For the academic year 2023-2024, EASC built a comprehensive program on the Cultural and Creative Industries in Japan, made possible through a grant from the Japan Foundation. The project was meant to provide students with a better sense of what this important industry is, and how they can aspire to find employment within it. Visit the EASC events calendar page to see what short lectures and workshops were related to this world of rich opportunities in publishing, translation, gaming, design, media, and tourism.
Spring 2024 Events
January 24, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Khezrnejat (Hosei University, Japan)
Writers working within a second language are often asked why they choose to utilize their adopted medium. The question rests on a set of linked assumptions: that writing in a second language is more difficult, that writing in a first language is more natural, and that writers are expected to choose modes of expression which they find the most fluent and comfortable. At the same time, most readers and writers share an intrinsic understanding that writing thrives on friction and discomfort, defamiliarizing common language in order to generate an effect. In this session, participants will consider writing in a second language as a means of seeking out friction, and the importance of doing so as the rise of generative AI enables increasingly frictionless expressions. Participants will also explore how these skills and questions translate to opportunities in Japanese literary spaces.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4Rvm
February 07, 2024
Speaker: Claire Tanaka
Claire Tanaka works as a Japanese-English translator in a wide range of creative genres, including theater production, anime, film, and documentaries. Claire has worked on subtitling projects such as Netflix's Komi Can't Communicate. In this zoom session, she will discuss her experiences with this creative language work and share insights into the job of translation in the age of generative AI.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4RvO
February 13, 2024
Speakers: Eriko Terao and Leraldo Anzaldua (IU Theatre and Dance)
As the popularity of anime has grown in recent years so too has its influence on Japanese theatre productions. From Naruto Kabuki to Sailor Moon musicals, the crossover of anime and theatre has given fans new and exciting ways to experience their favorite shows and characters. In this talk participants will consider the ways in which creative and cultural industries inform one another through the lens of Japanese costume and fashion design, theater, and anime. After attending this lecture and conversation, participants will have a better understanding of unique ways their interest in Japanese language and culture can be leveraged as an asset when looking for employment.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4RJd
February 22, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Just like languages need to be learned and rehearsed through years of practice for one to become fully fluent, the lexicon of food is something that must be acquired through practice and continual social exchanges. What count as delicious or unpalatable are to a large degree not inherent human qualities but are highly dependent on cultural norms and situations. The emphasis in the workshop will be on Japanese fermented foods such as shoyu, miso, nattō, and pickles, but we will invite the audience to share examples of how cultural norms define what is good and not good food and what effect these categorizations have on diets and health in the US and Japan. Finally, we will discuss the benefits and possible pathways to educate the palate of people in the US to appreciate the intricate but often alien flavors of Japanese ferments.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4RSF
February 27, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Japanese food fermentation is much more than strange and exotic flavors, but how do we move beyond the simple act of eating? What count as delicious or unpalatable are to a large degree not inherent human qualities but are highly dependent on cultural norms and situations. Participants will explore Japanese culinary arts through the discussion of recent biological discoveries, human-nature ties, and critical food studies and open a joint discussion of how fermentation studies can contribute to Area Studies. This talk will be given over zoom to faculty and students from Universitatea Romano-Americana in Bucharest Romania.
March 01, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Roslynn Ang (Visiting Fulbright Scholar)
This talk highlights how the Indigenous Ainu negotiate various “barriers” in Japanese settler occupied spaces in their ancestral lands. Yaun Mosir/ Ainu Mosir or Hokkaido is the ancestral lands of the Ainu people that experienced and is still undergoing 150 years of Japanese settler colonialism. This is an ethnography on the resilience of the various Ainu community members as Dr. Ang accompanies them on and off the stage, between mundane and exceptional spaces.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4RRh
March 19, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Many students majoring in area studies and humanities find it difficult to immediately transfer to a job market that seems geared mostly for careers in government, corporate business, and secondary education. With this workshop, we wish to introduce a different route for students and inspire them to think of their major and minor in Japanese Studies in new and innovative ways. The creative process of ‘translating’ their college experience and knowledge into ‘marketable’ skillsets not only give them new directions for where they can work with their interests, but it will also increase their ability to engage successfully in social/cultural innovation or in entrepreneurship in future workplace situations, as well as open the door for creating their own start-up within the cultural and creative industry. The introduction to the workshop will focus on Japanese Studies, but we welcome students from all culture studies to participate.
Join here: https://go.iu.edu/4RTz
March 22, 2024
Speaker: Cynthia Shin (PhD Student, Dept. Comparative Literature)
Science fiction often aims to create a whole new world for its readers. Yet, it is also strongly grounded in historical Anglo-American influences as well as the “megatext,” the pool of conventions and tropes that many sf narratives share. How does a translator deal with the foreign in science fiction that tends to the history and conventions of the genre? What are the concessions that they need to make, and what imbalances in cultural power can they amend? In this talk, participants will consider the use of loanwords in Japanese science fiction through case studies and how this cultural knowledge can aid in translation work.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4O7G
EASC will be launching a podcast, funded in part by the Japan Foundation, focused on employment in creative and cultural industries. The podcast will feature interviews with industry professionals regarding career opportunities related to Japanese language and culture.
