Japanologie Uni Wien

>>> WORKSHOP:
Democracy of the Unidentified: Contemporary Political Thought in Japan

A Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy Workshop with Prof. Dr. Yamamoto Kei (Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto)

📍University of Vienna, NIG (Neues Institutsgebäude), Room 3A
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna
📆 Friday, July 24 2026
🕝 4:30 pm

| Speakers |

> Prof. Dr. Yamamoto Kei (Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto)

> Andreas Eder-Ramsauer (University of Vienna, Japanese Studies)

> Akari Takimoto (Central European University, Gender Studies)

| About the workshop |
In recent years, in parallel with broader global trends, authoritarian tendencies and anti-democratic political developments have become increasingly visible in Japan. At the same time, alongside persistent political and social tensions, the current political landscape has also seen a renewed visibility of demonstrations, civic initiatives, and other forms of social and political activism. These developments invite renewed reflection on the conditions, limits, and possibilities of democratic theory in Japan.
Against this background, the workshop aims to create a platform for reflection and discussion on these developments. At the same time, the workshop is not limited to a narrowly defined political-philosophical framework. It also aims to consider the concrete manifestations of these issues from the perspectives of Gender Studies and Japanese Studies, while situating them within broader relations between Europe and East Asia. In this way, the workshop seeks to open an interdisciplinary space for discussing democracy, political imagination, translation, and transnational relations in contemporary contexts.
The event will be held in English and is conceived as an open academic workshop for students, doctoral candidates, and researchers in philosophy, political theory, Japanese Studies, Gender Studies, and related fields. Anyone interested in these topics is very welcome to attend.

This was:

>>> u:japan lectures season 12

>>> LECTURE INSIGHTS PRESENTS

11. Forum für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung

Das diesjährige Forum für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung fand vom 05. Bis 06. Juni am Campus der Universität Wien statt. In unserem Rückblick präsentieren wir einen kleinen Ausschnitt der Vorträge.

Slide 2:
Vortrag „Mori Ōgai und die (Un)Möglichkeit der Gedichtübersetzung“ von Michaela Oberwinkler, HHU Düsseldorf, am 05. Juni.

Slide 3:
Lesung „Sterben lernen auf Japanisch“ von Milena Michiko Flašar am 05. Juni.

Slide 4:
Musikalische Untermalung der Lesung von Milena Michiko Flašar durch das Duo The Third Kijimuna (Prochaska & Hofmeister).

Slide 5:
Vortrag „Mit Zombies, von Zombies, für Zombies: Das Stück ‚Sliding Away‘ und Okada Toshikis Reflexionen über das Theater aus seiner Mitte heraus“ von Andreas Regelsberger und Joschua Seiler, Universität Trier, am 06. Juni.
Japanologie Trier

>>> [CANCELLED]
Why are Women so Underrepresented in Japanese Politics? Lower House Elections 1996-2026

25.06.2026 18:00 - 19:30

A hybrid u:japan lecture by Gill Steel (University of Oxford & Waseda University)

CANCELLATION NOTICE

We regret to inform you that the u:japan lecture by Gill Steel, scheduled for Thursday, June 25, has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

Why are Women so Underrepresented in Japanese Politics? Lower House Elections 1996-2026

🏢🌐 A hybrid u:japan lecture by Gill Steel (University of Oxford & Waseda University)🌐🏢

📅 25.06.2026 (Thursday)
🕛 18:00 – 19:30 CET
💬 English language
📍Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies (2.4), Seminarraum 1
🌐 and online over ZOOM (link on our website)

Gill Steel is a political scientist who is currently a Visiting Academic at the Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies, Oxford and Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University.

She was Professor of Political Science at the Institute for the Liberal Arts, Doshisha University. She has taught widely in Japan, including at the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Tokyo.

Her recent work includes What Women Want. Voting Preferences in Japan, Britain, and the United States and editing Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan. She has also contributed to edited volumes and published journal articles on public opinion, voting behavior, and the media and politics.

