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2012年9月 月次レポート（マヤ・ヴォドピヴェッツ オランダ）
Maja Vodopivec
Report for September 2012 (6th month of research)
September was a very active month in regard to various events I organized and participated.
As first, I co-organized (together with Ph.D. student at Leiden University, and TUFS Prof. Iwasaki Minoru's former research student, Martin Roth) two events about post-Fukushima Japan. The first was held on September 12 in Leiden University College in the Hague. We showed a film "Radioactivists" and after the screening had a discussion with students. On September 17, we organized a whole-day-workshop: "Sōteigai: Alternative Politics and Academic Intervention after 3.11", as a part of VICI Project by Prof. Chris Goto-Jones. Among prominent guests were Prof. Dr. Steffi Richter from Leipzig University (that I had an honour to be introduced several years ago by Prof. Iwasaki, and Dr. Manuel Yang, a writer and activist - who was invited to WINC at TUFS in 2011, and chaired my panel at Kobe Cultural Typhoon in 2011. (For details of the workshop, refer to http://www.asiascape.org/soteigai.html).
At the workshop, I prepared a presentation based on manga Koppelion (14 volumes) for which I used Katō Shūichi's writings on manga and anime (from the book Nihon sono kokoro to katachi (Ghibli Library, 2005) - a part I did not cover in my Ph.D. dissertation. It also prompted me to pay attention on Kato's writings on "gensō" and "bakemono", as well as on "yūrei" (I watched DVD "Shikashi soredake dewanai. Katō Shūichi - yūrei to kataru" (Ghibli gakujutsu library, 2009. by Sakurai Hitoshi, last documentary made with Katō). In regard to the talk about ghosts (of those killed in war), I read an insightful book After the Massacre - Commemoration and Consolation in Ha My and My Lai by Heonik Kwon (University of California Press, 2006). The unavoidable topic was a modernity which I re-thought through theories of A.Giddens and U.Beck. The workshop produced many interesting insights into present Japan and the world's protest culture and role of intellectuals. We, the organizers, hope that this kind of event was just first among many to come.
Beside these two events, whole September on Wednesdays and Fridays (per 2 hours) I led a discussion with Leiden University College students about the plenary lectures on Mondays I also attended (topic was "Global Challenges: Peace", and every week's perspective was from different discipline - history, law, international law, political science, cultural studies). It was a great learning for me (since my expertise is "Kokusai shakai" and interdisciplinary approach, and I gained precious experience in coordinating such types of seminars.
On September 30th, in Leiden, I presented at traditional monthly gathering of Japanese academic community. My topic was Thought of Katō Shūichi, and it was an excellent opportunity for me to present my research and receive comments from audience. As every public presentation, it created a chance for me to validate my research and re-think it.