With this week’s Beyond Japan episode and my presentation at the Japan Foundation-BAJS Postgraduate workshop, a question has been recurring in my head: what is my heritage? Through my research, I have had to define Japanese heritage, using Japan Heritage as a sort of standard for its national heritage image. Have a look at theirContinue reading “Friday Food For Thought: What is your heritage?”
Category Archives: MAIJS Student Spot
#ComfortWomen: Revisionist history, the Harvard effect, and controversial opinion
Over the past few days, #AcademicTwitter has been alive with activity concerning a journal article by Harvard University’s J. Mark Ramseyer that argued that “comfort women” during the Pacific War freely negotiated contracts, made money, and were able to leave at any time. The issue of comfort women, women forced into work at Japanese military-runContinue reading “#ComfortWomen: Revisionist history, the Harvard effect, and controversial opinion”
Friday Food For Thought: School Hair Policy & the Homogeneity Myth
On Tuesday, the Osaka district court ruled that a woman who was removed from her school roster in 2015 for refusing to dye her naturally brown her black is entitled to $3,100 compensation from the school. However, this is not on the grounds of being bullied by teaching staff for her hair colour, but forContinue reading “Friday Food For Thought: School Hair Policy & the Homogeneity Myth”
3/11 Still Felt 10 Years On
On Saturday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 struck the northeastern coast of Japan, causing disruptions and power cuts in Tohoku. It seems an odd coincidence that this happened almost exactly 10 years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, but according to experts it is no coincidence at all,Continue reading “3/11 Still Felt 10 Years On”
Friday Food for Thought: 3/11 10 Years On
Almost 10 years ago, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the coast of Tōhoku, the most powerful earthquake recorded in Japan and 4th most powerful in the world. While the earthquake directly caused little damage, the ensuing tsunami devastated the east coast, leading to a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant which prevented evacueesContinue reading “Friday Food for Thought: 3/11 10 Years On”
Sexism in the City
Last week, the head of the Tokyo Olympics committee (and former Prime Minister) Yoshiro Mori made the news after saying that women talked too much during meetings and that if the number of female board members of the committee were to increase, their speaking time would have to be restricted. Understandably, Mr Mori’s views, expressedContinue reading “Sexism in the City”
Friday Food For Thought: Is teleworking the future and Japan its pioneer?
Before home offices and Zoom calls, there was teleworking, a solution for businesses in countries which frequently saw extreme weather to keep people working when getting to the office was all but impossible. Now, of course, with the advent of increasingly sophisticated technologies and the necessity imposed by COVID-19, teleworking has become the norm forContinue reading “Friday Food For Thought: Is teleworking the future and Japan its pioneer?”
Put a spring in your step
Spring is upon us! No, really. Yes, it’s cold and there’s possible snow forecast. Yes, spring begins 20th March. But we’re talking about Japanese spring. Tomorrow (2nd February) is Setsubun (節分), the day before the beginning of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar. Setsubun has been celebrated since the 8th century, and there are aContinue reading “Put a spring in your step”
Friday Food For Thought: Japan’s response to COVID19
As those of us in the UK experience yet another lockdown in the struggle to flatten the curve of COVID amidst a desperate rollout of multiple vaccines, it can seem surreal to hear about the relative normality of life in Japan. After speaking with a friend from my undergraduate this weekend who is studying atContinue reading “Friday Food For Thought: Japan’s response to COVID19”
Nara to Norwich, Nibbles, and News
Today (25th January), Professor Simon Kaner will be giving an online lecture at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology about SISJAC’s new project, Nara to Norwich: Art and Belief at the Ends of the Silk Roads, 500 – 1000 CE. Working with colleagues at the British Museum, Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, University of Seoul,Continue reading “Nara to Norwich, Nibbles, and News”
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