Beyond Japan with Oliver Moxham

Oliver is joined by Dr Mark Hudson, archaeologist in the interdisciplinary Eurasia3angle research group at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, to discuss Bronze Age Globalization. Mark’s research of Jōmon-era Japan has indicated that socio-cultural exchange occurred between the Japanese archipelago and mainland Eurasia, followed by a re-Jōmonization where external cultures were rejected in a return to the local. I will be asking Mark what prehistoric globalization looked like and how it relates to our contemporary understanding of the process today.

Read Mark's article, Bronze Age Globalisation and Eurasian Impacts on Later Jōmon Social Change

For a comprehensive list of Japanese time periods, please see Japanese History: A Timeline of Periods and Events

Image and audio credits

Intro-outro audio: jasonszklarek / MotionElements.com

[L] Map by Junzo Uchiyama from "Bronze Age Globalisation and Eurasian Impacts on Later Jōmon Social Change"

[R] "Jomon Period Domen Clay Mask" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Dr Christopher Hayes, Research Associate at the Sainsbury Institute, to discuss “Binaries of Representation: Japan in the British Media”. Chris will share his insights on British travel shows that see TV personalities like Paul Hollywood or Sue Perkins travel the archipelago and reduce it to binary tropes such as “traditional Japan” and “ultra-futuristic Japan”, or “traditional Japan” and “weird Japan”. Chris also explains how Japan’s own official tourism discourse is complicit in creating these narratives.

Read Chris' article: Othered, Orientalised, and Opposingly Depicted: The Persistence of Stereotyping of Japan in the British Press

Sources

Paul Hollywood Eats Japan

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Young Sex in Japan

Sexless in Japan – BBC News

Image and audio credits

Introduction clip: Japan geeks: Virtual girlfriends from No Sex Please, We're Japanese

Intro-outro audio: jasonszklarek / MotionElements.com

[L] "British tourists performing the Shinto temizu purification ritual at the Meiji shrine in Tokyo" by Anguskirk is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

[R] "124/365 — Robo fiddle. #project365 #iphone #Japan #robots #fiddle" by Zen Len is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Kanako NAKAMURA, General Manager of Digital Interactive Rehabilitation System (Digireha for short), to discuss tech, art and rehabilitation. Kanako will explain how technological innovations and digital art can revolutionise monotonous rehabilitation processes for disabled children, creating a joyful, customised experience and fostering interactive relationships with family members.

Visit the Digital Interactive Rehabilitation System website.

Image and sound credits:

Digireha introduction video [デジタルアートやセンサーを用いたリハビリツール『デジリハ』- Digital Interactive Rehabilitation System]

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Dr Daria Melnikova, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow at the Sainsbury Institute, to discuss the art movement of Futurism in the early 20th century and how collaborating Russian and Japanese artists within the movement challenged its founding principles and Eurocentric nature.

Japanese time periods mentioned:

Taishō period: 1912-1926 AD

Image credits

[L] Kinoshita Shūichirō, A Maiko Hitting a Drum (1921) painting, published as a postcard by the Arts and Crafts Association, Tokyo. Work destroyed (photograph provided by Omuka Toshiharu)

[R] Fumon Gyo, Deer, Youth, Light, Cross (1920) oil on canvas 64.7 x 80 cm, Nara Prefectural Museum

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Professor Fabio Rambelli, lecturer at the University of California’s Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies as well as International Shinto Foundation Chair in Shinto Studies, to discuss gagaku (雅楽), a traditional form of Japanese music which has endured to the modern day largely unchanged for over a thousand years. Fabio shares with us the cultural significance of court music in modern Japan, who played it and why and the global interest in Buddhist culture both tangible and intangible.

Watch Fabio playing the shō

Join Fabio's conference on Gagaku: Cultural Capital, Cultural Heritage, and Cultural Identity

Introduction music: Performance Hideaki Bunno Gagaku Ensemble in Kanazawa Performance Digest

Image credits:

[L] Musicienne de Gagaku, ensemble 'Owari Miyabie' (Maison du Japon, Paris) by dalbera is licensed under CC BY 2.0

[R] Gagaku practice by JuhaOnTheRoad is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Professor Nicole Rousmaniere, Research Director at the Sainsbury Institute and Professor of Japanese Arts at UEA, to discuss ‘Exhibiting Japan’. Nicole has curated multiple exhibits at the British Museum including their permanent Mitsubishi Gallery as well as temporary exhibits such as the Manga Exhibit and Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan exhibit. As we gear up to a summer of Japan-related exhibits at the Sainsbury Centre, this episode explores the challenges of presenting another nation’s culture, both ethical and practical.

See the British Museum's digital collection here

For more details on Nicole's Accidental Translator lecture

Japanese time periods mentioned:

Jōmon period: 14,000 - 300 BCE

Kofun period: 300 - 538 AD

Edo period: 1603 - 1867 AD

Meiji period: 1868 - 1912 AD

Glossary (in order of appearance):

Kōgei (工芸): Traditional Japanese crafts.

Netsuke (根付): Miniature sculptures originally used as button fasteners dating back to the Edo period.

Orientalism: A term coined by Edward Said in 1978 which refers to the patronising attitude of the West towards Middle Eastern, Asian and North African communities.

