International Symposium: Mutual Perceptions in Japanese-German Relations: Images, Imaginings, and Stereotypes, Part I 150 Jahr Jubiläum

Datum / Zeit
Samstag, 4. Dezember 10 | 13:00Uhr | ca.7.5 Std
Ort
German Cultural Center/OAG-Haus
Sprache
English and Japanese (simultaneous translation will be provided)
Anmeldung
Per e-mail to: tokyo@oag.jp

Aims of the Conference

This conference, which is part of a three-year research project (organized by Sven Saaler, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Research Project no. 20320116) aims at exploring the development of mutual perceptions in Japanese-German relations and analyzing the influence of the visual imagery on the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Japanese-German relations had their beginnings in the Eulenburg mission to Japan in 1860/61 and will soon be able to look back on a history spanning 150 years. The history of the relationship between these two major countries has been receiving increasing attention in academic research as well as in the public arena, with new interpretations and assessments emerging. However, previous research has focused strongly on diplomatic and economic relations between Japan and Germany. This project proposes studying the relationship from the perspective of “mutual images” – analyzing Japanese-German relations from the angle of mutual perceptions, with emphasis on the investigation of visual sources.

In historical studies, visual sources have achieved considerable prominence in recent years, and some scholars have even proclaimed a “visual turn” in the humanities. In particular, “images of the other”, which have been strongly influenced by visual media, stand at the center of this approach; increasingly, studies of international relations are also making use of this methodology. Attempts to improve a country’s image abroad are still considered a high priority by many national governments; and, for many people today, images of “others” are still defined in terms of “national” perceptions and stereotypes. In many ways, directly or indirectly, the images of “others” and of “other countries” communicated by the media influence bilateral relations. Sometimes, these images and perceptions – or misperceptions – are even responsible for international incidents and tensions.

Against this background, this conference proposes exploring the development of this mutual image-making in modern Japanese-German relations, from their beginnings until the present; the processes underlying the visualization of these images; and the changes such images have undergone, as well as key determining factors in the national and international framework.

Program flyer: Nichidoku__kankeishi__flyer.pdf

Program

4 December 2010 (Sat)

13:00 – 13:30 Opening of the Conference
Karin Yamaguchi (OAG)
Sven Saaler (Sophia University)
Volker Stanzel (Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Japan): Nippon, Old or New? Political Visions of Bakumatsu Japan (Download: Nippon_Old_or_New.pdf)

13:30 – 15:30
Panel I: Japanese-German Images During the Early Stages of Nation-Building, 1860-1880 (Chair: Sven Saaler, Sophia University)
1. Fukuoka Mariko (The University of Tokyo): Prussia or North-Germany? Germany-related Knowledge and the Prussian-Japanese Treaty-Negotiations in 1860-61
2. Sebastian Dobson (Independent Researcher): Framing Japan at the Plum Blossom Mansion: A Photographic Episode from the Prussian East Asian Expedition of 1860-61
3. Suzuki Naoko (Yamanashi Prefectural University): Japanese-German Perceptions in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century. With special reference to the experiences of the Eulenburg Mission and the Japanese missions to the West
4. Hakoishi Hiroshi (The University of Tokyo): The Image of Prussia in Japanese Media during the Boshin Civil War, 1868/69

15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 – 18:00
Panel II: The Meiji Era as a “Golden Era” in Japanese-German Relations? (Chair: Takii Kazuhirio, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
5. Katô Yôko (The University of Tokyo): The Japanese Imperial Army’s Image of Germany during the Meiji Period
6. Heinrich Menkhaus (Meiji University): Japan Images of German Law Experts in Meiji Japan
7. Rolf-Harald Wippich (Sophia University): The Japanese in the Cartoonist’s View: Kladderadatsch and Simplicissimus in Imperial Germany
8. Peter Pantzer (Prof. emer. Bonn University): Japan in German and Austrian Collectors’ Postcards, 1880-1914
9. Kudô Akira (Prof. emer. The University of Tokyo): The First World War and Perceptions of “Total War” in Japan

18:30 – 20:30 Reception

5 December 2010 (Sun)

10:00 – 12:00
Panel III: From the 1920s to the 1930s: The Re-Affirmation of a “Spiritual Bond”? (Chair: Ishida Yûji, The University of Tokyo)
10. Nakamura Ayano (Ochanomizu University): Multiple images of the German Community in Japan seen through the Japanese Police Records—From Mentor to Spy, from Ally to Adversary
11. Tajima Nobuo (Seijô University): The Japan Image of the Elite in Nazi Germany
12. Tano Daisuke (Kônan University): The “Strength through Joy” (KdF) in Japan

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break

13:00 – 15:00
Panel IV: War Propaganda and Beautification of Japanese-German Relationship(s), 1933-1945 (Chair: Christian W. Spang, Tsukuba University)
13. Hans-Joachim Bieber (Prof. emer. Kassel University): Images of German-Japanese similarities and affinities in National-Socialist Germany
14. Gerhard Krebs (Independent Researcher): Japanese Heroism in German Perspective during the Nazi Era
15. Danny Orbach (Harvard University): Colonialism through the mirror: Japan in the eyes of the SS and the National-Conservative German Resistance
16. Michael Baskett (University of Kansas): Guaranteed Enlightenment? Charting Japanese/German Cinematic Representations

15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 – 17:30
Panel V: Postwar Japanese-German Perceptions: Overcoming or Re-Affirming the Past? (Chair: to be announced)
17. Kawakita Atsuko (Osaka University): Postwar Japanese-German Relations: Reconsidering Images of the “Self” and the “Other” in Discussions about the Past
18. Satô Takumi (Kyôto University): Consumption of Nazi-Images in Postwar Japanese Subculture
19. Matthew Penney (Concordia University): From Tank Treds to Garter Belts—Nazi Pop, Media Forms, and Critical Moments in Japan
20. Iwasa Takurô (Osaka University of Economics): German and European Academic Images of Japan since the 1970s

17.30 Closing Remarks

Sven Saaler (Sophia University)
Nakai Akio (Professor emeritus, Sophia University)
Wolfgang Thierse (Vice-President of the German Bundestag)


This conferance is jointly organised by:
Sophia University, Faculty of Liberal Arts and
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (OAG)

With kind support by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS),
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES),
Goethe-Institut Tokyo and
the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany

 



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