17th Annual International Conference on Japanese Studies

17th Annual International Conference on Japanese Studies

Japan: 

Age in a Time of Precariousness

Asian Center, University of the Philippines- Diliman

International Studies Department, De La Salle University

Japanese Studies Program, Ateneo de Manila University

In Cooperation with the

Gender and Development Program

University of the Philippines-Visayas

DATES: 1-2 February, 2019

VENUE: Casa Real de Iloilo, Iloilo City

OVERVIEW:

Population ageing is a phenomenon that has been affecting developed countries and other parts of the world. The phenomenon exists through several reasons such as availability of the efficient food distribution to materialize better nutrient supplies and advance medical technology. It causes decrease in workforce, delay in social services, and aggravate social security burden on the working population. It therefore brings about stagnation of the national economy and loss of vitality of culture and society. It is an increasingly researched topic by scholars around the world.

Japan is a focal point in ageing studies. It is labeled as a “super-ageing society” owing to the high ratio of its aged population and low fertility rates. Shoshi Koreika ( 少子高齢化) is a term used by most scholars to describe this phenomenon of fast-paced aging in Japan that likewise affects other demographic sectors. Predicting the aging problems, the Japanese government officially started importing foreign labor in the 1970s. The decreasing national population has posed major implications on Japanese society, economy and polity.

The phenomenon has wide ranging effects not only on Japan’s domestic affairs but also on its  international relations. Japan’s need for healthcare workers has affected the Philippines’ healthcare industry as well as education, labor and immigration policies. Triggered by the Japan-Philippines Economic Agreement that included healthcare worker to categories of labor migrants, nursing and care-giving schools offering Japanese language training courses have mushroomed in the 1990s, while housekeepers and trainees have recently being launched. In Indonesia, the recruitment and (return) migration of Indonesian nurses trained as careworkers have posed challenges to both Indonesian labor market, and Japan-Indonesian economic partnerships. Many migrant nurses and caregivers face precarious situations in many workplaces in Japan that either are not ready to accept or neglect these workers hired to take care of Japanese in a precarious state. Such precarity in Japan, associated with various forms of insecurity, risk, ambivalence and vulnerability on one hand, may also give impetus for introducing significant changes in structures, policies and experiences on the other.  

This conference examines the politics of age in the context of Japan’s changing social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics. Since the collapse of the economy in the 1990s, Japanese, across all ages and genders, adapt to lifestyles that attempt to overcome states of vulnerability. Japan’s decreasing birth rates and growing elderly population spark questions surrounding a demographic that can uplift Japan from its precarity. These questions also raise the contributions of indigenous, migrant, and divergent populations as they deal with precariousness in diverse ways. Thus, in this conference, scholars engage with age as a critical lens in the analysis of different issues surrounding Japan’s precarious state.

REGISTRATION FORM (Word)

REGISTRATION FORM (PDF Signed)

PROGRAMME

Day 1: 1 February 2019  

Venue:  Casa Real de Iloilo

8:30 Registration and Coffee Break

9:00 Welcome Remarks

Ricardo P. Babaran

Chancellor

Gender and Development Program, University of the Philippines-Visayas

Opening Remarks

Joefe Santarita

Dean

Asia Center, University of the Philippines-Diliman

9:30-11:00 Plenary Session 1

  

"Aging in Japan: Gender, Intersectionality and Transnational Political Economy"

Vera Mackie, University of Wollongong

“The Precariousness of retiring overseas: Reflections from studying Japanese retirees in Southeast Asia and Australia.”

Thang Leng Leng, National University of Singapore

11:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-13:30 Paper Session 1 - Precarity and Gender

“Women and Feminism in Japanese Literature”

Lisa Rogers, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts

“No Longer a “Weekend Heroine:” Momoiro Clover Z and Female Struggle in Japanese Patriarchal Society”

Astera Khirana, University of Indonesia

13:30 – 13:45 Coffee Break

13:45 –  14:45 Paper Session 2 - Precarity and Modernity

“On the Street Corner of iron City: Gendered Process of Aging in Modern Japan”

Yoshiya Makita, Koji Murata, Maria Yonemura and Yuu Takagi, Ritsumeikan University

“Precarious Japan: Understanding the Freeter Phenomenon beyond Government Policies”

Michaela I. Navato, University of the Philippines, Diliman

14:50 - 15:50: Paper Session 3 - Filipino Precarity in Japan

“Filipino Domestic Workers to Japan: Issues and Concerns”

Maria Rosario Piquero-Ballescas, Orlando Ballescas and Hiroya Takamatsu, Toyo University

“From childcare facilities to nannies: An analysis of childcare in Japan”

Girlie Anne Miradora, University of the Philippines, Diliman

16:00: Housekeeping Announcements

Day 2: 2 February 2019

Venue: Casa Real de Iloilo

8:30 Registration and Coffee Break

9:00 – 9:50 Plenary Session 2

“Japan in Transition from Homogeneity to Diversity: Does Diversity Include Foreigners”

Asato Wako, Kyoto University

9:50 – 11:20 Paper Session 3 – Precarity, Ageing and Retirement Migration

“Sustainability of Japan’s Pension System”

Liezl Anne C. Naing, University of the Philippines, Diliman

“Transcultural care of Japanese elderly retiring in the Philippines”

Jaymie Ysabel M. Dalisay, University of the Philippines, Diliman

“A Comparative Study of the Philippines and Thailand’s Trend on Retirement Migration: Analysis on Tourism Competitiveness through the existing Foreign Retirement Programs”

Ezra Nicole Basto, De La Salle University

11:20 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00 Paper Session 5 - Precarity of Formal and Informal Care

“IJEPA as transferring Scheme of Returned Nurse to not entered in Nursing Job: The Miss-track of Indonesian Nurse who become Care Works in Japan Labor Market”

Kurniawaty Iskandar, University of Indonesia

“Analysis of the One-Decade Impact of IJEPA: A Case Study of Indonesian Care Workers’ Rights Fulfillment in Japan through an Employment Contract”

Happy Zahrotin Nisa and Kurniawaty Iskandar, University of Indonesia

“Exploring Health Issues of Filipino Women in Japan: Migrant Narratives and Policy Implications”

Ron Bridget Vilog, Carlos Piocos, III and Jan Michael Alexandre Bernadas, De La Salle University

13:00 Closing Ceremony