On Friday, February 20th, the Hamilton Lugar School's (HLS) 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI)* convened a multidisciplinary group of scholars for a academic manuscript workshop and public panel discussion on “Migration in Contemporary Japan.” The day-long private workshop and hour-long public event were hosted by 21JPSI Founding Director Adam Liff and co-organized by Liff and 21JPSI Faculty Affiliate Hilary Holbrow. Both were co-sponsored by the departments of Political Science and Sociology.
Despite the popular conception of Japan as “closed” to immigration, over the past three decades Japan’s immigrant population has grown significantly. More recently, related issues have become major topics of conversation in Japan’s political and policy discourse, as they have in the USA, much of Europe, and around the world. Across the day’s events, the five experts both presented a draft paper for critical feedback from other participants and IU faculty and graduate students and shared their perspectives on recent developments as part of a public expert panel. The wide-ranging discussions explored Japan’s policy challenges and successes, as well as the implications of the LDP’s landslide election victory on February 8th. Presenters at the workshop and public panel were:
- Hao Liang (PhD candidate, Department of Sociology, Cornell University)
- Anand Rao (Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Relations, SUNY Geneseo)
- Qiaoyan Rosenberg (Postdoctoral Fellow, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University)
- Michael Strausz (Professor, Department of Political Science, Texas Christian University)
- Ryoko Yamamoto (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, SUNY Old Westbury)
Good luck to all presenters as they revise their manuscripts for publication!
This event was made possible thanks to generous financial support from the Japan Foundation.
*The 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) was launched at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in 2018. Under the leadership of Founding Director and Hamilton Lugar School faculty member Adam Liff, from its base in the Midwest 21JPSI aims to invigorate and expand research, teaching, and programming on contemporary Japanese politics, society, and international (esp. U.S.-Japan) relations, and to educate, raise awareness, and debate policy responses to the various political, social, and foreign policy challenges that Japan faces today. For more information about 21JPSI and its upcoming events, please visit https://jpsi.indiana.edu/ and sign up for our event announcement mailing list.
Activities and opportunities for students like the event described would not be possible without external financial support. If you would like to support 21JPSI’s mission through a tax-deductible gift to the IU foundation, please click here or contact HLS’ Senior Director of Development. (For the IU Foundation’s full disclosure statement, see go.iu.edu/89n.)