhoods in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka and hear from experts about the history of otaku and their significance in contemporary Japan and beyond.

Author Patrick W. Galbraith received his Ph. D. in Information Studies from the University of Tokyo, and is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at Duke University. He is the author of The Otaku Encyclopedia (2009) and Tokyo Realtime: Akihabara (2010). Androniki Christodoulou has been working as a freelance photographer for international magazines and newspapers since 1997. She grew up in Greece and studied photography in Athens and photojournalism in London. She lives in Tokyo since the end of 2004. Her work her been shown in several exhibitions in Greece, London, Tokyo and New York and her next solo exhibition with photos on tsunami hit areas of Tohoku will be in Berlin, in June 2012. Her website: www.androniki.com

The library committee is now offering a cocktail party - "meet the author" - starting at 6:15 pm, followed by dinner at 6:45 pm. The author and photographer will be available to sign the book at this event. A slideshow with pictures from the book will be playing during the cocktail party and the presentation. Drinks can be ordered on a pay basis from the bar in the room.

Book Break charges 2,000 yen (including tax) for the event. Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7410. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled. Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.
Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB OF JAPAN

Tokyo-Portraits and Fictions

By Manuel Tardits

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, from 6.15 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

In Japan, where traveling, consecrated in the idea of michiyuki, is so strongly imprinted on spatial culture, the selection and discovery of Tokyo required a plan.

French architect and writer, Manuel Tardits, a longtime resident of the Japanese capital, has proceeded with characteristic rigor and elan:

Step One: For the Westerner, an initial academic curiosity rules in response to a new and different way of thinking about the city itself. Great cities of both East and West have always balanced master plans against a patchwork of districts exposing diverse styles and time frames. Where does Tokyo stand?

Step Two: Is it even possible to understand the multitude of cultural bias the largest metropolis on earth presents? Or will Tokyo remain, instead, like 19th century French author Pierre Loti’s Madam Chrysanthemum, a succession of incomprehensibilities: apparent shamelessness, nakedness, a city of infinite patience and yet one of virtual pornography and disorder?

Step Three: His anthropologist sense takes hold, a roving eye in the city, whose fundamental aim is to study each subtle mechanism behind an urbanism so different from our preconceptions. And to that end, he explores and is even willing to lose his bearings.

Final Step: Tardits treasures the freshness of an initial and astonished encounter with this overcrowded city. Eventually he underlies, through a myriad of ephemeral urban data, the lying orders behind the apparent disorder.

The library committee is now offering a cocktail party - “meet the author” - starting at 6:15 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:45 p.m. Drinks can be ordered on a cash basis from the bar in the room.

Book Break charges 2,000 yen (including tax) for the event. Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7324. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN

An Unprogrammed Life: Adventures of an Incurable Entrepreneur

By William H. Saito

Monday, April 9, 2012, from 6.15 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

By the time William Saito was in college at age 16, he was running his own business out of dorm rooms, creating software for corporate giants like NEC, Toshiba, and Sony. Soon afterwards, he was selling his work to Bill Gates.

From volunteering to set up an automated filing system for his local library to helping the Japanese government respond to the 2011 tsunami, an unwavering commitment to putting his technical savvy at the disposal of those who need it most has defined Saito's career. As a result, he has become a preeminent authority on homeland security, as well as a friend to young start-ups around the globe. He has been a judge for Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" award as well as a winner of this prestigious prize in 1998.

His company, I/O Software, developed the world’s first biometric authentication system and licensed the core technology to over 160 companies, including Microsoft, which included it in the Windows operating system. In 2004, Saito sold his firm to Microsoft and moved to Japan the following year in order to concentrate on two personal interests: advising governments around the world on technology and security issues, and helping venture companies, particularly in Japan, to achieve success.

In 2012, Saito was appointed Chief Technology Officer of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, and became a Council Member on National Strategy and Policy at the National Policy Unit, which reports directly to the Japanese prime minister and acts as a command center to promote cross-ministerial planning and coordination.

"William Saito belongs to a rare group of people whose business success has given them the freedom to dedicate themselves to something in which they believe. Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship is a vision William and I share, and I have witnessed firsthand how his advocacy, mentoring, and personal example are making a difference in Japan." - U.S. Ambassador to Japan John V. Roos says.

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, says, "As a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, William Saito has demonstrated his commitment to volunteerism and to making a difference in the world through his engagement in several of our initiatives, including the Global Shapers Community. His story of determination, problem solving, and giving back to the community is relevant to all next-generation leaders."

In An Unprogrammed Life, Saito tells his fascinating tale of a lifetime of entrepreneurship for the first time. More than just a high-tech autobiography or how-to-build-a-business guide, the book is the story of a self-taught genius who became a savvy, serial business phenomenon by learning from his failures as much as from his successes.

The library committee is now offering a cocktail party - “meet the author” - starting at 6:15 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:45 p.m. Drinks can be ordered on a cash basis from the bar in the room.

Book Break charges 2,000 yen (including tax) for the event. Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7312. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN