Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes how residents, out-migrants, and artists cooperate to pass on folk performing arts in depopulated rural communities and discusses the possibility of succeeding to them through the participation of artists. The research case is Rokusai-Nenbutsu in Shiga Prefecture.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, projects in which artists and contemporary dancers learn folk performing arts have been conducted in some local communities. This paper analyzes how residents, out-migrants, and artists cooperate to pass on folk performing arts in rural depopulated communities and how the participation of artists affects the transmission of these arts. It also explores the possibility of succeeding to folk performing arts through the participation of artists.

The research case is the performing art called Rokusai-Nembutsu in Kutsuki-Furuya settlement of Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture. Since the 1970s, the population of Kutsuki-Furuya has been decreasing, and the dance performance of Rokusai-Nembutsu was discontinued in 2012 due to a lack of performers. However, in 2016, Takashima City Board of Education and a group of residents who have inherited the traditional culture of Takashima City introduced artists to the residents. The artists learned how to dance Rokusai-Nembutsu from the residents and collaborated with them to resume the performance. In addition, the artists have taught how to dance Rokusai-Nembutsu to out-migrants who live outside the settlement, as well as to contemporary dancers interested in folk performing arts. And both of them also participated in the succession of the dance. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Rokusai Nembutsu was canceled from 2020 to 2022, but in the meantime, the artists continue to recruit new participants and practice together on Zoom.

Through interview with residents, out-migrants, artists, and dancers and participation observation of practices, preparation, and performance of Rokusai-Nebutsu from 2017 to present, this paper focuses on how the relationship between them was established and transformed through the mediation of the Board of Education and the residents' groups, and how the transmission of the folk performing arts has changed and discusses the possibility of future succession.

Paper short abstract:

In the last years,the traditional presence of Japanese business expatriates in Barcelona has given way to a new kind of migrant (individual, entrepreneurial, free) who is leading a change in their growing visibility as a community and in the discussion of how Japanese culture is represented in Spain

Paper long abstract:

Despite its small number, the community of Japanese residents in Barcelona is the largest in Spain, and it has traditionally linked to business expatriates and highly qualified workers sent by Japanese companies to their production plants in Catalonia. This has made them as a temporary community, almost self-sufficient (real estate market, consumption, education, leisure, social life) and highly disconnected from the rest of Catalan society. However, the decline of Japanese companies in Spain since the mid-2000s, together with the new models of global mobility and the construction of more open societies, has implied a radical change in the configuration of the Japanese community in Barcelona, and a new kind of migrants has appeared in the last decade. This is an immigration we still know very little about, which follows its own individual patterns, mostly driven by a personal project, life plan or artistic or intellectual endeavour, and that seeks to refocus a career that enables them to live a new life abroad. This context frames a new phenomenon: the growing visibility of the Japanese presence in Barcelona in cultural festivals and public celebrations, that has happened simultaneously to the formulation of the city as an intercultural reality in the political discourse of the Barcelona's City Council. Drawing on ethnographic data from my research with this new group of Japanese residents, the paper analyses the complex overlapping of discourses and practices that has flourished around the celebration of the 'Matsuri Barcelona' festival –especially in the resignified social context of the ‘new normal’ during the pandemic of the Covid19– in a constant struggle between local-brokers and Japanese residents, and manga-anime fairs and traditional cultural festivals, in which the idea of ‘cultural appropriation' has become key in the discussion of who is authorized to legitimately represent Japanese culture.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes exhibits and mission statements of 18 governmental disaster memorial museums dedicated to passing on lessons from the 2011 disasters. It shows how the strong focus on BOSAI narratives and specific localities leads to excluding the nuclear disaster in most of these facilities.

Paper long abstract:

With the proliferation of several dozen new exhibits and museums dedicated to this specific disaster, the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster can be considered a turning point in the preservation of disaster memory in Japan. Although there is limited research on disaster memorial museums, they play a significant role in shaping the cultural memory of 3.11, as they are regarded as reliable, objective institutions of memory. Through analysis of 18 government-established 3.11 museums, this research explores the following questions: How do public disaster memorial museums frame their representations of 3.11, and what official narrative is created within the cultural memory of the triple disaster in Japan? Drawing from an analysis of the museums’ mission statements and exhibitions, and interviews with curators and museum staff, we argue that most disaster memorial museums support narratives of overcoming hardships to contribute to a better future, showing continuity with narratives typical of other memorial museums such as WWII, or pre-3.11 disaster museums. In contrast to the commemoration of war and its influence on cultural memory, disaster museums have received relatively little scholarly attention. Yet, these forward-looking messages, combined with the tendencies of museums to focus on local disaster experiences and emphasize disaster risk reduction with an artificial separation between man-made disasters vs. natural hazards, contributes to the othering of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in cultural memory as an outlier in Japan’s long history of disasters. We argue that without full representation of the compound disaster, understanding of 3.11 and the effective transmission of the intended lessons is severely limited.

Paper short abstract:

Skilled Japanese Sign Language (JSL) interpreters can ensure communication access for deaf Japanese. This paper explores sign language interpreter education and the causes of gaps in access. The field's roots in volunteerism and the absence of a rigorous curriculum are identified as key issues.

Paper long abstract:

Sign language interpreters facilitate communication between deaf and hearing people. Access to sign language interpretation is enshrined in law in Japan. The Law to Eliminate Discrimination against People with Disabilities (Shōgaisha Sabetsu Kaishō Hō) enacted in 2016 legally obliges public organizations to remove barriers preventing disabled people from full participation in society. It calls for the provision of "reasonable accommodations" (gōriteki hairyo) with the cabinet office listing "shuwa" (sign language) as an example. Skilled Japanese Sign Language (JSL) interpreters are required to ensure access for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) Japanese citizens in a wide range of fields and arenas including education, law, sports, government, media, and healthcare. Despite significant improvements in interpreter education and dispatch, research indicates that the communication needs of DHH Japanese are still not being met. There is a network of factors that negatively affect securing interpretation, but a key factor is human resources: a lack of skilled JSL interpreters. However, little qualitative research has been conducted on the current situation of sign language interpreter education in Japan. This paper explores how sign language interpreter training is implemented and why and how identified gaps between sign language users' linguistic preferences and needs and the interpretation services being provided persist. It does so by drawing upon in-depth interviews with JSL interpreters, coordinators, and educators as well as participant observation in online and in-person sign language interpreter settings and ongoing research with DHH sign language users. The field's roots in volunteerism along with the absence of a rigorous national standardized curriculum are identified as key issues in sign language interpreter training programs in Japan.