18th Annual International Conference on Japanese Studies

Revisiting Southeast Asia - Japan Relations 

Japanese Studies Program
Ateneo de Manila University

In Cooperation with the

International Studies Department
Ateneo de Davao University

with the Support of

The Japan Foundation


DATES: 31 January - 1 February 2020
VENUE: Ateneo de Davao University

OVERVIEW:

It has been ten years since the Japanese Studies program convened a conference and published a compiled volume that interrogated complex Philippine-Japan relations beyond economic and political structures. Edited by Dr. Lydia Yu-Jose, "Past, Love, Money and Much More" features articles exploring Philippine-Japan relations and issues surrounding World War II, Japan's cultural diplomacy, intercultural marriages, and migration. 

Honouring Dr. Yu-Jose’s leadership and scholarship, the conference aims to revisit the issues explored in this volume while expanding its themes through new approaches and perspectives stemming from a new generation of scholars and students who are interrogating shifting relationships between the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Japan. Scholars are encouraged to reevaluate pre-war and post-war relationships through various approaches, examine Japanese culture, politics and economy in an increasingly transcultural and hybrid global landscape, and survey the various structures that influence movements between Southeast Asia and Japan.  

a. How does Southeast Asia understand Japan? How has it changed through the years?

b. Is Southeast Asia still interested in Japan? In what ways? How has it changed through the years?

c. What are (some of )the new approaches and perspectives that explain (or define) Southeast Asia-Japan relations?

d. How would Southeast Asia-Japan go beyond the capital transfers as well as the cultural diplomacy?

e. How would Southeast Asia possibly change Japan?  

f. How would these affect Japanese studies in Southeast Asia?


PROGRAMME
Day 1: 31 January 2020
Venue:  ADDU, Finster Auditorium

8:30 Registration and Coffee Break

9:00 Welcome Remarks

Joel E. Tabora, S.J.
University President
Ateneo de Davao University

Yoshiaki Miwa 
Consul General
Consulate General of Japan in Davao

Opening Remarks

Hiroaki Uesugi 
Director
Japan Foundation – Manila

9:30-11:00 Plenary Session 1: History
  
Continuing Japanese Myth on “Benguet Migrants” in the Philippines: Colonial City, Migrants, WWII, and A Hidden Dispute
Shinzo Hayase
Waseda University

A Comfort Zone? The late 20th Century Japanese Experience in Southeast Asia
Satoshi Nakano
Hitotsubashi University

11:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-14:00 Plenary Session 2: Migration

Platforms, Practices and Politics: Interrogating Intimate performativity of Filipina-Japanese marriage on YoutTube
Earvin Charles Cabalquinto
Deakin University

Transnational Mobility, Love, Money and Much More
Reiko Ogawa
Chiba University
 
14:00 – 14:15 Coffee Break

14:15 – 15:15 Japan in Mindanao: Revisiting Pre-War and War Time History

Colonialism and the Japanese Settler Society in Mindanao: N.Y.K. – Migration Nexus and the Tourism Industry
Anderson V. Villa
Mindanao State University – General Santos

The Role of Salipada Pendatun in Organizing the Bukidnon – Cotabato Force During World War II: An Archival Survey
Mansoor L. Limba
Ateneo de Davao Univeristy

Japanese Interregnum in NLSA Settlement: 1939 – 1945
Hannee R. Saloria-Badilles
Mindanao State University – General Santos

Panel Chair: John Harvey D. Gamas
                    Ateneo de Davao University          

15:20 - 16:00 Paper Panel 1: Indo-Japan Relations

Behind the Rising Sun: Unveiling India’s National Interests in the Convergence of the Indo-Japanese Nuclear Strategic Partnership
Akella Colina
Czarina Marie Cabagnot
Joy Olive Manreal
Masanori Kobashi
Ateneo de Davao University

Navigating Japan’s Foreign Policy from Within: Domestic Politics and its Impact on the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy
Jonald T. Bagasina
University of the Philippines – Diliman

16:00 – 16:30 Housekeeping Announcements

 Day 2: 1 February 2020
Venue: ADDU

9:00 Registration and Coffee Break

9:15 – 10:15
Paper Panel 2.1: Japan in Mindanao 2
Venue: F-711 & F - 712

Japanese Schools in Davao in  US Colonial Philippines, ca. 1920s – 30s
Eri Kitada
Rutgers University

Operation Victor: A Reassessment of the Mindanao Campaign during the Second World War
David O. Lozada III, Ateneo de Manila University

Historical Notes on Japanese Bunkers in General Santos City, Philippines
Allan Balaga Castino
Mindanao State University – General Santos

Rebino Batoto
Mindanao State University – Naawan

Paper Panel 2.2: Soft Power
Venue: F-213

Thailand’s New Strategy towards International Relations at the Local Level: Applying from Fukuoka’s model
Nirithorn Mesupnikom
Thammasat University

