Japan Studies Association National Conference CFP

Japan Studies Association National Conference, Honolulu, HI, January 4-5, 2024

Established in San Diego in the spring of 1994 by Alvin D. Coox and Chalmers Johnson, the Japan Studies Association has assisted its members – primarily teachers from American two- and four-year colleges and universities – to acquire first-hand knowledge about Japan and infuse it into the curriculum of their home institutions. Through workshops and study-tours and the professional networking they enable, JSA’s members have been inspired to engage in curriculum development, design study-abroad programs, and initiate Japan-related or comparative research.

For 2024 the Japan Studies Association will hold its thirtieth national conference in Honolulu, HI Thursday and Friday January 4 and 5. We seek to share our pedagogical and research interests in Japan’s literary and cultural traditions, historical and economic developments, sociopolitical and security developments, and its religious past and present. We invite proposals for individual presentations, discipline-specific or interdisciplinary panels, roundtables on pedagogy and teaching innovation and/or staged readings. The conference especially invites graduate students and/or faculty based in Japan to apply.

This year’s conference theme is: What’s next for Japan? The tumultuous beginning of the Reiwa Era appears to have settled into a period of relative calm and stability. Japan has known such periods before in its recent history. Yet each of these periods of stability have ended in the sudden advent of crisis and return of the continuing upset and tumult which appears to have punctuated Japanese life since 1989 if not before. Japanese may enjoy these periods of relative calm, but they also anxiously anticipate their end. So many challenges currently face Japan and the Japanese; demographic, climatic, security, economic, and also existential. Which facet, or combination of facets, will confront the Japanese with their next crisis?

To submit paper or panel proposals please visit the JSA website (www.japanstudies.org). Click on the tab for “JSA 2024 Conference in Hawai’i” to access submission, registration and payment links. The conference will convene at the Hyatt Place Waikiki. Reservation information is available on the conference tab.

We look forward to seeing you in sunny Hawai’i.

Prof. Paul Dunscomb
University of Alaska Anchorage
JSA Conference Program Co-Chair