9 October 2024 (hybrid)
For onsite participation, please register via email to forum(at)dijtokyo.org by 7 October 2024, stating your name and affiliation.
For online participation, please register here (Zoom).
10 October/11 October 2024 (online only)
For online participation, please register here (Zoom).
International workshop at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) in Tokyo
Organizer: Nicole M. Mueller, Senior Research Fellow
The future begins with imagination. One example are the Sci-Fi prototyping initiatives of Japanese tech giants like Sony and NTT, which intentionally utilize storytelling to foster public acceptance of emerging technologies. Focusing on the connection between narratives, culture, technological innovation, and marketing, this interdisciplinary workshop delves into both fictional and non-fictional portrayals of Japan’s technological future. Our keynote speakers, Fritz Breithaupt (Indiana University Bloomington) and Hirotaka Osawa (Keio University), international scholars, as well as practitioners from Japan’s tech industry, will join us to analyze visions of emerging technologies, of their environmental and societal impact, and of Japan as a “futuristic” nation through the lens of “narrative” and “sociotechnical imaginary” theoretical frameworks.
Wednesday, Oct 09, 2024
6:00 – 7:30 PM Keynote Speeches/DIJ Forum
Future Narratives – Why They Matter
Fritz BREITHAUPT (Indiana University Bloomington, Experimental Humanities Lab)
Science Fiction Prototyping Trends in Japan
Hirotaka OSAWA (Keio University Tokyo, Keio SF Lab)
7:30 – 9:00 PM Reception
Thursday, Oct 10, 2024
10:00 – 10:30 AM Welcome & Introduction
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Panel 1: Imaginations of Futuristic Japan
Imagining Japanese Technofutures – The Role of Futurology and Science Fiction in Shaping the Information Society
Volker ELIS (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)
Progress as Decline: Future Imaginaries in Contemporary Japanese Literature
Kristina IWATA-WEICKGENANNT (Nagoya University)
The Future of Emotion as Zen: Meditation Apps, Android Bodhisattvas, and Mood-Regulating Tech in Japanese Wellness Spaces
Daniel WHITE (University of Cambridge, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence)
2:00 – 3:30 PM Panel 2: Imagined Futures of the Augmented Self
Hoshi Shin’ichi and Artificial Intelligence
Michaela OBERWINKLER (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)
Japan’s Dawn of a ‘New Extended Reality Era’ through the Lens of Future Imaginaries
Nicole M. MUELLER (German Institute for Japanese Studies, DIJ)
‘If it were real, I’d feel both fascinated and cautious.’ – Reflecting on Japanese citizens’ narratives about a prospective metaverse through a design-theoretical lens
Michel HOHENDANNER (Technical University of Munich/DIJ Tokyo)
Chiara ULLSTEIN (Technical University of Munich)
Hirotaka OSAWA (Keio University Tokyo, Keio SF Lab)
Jens GROSSKLAGS (Technical University of Munich)
※ The Paper is presented in person by Michel HOHENDANNER and Hirotaka OSAWA
4:00 – 5:30 PM Panel 3 [Practitioners’ Perspectives]: XR Spotlights from Japan
Japan’s Virtual Scene [preliminary title]
Shuntarō KUBOTA (CEO, MoguraVR)
XR Imaginaries in Japanese Advertising [preliminary title]
Shingo MEGURO (R&D Director, Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc.)
Reality into the virtual world — VR, AR and more —
Kenji TANAKA (Founder & CEO, Foxtrot Inc.)
Friday, Oct 11, 2024
10:00 – 11:30 AM Panel 4: Imagined Societies in the Data & Information Age
Imagining a Cashless Future for Japan: Digital Payments, Data Monetization, and Customer Experience Christian OBERLÄNDER (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
Imagining the future global pandemic and surveillance society
Takahiro YAMAMOTO (Singapore University of Technology and Design)
Mapping the Socio-technical Imaginaries of Dataveillance in Japan
Peter MANTELLO (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
Alin OLEANU (Käte Hamburger Kolleg, RWTH Germany & Shanghai International Studies University)
1:30 – 3:30 PM Panel 5: Imagined Futures of Our Lived Environment
Ecological narratives in the drawn visions of the future of the Tokyo metropolis
Corinne TIRY-ONO (Paris-Val de Seine National Graduate School of Architecture)
Fraught Narratives, Contrived Futures: Connection and the Unhoused across Tokyo
Paul CHRISTENSEN (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana)
Naturing Japan’s Homeland: Green Infrastructure as a Narrative of Sociotechnical Redemption and Revival
Takehiro WATANABE (Sophia University Tokyo)
Fukushima Futures: The Politics of Nuclear Energy in Japan after 3/11
Kyle CLEVELAND (Temple University Tokyo)
4:00 – 5:30 PM Panel 6: Futures in the Making – Practices, Methods, Mechanisms
Techno-nationalism and the Land of the Rising Robots. The Japanese government’s co-construction of policy and technoscience
Amanda BRØDSGAARD (University of Copenhagen)
“Let’s think together”: Scattered narratives in NHK’s #BeyondGender project
Anya DOI-BENSON (Doshisha University Kyoto)
Posting the Future in the Present: Imagination as Manifest Destiny
Jonathan E. ABEL (Penn State University)
5:30 – 5:45 PM Closing Remarks