SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIESJanuary 6, 2024 (Saturday)
Osaka University Nakanoshima Center Seminar Room 7ATime

Speaker

9:00–9:10

Opening Remarks (UNODA Shōya and Nicholas LAMBRECHT, Osaka University)

9:10–9:20

Introductions of Panelists and Commentators

9:20–11:05

PANEL #1

9:20

9:55

10:30

Feminist Foreign Policy: A Concept for Japan?
(Annika CLASEN, German Institute for Japanese Studies)
Corporate Responses to Social Issues: The Case of aJapanese Logistics Company (Ali KRUBALLY, Osaka University)
Japan’s Relationship to Russia and International Sanctions: A Change of Tide?
(Katharina DRESSEN, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf / Hosei University)

11:05–12:05

Lunch Break

12:05–13:50

PANEL #2
Revisiting Lu Xun and Japanese Sōsaku-hanga: Insights from

12:05

“To Printmakers” and “How to Create Sōsaku-hanga”(ZHANG Jingyi, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies)

12:40

Transnational Synchronization: A Transwar History of Nakanishi Tsutomu’s
Views on the Politics of China and Japan (LI Jiadi, Osaka University)
Anonymous Amanuenses: Multilingualism and Knowledge Transfer in a

13:15

Recently Discovered Christian Manuscript (Sophie TAKAHASHI,
Ruhr University Bochum / German Institute for Japanese Studies)

13:50–14:05

Short Break

14:05–15:50

PANEL #3

14:05

From the Stage to the Screen: The Intertwining of Kogō and Kenreimon’in
from the 14th to the 17th Century (Alessandra SOLIMENE, Sophia University)
Writing Forwards, Writing Backwards: Intertextual Connections

14:40

in Itō Seikō’s The Novel That Does Not Exist and Back 2 Back
(Kateryna SHABELNYK, Nagoya University)

15:15
15:50–16:05
16:05–16:55

Historicizing Otaku Subjectivity: A Critical Analysis of the Desire
for the “Phallic Girl” (KYAKUMOTO Atsunari, Osaka University)
Short BreakGeneral Discussion (Kristina IWATA-WEICKGENANNT, Nagoya University;
Felipe MOTTA, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies; and the conference organizers)

SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Feminist Foreign Policy: A Concept for Japan?
Annika CLASEN
Doctoral Student, German Institute for Japanese Studies
Feminist foreign policy (FFP) has become a buzzword for liberal, progressive states
and those that wish to appear to be so. As Karin Aggestam and others have argued,
enacting a feminist foreign policy is a way of rebranding a state as virtuous. FFP has
been a success story so far, with Sweden at the forefront and Canada, Mexico, France,
Germany, and Chile among the other countries adopting its tenets. Although there isno single agreed-upon definition of FFP, at the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima the W7(an official G7 task force focusing on gender equality and women’s empowerment)
drew upon feminist ideas in the composition of its joint statement, which was endorsedby all member states including Japan.
The Japanese government has tried to keep pace with these trends by developing a
progressive policy regarding women, peace, and security, and by establishing various
caucuses within the LDP-controlled parliament to deal with issues of gender equality
and improving the status of women both domestically and internationally. At the sametime, Japan has consistently ranked last among its G7 peers when it comes to genderequality and women’s empowerment. Beyond its domestic struggles, Japan faces
growing regional security challenges, notably China’s assertiveness in the East andSouth China Seas and the effects on partnerships in the Indo-Pacific of Russia’s attack
on Ukraine.
In this climate, Japan is looking for new opportunities for cooperation with the world’s
liberal democracies. Traditionally, Japan has made great efforts to present itself as an“ethical state” internationally. Against this background, my research asks how Japanis using FFP to promote and support partnerships with other states, such as themembers of the European Union. I draw on the work of Amitav Acharya’s localisation
approach, which identifies norms and their respective interpreters, to suggest methods
for the implementation of FFP norms in a Japanese society that still struggles withgender inequality.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Corporate Responses to Social Issues:
The Case of a Japanese Logistics Company
Ali KRUBALLY
Doctoral Student, Osaka University
The delivery of goods to the doorsteps of customers has become a crucial part of oursocial infrastructure due to factors including the increasing popularity of online
shopping and changes in consumer lifestyle. In response to these dynamics, delivery
companies are actively seeking innovative approaches that can serve to enhance theunderlying delivery technology and improve service in the last mile delivery process.
Meanwhile, researchers have called upon companies to contribute to society byimplementing social initiatives that are based on each company’s line of businessrather than by making simple monetary contributions. In Japan, there is a particularlyhigh level of collaboration between private and public organizations in their efforts totackle the problems faced by the country, which include an aging population, a lowbirthrate, rural depopulation, and susceptibility to natural disasters.
This presentation examines the social initiative projects and programs of Japan’slargest delivery company, Yamato Transport. In the presentation, I analyze how thecompany has responded to broader societal issues by strategically integrating social
projects into its core business operations. Using Yamato Transport’s example, thisstudy proposes a replicable model framework for how companies can solve social
issues while at the same time creating value for the business. The study first identifies
the factors that distinguish company social initiatives from other corporate social
responsibility (CSR) activities, then highlights how social initiatives add value tocompanies in four major ways: through reconfiguration of existing company resources,
through the trial of new ideas and processes, through direct collaboration with multiple
stakeholders, and through direct engagement with customers. Although the results ofthis study are based upon the dynamic between a particular corporation and publicorganizations and local communities in Japan, the framework proposed here canserve as a template for socially conscious approaches to company operations both inJapan and abroad.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Japan’s Relationship to Russia and International Sanctions:
A Change of Tide?
Katharina DRESSEN
Doctoral Student, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf / Hosei University
When the Russian Federation annexed Crimea in 2014, the international reaction in
the form of far-reaching economic and financial sanctions was swift to follow. While
Japan joined its Western partners in imposing measures against the Russian
aggressor, Japan refrained from using sanctions, a policy which was widely criticized.
As Maria Shagina has suggested, this lukewarm restraint expressed by the Japanese
government under the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzō was driven by his cabinet’s hopeto achieve further progress on bilateral issues with Russia such as the territorial
dispute regarding the Northern Territories.
At first glance, the restraint Japan expressed in 2014 seems to have diminished on
the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As recorded in the Global
Sanctions Database, Japan not only joined the United States and other Western
nations in sanctions against Moscow but also imposed sanctions on Belarus, which is
widely seen as complicit in Russia’s attack. This change in Japan’s reaction to theactions of Russia and its neighbors has yet to be explained.
My research seeks to determine what has changed over this period of time. Does
Japan’s stronger reaction simply represent a return to old patterns of bending toforeign pressure, such as those observed by Saori Katada in the early 2000s? Are wewitnessing a form of acknowledgment that the intervening years have seen little
progress in the resolution of bilateral issues? Or is Japan’s participation in this episodeof multilateral sanctions—and especially its focus on building consensus among themembers of the G7 during its term as host nation and chair in 2023—an expression ofa new Japanese security identity?

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Revisiting Lu Xun and Japanese Sōsaku-hanga: Insights from“To Printmakers” and “How to Create Sōsaku-hanga”
ZHANG Jingyi
Doctoral Student, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies
It is widely recognized that the renowned Chinese writer Lu Xun was a significant
proponent of the modern Chinese Woodcut Movement. In August 1931, Lu Xun andUchiyama Kakitsu held a woodcut class at the Uchiyama bookstore in Shanghai. This
event is commonly regarded as the beginning of the Chinese Woodcut Movement.
The Woodcut Movement aimed to transcend the confines of traditional prints and bookillustrations, striving to create a new form of artistic woodcut prints. Simultaneously, itsought to express various facets of people’s lives, aiming to bring about reform in
China’s challenging contemporary society through the strength of art.
Recent research has revealed a contradiction between Lu Xun’s attitudes and actions
toward Japanese woodcut prints. Lu Xun collected numerous Japanese woodcut
prints, primarily ukiyo-e and sōsaku-hanga, and acknowledged their artistic value tosome extent. However, publicly he chose to maintain a cautious attitude rather than
openly expressing his regard for them. The common explanations for this caution are
first, that China was facing difficult times during this period, and second, that there wasa prevailing belief that Japanese sōsaku-hanga were not well suited to a Chinesecontext. Nevertheless, the exact reasons why Lu Xun avoided discussing Japanese
woodcut prints and how they related to his promotion of the Chinese Woodcut
Movement remain unclear.
Therefore, the aim of this presentation is to investigate how Lu Xun’s acquisition ofJapanese sōsaku-hanga guidebooks from the Uchiyama bookstore is related to thewoodcut print anthologies he edited. This will help us better understand the connection
between Lu Xun’s publishing endeavors and Japanese sōsaku-hanga.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Transnational Synchronization: A Transwar History of
Nakanishi Tsutomu’s Views on the Politics of China and Japan
LI Jiadi
Doctoral Student, Osaka University
The wartime systems of the 1930s and 1940s are now history, but the foundations of
the postwar world were laid by them. In this presentation I draw upon Yamanouchi
Yasushi’s transwar approach and the case of the left-wing intellectual Nakanishi
Tsutomu to show that Japanese intellectual history is no exception to this rule.
Nakanishi Tsutomu lived in and researched China for an extended period during theSecond Sino-Japanese War, and during this time he participated in the resistanceagainst imperial Japan’s invasion through his support for the Chinese Communist
Party. Unlike many of his contemporaries with these sorts of international experiences
during wartime, Nakanishi survived the war, and his wartime resistance earned him agood reputation in both Japan and China; in Japan he was elected to the National Diet,and in China his story inspired several television dramas. As a politician andintellectual in postwar Japan, Nakanishi kept up his China studies and wrote
extensively about domestic and international politics, continuing to think about theconnections between Japan and the rest of East Asia.
Through an analysis of Nakanishi’s writings about wartime China, postwar China, andpostwar Japan, I demonstrate that Nakanishi’s early views toward China had many
points in common with Maoism, and that these wartime views helped shape his
perspectives on China and Japan during the postwar era. Nakanishi believed that
postwar Japan faced many of the same problems as postwar China, and should
therefore follow the same Maoist steps as the Chinese Communist Party in order tosolve them. I argue that Nakanishi’s difficulties in directly applying the ideas of Maoism
to the Japanese situation illustrate the hurdles involved in adapting political ideologies
to new environments.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Anonymous Amanuenses: Multilingualism and Knowledge Transfer
in a Recently Discovered Christian Manuscript
Sophie TAKAHASHI — Doctoral Student,
Ruhr University Bochum / German Institute for Japanese Studies
In late 2019, a remarkable Jesuit manuscript was discovered in the Herzog August
Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany: the first complete Japanese translation of theCompendia. This manuscript, dating to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century,is the earliest known Japanese textbook used to teach Aristotelian philosophy,
theology, and Ptolemaic cosmology to Japanese Christians. The novelty of the
discovery calls for an identification of the manuscript’s writer. To do so, I compare thehandwriting of the Wolfenbüttel manuscript with that found in other Jesuit texts.
While there is both textual and extratextual evidence of the involvement of the Jesuit
authors and translators Pedro Gómez (1533/35–1600), Pedro Ramón (1549/50–1611),
and Pedro Morejón (1562–1639?) in the Compendia’s compilation process, none of
their handwritings matches with the Wolfenbüttel manuscript. Meanwhile, theexistence of scribes (amanuenses) assigned to copy the writings of a superior is wellrecorded in Jesuit member catalogues. I thus aim to unveil the identity of the actual
scribe who set down the Compendia in the names of Gómez, Ramón, and Morejón.
The Wolfenbüttel manuscript is a highly challenging work, with Latin, Portuguese, andSpanish loanwords, extensive Latin quotes, rich illustrations of astronomical devices,and geocentric diagrams integrated into the vertically written Japanese main text.
Meanwhile, foreign technical terms and citations are represented in a variety of text
directions and writing systems, including Roman script, Japanese katakana, andGreek script. Only a highly educated individual paying assiduous attention to detailcould have managed to copy this multilingual manuscript. I uncover clues to thescribe’s identity through applying grapholinguistic and palaeographic techniques to theanalysis of character variants in Japanese script, ligatures in Roman script, andmonograms for sacred names. My research thereby unmasks hitherto neglected
mediators of knowledge and presents a new perspective on multilingualism inJapanese intellectual history.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

