Japan's World War II in Asia: 70 Years On
Venue: The University Club, 123 University Place, Oakland
Dates: September 30 and October 1, 2011
Program
Friday, September 30
8:30: Continental breakfast for speakers
8:45: Opening words: Richard Smethurst; Larry Feick, Director of UCIS; and James Knapp, Dean of Arts and Sciences
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Origins of Japan's War in Asia
Moderator: Bernard Hagerty, University of Pittsburgh
- Rotem Kowner, Haifa University, "Japan's Early Modern Wars (1894-1905): A Point of Reference for Rational Engagement in the Pacific in the Early 1940s."
- Paul Clark, West Texas A & M, "Yamada Yoshio and the Language of Nationalism in Imperial Japan."
- Eiko Maruko Siniawer, Williams College, "War in the Public Imagination: Portrayals of Violence in the 1920s and 1930s."
- Richard Smethurst, University of Pittsburgh, "All You Fascists Bound to Lose: Guns, Not Spirit, Win Wars."
- Discussant: Michael Barnhart, Stony Brook University
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Group photograph of conference speakers, followed by buffet luncheon for speakers
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM: World War II in Asia, Part One
Moderator: Seymour Drescher, University of Pittsburgh
- Janet Borland, Hong Kong University, "Spaces of State: Schools, Education and Society in Interwar and Wartime Japan."
- Haruko Taya Cook, William Paterson University, "Who Owns the Dead? The Mothers of Yasukuni and Manufacturing Memory in the Midst of War."
- Yoko Nojima Kato, Tokyo University, "An Undeclared War: The Sino-Japanese War and the Neutrality Act."
- Samuel Yamashita, Pomona College, "The Varieties of Popular Resistance to Government Policies in WWII Japan."
- Discussant: Janet Hunter, London School of Economics
6:30 PM Reception and dinner for speakers at Faculty Club
Saturday, October 1, 2011
8:30: Continental breakfast for speakers
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM: World War II in Asia, Part Two
Moderator: Peter Karsten, University of Pittsburgh
- Janis Mimura, Stony Brook University, "Geopolitical Perspectives in Wartime Japan: Visions of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere."
- Aaron William Moore, Manchester University (UK), "Finding Resolve: Commitment to Total War in the Diaries of Ordinary People."
- Naoko Shimazu, Birbeck College, London University, "Japan's Wartime Diplomatic Pageantry: The Greater East Asia Conference of 1943."
- Charles Schencking, Hong Kong University, "Japan in the Shadow of the Bomber."
- Discussant: Andrew Gordon, Harvard University
12:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Buffet luncheon for speakers
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM: The Impact of War on Japanese Society
Moderator: Akiko Hashimoto, University of Pittsburgh
- Sandra Wilson, Murdoch University, "The Rhetoric of National Crisis, 1929-1945."
- Gregory Kasza, University of Indiana, "The Revolution in Equality."
- Theodore Cook, William Paterson University, "Taming Memories of the Asian-Pacific War: The National Museum of History and 'Modern Times.'"
- Alexis Dudden, University of Connecticut, "Japan's Island Disputes as Fragments of a Larger Terrain."
- Discussant: Sheldon Garon, Princeton University
Honored Guest: Masanori Nakamura, Hitotsubashi University Emeritus
The conference has been organized by Professor Richard Smethurst of the Pitt history department, with the assistance of the staff of the University’s Asian Studies Center. Funding has been provided by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and Mitsubishi endowments of the University of Pittsburgh. Everyone is welcome, but space is limited. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Dianne Dakis in the Asian Studies Center, dakis@pitt.edu.
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