PFJ Affiliated Events, 2015-16

PFJ Affiliated Events, 2015-16


Thursday, October 29, 2015
“Beyond Womenomics: Women’s Activism and Civil Society in Post-3.11 Japan”
Linda Hasunuma, Franklin and Marshall College
4:30–6:00 PM, Annenberg School for Communication, Room 111

Since the Triple Disasters of 3.11, Japan has seen a resurgence of political activism and volunteerism, especially among women. Activists, NPOs (non-profit organizations), NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and voluntary organizations continue to help women manage needs related to the disaster and prolonged relocation, such as the safety of their food and environment, the physical and mental wellbeing of their families, and ongoing decontamination efforts. Online and on the ground, women have formed alliances and networks across Japan and across countries. Yet because women find solutions outside of the political system, the gap between civil society–where they are actively engaged–and Japan’s political institutions has deepened, further marginalizing women from the political process. The changes in the political landscape since the 1990s continue to relegate women and their political allies to the third sector. For Japan to realize a truly inclusive democracy and promote gender equality, it must go beyond its current “Womenomics” agenda and do more to incorporate and represent the views of women at the grassroots level.

* CEAS Issues in Contemporary East Asia Colloquium


Thursday, November 5, 2015
“Legacies: Historical Memories of War and Colonialism and Contemporary Conflicts in East Asia”
Mark Selden, Cornell University
4:30–6:00 PM, Van Pelt Library, Class of ’55

The Asia-Pacific War and colonial legacies continue to shape the geopolitics of contemporary East Asia, defying attempts to ease tensions throughout the region. I consider examples of two kinds of legacies and why they continue to poison relations between Japan and Korea and Japan and China at a time of major power shifts in the region. First, territorial conflicts over tiny islets involving Korea and Japan over Dokdo-Takeshima and Japan and China over Senkakus/Diaoyu. Second, the continued fierce conflict, particularly involving Korea-Japan and China-Japan over the military ‘comfort women’, the sexual slaves of wartime Japan. Together they illustrate the challenges to the formation of a viable East Asian community.

* James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies Distinguished Lecture


Thursday, November 19, 2015
“Rude Awakenings: Radical Buddhism and Comparative Philosophy”
James Shields (Bucknell)
3:00–4:30PM, Room 204, Cohen Hall

Prof. James Mark Shields is Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities and Asian Thought at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), Japan Foundation Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kyoto, Japan), and Research Associate with the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University. He was educated at McGill University (Canada), the University of Cambridge (UK), and Kyoto University (Japan). He conducts research on modern
Buddhist thought, Japanese philosophy, comparative ethics and philosophy of religion. He is author of Critical Buddhism: Engaging with Modern Japanese Buddhist Thought (Ashgate, 2011), and co-editor (with Victor Sōgen Hori and Richard P. Hayes) of Teaching Buddhism in the West: From the Wheel to the Web (Routledge, 2003). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Warp and Woof: Modernism and Progressivism in Japanese Buddhism, 1886–1936.

* Religious Studies Colloquium


November 19–November 20, 2015
“Earthquakes, Nuclear Meltdowns, and Chemical Spills: Legal Responses to Disasters in the US and Asia”
Center for Asian Law
University of Pennsylvania Law School, 3501 Sansom Street, Philadelphia PA

Presented by the Center for Asian Law, this groundbreaking conference will bridge the worlds of scholarship and policy by bringing together legal academics, activists, policymakers, and lawyers to discuss the Bhopal toxic chemical disaster, the Sichuan earthquake, and the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

Panelists include the former Additional Solicitor General of India, the Attorney General of New Jersey, the Chairman of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, a senior scholar who advises the government of China on disaster policy, and an attorney who represented a large group of victims of Hurricane Katrina. The conference’s keynote address will be delivered by Kenneth Feinberg, the world’s leading authority on disaster compensation.

* This conference will be co-sponsored with Perry World House. This program has been approved for 6.0 substantive CLE credits for Pennsylvania lawyers. CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. Attendees seeking CLE credit should bring separate payment in the amount of $120 ($60 public interest/non-profit attorneys) cash or check made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.


Friday, December 4, 2015
Peter Kornicki, University of Cambridge
 “Cover Story: Why Did Yoshimune’s Books Need New Covers?”    
3:30–5:00 PM, Fisher-Bennett Hall, Room 401

* This lecture is part of the international workshop, “Comparative Perspectives on Materiality and History of the Book in China and East Asia”. For more information, visit http://eastasiabookculture.org/

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