Beyond Japan with Oliver Moxham

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 Inte...

Oliver is joined once more by Professor Simon Kaner, Executive Director at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts & Cultures, for a reflective episode on international research post-pandemic. Much has changed in international academic fields as Japanese Studies since March 2020 in response to restricted domestic and international movement. Academic institutes such as the Sainsb...

Oliver is joined by Dr Enrico Crema of the University of Cambridge to discuss how big data is revolutionising our understandings of prehistoric societies, laying out shifts in demographics and cultural exchange that occurred with early migration from the Korean peninsula to the Japanese mainland. Enrico explains the breadth and range of the ENCOUNTER project he is heading and how by analysing the...

Oliver is joined by Dr Andrew Littlejohn of Leiden University to discuss disaster heritage around the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. This heritage typically consists of ruins from catastrophic natural disasters that, while initially may be preserved for commemorative purposes, can end up being articulated to attract tourism to sites of mass death. Together we explore how disaster heritage fo...

Oliver is joined by Professor David Rear of Chuō University to discuss the once-dominant discourse of nihonjinron , or “Japanese-ness”, which has shaped many aspects of Japanese society over the last century through its ideas of Japanese uniqueness and group-consciousness. David gives us a brief history of the discourse, how a discourse can shape society and new discourses of internationalisation...

Welcome to a special Japanese-language episode of Beyond Japan. For our English-speaking listeners, please follow this link where our episode with Professor Kikuchi Yoshio on the Kofun of Fukushima is available with English subtitles. 日本学を多角的な視点からアプローチするポッドキャスト「ビヨンド・ジャパン」をお聞きいただきありがとうございます。このポッドキャストはセインズベリー日本藝術研究所とイ...

Oliver is joined by Professor Wolfram Manzenreiter of the University of Vienna to discuss Japanese Diasporas, taking a look at what can be learned from diaspora communities both in the millions, such as those of Brazil, the USA and Peru, and in the thousands in areas like Mexico, Paraguay and Canada. We will also consider the connection between these communities and their indigenous roots in Japan...

Oliver is joined by Aike Rots, Associate Professor of Japan Studies at the University of Oslo, to discuss Heritage-Making in Japan, examining how the process of ‘heritagisation’ can secularise and politicise religious sites, such as Shinto shrines and natural areas of religious significance to Okinawan and Ainu communities, and the role of nationalism within heritage. Aike's research profile Sacre...

Oliver is joined by Dana Mirsalis, PhD candidate at Harvard University, to take a look at Shinto in Modern Japan. Together we unpack the tricky task of defining what Shinto is, whether it is an unofficial Japanese religion, a Japanese religion or even a religion at all. We also explore the ways Shinto shapes and is engaged with by contemporary Japanese as well as the shifting roles of women within...

Oliver is joined by Nick Kapur, Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, to discuss failed revolutions, drawing comparisons between the 1960 ANPO riots of Japan over US-Japan relations with the Capitol Hill Riot we saw on 6 January 2021. Although more than 60 years apart and in totally different contexts, Nick argues that there are several factors worthy of comparison, such as the rol...

Oliver is joined by Daisuke Tsuchiya, Partner at the Brunswick Group and head of Global Japan Practice, to discuss the Japanese business philosophy of ‘Sanpō Yoshi’, or the ‘good for three parties’. Daisuke argues that this notion of stakeholder capitalism, where a successful business must also benefit others, is an important alternative to the profit-oriented Western model of capitalism, especial...

Oliver is joined by Professor Hugo Dobson, Professor of Japan's International Relations, to discuss the cancelled 46th G7 summit. We will explore the summit’s controversies and changes, reflecting the seismic political changes seen within G7 nations over 2020. We also discuss what changes this predicts for the G7 in 2021, the first to be held in post-Brexit Britain. Hugo's research profile and Twi...

Oliver is joined by Dr Paulina Kolata to discuss lived religion in rural Japan, exploring the active role Buddhism and its institutions play in day-to-day life in such issues as rural depopulation. Paulina Kolata obtained her PhD in 2019 from The University of Manchester. She is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University and an Early Career Research Fellow at The Unive...