LECTURE INSIGHTS PRESENTS:

>>> Season 12, episodes 05-10

30.04.2026, e05

> Politicization of Immigration in Japan: On the Intersection of Conservative and Right-wing Politics
by Higuchi Naoto

05.05.2026, e06

> Lost in Dystopia? Practices of Resistance in Japanese Speculative Fiction: Murata Sayaka’s Vanishing World and Li Kotomi’s Celebration of Life
by Anna Specchio

21.05.2026, e07

> Engaged Aging: Longer Working Lives in Japan
by Iza Kavedžija

28.05.2026, e08

> In the Shadow of a Mountain: A Community School Coordinator and the Politics of Survival in Rural Japan
by Greg Poole

11.06.2026, e09

> Tokyo Urbanism: Building the Intimate Megacity
by Joe McReynolds

18.06.2026, e10

> Reading Li Kotomi: Acts of Witnessing in Times of Global Violence
by Grace En-Yi Ting

Reading Li Kotomi: Acts of Witnessing in Times of Global Violence

🏢🌐 A hybrid u:japan lecture by Grace En-Yi Ting (University of Hong Kong)🌐🏢

📅 18.06.2026 (Thursday)
🕛 18:00 – 19:30 CET
💬 English language
📍Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies (2.4), Seminarraum 1
🌐 and online over ZOOM (link on our website)

Tokyo Urbanism: Building the Intimate Megacity

🏢🌐 A hybrid u:japan lecture by Joe McReynolds (Keio University, Tokyo) 🌐🏢

📅 11.06.2026 (Thursday)
🕛 18:00 – 19:30 CET
💬 English language
📍Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies (2.4), Seminarraum 1
🌐 and online over ZOOM (link on our website)

Tokyo is one of the most vibrant and livable cities on the planet, a megacity that somehow remains intimate and adaptive. Com¬pared to Western metropolises like New York or Berlin, however, few outsiders understand Tokyo’s inner workings. For cities around the globe mired in crisis and seeking new models for the future, Tokyo’s success at balancing growth and local community poses a challenge: if we learn why Tokyo succeeds, can we use that knowledge to improve our cities at home?

Joe McReynolds, the co-author of Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City, answers this question in the affirmative by delving into Tokyo’s most distinctive urban spaces, from iconic neon nightlife to tranquil neighborhood backstreets. Tokyo at its best offers a new vision for a human-scale urban ecosystem, where ordinary residents shape their own envi¬ronment in ways large and small, and communities take on a life of their own beyond government master planning and corporate profit-seeking. As a Tokyoite himself, he uncovers how key features of Tokyo’s cityscape such as intimate yokochō alleyways, multi-tenant zakkyo buildings and dense low-rise neighborhoods together enable this ‘emergent’ urban¬ism, allowing the city to organize itself from the bottom up.

Above all, this talk will give a clear account of the web of public policies that makes Tokyo's emergent urbanism possible, from transit to zoning to housing. By demystifying the social and spatial conditions that power Tokyo, we can extract practical, trans-cultural lessons for the rest of the world. We can bring Tokyo-style intimacy, adaptability, and spontaneity to our cities at home -- as long as we learn to ask the right questions about how our cities are built and governed.

>>> 11. Forum für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung

📆 05.-06. Juni 2026
📍 Campus der Universität Wien

Das jährliche Forum für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung bietet den zahlreichen japanologischen Fachbereichen an Universitäten im deutschsprachigen Raum eine regelmäßige Gelegenheit für akademischen Austausch sowie für Einblicke in gegenseitige Forschungsprojekte.

Die Japanologie der Universität Wien freut sich sehr, dieses Jahr das 11. Forum für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung auszutragen. Wir dürfen Sie ganz herzlich am 05. und 06. Juni 2026 bei uns am Campus der Universität Wien mit einem spannenden Programm willkommen heißen. Um Anmeldung wird gebeten.

Mehr Informationen:

https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/literaturforum2026/

https://japanologie.univie.ac.at/startseite/einzelnews/news/11-forum-fuer-literaturwissenschaftliche-japanforschung/

In the Shadow of a Mountain: A Community School Coordinator and the Politics of Survival in Rural Japan

🏢🌐 A hybrid u:japan lecture by Greg Poole (Doshisha University, Japan) 🌐🏢

📅 28.05.2026 (Thursday)
🕛 18:00 – 19:30 CET
💬 English language
📍Department of East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies (2.4), Seminarraum 1
🌐 and online over ZOOM (link on our website)