The Association recently decided to hold its major conference on a triennial basis, alternating with the European Association for Japanese Studies and the Joint East Asian Studies Conferences, with smaller events during the other two years. The SOAS conference was the first such triennial event.
Two highlights of the conference were a plenary lecture by Ueno Toshiya, a leading scholar of media theory and cultural studies, who discussed various earlier manifestations of the impersonal agency evident in new online communities, and the Japan Forum Toshiba prize lecture by Aurelia George Mulgan, a professor at the University of New South Wales, on Ozawa Ichiro.
These were only two of numerous attractions, however, with panels on subjects covering the full range of Japanese studies, from business to Buddhism, linguistics to international relations, and shunga to the history of the violin. The full programme for the conference can be found at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event58492.html.
The conference also incorporated the Association's Annual General Meeting, which saw the Presidency pass from Mark Williams of Leeds University to Chris Hughes of Warwick, as well as a reception and dinner, which was addressed by Paul Webley, the Director of SOAS. Professors Williams, Hughes and Webley all underlined the commitment of the Association and School to Japanese Studies, at a time when higher education both in the UK and globally are facing new challenges and constraints.
The Centre, School and the Association are grateful to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Toshiba International Foundation, the Japan Foundation, and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, all of whom have long been supporters of Japanese studies in the UK and without whose support the conference would not have been possible. We are looking forward to its next incarnation in 2013.
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