明けましておめでとうございますand welcome back to Beyond Japan! For our first episode of 2021, Oliver is joined by Dr Jamie Coates, anthropologist and lecturer in East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield, to look at migrant communities in Tokyo and Japan at large, exploring how the liminal space of Ikebukuro has fostered a multinational district and understanding how attitudes towards Jap...

For our final episode of 2020, Oliver is joined by Dr Paula Curtis, historian of premodern Japan at Yale University, for a topical discussion on Digital Japanese Studies, considering how moving the field online through incorporating digital methods, tools and resources might alter its future direction. We consider the benefits and challenges of digitising Japanese Studies  from compiling open...

Beyond Japan will be taking a break over Christmas, resuming on the 14th of January 2021. We will be joined then by Dr Jamie Coates, anthropologist and Lecturer in East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield, to look at migrant communities in Tokyo and Japan at large, challenging the homogenous image of a nation whose future depends on their currently overlooked migrant population. Until the...

Oliver is joined by Dr Marta Fanasca, researcher of Japanese and Gender Studies at the University of Manchester, to discuss gender in Japan through Dansō crossdressing escort services. We discuss issues of applying universal understandings of gender and LGBTQ+ terminology in a national context, challenge the Euro-American term of ‘escort’ and explore how supposedly conservative Japan reconciles wi...

Oliver is joined by Eric Brunner, Professor of Social and Biological Epidemiology of University College London, to discuss ‘Health & Inequality in Post-Growth Japan’, examining the relationship between health and wealth and what we can learn from the high standard of health equality in Japan where the economy hasn’t seen major growth in 20 years. We apologise once more for the poor audio quali...

Oliver is joined by Dr Ian Rapley, history lecturer at Cardiff University, exploring the transnational invented language of Esperanto, its legacy in Japan and the alternative historical perspective it provides. We apologise once more for the poor audio quality caused by unresolved  technical difficulties, but we can happily confirm they have been solved  for next week’s recording. Ian's...

Oliver is joined by Dr Iza Kavedžija, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Exeter, to discuss ‘super-aged’ Japan, the challenges of a top-heavy demographic and how to live a meaningful, hopeful life in the face of crisis.  Iza's research profile is available here . ARTICLES:  Reorienting Hopes The good life in balance: Insights from ageing Japan MEDIA: Social care Japanes...

Oliver is joined by Andrea De Antoni, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Ritsumeikan University, discussing how to academically approach rumours of hauntings and the discriminated histories they can represent. In this episode, we grapple with 'affect' as a means of understanding bodily experiences in haunted spaces and what we can learn from comparing such phenomena on a transnational...

Oliver is joined by Warren Stanislaus, PhD candidate at Oxford and Associate Lecturer of global and transnational intellectual history at Rikkyo University, on the Black Lives Matter Movement and Afro-Japanese Cultural Exchange. Listen in to learn about the imaginings and attitudes towards race in Japan and the people challenging the homogeneity myth of 'Nihonjinron'.  Warren's website can be...

Oliver is joined by Dr Michael Tsang, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow at Newcastle University, who will be discussing the impact of acclaimed author Haruki Murakami’s ‘Always on the Side of the Egg’ speech on the Hong Kong protests. We explore the agency of a novelist using his skill with language to express political support and inspiration while averting direct political confrontat...

Oliver is joined by Dr Dolores (Lola) Martinez, research affiliate at the University of Oxford’s Anthropology department, to discuss the cinematic works of legendary director Akira Kurosawa and the exchange of ideas that occurred between his cinematography and that of Western cinema.  See Lola's research profile here . ARTICLES Review of the book 'Kurosawa Akira vs. Hollywood' 2017 BBC podcas...

Oliver is joined by Dr Giulio Pugliese, Departmental Lecturer in Japanese Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, who has written extensively on politics and international relations in the Asia-Pacific with a focus on Japan, China and the United States. Today we will be discussing the legacy of Shinzō Abe on Sino-Japanese relations following his resignation on the 16th Se...