iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 02/10/2026

Thank you to Minoru Kiuchi, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, and Hidenao Yanagi, former Japanese Ambassador to Germany, for taking the time to exchange opinions on Japanese-German relations with outgoing DIJ director Franz Waldenberger and incoming DIJ director @verenabt.bsky.social

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 01/10/2026

We are thrilled to welcome Verena Blechinger-Talcott @verenabt.bsky.social as new DIJ director! Coming to us from @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social, she brings world-class expertise in Japanese Studies and academic leadership. We are excited for this next chapter of DIJ history @maxweberstiftung.de

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 28/09/2026

Join our upcoming #DIJStudyGroup “Serial Solitudes: Exploring Loneliness in Japanese Discourses and Screen Culture” 🎤 Denis Newiak (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg) 📆 Wed, October 7 / 6.30 pm (JST) 🏠 onsite only @DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/serial...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 22/09/2026

Thank you to all speakers and the audience for the stimulating papers and engaging discussion. Full programme and details ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/entang...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 22/09/2026

Day 2 of our Int'l Symposium Entangled Trajectories of Modernization: Medicine, Science, and Technology in Transwar East Asia with papers by @jdimoia.bsky.social @daneuhaus.bsky.social @nadinhee.bsky.social, Sabine Frühstück, Nicolas Schillinger, Hoi-eun Kim, @bmleitner.bsky.social, Akihito Suzuki

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 18/09/2026

Day 1 ended with keynote speech by Hiromi Mizuno: “Mis-memory: Numbers and the Meaning of Transwar” Programme and details www.dijtokyo.org/event/entang...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 18/09/2026

Great start to our Int'l Symposium Entangled Trajectories of Modernization: Medicine, Science & Technology in Transwar East Asia, organised by @daneuhaus.bsky.social @bmleitner.bsky.social & N. Schillinger, with papers by Jin-kyung Park, Akira Hashimoto, Jaehwan Hyun, Ping-Heng Chen, Harry Yi-Jui Wu

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 17/09/2026

Big thank you also to the entire @eajs.eu team & the local organising team at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań led by Beata Bochorodycz for putting together such an excellent, friendly & well-organised conference – the largest in EAJS's history. Congratulations & see you at #EAJS2029 in Bergamo!

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 17/09/2026

Thank you for attending our DIJ talks at the #EAJS2026 @eajs.eu with papers by Isaac Gagné on magical practices in Tokyo, @nicolemmueller.bsky.social on metaverse narratives of the future, @daneuhaus.bsky.social on industrial education for Koreans & @torweber.bsky.social on Japanese Asia discourse

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 16/09/2026

Thank you to the @scripts-berlin.eu team for visiting the DIJ and the stimulating exchange with DIJ researchers on the future of liberal democracy, sustainability & resilience, and the global order. We look forward to intensify our exchange, bringing together our expertise in comparative perspective

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 14/09/2026

It was a great pleasure to meet Aimée Dornier of Iudicium Verlag at the #EAJS2026 @eajs.eu & to learn that Iudicium is the first foreign publishing house ever to be awarded the prestigious Japan Foundation Award. Congratulations to our long-standing publishing partner! www.jpf.go.jp/e/about/awar...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 11/09/2026

International Symposium "Entangled Trajectories of Modernization: Medicine, Science, and Technology in Transwar East Asia" 📍 @ DIJ Tokyo & online 🗓️ 17-18 Sept 2026 ℹ️ Programme & registration details www.dijtokyo.org/event/entang... Supported by Toshiba International Foundation & DWIH Tokyo (1/2)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 10/09/2026

Als Faktoren nennt sie geringe Gehälter, lange Arbeitszeiten und die eigene, kleine Wohnung. Gleichzeitig bieten Tiercafés und Haustiere zunehmend mehr als nur Unterhaltung. Sie können auch soziale und körperliche Nähe ermöglichen: "ein bisschen Austausch mit etwas Lebendem" (2/2)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 10/09/2026

