Events
theme 2008-2009:
virtual worlds, real politics
The MIT/Harvard Cool Japan research project is planning four events for the current academic year. This year’s theme is “Virtual Worlds, Real Politics,” in which we explore various ways in which popular culture and media related to Japan are intertwined with contemporary political issues. Too often the scholarship that examines popular culture reinforces the impression that media representations exist in their own closed off worlds, for example in illuminating the specialized activities of fans or the curious worlds of entertainment producers, while doing little to clarify the stakes for all of us in connecting such virtual worlds with real politics. The selection of events this year is meant to explore and analyze some ways that the worlds of popular culture are intertwined with political issues, including the portrayals of youth violence, the workings of election campaigns, the impact of digital/mobile media on youth politics, and the linkages of gender, animation and robotics design in Japan.
event highlights
 Scene from Tekkon Kinkreet |
Flim screening with panel discussion: Tekkon Kinkreet (2006, Dir. Arias)
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Schedule of events:
6:00-7:00 PM - Panel Discussion
Markus Nornes (U Michigan / Harvard), Susan Napier (Tufts), Anthony Weintraub (Tekkon Kinkreet screenwriter), and Ian Condry (MIT)
7:00-8:45 PM - Film Screening
8:45-9:30 PM - Q&A & Discussion with Panelists
Date: Wednesday October 1, 2008
Time: 6:00-9:30 PM
Location:
Harvard University
Tsai Auditorium
CGIS South
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Ian Condry (MIT) and Susan Napier (Tufts) discuss anime, Tekkon Kinkreet, and the MIT-Harvard Cool Japan research project with host Karen Holmes.
CityLine, Channel 5, Boston, 12:00 noon, Sunday Sept. 28, 2008.
 Campaign Poster |
Film screening with a Q/A with the director Soda Kazuhiro.
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The director uses an “observational method” (no voiceover, no textual explanation) to document the campaign of a political neophyte caught up in the big world politics of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. It’s a black comedy.
Date: Tuesday October 21, 2008
Time: 7:00-10:00 PM
Location:
MIT 32-141 (Stata Center)
32 Vassar Street
Cambridge, MA
02139
 Yoshitaka Mori |
"Digital/Mobile Youth in Japan: New Cultural and Political Movements"
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Seminar with Prof. Yoshitaka Mori (Tokyo University of the Arts) who will discuss his research on youth politics and digital/mobile media in Japan.
Date: Thursday November 6, 2008
Time: 12:30-2:00 PM
Location:
MIT 14E-304
160 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA
02139
 Jennifer Robertson |
"Gendering Robots: Posthuman Sexism in Japan"
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Seminar with Prof. Jennifer Robertson (U Michigan), who will discuss her research on robotics in Japan, which she examines from the perspective of feminist anthropology.
Co-sponsored by MIT Women's and Gender Studies Program, and MIT Comparative Media Studies
Date: Thursday March 5, 2009
Time: 5:00-7:00 PM
Location:
MIT 32-155
Cambridge, MA
02139
 Toshiya Ueno |
"UNCOOL JAPAN:
Otaku, Nationalism, and the "Never Be Cool!" Politics of Tsurumi Shunsuke"
Seminar with Prof. Toshiya Ueno
Wako University (Japan)
What's wrong with the talk about "soft power" and the narcisstic nationalism of "cool Japan"? What can the resolutely uncool "otaku" (obsessive fans) teach us about popular culture and political protest? What does the life of philosopher Tsurumi Shunsuke tell us about the changing meaning of politics in the postwar period and the new millennium?
Come join in a dialogue with one of Japan's leading cultural studies scholars. Prof. Toshiya Ueno of Wako University (Tokyo) and McGill University (Montreal) is the author of many books in Japanese including "Red Metal Suits: Anime as War Zone" (1998) and "Urban Tribal Studies: A Sociology of Party Club Culture" (2005).
Date: Tuesday March 17, 2009
Time: 12:30-2:00 PM
Location:
MIT 14E-310
Cambridge, MA
02139
 Live Action Anime 2009 |
MIT Dance Theater Ensemble presents
"LIVE ACTION ANIME 2009: MADNESS AT MOKUBA"
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Performances at Anime Boston (May 22, Fri. at 4pm) Hynes Convention Center
and at Tokyo University of the Arts (May 29-30, Fri/Sat. at 7pm) in Japan
How can Massachusetts Institute of Technology students bring to life the excitement and eccentricities of anime? The MIT Dance Theater Ensemble will demonstrate the possibilities with its performance Live Action Anime 2009: Madness at Mokuba at the convention Anime Boston on May 22, 2009 (Fri.) in the Hynes Convention Center. The troupe will then take the show to Japan, where they will collaborate with Japanese students to perform the play at Tokyo University of the Arts on May 29-30, 2009.
Date:
Friday May 22, 2009 (Boston) and
Friday May 29-30, 2009 (Tokyo, Japan)
Time:
4/22: 4:00 PM, 4/29-4/30: 7:00 PM
Location:
Boston: Anime Boston - Hynes Convention Center
Tokyo: Tokyo University of the Arts
about cool japan
Since January 2006, Professor Ian Condry has organized the Cool Japan: Media, Culture, Technology Research Project at MIT and Harvard. The project presents colloquia, international conferences, and arts events to examine the cultural connections, dangerous distortions, and critical potential of popular culture. The goal is to encourage scholarly debate, research, and networking in the Boston area for faculty and students interested in media and globalization related to Japan. The project is sponsored by the MIT Japan Program, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, and MIT Foreign Languages & Literatures.