Program*

Friday
7.11.2025

12:00	Registration
13:00-13:30	Welcome
13:30-14:30	Keynote Speech I: Prof. Dr. Uno Shigeki, Tokyo University
14:30-15:00	Coffee Break
15:00-16:30	Panel 1: (Un-)Democratic Futures X Democratic Theory Dr. Veith Selk, TU Darmstadt, “The Crisis of Democratic Theory” Prof. Dr. Yamamoto Kei, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto: tba Prof. Dr. Gabriele Vogt, LMU München: “Aging Democracies, Silent Youth: How Population Aging Impacts Political Participation in Japan and the Asia-Pacific” (with Yosuke Buchmeier) Viktoria Huegel, Ph.D., Universität Wien: “An Appeal to Authority in Authoritarian Times”
16:30-17:00	Coffee Break
17:00-18:30	Panel 2: Futures X Gender Politics Prof. Suzuki Ayaka, University of Tsukuba: “Honorary Men and Neoliberal Femininity in Contemporary Japan” (online) Prof. Shimizu Akiko, Tokyo University: “The Return of the Anti-Gender Movement in Japan” Dr. Karsten Schubert, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: tba Prof. Dr. Takeda Hiroko, Nagoya University: “The Politics of Life and Death in Japan: —Explorations through the Family-State Nexus”
19:30-22:00	Welcome Dinner (“Heuriger 10er Marie”)

Saturday
8.11.2025

09:00-11:00	VSJF Section Meetings
11:00-11:30	Coffee Break
11:30-13:00	Panel 3: Futures X Economic Disparity Prof. Dr. Simon Avenell, Australian National University: “Generationalism in Japan: Leave Them Kids (and Retirees) Alone!” Dr. Shibata Saori, University of Sheffield: “Hampered Digitalisation: Institutional Failure and New Instability in Japan” Dr. Gabriele Michalitsch, Universität Wien: “From Competitive Entrepreneur to Violent Warrior: Neoliberalism, Authoritarianism, and Militarisation” Prof. Dr. Hanno Jentzsch, Universität Wien: “Civic Self-Governance and the Erosion of Local Democracy in Japan’s Aging Rural Peripheries“
13:00-14:30	Lunch \| Peer-Support Panel (DocSchool Section “Global Entanglements”) – Brownbag Lunch: “Career Paths between Area Studies and Disciplines” – Dr. Chris Perkins, Edinburgh University (chief editor, Japan Forum): Publishing for a “Global” Audience – Anna-Maria Stabentheiner, University of Vienna: Anthropology and Area Studies – Andreas Eder-Ramsauer, University of Vienna: Political Studies and Area Studies – tba.
14:30-16:00	Keynote Speech II: Prof. Dr. H. L. T. Quan, Arizona State University: “Become Ungovernable: Democratic Living in the Time of Conversion”
16:00-16:30	Coffee Break
16:30-18:00	General Members’ Meeting of the VSJF

Sunday
9.11.2025

9:30-11:00	Panel 4: Futures X Environmental Politics Prof. Dr. Asuka Jusen, Tohoku University: “Unchanged Melody of the Undemocratic Energy/Climate Policy in Japan” Dr. Florentine Koppenborg, Hochschule für Politik München: tba Dr. Jan Groos, University Kiel: “Envisioning Alternative Governmentality” Prof. Dr. Nakano Yoshihiro, Rikkyo University: “Politics of Suiten: Prolegomena to Cartographic Strategies for Relational Degrowth“
11:00-11:30	Coffee Break
11:30-13:00	Panel 5: Futures X Global Contestation Prof. Dr. Ulrich Brand, Universität Wien: tba Dr. Misato Matsuoka, Teikyo University: “Conservative Knowledge Production and the U.S.-Japan Alliance in the Era of Trump” Prof. Dr. Michal Kolmaš, Metropolitan University Prague: “Ontologies of Region Formation: Towards a Typology of Region Building in Asia” Dr. Karin Narita, Sheffield University: “An Outline of a Theory of Civilizationisms: Japanese Conservatism and Civilizational Geopolitics”
13:00-13:30	Concluding Remarks

* The program might undergo minor changes as the conference date nears; please be aware.