Carolin Fleischer-Heininger visited two different festival sites: While Naoshima is renowned for contemporary art and architecture, Ōshima reflects a history of social marginalization. She concludes that the festival expands sustainability discourse, highlighting its social dimension. (2/2)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 24/08/2026

We look forward to meeting friends, colleagues & alumni at the #EAJS2026 in Poznań, incl papers by Isaac Gagné (Religion & Religious Thought), @nicolemmueller.bsky.social (Anthropology & Sociology), @daneuhaus.bsky.social (History) & @torweber.bsky.social (Intellectual History & Philosophy) @eajs.eu

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 12/08/2026

#OpenAccess book edited by DIJ Visiting Fellow Sébastien Lechevalier, Jean-Paul Gaudillière, Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Kayo Takuma Capitalism, Innovations, and Health after Covid-19. An Asian Perspective @springernature.com examines alternative health innovation models link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 31/07/2026

Some preliminary findings: New structural opportunities, together with diverse personal motivations are driving this new generation of bookstores. Rather than being places to buy books, they are becoming cultural hubs & create spaces where communities — and sometimes even social movements — can grow

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 31/07/2026

Thank you to our speaker Simone Decker (@lmu.de / DIJ Tokyo) and all participants who joined Wednesday’s #DIJStudyGroup on “Independent Bookstores and Zine Communities as Third Spaces in Post-Corona Japan“ ➡️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/indepe... (1/2)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 30/07/2026

Its guiding principle is to "reinforce rather than override local ecological character,“ with homeowners serving as long-term stewards. Despite its limitations, Sarah Stark argues that the initiative demonstrates how the construction industry can deliver ecological interventions at scale. (3/3)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 30/07/2026

Introduced by Japanese home-builder Sekisui House in 2001, the initiative builds on the model of planting five native plant species around each newly built home. Since 2001, the initiative has resulted in more than 20 million plants across suburban and urban residential areas. (2/3)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 23/07/2026

Thank you to our speaker @arnabduttahist.bsky.social and all participants who - despite the heat - came out to join last night's #DIJStudyGroup "The Indo-Pacific Knowledge in Indian Anticolonialism: Geopolitical Imaginaries from Pan-Asianism to Pacific Affairs, 1920s–40s" dij.tokyo/anticolonial...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 22/07/2026

Japan’s pet industry is booming -- DIJ sociologist @barbtokyo.bsky.social explains why: “A pet can also replace a partner. After a divorce, people sometimes get pets. After someone gets widowed, they get a pet.” @genmansfield.bsky.social @aljazeera.com ▶️ www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 21/07/2026

Brutally hot summers, research positions, travel grants, publications, conferences & other updates in our #DIJNewsletter ▶️ dij.tokyo/nl84 @nicolemmueller.bsky.social @daneuhaus.bsky.social @barbtokyo.bsky.social @celiaspoden.bsky.social @jppinfo.bsky.social @yanaiinitiative.bsky.social @eajs.eu

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 17/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined Wednesday's #DIJStudyGroup "Transnational Right-Wing Movements and Discourses in Japan & South Korea" with Jaein Seol online & onsite. Please join us again for the next sessions: 📅 July 22: A. Dutta dij.tokyo/anticolonial... 📅 July 29: S. Decker dij.tokyo/bookstore

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 15/07/2026

During her fieldwork at the Japanese industry conference in February 2026, Nicole M. Müller attended a presentation titled “A future in which the Sustainable Development Goals are created by the metaverse“. Surprisingly, the talk was more about a personal project than tech firms’ SGDs. (3/4)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 15/07/2026

NEW on the Sustainability in Japan and Beyond blog: "'The Society my Daughter is going to live in' – Metaverse Sustainability as a Personal Matter“ by @nicolemmueller.bsky.social ▶️ sustainability.hypotheses.org/2861 (1/4)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 07/07/2026

Join our #DIJStudyGroup "The Indo-Pacific Knowledge in Indian Anticolonialism: Geopolitical Imaginaries from Pan-Asianism to Pacific Affairs, 1920s–40s" 🎤 @arnabduttahist.bsky.social (Univ of Groningen) 📅 Wed, July 22 / 6.30 pm (JST) 🏚️ onsite only @ DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/the-in...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 06/07/2026

