Program for Joint Workshop among Freie Universität Berlin (FUB),
Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), and the University of Tokyo(UTokyo), 2023

Date 22th of March, 2023
8:00-11:00 (CET)
15:00-18:00 (CST)
16:00-19:00 (JST)Register to Zoom link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeFbrGe5UGvijPUjy_m9pXFv0IFGJz4JbLN
uq9HUisIZGc0ww/viewform

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Chaired by Profs. Verena Blechinger-Talcott (FUB)and Shigeto Sonoda (UTokyo and BFSU)
Session 1 Japan Facing Insecurities: Analyses of Her Reactions in Different Settings
8:00-9:30 (CET)/ 15:00-16:30 (CST)/ 16:00-17:30 (JST)(1) “Seeing” Distant Disasters: An Analysis of Asahi, Yomiuri, and Nikkei Coverage ofthe Turkey-Syria Earthquake
WU Zihan (D3, UTokyo)(2) The Representation of China in the Magazine Tairiku（1938-1941）
WANG Shuai (D2, BFSU)(3) The Concept of “Proactive Peace” Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of Changes inPractices and Discourses since the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan
Nakako HATTORI-Ishimaru (Ph.D. Candidate, FUB)
Discussant: LI Xinran (M2, BFSU)

Session 2 Interpreting Changing Discourse and Culture in Contemporary Japan
9:30-11:00 (CET)/ 16:30-18:00 (CST)/ 17:30-19:00 (JST)(4) Flat vs. Fluctuating Sexual Abstinence Discourse in Contemporary World: Comparing
r/NoFap with Ona-kin in 2ch(5ch)
FUJIMOTO, Atsujiro (D1, UTokyo)(5) A Research on Social Ethos in Popular Music of Postwar Japan (1950-2000)
ZHENG Wei (D2, BFSU)(6) Tokyo’s Shared House Economy – A New Way out of Housing Insecurity?
Lenard GOEROEGH (Ph.D. Candidate, FUB)
Discussant: PAN Fengfan (M1, BFSU)

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“Seeing” Distant Disasters:
An Analysis of Asahi, Yomiuri, and Nikkei Coverage of the Turkey-Syria
Earthquake
WU Zihan (D3, UTokyo)
Abstract
On February 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Southern Turkey and Northern Syria.
Another magnitude 7.5 earthquake followed on the same day. These earthquakes were thedeadliest ones in Turkey since 1900. The suffering of people who are struggling in theEarthquake has been very visible. However, I ask: what aspects of the suffering are shown
to the audience? This research is one preliminary study for my doctoral thesis focusingon a series of major earthquakes outside Japan. It aims to answer three research questions.
First, how do Japanese news media report the Turkey-Syria Earthquake? Second, who are
the main actors in news stories? Third, is there any difference in reporting patterns among
various newspapers? If so, how?
In terms of methodology, this research conducts a content analysis of news
stories on the Turkey-Syria Earthquake from three leading Japanese newspapers, namely
the Asahi, Yomiuri, and Nikkei Newspapers. I chose these three newspapers for tworeasons. On the one hand, all these three newspapers have large circulations in Japan. On
the other hand, these three newspapers are located in different positions on the politicalspectrum. Asahi has a more liberal and left-leaning audience while Yomiuri has a moreconservative and right-leaning audience. Nikkei is slightly right-leaning and economyspecialized. The time span of this research is limited to four weeks (Feb 7, 2023, to Mar
6, 2023) after the occurrence of the earthquake.
Preliminary analysis has shown that: (1) Japanese newspapers paid great
attention to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake in the first two weeks and then gradually
decreased their news coverage; (2) news stories sometimes utilized previous domestic
earthquake suffering to explain the impact of the Turkey-Syria Earthquake or justify thereason to help; (3) all three newspapers more or less relied on overseas news agencies
such as the Associated Press (AP, the United States), Reuters (the United Kingdom),
Agence France-Presse (AFP, France), and Anadolu Agency (Turkey); and (4) although
Asahi, Nikkei, and Yomiuri’s news topics were quite similar to each other, theirinformation sources and focuses were slightly different.
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The Representation of China in the Magazine Tairiku（1938-1941）
WANG Shuai (D2, BFSU)
Abstract
During the Sino-Japanese War, Japan published a number of newspapers and magazines
related to China and the Sino-Japanese War both domestically and in China. At present,in the study of China-related newspapers and periodicals issued by Japan during thisperiod, the academic circles pay more attention to the magazines founded in China, while
the research on the magazines published in Japan is still very few.
Tairiku is a monthly magazine issued by Kaizōsha in Japan from 1938 to 1941.
Many of the articles published in Tairiku were related to the situation of the Sino-JapaneseWar, Japan's China policy, China's politics, economy and culture. Furthermore，most ofnovels published in this magazine are set in China. Therefore，the Magazine Tairiku is
the first-hand material for studying China-related discourse in Japanese media during theSino-Japanese War. It is also an important historical material to explore Japanese scholars'
views on the Sino-Japanese relations.
Through analyzing the changes in the column setting and the contents of themagazine, my study aims to clarify what kind of magazine is Tairiku? And to explore theconcerns and expressions of the Magazine Tairiku on China and the Sino-Japanese War.
In addition, by comparing Tairiku with other magazines of the same type issued in Japanand abroad in the same period, it tries to look into the nature of China-related discourse
in Japanese media before the outbreak of the Pacific War.

