…. Another reason why I moved to Minami-Soma City was the “compassion”. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the words “kizuna” (bonds), “ganbarou” (let’s struggle together!), or “yorisou” (to get close) were everywhere. Such words were based on pity and goodwill, but those feelings come from the outside. The pain that people who are suffering feel is their own; for the others, like me, it is impossible to feel the same pain. However, I can open myself toward that pain.(Yū Miri, There are Unnecessary Things in our Lives) We can say that after the Great East Japan Earthquake Japanese literature has changed in various ways. After March 21st, 2011 the category “post 3.11” appeared, with many literary works focusing on issues such as the nuclear power plants, the criticism toward the government, the effects of radiation on living creatures, as well as the problems of restoration and reconstruction. A lot of books have analyzed “post 3.11 literature”, and have been translated in many languages. Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that modern Japanese literature has moved toward a new direction after the Great East Japan Earthquake.Moreover, we can see such changes in the connections between literature and various actions and groups. I will introduce three examples. In April 2012, Waseda Bungaku (Waseda Literature) was published as an extra issue with the title “Ruptured Fiction(s) of the Earthquake”: it includes short stories written especially for this charity program, as well as essays and roundtable discussions on the place of writing after a disaster like the Tōhoku earthquake. It has been translated into English, Chinese, Korean and Italian, and the proceeds of the book as well as the translations are being donated to the Red Cross. In October 2012, the “Association of writers for a society without nuclear power” was created. This association emphasized the role of fiction after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and the necessity to talk about the problems associated with nuclear power. Furthermore, in 2015 Nobel-winner Kenzaburō Ōe spoke at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, saying that “we have no choice but to achieve a world without nuclear power. Keeping raising my voice: that may be the last job I can do.” His words had a big impact all over the world. There is one more way we can look at the relation between the Great East Japan Earthquake and the “movement” within Japanese literature. That is, writers have “moved”. Evacuation problems after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster arose not only in Fukushima Pref., but also in other regions. Starting with the Akutagawa Prize novelist Hitomi Kanehara, many writers, worried about the radioactive contamination, decided to move from Tokyo to Kansai area. Yū Miri was one of them. In her interview, Yū Miri said that her decision to move from Kamakura to Osaka on March 16, 2011 was based on her feelings as a mother: “I wanted my son to evacuate as far as possible for his own safety”. On the other hand, as a writer she felt the need to go immediately to Fukushima. In April, 2011 she returned to Kamakura, and began to visit Fukushima regularly in order to listen to the stories of people living there. She finally moved to Soma-City in Fukushima Pref. in April, 2015. What are the reasons behind her decision? “We cannot live there, although we want to.” “We have to live there, although we do not want to”. The nuclear disaster, and the problem of radioactive contamination are closely linked to the issue of “living”. Yū Miri has stressed that every person has a different bond with his/her birthplace: in order to understand that pain, we have to listen to each individual story. However, as she was listening to those painful stories while living in another place, Yū Miri felt that something was wrong: she realized that real empathy toward the pain suffered by the local people might be attained only by stepping on the same soil, breathing the same air with them. In her words, “compassion” (that is, “to suffer together”), was necessary. What would be the result of this “compassion”? A lot of “post 3.11” literary works have focused on a subject unable to write, powerless. On the other hand, Yū Miri has tried to narrate Fukushima from a different perspective. Until December, 2016 she has gathered the voices of nearly 450 people through a special FM radio program, “Two persons, one person”, held by Minami-Soma (southern part of Soma-City) special broadcasting station. About those stories she has written as follows: “Those are voices that I have heard from the outside, but they entered my body, and after a few days they suddenly changed to my own voice. His or her pain rises from my body, and the images of what he or she has lived spread through my mind as if they were my own memories.” Although Yū Miri has talked about the life in Soma-City in her essays and interviews, she has not written any fictional work about the people in Fukushima Pref. However, she has chosen to “suffer together” with those people, removing feelings based on pity and goodwill, which come from the outside. We can expect that such a writer would keep writing about the pain of people affected by Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as about their hopes and smiles, and spread those stories around the world.  SGRA Kawaraban 551 in Japanese (Original)  (PhD candidate in Literature, Ochanomizu University) Translated by Kazuo KawamuraEnglish checked by Mac/Max Maquito

