Join Pittsburgh Taiko for their 2014 Spring Concert, "Haru Matsuri." Whether you’ve seen them before or are brand new to wadaiko, please come and watch them give their all!

Admission is free for all students, and there is a suggested donation for non-students of $5. This goes towards future concerts, repairing and replacing gear, and supporting the goal of spreading wadaiko across Pittsburgh.

Song’s research compares the difference between policy expectation and actual implementation in earthquake preparation and education in primary and secondary schools of China, specifically through an analysis of Earthquake Preparation Demonstrative Schools’ (EPDS) development.

Join the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures for their Spring Fling! There will be food, games, and entertainment!

Undergraduates who are interested in traveling to Japan this summer should attend this information session!

The KAKEHASHI Project aims to heighten potential interest in Japan and increase the number of overseas visitors to the country, as well as enhance international understanding of the “Japan brand,” or the nation’s strengths and attractiveness, such as Japanese-style values and “Cool Japan.” The project is also anticipated to revitalize and boost the Japanese economy.

Join Ms. Melissa Caro to learn about careers in the field of translation. Ms. Caro works as a Japanese-English translator and consultant in business and manufacturing.

Join Mr. Joel Zara for a conversation about working in the Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C. Students interested in pursuing international or diplomatic careers won't want to miss this!

Suicide has become a major public health concern in Japan over the past decade due to extremely elevated suicide rates since 1998. Discourse in Japan on suicide prevention has nevertheless focused almost exclusively on the state of the Japanese economy and levels of mental illness, neglecting the subjective experience of suicidal individuals and the roles that meaning and positive mental health play in suicide and its prevention.

The purpose of this study is to examine the utility of Azuma Hiroki's Database Consumption Model in explaining the historical production and consumption of secondary goods by examining the history and products of Japanese toy company Kaiyodo. Founded in 1964 as a small Osaka hobby shop by Miyawaki Osamu Kaiyodo is a model success story of Japan's post-industrial intellectual property based economy. It also provides a uniquely situated test case for examining both Azuma's model of historical development and the production and consumption of secondary goods.

Conventional wisdom holds that leadership transitions are periods of heightened uncertainty as foreign actors seek to probe the resolve of new and untested leaders. However, a careful examination of leadership transitions in the Asia-Pacific reveals a striking pattern of stability. What explains the absence of diplomatic and military conflict following the election or installation of new leaders? We argue that campaign rhetoric, whether hawkish or dovish, is a more credible signal of policy in the aftermath of leadership turnover than typically acknowledged.

The Asian Studies Discussion Group is an inter-disciplinary and international graduate student group that meets bi-monthly to discuss selected theoretical readings on "Asia" as method, field-site, and imagined region. They also discuss current scholarship in Asia-focused journals, regional politics, and the relevance of these to their own research.

Students interested are welcome to join discussions. The next meeting is an informal "mini-conference" on 12pm-1.30pm, 25 March (Tuesday), on the theme "Asian Intersections".