Japonisme: A period of popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century at the start of the Meiji period.

Image credits:

Samurai Armour by ~SMugridge~ is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum. by p_a_h is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Dr Ryōko MATSUBA, Lecturer in Japanese Digital Arts and Humanities at the Sainsbury Institute, to discuss the digitisation process of cultural artefacts. Ryōko is a specialist on Edo printed culture with wide-ranging experience of scanning kabuki prints and many other museum artefacts to create digital copies. As well as allowing for greater accessibility, Ryōko explains how digitisation facilitates international research by broadening online resources and creating new perspectives on delicate artefacts. We also discuss the practical challenges and ethics of digitisation as well as the details of a technical workshop at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts being held this week as part of our Shōtoku Intervention. For more details on the Shōtoku Intervention, you can revisit our Shōtoku miniseries, episodes #32 through #34.

Image credits

Photographs by Dr Ryōko MATSUBA, digitisation with students at the British Museum and Smithsonian

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by Dr Naonori Kodate, Associate Professor in Social Policy and Director of Research at University College Dublin, who will introduce us to the growing phenomenon of robotics in elder care. In super-aged Japan, robots are becoming more and more common in assisting care staff in a wide range of activities, from heavy-lifting to night-nursing, as the human workforce decreases due to depopulation and strict migration policies. Nao’s research indicates robots can be more than tools, providing social contact for a demographic commonly afflicted by loneliness. What’s more, as other nations begin to see ageing populations, robots in the care home may soon become the norm.

Sources

Ide, H., Kodate, N., Suwa, S., Tsujimura, M., Shimamura, A., Ishimaru, M., & Yu, W. (2021). The Ageing ‘Care Crisis’ in Japan: Is there a role for robotics-based solutions? International Journal of Care and Caring, 5: 165-171. 

Obayashi, K., Kodate, N., & Masuyama, S. (2020) Can connected technologies improve sleep quality and safety of older adults and care-givers? An evaluation study of sleep monitors and communicative robots at a residential care home in Japan. Technology in Society, 62.

小舘尚文，生活支援技術の受容をめぐる社会・文化・政策的課題―介護ロボットの社会実装を事例に―, In: 「高齢者を支える技術と社会的課題 科学技術に関する調査プロジェクト報告書」、国立国会図書館 調査及び立法考査局; 2021年3月；pp65-80. National Diet Library, Japan.

Image credits

[L] Universal Accessibility Ageing Research Centre, Japan

[R] Circuits of Care film poster

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

Oliver is joined by David Slater, Professor of Anthropology at Sophia University in Tokyo, to discuss Article 9 and Youth Politics. Following Japan’s defeat in the Asia-Pacific War and the dismantling of its empire, occupying US forces put a clause in their revised constitution that forbade Japan from engaging in war or having a standing army. This clause, Article 9, has been the subject of much public debate in recent years as government leaders such as former PM Shinzō Abe have sought to revise it, inciting political action from youth activists seeking to keep Japan out of warfare. However, as discussed in our earlier episode of ‘Failed Revolutions’, political activism has a tainted reputation and a repressed history in Japan. David explains the fine line demonstration groups must walk to campaign for political change while avoiding appearing to be political.

Read David's article, 'SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy): Research Note on Contemporary Youth Politics in Japan'

Image credits

[L] Children's Monument by jonathan_moreau is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

[R] LAY OF THE (IS)LAND: US ARMY JAPAN COMMANDING GENERAL TOURS U.S. INSTALLATIONS, VISITS JSDF LEADERSHIP by LimpingFrog Productions is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.

As museums across Japan celebrate the 1,400th anniversary of the death of Prince Shōtoku Taishi, the legendary figure who brought Buddhism to Japan, the Sainsbury Institute together with the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia is currently collaborating with major universities and museums in Japan to create a special exhibit commemorating the event. This Shōtoku Intervention will display the Sainsbury Centre’s collection of Japanese Buddhist and Shinto artefacts centred around a rare 13th century Kamakura period statue of a female Shinto deity. To better explain the significance of Shōtoku Taishi, Beyond Japan will be exploring over three episodes the religious, political and historical context of this dynamic period of East Asian history. We hope you enjoy our Shōtoku miniseries.

Oliver is joined by our third and final Shōtoku interviewee Bryan Lowe, Assistant Professor of Religion at Princeton University, who will help us get to grips with the tricky task of reading history from mythology in such ancient texts as Japan’s Kojiki, or “An Account of Ancient Matters” written in 711 and Nihon Shoki, or “Japanese Chronicles” written in 720. Bryan begins by exploring why texts were written in this time and how some texts like Buddhist sutras were written and read for rituals rather than sharing information, yet we can still glean much about life in those times from the context in which they were written. In taking this approach, we try to make sense of legendary figures such as Prince Shōtoku Taishi, seeing what we can learn about the man the legend is based upon and what the legends themselves tell us.

Image credits:

[L] Japan,  late Heian period - Further Discourses on the Supreme Truth (Abidharmakosha-Bhashya) - 1916.1060 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif by anonymous is marked with CC0 1.0

[R] 聖徳太子 [Shōtoku Taishi] by jun560 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting.