Research Activities

This volume explores the process of social changes which unfolded in rural society of early medieval Bengal, especially the formation of stratified land relations and occupational groups which later got systematised as jātis. One of the first books to systematically reconstruct the early history of the region, this book presents a history of the economy, polity, law, and social order of early medieval Bengal through a comprehensive study of land and society. It traces the changing power relations among constituents of rural society and political institutions, and unravels the contradictions growing among them. The author describes the changing forms of agrarian development which were deeply associated with these overarching structures

Report Ito International Research Center Symposium “Crossing Boundaries: Migration, Mediation, Morality” was held from 8th to 10th of June, 2019. Pictures of the Symposium The symposium was attended by over 100 researchers, students, and interested citizens. Below are the reports of the symposium written by the participants. 【Report 1】This symposium provided a truly interdisciplinary perspective on the now highly pertinent topic of international migration. By bringing together leading scholars from fields of anthropology, sociology and the physical sciences, the three-day event allowed participants to cross not only the boundaries of nations and ethnicities, but also disciplines and different angles of looking at the same phenomenon.Despite the disparate disciplines of its

GJS Workshop Report  科研費基盤研究（B）「東京学派の研究」（研究代表：中島隆博）の活動の一環として、2019年1月22日（火）に、東京大学東洋文化研究所第一会議室において、 「日本哲学と東京大学の哲学」と題してワークショップを行いました。今回は、科研費基盤研究（B）「『哲学雑誌』のアーカイヴ化を基礎とした近代日本哲学の成立と展 開に関する分析的研究」（研究代表：鈴木泉）との共催です。 お招きしたのは、トマス・カスリス先生（オハイオ州立大学特別名誉教授）小林康夫先生（青 山学院大学、東京大学名誉教授）でした。カスリス先生は、“The Tokyo School of Philosophy? A Prolegomenon”と題して講演をいただきました。前半では、「東京学 派」という名前に変えて、「東京流」もしくは「東京スタイル」とすべきだとのご提案があり、後半では、京都と東京の「風土」論的な「二都物語」を展開していただき ました。無論、「東京学派」は、中心のある、特定の方法論とテーマを共有する「学派」ではありませんので、「流」や「スタイル」の方がより適切であるとは思います 。ただ、「東京学派」という、すぐに批判を生みそうな概念には、何か発見的な骨太さがあるようにも思います。 小林先生は、駒場の哲学を代表してきた４ 名の哲学者（廣松渉、坂部恵、大森荘蔵、井上忠）についてお書きになった“The Komaba Quartet: A Landscape of Japanese Philosophy in the 1970s”（The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy）の元になった日本語原稿を朗読してくださいました。わたしたちの世代にとっては、まだ昨日のような出来事であったものが、若い学 生にとってはすでに歴史であり、距離を取って理解すべき対象になっていたことを思い知らされました。それでも、この４名の哲学者が建てた中心課題である「こと」も しくは「哲学すること」をどう継承するかは、今でも喫緊の課題だと思います。 鈴木泉先生と納富信留先生には議論に深く入っていただき、「東京学派」の 定義や、坂部恵先生と井上忠先生の可能性と限界についてご議論いただきました。(中島　隆博) Pictures of the Workshop Organizer: The Global Japan Studies Network (GJS) Co-organizer: Institute for Advanced Studeis on Asia (IASA) Contact: gjs[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

GJS Workshop Report  科研基盤B「東京学派の研究」の第二回ワークショップ「中国哲学をめぐって」を、２０１８年１０月４日に東洋文化研究所第一会議室で開催いたしました。多くの参加者に来ていただくことができ、大変充実した会となりました。佐藤将之先生（台湾大学）からは、井上哲次郎と井上円了に焦点を当てて、東京大学草創期の中国哲学の状況についてお話をいただきました。井上円了の『星界想遊記』が康有為の『大同書』に影響を与えたという新しい論点も出していただきました。小島毅先生（東京大学）からは、中国哲学史における時代区分論についてのお話をいただきました。それが中国歴史学における時代区分論、そして中国文学史における時代区分論とどう重なるかを論じていただきました。石井剛先生（東京大学）からは、東京学派と中国「近代」哲学の関係についてお話をいただきました。われわれが思っている以上に、当時の日本と中国の哲学的影響関係が大きいことをお示しいただきました。 　 Pictures of the Workshop Organizer: The Global Japan Studies Network (GJS) Co-organizer: Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo

Report The 3rd annual Global Japan Studies summer program "AN INQUIRY INTO JAPAN’S POSTWAR was successfully held from July 30 – August 10. Participants include 19 undergraduate and graduate students from overseas universities and one student from the University of Tokyo. Overseas universities are Chinese University of Hong Kong at Shenzhen, Vassar College, Gengdan Institute of Beijing University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, New York University Shanghai, University of Saint Andrews, Sciences Po Paris, University of Nottingham, University of Arizona, University of Cambridge, University of Alberta, University of Hong Kong, National Tsinghua University, Taiyuan Normal University, University of Toronto, Shanghai International Studies University, as well as Tsukuba University. Participants come