From the Stage to the Screen: The Intertwining of Kogō and
Kenreimon’in from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century
Alessandra SOLIMENE
Doctoral Research Student, Sophia University
This paper explores how the figures of the twelfth-century Empress Kenreimon’in andthe imperial consort Lady Kogō came to be intertwined on paired byōbu-e screens bydrawing an invisible line from the Heike monogatari to their transposition into nō
theater and screen paintings. The episodes involving Lady Kogō and Empress
Kenreimon’in within Heike are among the few sections featuring court women as main
characters and the two women shared several common characteristics, including
bearing the children of Emperor Takakura and later becoming nuns. However, aside
from these similarities in their life stories, the Heike does not highlight any connection
between the two characters, and byōbu-e is the only genre where Kogō and
Kenreimon’in are paired.
The trend of representing these two personages on opposite pairs of byōbu-e lasted
from the late Momoyama period to the early Edo period. Illustrating two different
personages on juxtaposed screens is not inherently unique; however, this particularpairing seems to result from the great influence that nō theater played on visual art.
When Komparu Zenchiku composed two separate nō plays about Kogō and
Kenreimon’in in the fifteenth century, he did more than merely draw inspiration fromthe Heike monogatari, he also presented them as bereft women who experienced thesame sense of solitude that only an outside visitor could break. These elements areclearly visible in the composition and decorative elements of the byōbu-e that pairKogō and Kenreimon’in. Therefore, by analyzing the reinterpretation of Lady Kogō andEmpress Kenreimon’in in various media, this presentation demonstrates how genres
influence one another through a process of readaptation and revision.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Writing Forwards, Writing Backwards: Intertextual Connections
in Itō Seikō’s The Novel That Does Not Exist and Back 2 Back
Kateryna SHABELNYK
Master’s Student, Nagoya University
This presentation deals with the question of intertextuality in contemporary Japanese
literature based on two collections of short stories, Back 2 Back (2012) by Itō Seikō
and Sasaki Ataru and The Novel That Does Not Exist (Sonzai shinai shōsetsu, 2013)
by Itō Seikō. Using the notion of literary rewriting, it aims to show how these works
connect to and influence each other on both textual and narrational levels. To do so, it
focuses on author-reader interactions that are first iterated in Back 2 Back and then
expanded upon in The Novel That Does Not Exist. Further, the presentation discusses
the possibility of interpreting The Novel That Does Not Exist as a pseudotranslationand outlines the implications of this interpretation on possible intertextual connections.
By mapping out the common plot both works share as well as the differences between
them, I consider how the works reiterate the motif of authorship from new angles andhow they encourage the reader’s active participation in narrative construction. Further,
I place special emphasis on the possibility of interpreting rewriting as a form ofinteractive play. Showing how several stories first published in Back 2 Back aremodified and combined into one in The Novel That Does Not Exist, I elaborate on theconnection between this process and the so-called death of the author. To do so, I
closely examine the motif of writing and authorship that is expressed in all of the stories
through the symbol of a metaphorical “novel” to which the reader never receives fullaccess.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Historicizing Otaku Subjectivity:
A Critical Analysis of the Desire for the “Phallic Girl”
KYAKUMOTO Atsunari
Doctoral Student, Osaka University
The purposes of this presentation are, first, to analyze the subjectivity of otaku from atheoretical perspective, and second, to explain the ambiguity inherent in otaku desire.
From the 1990s to the 2000s, Japanese scholars and critics including Osawa Masachi
and Azuma Hiroki analyzed so-called otaku, passionate fans of manga and anime, asa symptom of postmodern society in Japan. These intellectuals maintained that otaku
faced a distinct set of historical circumstances in which social reality had lost its power
and authority, and such arguments influenced many domestic and international
researchers. Since the 2010s, however, some researchers have begun to relativize
the otaku boom by noting that while the study of otaku sometimes emphasizes theiruniqueness, there are many similarities between otaku culture and other fan cultures
around the world.
In light of such shifts in recent research, this presentation provides a new theoreticalanalysis of otaku subjectivity. Specifically, I interpret Saitō Tamaki’s theory of the“phallic girl” as a theory of the process of signification. The “phallic girl” is a concept
Saitō uses to analyze otaku desire from a Lacanian perspective. While this concept
cannot fully explain the social dimensions of otaku fandom, it represents an important
contribution to explaining tensions within the otaku psyche. Drawing upon the criticalreadings of Jacques Lacan performed by such thinkers as Louis Althusser, FredricJameson, and Judith Butler, I argue that Saitō’s theory shows how otaku are social
agents in a historical process in which the significance of masculinity is changing. In
this process, otaku are sometimes repressed in certain regards, while acquiring
subjectivity in others. I conclude that the complex desires of otaku reflect andsometimes resist their ambiguous position within Japanese society.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Conference Organizers and Commentators
UNODA Shōya
Professor of Japanese Studies, Osaka University