"Japan altert schneller als Deutschland – trotzdem fürchtet niemand den Renten-Kollaps": DIJ-Direktor Franz Waldenberger und DIJ-Alumnus Steffen Heinrich erklären in der @fr-zeitung.bsky.social, wie Japan sein Rentensystem umgebaut hat und ob das Altersarmut verhindert www.fr.de/wirtschaft/j...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 03/07/2026

Registration is now open for the upcoming #DIJStudyGroup "Independent Bookstores and Zine Communities as Third Spaces in Post-Corona Japan" 🎤 Simone Decker (LMU Munich / DIJ Tokyo) 📅 Wednesday, July 29, 2026 / 6:00pm (JST) 🏚️ onsite only @ DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/indepe...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 02/07/2026

Zum 1.2.2027 suchen wir wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter/Mitarbeiterinnen (w/m/d) mit herausragender Promotion, sehr guten Japanischkenntnissen & Forschungserfahrung in Japan für das Forschungsprogramm „Kulturen der Transformation – Japan im Vergleich“ Details karriere.maxweberstiftung.de/jobposting/1...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 29/06/2026

Wer ist der Kopf hinter Japans neuer Nummer 1? Im Focus-Gespräch mit @alexandrek.bsky.social erklärt DIJ-Direktor Franz Waldenberger, wie Softbanks Masayoshi Son tickt und warum er konsequent auf KI setzt. Son sei ein „Stratege, sehr eigen und risikofreudig“. www.focusplus.de/finanzen/sof...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 29/06/2026

Colonial peripheries, imagining empire, Nō theatre: meet DIJ researchers @merlekar.bsky.social @daneuhaus.bsky.social @torweber.bsky.social & Francesca Lerz and their research at the #ASCJ2026 Annual Conference @asianstudies.org this weekend at Sophia University Tokyo ascjapan.org/conference/2...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 26/06/2026

NEW on the Sustainability in Japan and Beyond blog: "Telling the Story of the Future: Perspectives and Impulses for Rural Areas" by Claudia Neu & Marc Weiland @uni-goettingen.de examines how future narratives impact the social reality of life in the countryside ▶️ sustainability.hypotheses.org/2643

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 25/06/2026

#CfA Gerald D. Feldman Travel Grant @maxweberstiftung.de for early-career researchers in the humanities & social sciences 👉 conduct your own research project 👉 stay in 2-3 designated countries, incl Japan 👉 max. 1 month per country 📅 deadline 4 Oct 2026 ➡️ karriere.maxweberstiftung.de/jobposting/5...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 25/06/2026

Registration is open for the next #DIJStudyGroup "Transnational Right-Wing Movements and Discourses in Japan and South Korea" 🎤 Jaein Seol, Leipzig University / DIJ Tokyo 📅 July 15, 2026 / 6.30 pm JST / 11.30 am CEST 🏚️🖥️ online & onsite @ DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/transn...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 05/06/2026

Thank you for joining Wednesday's session of the Contemporary Tokyo Seminar Series at the DIJ and for a lively discussion of "Tokyo – how can this possibly turn out well?" with Franz Waldenberger & @barbtokyo.bsky.social We have uploaded photos on our website ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/tokyo-...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 04/06/2026

NEW on our YouTube channel: #DIJForum "Japanese Labor Imaginaries: From Postwar Working Class Womanhood to Cultural Mediation of Corporate Identity" and 'Working Japan' keynotes @jppinfo.bsky.social @yanaiinitiative.bsky.social by @chelseaszendi.bsky.social & Hiromichi Hasebe ▶️ youtu.be/nuPIBZJ8qoM

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 03/06/2026

Save the date! Registration is now open for the #DIJStudyGroup "Application of Generative AI inside Japanese Companies" 📅 Wed 17 June 2026, 6.30 pm (JST) / 11.30 am (CEST) 🏚️💻 DIJ Tokyo & online 🎤 Alissa Kacs, Bonn University / DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/applic...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 02/06/2026

Ein "innovativer, sorgfältig komponierter und theoretisch ambitionierter Sammelband, der das Feld kulturellen Übersetzens in der Japanologie substanziell bereichert." Vielen Dank an Alexandra Ludewig für die schöne Rezension in Hefte für ostasiatische Literatur 80 www.dijtokyo.org/publication/...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 01/06/2026

Jetzt bewerben für #Praktika ab Januar '27 und spannende Einblicke in den Arbeitsalltag des Deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien in Tokyo gewinnen 🎌 Möglich sind freiwillige & Pflichtpraktika für max 11 Wochen in 🗼 Wissenschaft ⛩️ Wissenschaftskommunikation 🗻 Verwaltung ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/praktikum/

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 01/06/2026

Thank you to all participants in Friday's book launch "Unleashing Innovation the East Asian Way. Startup Ecosystems in Japan, South Korea and China" @springernature.com with the authors' team and Glen S. Fukushima as commentator Photos of the event are now online ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/book-l...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 28/05/2026

It was a great pleasure to host the student workshop "Russia and Japan: Imperial Encounters in the North Pacific", led & organized by Anke Scherer & Sören Urbansky @ruhr-uni-bochum.de, with presentations on Hokkaido as a frontier, indigenous cultures, economic exploitation & Russo-Japanese relations

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 26/05/2026

NEW article by Sébastien Lechevalier on the 'Sustainability in Japan and Beyond' blog introduces the approach of “care-led innovation” and shows how it contributes to the discourse on sustainability in the Japanese context and beyond @agencerecherche.bsky.social ▶️ sustainability.hypotheses.org/2580

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 22/05/2026

Dank an die Deutsche Botschaft in Tokyo für die Einladung zum Austausch mit den Kulturreferenten in Ost- und Südasien, weiteren deutschen Kulturmittlern in Tokyo und der Abteilungsleiterin Kultur & Kommunikation @diplo.de, Christina Beinhoff (im Foto neben DIJ-Vizedirektorin @barbtokyo.bsky.social)

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 20/05/2026

Registration is now open for the upcoming #DIJStudyGroup "The Aikoku Fujinkai and Social Welfare Work in Colonial Taiwan and Korea" 🎤 @merlekar.bsky.social (Harvard University/DIJ Tokyo) 📅 June 9, 2026 / 6.30 pm JST / 11.30 am CEST 🏚️🖥️ online & onsite @ DIJ Tokyo ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/the-ai...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 20/05/2026

Welcome to Francesca Lerz who has joined our team in May as a PhD student. She researches the influence of esoteric and Zen Buddhist traditions in Noh and will do archival work, network with performing arts & religious studies scholars & professional Noh performers ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/people/franc...

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 19/05/2026

Lesetipp, Neues und Forschungsporträt: das DIJ ist gleich viermal in der neuen Ausgabe von Weltweit vor Ort @maxweberstiftung.de vertreten. Entdecken Sie unsere Forschung, Publikationen und Events im aktuellen Heft ▶️ publish.flyeralarm.digital/weltweit-vor... ▶️ www.maxweberstiftung.de/magazin.html

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 19/05/2026

“Korea’s educational system embodies multiple ingrained traditions and reveals distinct yet interconnected strategies of decentring.” New “De-centering Academia” blog article 📖 “Beyond Binaries: Decentring Foreign Knowledge in 20th Century Korea” @daneuhaus.bsky.social ▶️ trafo.hypotheses.org/65491

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DIJ Tokyo @dijtokyo.org · 19/05/2026

Next #DIJForum "Japanese Labor Imaginaries: From Postwar Working Class Womanhood to Cultural Mediation of Corporate Identity" 📅 Tue 2 June 2026, 18:30-20:00 🏚️ online & onsite @ DIJ Tokyo 🎤 @chelseaszendi.bsky.social (Aoyama Gakuin U) & Hiromichi Hasebe (Nihon U) ▶️ www.dijtokyo.org/event/japane...

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