Josai University Educational Corporation

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Chancellor Mizuta Delivers Keynote Address at JIU Cosponsored Symposium at Northeastern University

On September 6, a Josai delegation led by Chancellor Noriko Mizuta attended the JIU cosponsored 3rd Annual Comparative Studies International Symposium titled, “Unity, Coexistence, Interaction,” hosted at Northeastern University where Chancellor Mizuta delivered the keynote address.

This year’s symposium, hosted by NEU and cosponsored by JIU’s Japan Studies Center, Soai University, Dalian University of Technology’s Japan Studies Center, and Dalian University of Foreign Language’s Comparative Linguistics and Culture Institute, attempts to draw attention to “the influence of science, technology, and culture and, through the interdisciplinary study of philosophy, literature, history, and engineering, aims to reconsider the merits of the particular brand of modernity that fostered economic growth. In this 3rd annual symposium, Korean universities participated for the first time alongside Chinese and Japanese universities over the course of two days, September 6-7. In light of the reconsideration of the social implications of technological innovation that has taken place in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, this year’s conference was particularly dedicated to cultural exchange in East Asia by fostering mutual understanding amongst scholars from the three representative nations.

The symposium opened with greetings from Chief Consul Kato Eiji of the Japanese Consulate-General of Shenyang, President Liaoning Province of the China-Japan Friendship Alliance, and Northeastern University President Ding Lieyun, and proceeded into Chancellor Mizuta’s keynote address, “Memory and Literature: Memory as Trauma and Memoirs as Post-memory—Oba Minako’s Urashimasö.” Taking Oba Minako’s Urashimasö, a work that takes a survivor of the atomic bombing as its protagonist, as her subject matter, Chancellor Mizuta explores possible strategies for the author as “other” to express or represent the personal trauma of a victim, when the trauma or traces of memory that rise to the surface are not a shared experience and contain no social or collective social component but are something deeply imbedded in the individual—requiring the author not to express this trauma, but rather represent it by leaving it unexpressed. Members of the audience listened in rapt attention to Chancellor Mizuta’s lecture.

Professor Miki Sumito, director of JIU’s Japan Studies Center also gave a keynote speech later that afternoon entitled, “’Morokoshi’ and ‘Ga’: The Waka Poetry of Saigyo—From the Point of View of the Head.”

The following day of the symposium featured presentations from participating scholars, which served as a timely opportunity for scholars from the three countries to interact. Many insightful papers were presented and opinions exchanged over the course of the symposium, making it a highly significant two days. Students enrolled in the Japan-China Joint PhD program were also given the opportunity to participate and presented very compelling papers that demonstrated their growth as scholars.

Chancellor Mizuta delivers her keynote address

Chancellor Mizuta delivers her keynote address

A view of the hall during the keynote speech

A view of the hall during the keynote speech


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