Curating Japanese Identity through Film Festival Diplomacy: A Case Study on Eiga Sai, the Japanese Film Festival in the Philippines
Maria Ysabel A. Tangco
Ateneo de Manila University

Paper Panel 2.3: Migration
Venue: Finster Auditorium

Exploring the Dynamics in Singapore-Japan Relations: Voices from long term Japanese residents in Singapore
Keiko Tamura
The University of Kitakyushu

Leng Leng Thang
National University of Singapore

Hiroko Fujita
State University of New York at Buffalo / Singapore Institute of Management

Nikkei Filipino Workers in the Japanese Seafood Processing Industry: History, Recruitment and Employment
Sachi Takahata
University of Shizuoka

Keiko Yamanaka
University of California, Berkeley

Homebound before Sunset: Cultural Remittances and Aspirations of Return Migration among Ageing Filipino Immigrants in Japan
Jocelyn Celero, University of the Philippines - Diliman

10:20 – 11:20
Paper Panel 3.1: History
Venue: F - 711 & & 712

Total War in a Mixed Locality: The Filipino and the Japanese Locals of the Davao Settler Zone
Maria Cynthia B. Barriga
Waseda University

Kwentong Bayan sa Panahon ng Hapn: Microhistories of the Ilaguenos in North Luzon Philippines during the Japanese Occupation 1941 – 1945
Amram Jezron B. Inere, Isabela State University – City of Ilagan

There’s Time for Beauty: The 1944 Lakambini Popularity Contest in Iloilo City, Philippines
Frances Anthea Redison
University of the Philippines – Visayas

Paper Panel 3.2: Security
Venue: F - 213

Finding the balance: The Japan – ASEAN Human Security Dynamics
Jeorge Alarcon, Jr
Adamson University

Political, Economic and Environmental Ramifications of Wildlife Trade from Southeast Asia to Concurrent Japan in Northeast Asia
Monir Hossain Moni
Bangladesh Asia Institute for Global Studies

Japan’s Peacebuilding Initiatives in the Southern Philippines: Policy Construction, Nature, and Significance for Southeast Asia
Mario Joyo Aguja
Mindanao State University – General Santos

Paper Panel 3.3: Multiculturalism in Japan and Asia: Migration Policy
Venue: Finster Auditorium

Enlightening discourses, unfeasible realities, and a dilemma of policy practices: A Quantitative Text of Discourses and Policies of Japan's Multiculturalism
Toru Oga
Kyushu University

Multicultual Tokyo in  2020:  Revisiting Language Policies
Ron Vilog
De La Salle University

Discussant: Benjamin San Jose
                    Ateneo de Manila University


11:20 – 12:20
Paper Panel 4.1: History 2
Venue: F - 711 & 712

A Wartime Filipino Community in Tokyo, 1943 – 44: The Case of Kojimachi Catholic Church
Takefumi Terada
Sophia University

Matsui Yayori: Legacy of Activist Networks Connecting Japan and Asia
Lisa Rogers
Doshisha Women:s College

Colonial Convergence Zones: Colonial Meteorological Institutions in Taiwan and the Philippines as collaborative localities for Scientific Knowledge Production and Exchange
Bianca Angelien Aban Claveria
Ateneo de Manila University

Paper Panel 4.2: ODA
Venue: F - 213

Competition, Cooperation, or Containment? Exploring Japan’s Place in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Efforts in Southeast Asia
Martin Angelo T. Millete
De La Salle University

Japan and India’s Maritime Diplomacy in Southeast Asia: Striving for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific
Gaurav Dutta
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Paper Panel 4.3: Multiculturalism in Japan and Asia: Migration and Civil Society
Older Migrants in a Diversifying Japan
Venue: Finster Auditorium
Johanna Zulueta
Soka University

Critical Reflection on Multiculturalism and multicultural education in Korea
Jinhee Kim
Korean Educational Development Institute

Discussant: Ron Vilog
                    De La Salle University


12:20 – 13: 50 Lunch Break

13:50 – 15:05 Plenary Session 3: Popular Culture
Venue: Finster Auditorium

Are There Any Texts in BL Studies? Rethinking Narrativity of BL Ethnicity and Eroticism in Japan and South East Asia
Kazumi Nagaike
Oita University

Creative Misreading Across the Asia-Pacific: Transnational Japanese Popular Culture and Queer Utopian Consumption
Thomas Baudinette
Macquarie University

15:05 - 15:30 Book Talk
Transnational Identities on Okinawa's Military Bases: Invisible Armies
Johanna Zulueta
Soka University

Comments by:
Ricardo Trota Jose
University of the Philippines - Diliman

Reiko Ogawa
Chiba University

15:30 – 16:00 Closing Ceremonies and Coffee
                        Distribution of Certificates