Feature

Graduate Student Forum

Electoral Cooperation in Japanese Elections: The Role of Individual Legislator’s Policy Preferences

Date
Tuesday, 13 June 2023 | 9:00 - 9:45 (JST)
Venue
Zoom  REGISTER HERE
Zoom access link will be provided after registration.
Language
English
Speakers
Etienne Gagnon Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
Moderator
Kenneth Mori McElwain Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Graduate Student Forum

Practice and dilemma in the support for “back to school” -Ethnography of a public educational facility for children of futôkô –

Date
Tuesday, 6 June 2023 | 9:00 - 9:45 (JST)
Venue
Zoom Meeting  REGISTER HERE
Zoom access link will be provided after registration.
Language
English
Speakers
Takayoshi Beppu The Graduate school of Education, the University of Tokyo
Moderator
Sawako Shirahase TCJS Director
Early-Career Scholar Forum

The Effect of Private Junior High School Enrollment on Students’ Academic and Social Outcomes: A Case in Japan

Date
Friday, 2 Jun 2023 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
Venue
Zoom Meeting  REGISTER HERE
Zoom access link will be provided after registration.
Language
English
Speakers
Izumi Mori JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (RPD), Sophia University
Moderator
Kenneth Mori McElwain Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Early-Career Scholar Forum

Low-carbon and crack-resistant concrete: towards a sustainable and durable building structures

Date
Friday, 26 May 2023 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
Venue
Zoom Meeting
Language
English
Speakers
Ou Guangfeng Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
Moderator
Yuya Sakai Associate Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

News

01/06/2023

TCJS Graduate Student Forum | Electoral Cooperation in Japanese Elections: The Role of Individual Legislator’s Policy Preferences

Tuesday, 113 June 2023 | 9:00 - 9:45 (JST)
26/05/2023

TCJS Seminar Series | The Long Shadow of the Secretary: Gendered Job Segregation and Attitudes towards Women

Tuesday, 8 Jun 2023 | 9:00 - 9:45 (JST)
23/05/2023

Collaboration with the United Nations University|Big IDEAS: SDGs Dialogue Series “A Breakthrough for People and Planet: The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board Report on Effective Multilateralism”

Friday, 26 May 2023 | 9:30 - 10:30 (JST)
22/05/2023

TCJS Graduate Student Forum | Practice and dilemma in the support for “back to school” -Ethnography of a public educational facility for children of futôkô –

Tuesday, 6 Jun 2023 | 9:00 - 9:45 (JST)
22/05/2023

TCJS Early-Career Scholar Forum | The Effect of Private Junior High School Enrollment on Students’ Academic and Social Outcomes: A Case in Japan

Friday, 2 Jun 2023 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
17/04/2023

TCJS Seminar Series | Wedge Issue Politics in Japan: Why Not Revising the Constitution Helps the Pro-Revision Ruling Party

Friday, 11 May 2023 | 9:00 - 10:00 (JST)
12/04/2023

TCJS Early-Career Scholar Forum | Design the Science – Science the Design

Friday, 28 April 2023 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
31/03/2023

TCJS Early-Career Scholar Forum | Low-carbon and crack-resistant concrete: towards a sustainable and durable building structures

Friday, 26 May 2023 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
29/03/2023

Collaborative Research with the United Nations University “Preventing HIV in Women: Addressing Gender Inequities with Science”,  a BIG IDEAS Dialogue with Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim

Tuesday, 4 April 2023 | 18:00 - 19:00 (JST)
28/02/2023

TCJS Book Talk Series | Fifty-year-journey of the “Napalm Girl”: Why did the iconic subject of the most impactful Vietnam War photo flee from her country?

Thursday, 17 March 2023 | 17:00 - 18:00 (JST)

About

The UTokyo Center for Contemporary Japanese Studies (TCJS) is a new organization, founded in July 2020. Using “Contemporary Japan” as a touchstone concept, the Center promotes interdisciplinary and globally comparative research that unpacks the mechanisms underlying various contemporary social issues. In addition, TCJS offers a platform for broadly disseminating the findings of such research with the rest of the world – not only for the sake of furthering research and education at the University of Tokyo, but also in the name of realizing a more sustainable global society, and expanding vital collaborative research across borders.

In this way, TCJS welcomes approaches to studying Japan from a wide variety of disciplines (beyond the humanities/sciences binary); supports cutting-edge research; encourages active collaborations across all generations and countries; and nurtures next-generation scholars.

Our Mission

  • Challenging pre-existing norms and assessment standards through a focus on studying Japanese society
  • Promoting the humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary research
  • Incorporating and strengthening global perspectives in the study of contemporary Japan
Our Mission

Research Projects

Japanese Economy and Politics

The socioeconomic and geopolitical environment of the world is shifting rapidly. Trust in international institutions and traditional domestic elites is declining, but alternative foundations to promote peace and prosperity remain elusive. We examine how Japan’s economic, social, and political systems have adapted--and should adapt--to ongoing global and domestic challenges.

Demography and Inequality

Japan is at the frontier of demographic transformations that have beset many advanced-industrialized societies, including an aging population, declining fertility rates, and growing socioeconomic inequalities. These pose serious challenges to status quo systems, such as social insurance policies, immigration regulations, and family and gender relations. Through collaborative research and data sharing, we examine cross-national responses to these transformations and contribute to evidence-based policy making (EBPM).

Gender in Japan

Japan is a country with a high degree of gender inequality. Despite being a country which achieved so-called “miraculous” economic growth in the 1950s and 60s, the wage gap between men and women remains high relative to other countries, and the percentage of female leaders in positions of executive decision making is quite low. There has been no change to fundamental structures that set forth drastically different expectations and burdens for household roles based on gender. As such, TCJS seeks to convene discussions with researchers and stakeholders from various fields, as well as to promote research in regard to these issues.

Collaboration with Humanities

TCJS together with the Humanities Center of the University of Tokyo (HMC) works to internationally disseminate their research results by holding seminar series in the field of humanities of Japan.