An academic journey to Tokyo

Continuing their story from last time, this May, two APSI East Asian Studies MA students, Karen Shi and Summer Wu, embarked on another academic journey. This time, they traveled to Tokyo, Japan, to present their work at the Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities. The nearly week-long conference offered many insightful encounters both academically and personally. Below, they each share a few highlights.

Karen’s panel

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I presented my current project on the bride price practice in rural China. My fellow panelists all had wonderful projects, ranging from the psychoanalysis of Filipino self-made entrepreneurs to the Israeli mother’s anti-war alliance.

But perhaps the most fascinating presentation came from Dr. Pranita Indulkar. She graduated from the University of Delhi with a degree in social work, and her project focuses on the experiences of people in India who have been promised renovation after a temporary resettlement into temporary living areas. Her findings show that, due to corruption, these projects are often delayed significantly, leaving those living in temporary shelters in extremely volatile conditions, particularly children and women. 

She gave two examples. First, because construction often keeps temporary shelters extremely far from people’s current homes, children must travel much longer to reach their old schools, which significantly affects their routines and health, as well as their mothers’ health and daily burdens, especially when mothers are often responsible for drop-off. Second, due to terrible living conditions and an unforeseeable future, husbands are often irritated and frustrated; as a result, they vent their anger on their wives, leading to higher rates of domestic abuse.

Dr. Indulkar primarily used on-site interviews and observations to complete her project. After her presentation, during a brief exchange, we found many similarities in our methodologies, despite the differences in our projects.

Summer’s panel

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I presented my project on Itō Chōji’s writings and his proposal for agricultural migration to Nanyō in 1938. I had presented it before at the SEC-AAS and a workshop hosted by Osaka University, and the questions and feedback I received helped me improve the structure of my presentation this time. The other panelists were three professors from Hong Kong (Hong Kong Metropolitan University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong).

I found Dr. Aoyama’s presentation on Sinographic brushtalk in Asia the most intriguing. He argues for the cultural and diplomatic significance that written Chinese characters carried even when verbal communication was available. 

Dr. Kwong presented his research proposal on the influence of Hong Kong literature on Mainland Chinese literature through his study of a Guangzhou literary magazine, and Dr. Lo talked about her research on Sino-Japanese dialogue in the 1920s, centered on the Japanese novelist Nagakawa Yoichi.

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Karen’s takeaway

The biggest takeaway from my short few days in Tokyo, was running into an antique market, where when we casually went through a book keeper’s collection found many old postcards of my hometown Qingdao. 

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In the photo above, you see the depiction of a very un-Chinese architecture. This is because Qingdao used to be occupied by Japanese military forces, and during the time of their occupation many Japanese infrastructure and architecture were in-place, like the shrine above.

At first, I wasn’t sure whether this depiction was historically accurate or just a mere rendition, so I went to Qingdao’s city archive, and confirmed by many reports the alleged tree planting and cutting proposal. I love collecting postcards, and having a piece of my historic hometown in hand, just feels extra special. 

Summer’s takeaway

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Besides the conference, this trip to Tokyo also allowed me to meet up with my college friends who live in the Tokyo area. Catching up with them and learning about their careers after college meant a lot to me at this point in my life. 

Also, at the antique market, I found some old postcards depicting Taiwan’s agricultural activities during the colonial period. This felt like a good start to my field trip to Taiwan following the conference.