Unoda Shōya holds a PhD in Japanese Studies from Osaka University. He specializes
in Japanese intellectual history, and his recent research has involved Zainichi Korean
cultural and social movements and the circle movements of the early postwar period.
He chairs the Global Japanese Studies Program at Osaka University and is Associate
Director of the Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator.
Nicholas LAMBRECHT
Assistant Professor of Global Japanese Studies, Osaka University

Nicholas Lambrecht holds a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the
University of Chicago. His research examines modern and contemporary Japanese
literature, particularly works dealing with postwar repatriation. At Osaka University, heoffers courses on Japanese media and culture and co-organizes the GJS-ERI’s
Incubator-Supported Project “An International Collaborative Network for Research on
Zainichi Korean Literature”.
Kristina IWATA-WEICKGENANNT
Professor of Modern Japanese Literature, Nagoya University

Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt holds a PhD in Japanese Studies from the University ofTrier. She is a co-editor of the volumes Fukushima and the Arts: Negotiating Nuclear
Disaster (Routledge, 2017) and Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture andLiterature (Routledge, 2015), and her research on contemporary literature has
appeared in such journals as Japan Forum, JunCture, and positions: asia critique. At
Nagoya University, she is involved in the Japan-in-Asia Cultural Studies Program.
Yulia BURENINA
Lecturer, Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator, Osaka University

Yulia Burenina holds a PhD in Japanese Language and Culture from Osaka University,and her research centers on Japanese religion, with a particular focus on modern
Japanese Buddhism. Burenina currently serves as a full-time faculty member at the
Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator and teaches courses on
Japanese religion and intellectual history in Japanese and English at Osaka University.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Felipe MOTTA
Assistant Professor of Brazilian and Portuguese Studies, Kyoto Univ. of Foreign Studies

Felipe Motta holds a PhD in Literature from Osaka University and specializes in
Migration Studies. His Japanese-language monograph The Immigrant Thinking the
Immigrant: Tomoo Handa and the Writing of the Japanese-Brazilian Community’s
History was released by Osaka University Press in 2022. In addition to his work at the
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Motta teaches courses in the Global JapaneseStudies Program at Osaka University.
Conference Staff
SUMIKAWA Chika and TOMITA Akiko (Office Staff, GJS-ERI, Osaka University)
TAGI Yūki (Assistant Professor, GJS-ERI, Osaka University)
Fernanda MOURA (Graduate Student, Osaka University)
About the Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator
The Osaka University Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator(GJS-ERI), established in 2020, aims to generate new advances in research andeducation by integrating the benefits of work done in both the humanities and social
science disciplines. GJS-ERI promotes interdisciplinary and international research byserving as a platform for the exchange of advanced academic dialogue relating to thestudy of Japan. Further, GJS-ERI endeavors to translate research results into valuableinterdisciplinary and society-oriented educational programs that incorporate the studyof Japan as part of an essential foundation for the training of global talent.
About the Consortium for Global Japanese Studies
The Consortium for Global Japanese Studies (CGJS) is Japan’s first effort to meet theneeds of university research institutes and graduate programs in international
Japanese studies and encourage coordination and networking among them. The
Consortium aims, through participation in joint research meetings and international
symposia relating to global Japanese studies, to serve as an intermediary body thatconnects the domestic research community to international research networks.
Moreover, by promoting joint research and holding international joint researchworkshops, the Consortium’s activities contribute to the training of young scholars andhelp build the academic foundations of global Japanese studies as a field.

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SIXTH ANNUAL OSAKA GRADUATE CONFERENCE IN JAPANESE STUDIES
Osaka University Global Studies Education and Research Incubator /Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Conference Access
In 2024, the Osaka Graduate Conference in Japanese Studies will be convened in
Seminar Room 7A of the Osaka University Nakanoshima Center in the center of
Osaka City. The Nakanoshima Center, opened in 2004 and newly renovated in 2023,
aims to be a facility supporting global knowledge exchange. The map below provides
general guidance on access to the Nakanoshima Center.

(Nakanoshima Centerat bottom left)

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