BAJS Japan Chapter

The Japan Chapter facilitates academic exchange between Japan-based members of BAJS, our own networks, and the wider academic community in Japan.

Ongoing activities of the Japan Chapter include:

Planning symposia in Japan for academic exchange between Japan-based members of BAJS and the wider academic community in Japan.
Sharing advise and points of contact for doctoral and early-career fieldwork in Japan.
Offering financial support to graduate students and early career scholars who wish to attend BAJS and BAJS-sponsored events in Japan.

Activities are open to all members of BAJS, with announcements made through the main BAJS mailing list.

The BAJS Japan Chapter was founded by Phillip Seaton (Director 2009-2019), and was later directed by Robert Aspinall (2019-2022). More information can be found in .听The current director Sam Bamkin can be contacted at sbamkin2 [-at-] gmail [-dot-] com.

Recent and forthcoming Events

鈥�3rd Symposium on Policy and Practice in Japan鈥檚 Education鈥� (Kyoto University), 19-20 Dec 2026. Keynote speakers: Hikaru Komatsu, Takehiko Kariya. Speakers: Shoko Takaya, Kazuaki Iwabuchi, Sawako Shinomiya, Oscar Wrenn. Organisers: JD Parker, Sam Bamkin, Tom Brotherhood, Robert Aspinall, Yuka Kitayama. Sponsored by the Center of Collaboration in Innovation and Educational Practice at the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University; and British Association of Japan Studies Japan Chapter. (See the flyer here)
鈥�2nd Symposium on Policy and Practice in Japan鈥檚 Education鈥� (Kyoto University), 20-21 Dec 2025. Keynote speakers: Keita Takayama, Akiko Hayashi. Speakers: Ka Ya Lee, Kiyoko Imai, Robert Aspinall, Yuka Kitayama, Sam Bamkin. Organisers: JD Parker, Sam Bamkin, Tom Brotherhood, Robert Aspinall, Yuka Kitayama. 21 participants, of which 8 doctoral candidates presented. Sponsored by the Center of Collaboration in Innovation and Educational Practice at the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University; and British Association of Japan Studies Japan Chapter. (See the flyer here)
鈥�1st Symposium on Policy and Practice in Japan鈥檚 Education鈥� (Kyoto University), 11-12 Jan 2025. Organisers: JD Parker, Sam Bamkin, Robert Aspinall, Yuka Kitayama, Tom Brotherhood. 5 speakers; 14 participants. Sponsored by the Center of Collaboration in Innovation and Educational Practice at the Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University; and British Association of Japan Studies Japan Chapter. (See the flyer here).