Report How does the United States handle an increasingly confident China under the leadership of Xi Jinping? Does the Trump administration’s first National Security Strategy that labels China as a “strategic competitor” set the tone for the U.S.-China relations in the near future? Is Taiwan a bargaining chip for the United States to gain leverage with China? On July 4, the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia and the Japan Association for Taiwan Studies co-hosted a discussion on the prospects for U.S.-Taiwan-China relations. The event featured a talk by Dr. William A. Stanton, Professor at the National Taiwan University and former Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and

Dr. Yoshinobu Shiba, Professor Emeritus of The University of Tokyo and former director of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, is going to be awarded the 2018 Tang Prize in Sinology for his outstanding achievements in China studies through his mastery and depth of insight into Chinese socio-economic history. The Tang Prize, established in 2012, in Taiwan, is bestowed internationally to laureates in four prize categories: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Dr. Shiba is the first Japanese winner in Sinology. We wish to extend our congratulations to Dr. Shiba for the high recognition placed on his scholarship within the long tradition of China studies.

Report On May 15, 2018, Professor Peter Nosco from the University of British Columbia gave a talk entitled ‘Individuality in Early Modern Japan: Thinking for Oneself', which is based on his recently published monograph of the same title both in Japanese and in English. His talk revolved around a provocative question: whether individuality in Japan was prominent two centuries ago than today. Beginning from the explanation of how he found his way to this inquiry, Professor Nosco, by drawing on some examples, effectively demonstrated how individuality is considered to have been more prevailing in Edo Japan than in the Meiji period and possibly in this Heisei period. The lively discussion

Report On January 19, 2018, Professor Naofumi Nakamura, Senior Associate Director of the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo, gave a talk entitled "Diversification and Convergence: The Development of locomotive Technology in Meiji Japan" at the Global Japan Studies Lecture Series. The talk was chaired by Professor Shigeto Sonoda of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. In his talk, Professor Nakamura traced the process of Japan's railway technology development which he divided into four stages and analyzed the characteristics of each stage. With various figures and graphs, his talk provided a clear picture of how Japanese locomotive and railway technology has evolved during the Meiji period

Report The University of Chicago and The University of Tokyo Joint Graduate Workshop and Faculty Roundtable were held on December 13 at Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. Gukchin SONG, Felix BORTHWICK, and KIZUKI Nagisa, all from the University of Tokyo, and FENG Naixi, KANAHARA Noriko, and Erin NEWTON, all from the University of Tokyo, gave presentations on their recent research projects. In the afternoon session entitled “Round Table: Three Perspectives on Japanese Studies,” Professor James KETELAAR from the University of Chicago, Professor SONODA Shigeto and Professor NAKAJIMA Takahiro from the University of Tokyo exchanged their views and expectations of Japanese studies in the future. Including

On Sep. 18, Professor Yijiang Zhong gave a public talk titled “The Underside of Japan: Capitalism, Empire, and the Production of Space in Modern East Asia” at the Trinity Center for Asian Studies of Trinity College Dublin, the oldest and most prestigious university in Ireland. About 30 people came to the talk. The hour-long talk was followed by a lively 15-minute Q&A discussion.

As a part of the U Tokyo team for the JAPAN HIGHER EDUCATION FAIR, Dr Aya Ikegame gave a lecture at the East Asian Studies Department of Delhi University on the 31st July, and at Miranda House College on the 1st August. Her lecture was titled ‘Untouchability Compared: Political experiences of Burakumin in Japan and Dalits (Adijans) in South India’ A couple of hundreds students and lecturers gathered to listen to her lecture.

Report On June 14, 2017, Prof. Patricia Steinhoff, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, gave a talk entitled “Japanese Studies in the Age of Globalization”. In her talk, Professor Steinhoff first gave an overview of the history and current situation of Japanese studies in the US and Canada, through introducing her participation in the Directory of Japanese Studies in the United States and Canada, the result of a series of surveys tracing the domestic growth and change in Japanese Studies in the United States and Canada from the late 1980s through 2016. Then she talked about how her long-term research on the Japanese New Left

Report June 15, 2017. Professor Bert Winther-Tamaki of the University of California at Irvine gave a talk entitled “Earth Photography from HAMAYA Hiroshi to NAKAHIRA Takuma” at the Global Japan Studies Network. Prof. Winther-Tamaki’s talk was chaired by Maromitsu Tsukamoto, associate professor of the Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia. Professor Bert Winther-Tamaki introduced an original framework of three themes, namely “Touch”, “Move”, and “burn”, to examine through comparison the phenomenon of earth presented in ceramics, photographs, and installation art. Many of the photographs being analyzed were works of Hiroshi Hayama and Takuma Nakahira, but Prof Winther-Tamaki also introduced many other art works related to the theme. The question and

Speaker: Michael Fisch (Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago Date and time: May. 15, 2017 (Mon.), 3:00-5:00PM Venue: 1st Meeting Room (3F), The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo Language: English Report On May 15 2017, Professor Michael Fisch gave a talk entitled “Repetition and Recovery: The limits of Reason in Post 3.11 Japan.” In his talk, Professor Fisch focused on the ongoing construction of mammoth seawalls along the northeast Japanese sea coast and analyzed how this was developed as an alternative to protect against tsunami. He further explored to what extent these seawalls have changed local environment and the how they have been received by