最新情報

Memo on Cool Japan

I have published an Asia Pacific Memo titled "Japan's Culture Industries: Cool or Cruel?". Based at the University of British Columbia, APM is a very interesting format for presenting research: online, 350 words. Writing something really short is much harder than it seems! This memo contains some of the ideas from my public lecture series "Japan on bbc.co.uk" given in the autumn of last year, and also links in with the various pop culture and contents tourism work I am doing.

BAJS Event 19 May

The line-up for the BAJS symposium on 19 May in Kyoto is now complete. There are four papers on a theme of pop culture. Full details are available via the symposium homepage here or via the menu bar. I will be chairing another symposium on the theme of Japanese pop culture in Helsinki on 1 June when Hokkaido University celebrates the opening of its Helsinki (Europe) Office. If you want to come to either event, please get in touch.

For prospective students

Hokkaido University has produced an attractive new booklet giving all the information you will need if you are considering applying to study at Hokkaido University as an undergraduate or postgraduate. Please take a look at the booklet (link below). For more details about coming to study at Hokkaido University under my supervision, see the Prospective Students tab in the Teaching menu.

北海道新聞：魚眼図

魚眼図　軍隊手帳
　ある日突然、知らない６５歳の英国人男性から電子メールが届いた。「太平洋戦争の日本語資料を翻訳できる人はいないか。力になってほしい」との依頼だった。
　昭和初期の日本語が得意ではないことを説明したが、念のため書類のスキャンを送ってもらった。軍隊手帳だった。戦争中兵士に配れたもので、軍人勅諭、教育勅語、経歴等が書いてある。確かに、日本語は非常に翻訳しにくいのだが、教育勅語の英訳をインターネットで見つけた。神戸市出身の角野さんのものであることも確認できた。軍隊手帳の簡単な説明をまとめて、男性にお知らせした。
　最初、男性は軍隊手帳を売るのだろうと思っていたが、短いメールのやりとりの最後に真実が分かった。父親が太平洋戦争に出征していて、国に持ち帰ったものなのだ。どうやって入手したかは不明である（戦争体験について語らなかったらしい）。が、父親が戦争で傷を負って入院した時、この手帳を使って日記を書いていた。男性は父親から手帳をもらってからずっとしまっておいたが、最近気になって内容を知りたくなったそうだ。

BAJS (Japan Branch) Events 2012

The dates for the British Association for Japanese Studies (Japan Branch) events this year have been fixed. We will have a meeting in Kyoto (or another venue in Kansai) on 19 May (Saturday) and there will be a Mini-Conference held in Sapporo on the weekend of 3-4 November. I will be putting out calls for papers very soon.

Talk at Todai

Hokkaido Gokoku Shrine

On 13 December I gave a talk at the Japanese History Group workshop run by the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Tokyo. The topic was one that I have been working on for a number of years now: a comparison of the Yasukuni Issue with the Hokkaido Gokoku Shrine issue. Gokoku Shrines basically mirror the functions of Yasukuni Shrine. I looked at how the local frame affects the nature of the controversies surrounding the commemoration of the military dead in Asahikawa (northern Hokkaido). After the talk I got lots of good hints on new avenues to explore from discussant Prof.

Routledge articles are open access

Routledge is currently running a campaign. You may access any article in their area studies journals for free until 16 December 2011. I have three articles in these journals: "Shampoo for Extra Damage" and "Reporting the 2001 textbook and Yasukuni Shrine issues" in Japan Forum, and "Reporting the "Comfort Women" Issue" in Japanese Studies (see my publications list).  Unless you have institutional access to these journals, downloading individual papers can get very expensive. This is a good opportunity to get these articles (and many other articles!) for your archives.

Photos Update

Gingko Avenue, Hokkaido University, October 2011

Photo: Gingko Avenue, Hokkaido University, 28 October 2011.

With the autumn leaves on campus now at their most spectacular I have been keeping my camera with me. The slideshows have been reorganized and the photography page now lists all the images up on the site.

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