Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the creative motivation of Japanese writers in the Taishō period and a significant feature of Japanese literature by studying the correlation between literature and architecture in the Taishō period, so as to understand people's mental image at that time.

Paper long abstract:

　When we take a general view of the literature of the Taishō period, we will find a very interesting issue, that is, many writers like to create works with rooms or buildings as the theme. They even draw floor plan for their novels. One of the most representative works is Koji Uno's "Yumemiruheya" and Taluho Inagaki's "watashitosonoie". However, this trend suddenly disappeared in the Shōwa period. Therefore, it can be said that this is a kind of sensibility peculiar to the literary world of Taishō.

　This paper will not only study the literary works and contemporary documents, but also talk about the representative buildings at that time. For example, the private residence "Nishou tei " built by Kinzo Watanabe, and the "Kiku Fuji Hotel", where many scholars regard it as study. It is said that this hotel is the inspiration for Uno Koji's works. In addition to the influence of "the movement for the improvement of living conditions" and the idea of Taishō Democracy, this phenomenon also has the influence of the concept of lifestyle introduced from the West. Especially after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, apartments were built for the first time. The birth of the apartment brings people the concept of private room and privacy. Although there have been excellent studies on the correlation between literature and architecture in this period, such as Iwao Matsuyama's works, which has explored this theme from the perspective of urban studies, most of them have discussed the urban culture as inspiration for writers, but the discussion on the works was not deep enough. This paper will focus more on literary works. In recent years, most people have to stay in their rooms because of the impact of the COVID-19. The exploration of the imagination and thinking of the writers a hundred years ago about the room will also enable us to make new discoveries about our modern society.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines Yoko Tawada's latest trilogy (2018-2022). By focusing on linguistic themes, it explores how the novelist questions national borders and belongings, while opening up alternative, utopian spaces for living otherwise as an ongoing, experimental language questioning and learning.

Paper long abstract:

Yoko Tawada is arguably one of the leading cosmopolitan writers in the world literature market: while writing in two languages, her native Japanese and non-native German, she destabilizes the privileged status of national languages and invents playful styles to have socially marginalized figures speak for themselves. In recent years, especially after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, she has been increasingly drawn to the questions of post-disaster worlds, devastated by ecological crises, natural-human disasters, and socio-political changes which are all so palpable in the contemporary world. What is unique about her literary exploration of post-disaster imagination is that she articulates the questions of nation state and national identity along utopian possibilities of language. Her latest trilogy--Scattered All Over the Earth (2018), Seduced by Stars (2020), and the Sun Islands (2022)--is a case in point: six main protagonists speak in turn and move around Nordic and Eastern European countries together, where language learning plays a central role. One female protagonist, an involuntary Japanese exile, invents an artificial language by mixing Nordic languages, which interests a Danish student of linguistics and brings them together as close companions; a young Inuit teaches himself Japanese, apparently a dying language in the trilogy where the country of Japan ceased to exist, and with his imperfect but functional Japanese, he enjoys disguising his ethnic identity; and another Japanese exile belonging to an older generation, stubbornly keeps silent, as if suffering from aphasia, and yet, once he breaks his silence, he almost hypnotizes the others with the manipulative power of his ominous words. The trilogy may be understood as a linguistic adventure, full of linguistic reflections, whose aim is to put together individual perspectives in a disjointing manner. This paper attempts to explore the ways in which Tawada questions national borders and belongings through playful linguistic exchanges that verge on nonsensical puns as well as on mythical associations; it also seeks to focus on strange cosmopolitan ties of affective love and asexual friendship elaborated throughout the trilogy, exploring how Tawada opens up alternative, utopian spaces for living otherwise as an ongoing, experimental language questioning and learning.

Paper short abstract:

This study explores how the digital media era influences how writers write and readers read today in Japan and offers further inquiries into the changing world of literature by focusing on this new medium: “born-digital.”

Paper long abstract:

Media transformations, such as the recent shift from paper to digital, have had a major impact on the form and reception of literary works. Owing to the breakthrough of global digital fiction communities and platforms, advances in electronic literature can be identified in all parts of the world, from North America to Asia. This study clarifies how the digital media era influences how writers write and readers read today in Japan and offers possibilities for further inquiries into the changing world of literature and creative writing from a domestic perspective. Japanese literature has experienced significant and increasing global popularity in the last decade. With Japanese literature being translated into different languages worldwide, its reading audience is expanding more than ever before. In this presentation, I address the issue of born-digital literature as an example of how Japanese literature is transforming itself in today’s world of continuously evolving technology. By highlighting this movement, this discussion contributes to the reexamination of existing literary frameworks and diverse aspects of contemporary Japanese literature and can, as such, be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective transcending the fields of literature and digital humanities. This study aims to outline the surging popularity of digital literature and online reading and suggests that the increase in popularity and the future of Japanese literature lie in this new medium: “born-digital.”