Stay tuned for episode One: Culinary Arts!
Fall 2023 Events
July 17, 2023
Speaker: Noel Wheeler (PhD Student, Dept. Comparative Literature)
In today's world Japan's media is one of the global powerhouses in terms of recognizability and popularity. Japanese pop culture is well-known, well-liked, and has a strong international following. But how did Japan's media become so popular? This lecture will introduce three mediums of Japanese media that have gained a global popularity: manga, anime, and light novels. In this presentation, participants will explore how these mediums came to be and discuss possible reasons as to how they have become so in demand in the global media market.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4O7G
August 25, 2023
Speaker: Rush Swope (Senior Lecturer, IU Media School)
Join us as we cover the cultural and global competencies necessary for Japanese video game design. Participants will explore the video game industry and how skills in Japanese can be utilized as a tool to gain employment. Rush Swope is an industry professional and has written papers focusing on video games for the Smithsonian, worked on the motion capture for “Warcraft”, and enjoys concept art, character modeling, and prototyping. As part of the lecture students were given guidance on networking within the video game industry and the types of Japanese companies that are more often open to taking foreign interns and workers.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4PVW
September 6, 2023
These informal gatherings will provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to explore Japanese creative industries culture in a more relaxed setting. Participants will engage in small group conversation focused on their ideal jobs within Japanese industries. By working with students from other schools and majors they will learn how to effectively network with others interested in Japanese creative industries while working out how their interests overlap. This event will give students the opportunity to begin exploring the different paths one can take when pursuing a career in creative industries.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4QjH
September 16, 2023
Speaker: Eriko Terao (Assistant Costume Studio Supervisor; Director of Dance Costume, IU Theatre and Dance)
Participants in this lecture will have the opportunity to interact with an industry professional, Eriko Terao, to gain a deeper understanding of Japanese fashion and costume design, the technical language surrounding this trade, and the basics of Japanese clothing manufacturing. Following the lecture , registered participants will have the opportunity to engage in a small group, hands on workshop aimed at teaching them the basics of costume and clothing design. Participants will work closely with Eriko Terao to learn the basics of Sashiko, a type of traditional Japanese embroidery.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4PW2
September 27, 2023
Speaker: Cynthia Shin (PhD Student, Dept. Comparative Literature)
This lecture will focus on the question of translating pronouns. Unlike English, Japanese tends to “drop” pronouns, leaving translators to puzzle over what pronouns would be appropriate: is the speaker I, we, you, she, he, or they? Deciding whether the lack of pronoun is just a quirk of the Japanese language, or an intentional omission requires more than foreign language skills, but a coherent cultural interpretation of the source itself.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4Q38
October 18, 2023
Speakers: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures); Dr. Jae DiBello Takeuchi (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
In this roundtable discussion, participants will explore how cultural studies have changed and will continue to change in response to the growing use of AI tools and translations. How will translation and language study change in response to new technology? Does the human element still have a place in creative industries? Participants will have the opportunity to discuss these challenges and provide their own unique insight into the conversation.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4QtM
October 28, 2023
During this film screening participants will have an opportunity to reflect on what they've learned about dropped pronouns, anime production, and localization in translation through the subtitles and translation choices made in Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4Q2K
November 1, 2023
Speaker: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
These informal get togethers will provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to explore Japanese creative industries culture in a more relaxed setting. Following the previous Global Teatime, Now that participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the various creative industries from an IU professional. This short talk on Japanese creative and cultural industries will be followed with open discussion about identifying existing industries within Japan. What companies, jobs, or opportunities would they ideally like to pursue within the Japanese cultural sphere?
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4QjQ
November 11, 2023
Speaker: Adam Noffsinger (Graduate Student, Dept. East Asian Languages and Cultures)
This small workshop will focus on fermentation not only of many East Asian foods themselves, but also of seasonings and sauces popular throughout the region. Participants in this workshop will learn about the cuisine and food culture of Japan and East Asia by creating Japanese-style marinated ramen eggs.Participants will become more familiar with the Japanese culinary world while learning how to facilitate and guide respectful discussions about food cultures and differences from an industry professional.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4Qri
November 29, 2023
Speaker: Alan Reiser (PhD Student, Dept. Comparative Literature)
This “Translating Cultures” workshop will aid participants in navigating the conundrum of translating religious and mythological references in source materials when there is no equivalent word in English. Participants will be introduced to different methods of translation and work with an industry professional to better understand how translation choices are made and why.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4Q97
December 07, 2023
Speaker: Dr. Morten Oxenboell (Department East Asian Languages and Cultures)
Japanese food fermentation is much more than strange and exotic flavors, but how do we move beyond the simple act of eating? EASC has recently launched a new project that will combine Area Studies, the Humanities in general, and the hard sciences: Cultures of Fermentation. In this talk, center director Morten Oxenboell will take participants with him down a very deep rabbit hole of recent biological discoveries, human-nature ties, and critical food studies and open a joint discussion of how fermentation studies can contribute to Area Studies and the big question of “what is the human?”.
Join Here: https://go.iu.edu/4PVW