International Conference
Deciphering the social DNA of happiness:
Life course perspectives from Japan
24 – 26 April 2014
Location: University of Vienna
Department of East Asian Studies / Japanese Studies
Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2; Entrance 2.4; seminar room JAPANOLOGIE 1 (ground floor)
Thursday, April 24, 2014
18:00-20:00

WELCOME, INTRODUCTION AND KEYNOTE SPEECHES
Makoto TAKETOSHI, Japanese Ambassador to Austria
Matthias MEYER, Dean of Faculty, Vienna University
Barbara HOLTHUS and Wolfram MANZENREITER (University of Vienna, Austria)
DIJ research focus on happiness and unhappiness in Japan
Florian COULMAS (German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo, Japan)
What is a good society? A perspective from happiness research
Shigehiro OISHI (University of Virginia, USA)

20:00-22:00

Welcome reception

Friday, April 25, 2014
9:30-10:00

Agenda setting
Barbara HOLTHUS and Wolfram MANZENREITER (University of Vienna, Austria)

10:00-12:00

SECTION 1: CHILDHOOD / ADOLESCENCE
Happiness in a Japanese day nursery?
Eyal BEN-ARI (Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel)“It’s good to go to school”: First graders’ views about schooling and learning in Japan
Yoko YAMAMOTO (Brown University, USA)
Socio-physical space and well-being: The case of burakumin youth in contemporaryJapan
Christopher BONDY (International Christian University, Japan)

12:00-14:00

Lunch

14:00-16:00

SECTION 2: ADULTHOOD: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, PART 1
Specialization and happiness in marriage: A U.S.-Japan comparison
Hiroshi ONO (Texas A&M University, USA)
“Being happy as a woman”: The meaning and implications of being happy among
Japanese housewives in post-bubble Japan
Ofra GOLDSTEIN-GIDONI (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
Single motherhood, living arrangements, and well-being in Japan
James RAYMO (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)

16:00-16:30

Coffee break16:30-18:30

SECTION 3: ADULTHOOD: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, PART 2
Whose responsibility? Whose well-being? On pregnancy and prenatal care in Japan
Tsipy Ivry (University of Haifa, Israel)
Happiness in “endurance”: Impacts of internalized parenting norms
Yoshie MORIKI (International Christian University, Japan)
Happiness in balance: Married working women and household gender roles in Japan
Mary BRINTON (Harvard University, USA)

Saturday, April 26, 2013
9:00-10:20

SECTION 4: ADULTHOOD: MEN AT WORK – AND AT HOME
Happy and unhappy professors in contemporary Japan
Roger GOODMAN (University of Oxford, UK)
How happy are salarymen: Continuity and change in the meaning of well-being forJapanese middle-class men
Futoshi TAGA (Kansai University, Japan)

10:20-10:40

Coffee break

10:40-12:00

SECTION 5: ADULTHOOD: COMMUNITY BUILDING, PART 1
No man is an island: Social well-being as a prerequisite for subjective well-being inJapan?
Carola HOMMERICH (German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo, Japan)

Political participation: Entering a new world or plunging into disappointment? A casestudy of “Greens Japan” activists
Phoebe HOLDGRÜN (German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo, Japan)
12:00-13:30

Lunch

13:30-14:50

SECTION 6: ADULTHOOD: COMMUNITY BUILDING, PART 2
Experiences, narratives and transformations of disaster volunteers in Tohoku:
Purpose in life, self-complacency, insecurity
Susanne KLIEN (Hokkaido University, Japan)
Japanese religions and human happiness: Exploring an ambivalent relationshipMark MULLINS (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

14:50-15:15

Coffee break

15:15-17:15

SECTION 7: OLD AGE / END OF LIFE
Embracing decline: Understanding the impacts of ageing and depopulation on wellbeing in rural Japan
Peter MATANLE (Sheffield University, UK)
Loneliness among older people in Japan: A perspective from happiness economics
Tim TIEFENBACH (German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo, Japan)
Conceptions of a meaningful life and “good” death in end of life decision-making
Celia SPODEN (Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany)

17:15-17:30

Coffee break

17:30-18:30

CONCLUSION
Concluding discussion
Gordon MATHEWS (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)
Discussion on book project and closing remarks
Barbara HOLTHUS and Wolfram MANZENREITER (University of Vienna, Austria)