Security and Insecurity: New Challenges for Japan
in the Beginning of the 21st Century

This year's VSJF annual meeting will take a closer look at the concept of security in Japan.

Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's security environment has changed significantly. While the United States is still Japan's most important security partner, the nature of the partnership has changed as a result of new demands from the United States, but also due to new challenges for Japan such as the North Korean nuclear program and the rise of China. Moreover, the Japanese government and foreign policy establishment have been confronted with new, „non-traditional“ security threats such as international terrorism, the spread of infectious diseases, and global environmental threats. At the same time, on the domestic level, neo-liberal economic reforms, demographic change and the consequences of economic globalization put into question the sustainability of the current Japanese lifestyle and lead to a heightened sense of insecurity among many Japanese.

The conference will take up these issues and expand the standard discussions on security and insecurity in Japan by bringing together people from both the study of international relations and Japanese domestic politics, economy and society. Conference panels will address issues of „traditional“ security policy, i.e. military security, and newly arising issues of regional security arrangements, but will also take a closer look at the security implications of economic globalization, such as environmental and energy security. The conference will address these issues by looking at both domestic Japanese and international discourses about security and insecurity and related general debates in international relations.

By doing so, the conference aims at providing new insights into Japanese and international discourses on security as well as the ways in which security is conceptualized in Japan. By bringing together experts from various fields and institutions from Japan, Germany, and Europe, the conference also offers unique comparative insights.

Verena Blechinger-Talcott (FU Berlin)

Conference programm available for download ››

JAPANESE-GERMAN CENTER BERLIN [JDZB]
and
GERMAN ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON JAPAN [VSJF]

TENTATIVE PROGRAM

for the symposium
Security and Insecurity: New Challenges for Japan in the Beginning of the 21st Century

from Friday, November 23 - Sunday, November 25, 2007
at the JDZB, Saargemuender Str. 2, 14195 Berlin
(as of 8-10-07 wo)

12.00 h Documentary on the the election campaign for the House of Councillors' elections in August 2007
Axel KLEIN Friday

November 23

13.30 h Registration

14.00 h Opening
Friederike BOSSE (JDZB)
Wolfram Manzenreiter (VSJF)
Verena BLECHINGER-TALCOTT (FU Berlin, for the Organizers)

14.20 h Keynote Speech: Securing Japan
Richard SAMUELS (MIT)

15.30 h Coffee break

16.00 h Panel 1: New Approaches to Japanese Security Policy
Chair: N.N.
Japan 's Re-Militarization?
Chris HUGHES (University of Warwick)
Effective for Peace? JSDF peacekeeping operations since 1992
Garren MULLOY (Daitô Bunka University)
Collective Self-Defense or no Defense? Japan's Rough Sailing between Dilemmas and Challenges
Markus TIDTEN (SWP – German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin)
Discussant Paul MIDFORD (NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim)

18.00 h Dinner

Saturday, November 24

9.30 h Panel 2: Regional Security Aspects and Japan's Role
Chair: N.N.
Issues in Japanese-Chinese Relations - From 'Special Relationship' to 'Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests'
Reinhard DRIFTE (University of Newcastle)
Coming to Terms with the Past: How can History Contribute to Security in Japanese-Korean Relations?
Wolfgang SEIFERT (Heidelberg University)
Energy Security: Japan in Competition with China and India
Frank UMBACH (DGAP – German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin)
Discussant Hartwig HUMMEL (Düsseldorf University)

12.00 h Lunch

13.30 h Panel 3: Population Insecurity and Migration
Chair: N.N.
Political Economy or Cultural Politics? A Political-Theoretical Perspective on Immigration in Japan
Takashi KIBE (International Christian University)
Issues of (In)security in Japan’s Migration Policy
Gabriele VOGT (DIJ – German Institute of Japanese Studies, Tokyo)
Societal Reproduction at Risk: Reverse Function of the Livelihood Security System in Japan
Mari OSAWA (University of Tokyo)
Indispensable Future Workforce? Discourses on and Realities of Foreign Workers in Japan
David CHIAVACCI (FU Berlin)
Discussant Dietrich THRÄNHARDT (Münster University)

16.00 h Coffee Break

16.15 h VSJF Working Group Meetings

18.00 h Dinner

19.30 h VSJF Business Meeting

Sunday, November 25

9.30 h Panel 4: Domestic Discourses on Security
Chair: N.N.
The Environmental Dimension of Japanese Security. Enlarging Perceptions of Risk
Miranda SCHREURS (FU Berlin)
Heightened Threat Perception and the Future of Japan’s Anti-Militarism
Wilhelm VOSSE (International Christian University, Tokyo)
Consuming Risk: The Governing of Risks over Livelihood in Japan
Hiroko TAKEDA (Sheffield University)
Discussant N.N.

11.00 h Coffee Break

11.15 h Final Panel Discussion
'Normal State', 'Beautiful Country' and Human Security -
New Trends in Japanese Security Policy in Comparative Perspective
Chair: N.N.
Japanese Journalist tbc
Japanese Embassy representative tbc
German MP tbc
Paul MIDFORD (NTNU)
Richard SAMUELS (MIT)

13.00 h End of the symposium

supported by
FRIEDRICH-EBERT FOUNDATION
FU BERLIN
ERNST-POENSGEN-FOUNDATION

Registration paper available for download ››

Please turn back this registration by October 31, 2007 to the JDZB, att. Mr. Jörg Reinowski

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