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The Concept of “Proactive Peace” Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of Changes
in Practices and Discourses since the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan
Nakako HATTORI-Ishimaru (Ph.D. Candidate, FUB)
Abstract
In the mid-2010s, Prime Minister (PM) Shinzo Abe undertook a series of security sector
reforms that introduced the term “proactive (contribution to) peace“(sekkyokutekiheiwa). The concept signified the “normalization” of Japan’s security and foreign policy.
The Legislation for Peace and Security proceedings in 2015 caught fierce debate
nationwide. It consists of the International Peace Support Act and the Peace and Security
Legislation Improvement Act, which amends ten existing laws on the roles andresponsibilities of ministries and local bodies in case of contingency. Despite the publicoutcry, risks to international reputation, and potential unconstitutionality, his government
tactically mobilized political capital for the passage. Researchers observe the power
centralization in the hands of the PM and his office as a significant trend in the security
field. Unlike the legislative process that drew attention from observers, its
implementation phase is less studied. The question is: what changes have occurred inpractices and discourse at the lower hierarchy of the government and other branches ofpower?
The project comparatively investigates open-source materials, supplemented
with practitioner interviews, at three levels: ministries, municipalities, and courts.
Challenging the state-centric views dominant in the security literature, I target sub-state
entities that include: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan International Cooperation
Agency, and the Ministry of Defense; Okinawa and Tokyo as the US base hostmunicipalities; and the courts responsible for ruling on constitutionality challenged bycivil society. The analysis would shed more light on the process of peacereconceptualization in Japan and its potential contradictions.

5Flat vs. Fluctuating Sexual Abstinence Discourse in Contemporary World:
Comparing r/NoFap with Ona-kin in 2ch(5ch)
FUJIMOTO Atsujiro (D1, UTokyo)
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to compare the characteristics of the discourse of sexual
abstinence that is prevalent in the contemporary online space in the Western world andJapan, taking into account the time series using natural language processing. Previous
studies that have analyzed cases (NoFap) in the Western world have tended to describe
this practice based on the dichotomous perspective of "treatment or masculinity". Inaddition, they lack qualitative and historical approaches. Therefore, I extracted salient
terms in each year from a large text data set compiled through web scraping and API
service, and compared them with Japanese ones (Ona-kin). The results showed that in theNoFap discourse, “pornography = harmful” and “sexual abstinence = useful” schema
appeared consistently and the proportion of salient terms was flat, whereas in the Onakin discourse, some terms that initially had multiple nuances came to be negatively
connoted and the proportion significantly fluctuated. These differences allow us topropose the hypothesis that the difference in available knowledge behind the spread of
sexual abstinence —— real life problems or virtual events like parodies to existing online
self-help activities.

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A Research on Social Ethos in Popular Music of Postwar Japan (1950-2000)
ZHENG Wei (D2, BFSU)
Abstract
When we think about observing social ethos, one of the agreeable ways is popular music.
On the one hand, There’s an ancient proverb that (almost from lyric) songs can reflect thesocial conditions, on the other hand from the development of popular music industry andthe acceptance of western popular music we can still interpret this relation.
While using popular music to analyze Japanese social ethos, 1950-2000 can be
the best period. After WWII, Japanese popular music industry has been great developed
not only by the economic development but also by the influence of the communication to
the western world. And the emerge of many new gerne in these 50 years, such as Enka,
New Music and J-POP reflects the increasing audience’s diverse request, which canconnect to their life situation and the change of Japanese international status.
In order to discuss the relation between popular music and social ethos, this paper
will utilize some contradictory relations, such as Japan and western world, economy
prosperity and slowing, male and female, urbanization and ruralization as clues, to drawout the inside story of changes in postwar Japanese society.
(As for Preliminary conclusions) In fact, the social ethos in Japanese popular
music was great influenced by the identity. Besides the identity when facing the westernworld, the identity in the process when Japanese modern society shift into post-modern
could also be of vital importance.

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Tokyo’s Shared House Economy – A New Way out of Housing Insecurity?
Lenard GOEROEGH (Ph.D. Candidate, FUB)
Abstract
Following the burst of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, Tokyo has witnessed its
most severe housing and homeless crisis since the end of World War II. But despite theexpansion of low-wage unstable labor as well as emerging evidence for gentrification,
somehow one of the world’s biggest metropolitan areas has managed to reduce thenumber of homeless people in a time where other metropolises struggle with increasingcases. In this contribution, it shall be evaluated in how far the newly emerged market forshared accommodation has played a role in the lasting reduction of rough sleepers. Most
recent research engaging with the booming sector in Tokyo’s rental housing market argues
that sharing an accommodation has become a new lifestyle product, made popular throughmedia and marketing. By contrast, a new revision of the market segment’s history, ananalysis of its clientele, and the diverse strategies of entrepreneurs in the field show that
this hides its function in the material reproduction of a flexible workforce. Rather, thecommodification of privacy and recreation open new avenues to balance the turbulencesin an increasingly unpredictable economy.

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