17th EAJS Workshop for Doctoral Students
KU Leuven / Online
18–20 August 2021

Report of the Academic Organizer
The 17th EAJS Ph.D. Workshop took place 18-20 August 2021 as a virtual event. It was organized
by Prof. Dr. Jan Schmidt (KU Leuven).
Originally, the workshop had been planned as 16th EAJS Ph.D. Workshop in 2020 to take place inAugust at KU Leuven. The EAJS had chosen Leuven as the venue for the workshop following thetradition of holding EAJS Ph.D. Workshops directly before the EAJS International Conferences
at locations not too far from the conference venue. Originally, the EAJS had selected Ghent,Belgium, as location for its 2020 conference. However, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forced theEAJS to postpone the main conference. After the 16th EAJS Ph.D. workshop had instead beenorganized by Prof. Dr. Matthias Zachmann and Prof. Dr. Verena Talcott-Blechinger at Freie
Universität Berlin in 2021, the Ph.D. workshop at Leuven was postponed along with the EAJS
main conference to August 2021. Due to the advent of the Delta variant of the Corona Virus, thedecision was made that, both the main conference and the Ph.D. workshop, would be heldcompletely online.
The EAJS received applications from 35 eligible students from all parts of Europe and from EU
nationals affiliated with Japanese and US universities as Ph.D. candidates. The EAJS Council
reviewed the applications and ranked them according to the quality of their project description andthe reference letters. The workshop director decided on the final composition of the 15 workshop
participants based on the ranking and the expertise of the invited academic advisors. All 15 invited
candidates submitted their project reports of 5,000 words prior to the workshop, addressing
research questions, methodology, current state, and future work plan in due time for the advisors
to prepare comments and advice.
Prof. Dr. Schmidt invited the following four scholars to join them as academic advisors during theworkshop. The advisors were selected to cover a wide range of fields within Japanese Studies,including social sciences, art history, literature, and history:
Dr. Deborah Giustini (National Research University, Higher School of Economics Moscow/KULeuven)Prof. Dr. Daniel Poch (Hong Kong University)
Prof. Dr. Shimizu Yuichirō (Keio University, SFC)
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Willy Vande Walle (KU Leuven)
The workshop was held using the regular time format. To benefit from the possibilities of theonline format, the workshop was using a “main room” and several “breakout rooms”. For the foursessions the “main room” was used; each Ph.D. candidate had a time slot of 45 minutes, starting1

17th EAJS Workshop for Doctoral Students
KU Leuven / Online
18–20 August 2021

with a 15-minute presentation, followed by a 10-minute comment by a senior advisor and then 20minutes open discussion. The 15 presentations were grouped in four sessions: Panel 1: Politics andMedia (Chair: Giustini), Panel 2: Art History and Linguistics in History (Chair: Schmidt), Panel 3:
Literature/Museum Studies/Media Studies (Chair: Shimizu), Panel 4: Sociology/Regional
Studies/Religious Studies (Chair: Poch). While the projects themselves varied in their thematic
focus and theoretical approaches, similar questions relating to forming a theoretical framework,
how to collect and approach primary material, and also how to design and stick to a working
schedule were discussed. The Covid-19 pandemic had posed many challenges to most of thecandidates, many of whom were not (yet) able to enter Japan to work there on their projects. An
additional 20-minute time slot per Ph.D. candidate for individual consultations in extra time blocks
after two sessions of presentations at each of the two workshop days. For the participating Ph.D.
candidates, discussing these issues in a safe space among peers in a similar situation proved to befruitful. The workshop was closed at the end of the second say with a final joint feedback session.
Furthermore, two online dinners, one on the evening of 18 August and one on the evening of 20
August, were held. Each academic supervisor had a virtual “table”, and the 15 Ph.D. students wereshuffled three times per dinner so that over the two dinners further conversations on research andcareer planning could take place. After the first two sessions on 19 August, a roundtable discussion
on “Daigaku-in wa deta keredo… then what? Ph.D. Experiences & Post-Doc scenarios, including
positions in Japan” was held. Prof. Shimizu introduced useful websites for announcements ofacademic positions in Japan and strategies how to apply and prepare beforehand for possible
positions on the academic market. Daniel Poch and Jan Schmidt shared their experiences withobtaining a Ph.D. in the US (in Prof. Poch’s case Columbia University) or Germany (Jan Schmidtfrom Ruhr-University Bochum) and how to apply for tenure-track assistant professorships
afterwards. This resulted in a lively discussion with the 15 Ph.D. candidates about the strategies fortheir future careers, including questions such as how to keep a work-life balance and how topossibly balance having children during the Ph.D. or in the direct aftermath. During the discussion
about possible Post-Doc positions and professorships at Japanese universities, it became obviousthat the closing of the boarders by the Japanese immigration authorities even to persons with amultiple re-entry/work visa in 2020, lead to a loss of trust into the willingness of the Japanese
government – and perhaps of most of the society – to fully integrate foreign academic professionals
on a lifelong basis. The discussion, which went overtime because of the enthusiastic commitmentof the supervisors and all the Ph.D. candidates, was perceived as very open and stimulating by allsides, with personal experiences being shared from all sides and useful advice being given to thePh.D. candidates.
During the final feedback round it was mentioned by several Ph.D. candidates that not only thefeedback on their projects by a highly motivated peer-group of fellow Ph.D. students and by thesupervisors during the “official” sessions and the individual feedback moments, but also the many
informal conversations during dinners and in the virtual “tea room” and “coffee room” during
lunch breaks as well as the exchanges during the roundtable discussion had turned the entire Ph.D.
workshop into a successful and memorable academic event. All participants expressed their217th EAJS Workshop for Doctoral Students
KU Leuven / Online
18–20 August 2021

gratitude to the EAJS, to the Toshiba International Foundation and to the Japan Foundation fororganizing and funding it. This immediate feedback was further confirmed in the very positive final
reports by the Ph.D. candidates. While the opportunity to hold a virtual event was generallywholeheartedly welcomed in light of the ongoing pandemic situation, most of the Ph.D. candidates
and the supervisors would strongly suggest a return to an -person format for future EAJS Ph.D.
workshops, as the already very successful academic exchange that the virtual format now allowed
could benefit even more from the longer, more informal conversations that would be possible
during coffee breaks and in-person dinners.

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17th EAJS Workshop for Doctoral Students
KU Leuven / Online
18–20 August 2021

We gratefully acknowledge financial support for this event from:4