Previous Events

Online conference based in Fukuoka (Kyushu University): 鈥淐ontesting Memorial Spaces in the Asia Pacific鈥�,听November 6听and 7, 2020.听There were听eight panels examining the temporality and territoriality of memory, explorations of official and marginalized memorials, new spaces of mnemonic performance, and national and transnational memorial networks. There were听also听two plenary roundtables, discussing tangible and intangible heritage practices, and the affective power of territorial disputes.
Online conference based in Fukuoka (Kyushu University):听鈥淗eritage, conflicted sites and bordered memories in Asia鈥� Part 2: 鈥淐ontesting and Memorializing Sites of Heritage鈥�, July 31 2020. (Karii Shimizu, Hokkaido University; Edward Boyle, Kyushu University: Jason Mark Alexander, Kyushu University;听Kaori Yoshida and Huong Bui , Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacific University; Dasom Lee, Independent Scholar; Julia Gerster and Flavia Fulco, Tohoku University).
Online conference based in Fukuoka (Kyushu University):听鈥淗eritage, conflicted sites and bordered memories in Asia鈥� Part 1: 鈥淢aterials and Modes for Narrating the Past鈥�,听July 18, 2020. (Ying-Kit Chan, Leiden University; Joshua Lee Solomon, Hirosaki University; Arisha Satari, Kyushu University; Raluca Mateoc, University of Geneva; Gabriel Gee, Franklin University Lugano; Justin Aukema, Kyoto Women鈥檚 University).
Mini-Conference in Chiba (Chiba University): 鈥�Critique of/in Japanese Studies: New challenges and new approaches鈥�, 27th-28th May 2017.
Mini-Conference in Fukuoka (Kyushu University): 鈥�Borders of memory: national commemoration in East Asia鈥�, 17th-18th December听2016.
Mini-Conference in Sapporo (Hokkaido University):听鈥�Civil Society, Tourism, Anthropology鈥�,听29-31 July 2016.
Symposium in Nagoya (Aichi Prefectural University): 鈥�Health and Well-Being in Contemporary Japan鈥�, 31 October 2015. (Eugene Ryan, Toyohashi University of Technology; Nicolas Tajan, Kyoto University; Emma E. Cook, Hokkaido University; Miho Ushiyama, Waseda University).
Symposium in Osaka (Osaka City University): 鈥�British Media Images of Japan Seventy Years After World War II鈥�, 30 May 2015. (David McNeill, The Independent, The Economist, The Irish Times; Justin McCurry, The Guardian; Eric Johnston, The Japan Times; Garren Mulloy, Daito Bunka University; Aleksandra Jaworowicz-Zimny, Hokkaido University; Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University).
Symposium in Tokyo (University of Tokyo) 鈥�Symposium on Postdoctoral Career Development in Japanese Studies and Undergraduate Education in English at Japanese Universities鈥�, 1-2 November 2014. Eight papers and three roundtables.
Symposium in Hikone (Shiga University) 鈥�Symposium on Risk, Society and Politics in Contemporary Japan鈥� and PhD Workshop 鈥淏uilding an Academic Career in Japan鈥�, 24-5 May 2014. (William Bradley, Ryukoku University; Mayumi Ishikawa, Osaka University; Scott North, Osaka University; Tom Gill, Meiji Gakuin University; keynote speech Koichi Nakano, Sophia University).
Symposium in Akita (Akita University and Akita International University) 鈥�Sustainability and Revitalization in Rural Areas of Japan鈥�, 2-3 November 2013. (Anthony Rausch, Hirosaki University; Donald C. Wood, Akita University; Adrian Favell, Science Po Paris; Sebastian Boret, Tohoku University; Peter Ackermann, University of Erlangen; Susanne Klien, Hokkaido University; Peter Matanle, University of Sheffield).
Symposium in Kyoto (Kyoto University) 鈥淩eflections on Politics, Law and Human Rights in Contemporary Japan鈥�, 18 May 2013. (Ian Neary, Oxford University; Mari Miura, Sophia University; Koichi Nakano, Sophia University; Mark Fenwick, Kyushu University; Colin Jones, Doshisha University).
Mini-Conference in Sapporo (Hokkaido University), 3-4 November 2012. Keynote Session, 鈥楨xploring Risk in Post-3/11 Japan鈥櫶�(Chair 鈥� Jun Kaneyama; Speakers 鈥� Andrew DeWit, Hiroko Takeda & Piers Williamson; Discussant 鈥� Jiro Yamaguchi). Session co-hosted by the Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University. The conference included 15 other papers.
Meeting in Kyoto (Ritsumeikan University) 鈥淩ethinking Cool Japan鈥�, 19 May 2012. (Stephanie Assmann, Akita University; Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University; Takeshi Okamoto, Kyoto Bunkyo University; Akiko Sugawa, Kansai Gaidai University).
Mini-Conference in Sapporo (Hokkaido University), 28-9 May 2011.
Meeting in Kyoto (Doshisha University), November 2010. Session 1: Bakumatsu/Early Meiji (Ian Ruxton, Kyushu Institute of Technology; Eleanor Robinson, Osaka University; John Breen, International Research Centre for Japanese Studies); Session 2: Professional Development Session (Peter Matanle, Sheffield University; Greg Hadley, Niigata University of International and Information Studies).
Meeting in Tokyo (University of Tokyo), May 2010. Theme: The First Year of the Hatoyama Administration: When 鈥淐hange鈥� Came to Japan? (Takamichi Mito, Kwansei Gakuin University; Andrew Staples, Doshisha University; Garren Mulloy, Daito Bunka University).
Symposium in Kyoto (Kyoto Koka Women鈥檚 University), 7 November 2009. Theme: 鈥淛apanese Universities and the Globalization of Higher Education鈥� (Takamichi Mito, Waseda University; Carolyn Wright, Kyoto Koka Women鈥檚 University; Harumi Takiguchi, Hokkaido University; Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University).
Inaugural Work in Progress Seminar in Tokyo (Waseda University), 21 February 2009. Theme: 鈥淩emembering a Gendered Nation at War鈥� (Beverley Yamamoto, Osaka University).