We had the forum “The Mongol Invasions of Japan and the Globalization of the Mongol Empire in the 13th Century” in the city of Kita-Kyushu in the early part of August 2017, sponsored by the Atsumi International Foundation. It was the second forum of the series “Possibilities of Conversations among National Historians”. Historians from Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia got together and discussed about the history of the Mongol Empire, especially about its impact on East Asia.  As, I, a researcher of histories, participated in the planning of this project, I had a lot of impressions which cover various things. Taking this opportunity of writing this essay, I like to briefly organize my impressions. First of all, the forum, this time, was not merely an international conference based on a key topic “The Mongol Invasions of Japan”. I would like to emphasize again the following points. We like to describe a history of mankind, first, from a viewpoint different from the historical description of the nation state. Next, we would like to correct mistaken perceptions of histories, which dominate through the influence of national history view, so as to improve relations among countries or people, which have been hindered by the problem of politicized historical recognitions which come from political confusion of means and objects.  Actually, there have been various recent conversations of histories among those three or two countries, Japan, China and Korea, as several participants of the forum referred.Some conversations were well known being led by government. Or some show high specialties in methods of researches or themes or the way of usage of historical records.Each direction or goal is not always the same. As Prof. Hiroshi Mitani pointed out, if we think of relationship, after the conversations, becoming friendly or unfriendly, we have to say that conversation based on private interaction is easier to proceed. On the other hand, private-based conversations are easy to result in deepening discussion on individual theme or technical knowledge. However, as those researchers have their own “habits” or proceed by force of habit, they are completely absorbed in discussing their interesting theme. As a result, they tend to neglect important points such as how to promote common recognition of histories from their technical discussion without thinking of social meanings of the theme. There are quite a few “conversations” which ended halfway because the participants could not continue their researches due to financial difficulties, though they got subsidy for their researches. Concerning such problems, there is a key concept: “Common Space for Wisdom” or “Platform of Wisdom”, which Prof. Liu Jie proposed as an object of the forum. The meaning of the word “Wisdom” is very broad and we can say it contains the meaning of “Knowledge” also. Through technical researches, it creates reliable historical “Knowledge” and also creates “Wisdom” which benefits to overcome adverse effects of the national historical perspective. .I dare to add this point here because we tend to forget when we proceed with our technical discussion.    I like to add my impression based on the point in dispute. One is an evaluation of the so-called “Impact of Mongolia”. Prof. Yasuhoro Yokkaichi reported an invasion to East Asia by Mongolia in perspective.  A Mongolian element, as part of the impact of the advance of Mongolia, spread to whole of East Asia including China. But, as Mongolia has ruled China and extended their influence throughout China, we can say that some areas have been affected also by Chinese culture. I was very interested in the three-dimensional report about “Mongol Impact”. In the discussion of the history of the Qing Dynasty (1616–1912), we could get a historical image that a ruler of the Dynasty had various faces besides being an emperor of China. He has built various ways of dominance depending on areas or races under his rule. Comparing the history of Qing Dynasty with that of Mongol Empire, historical documents written in Mongolian language were very limited. Especially, the history of East Asia was written mainly by classical Chinese and most of the existing historical documents are written by classical Chinese.Due to this, an image of the Yuan Dynasty, one of the Chinese dynasties, is easy to establish. But, on the contrary, we cannot distinguish an identity or independence of Mongol or plurality of Mongolian Dynasty. Recently, an image of a rich Mongol Empire became distinct by an effort of Prof. Masaaki Sugiyama.  Listening to the reports of this forum, a historical image of Mongol Empire became clearer in my mind and I was very impressed. Having related to the above, there is a problem to be solved. As Prof. Liu Jie pointed out when he summarized the whole discussion, there are double meanings in China under rule of Mongolia and China, a part of Mongol Empire. How to handle this problem when we discuss as “Common Knowledge” or “Common Wisdom”?  There are many opinions. We can take up “Yuan Dynasty” as a part of Chinese history as in the past. But, as  Prof. Ge Zhaogung pointed out, there is a way of multiple layered description, in the context of the histories of East Asia or of Eurasia.  Now, the so-called “Nation-state” has a lot of problems, which have no sign of being solved soon. But, it is not realistic to neglect their historical views about such “Nation-states”. Or rather, through such multi-layered descriptions about histories, if we can integrate various historical images, which we could not see until now, into text books, it would be useful to build “Common Knowledge” and “Common Wisdom” in the long run. I was also interested in how researchers of Mongolian histories made conversations with “the past” despite of the situations that the first historical sources were scarce. Through various reports, this time, I could understand well that reporters have strived for their creative and original studies by criticizing compiled historical books, using an approach that is not based on written datand by inference based on “common sense” in human societies and their historical background. Through the conversations of historians who handle different eras and areas, they stimulated each other in their methodology. But, I thought such conversations, in another sense, make a connection with an approach to “Common Wisdom”. SGRA Kawaraban 550 in Japanese (Original)  ( Associate professor, Graduate School of Economics, Osaka City University )  English： Translated by Kazuo Kawamura Checked by Max Maquito

 Tezuka Osamu, famous cartoonist every Japanese knows, said “Novel is made by letters from pictures. Illustration is made by pictures. Manga is made by pictures from letters. Comment is made by letters.”  It is said that he regarded “Manga” as “the third culture” which exists just between pictorial culture and literal culture. In France, on the other hand, where they have peculiar aesthetic sense and sharp discerning sense for originality of artworks, Manga is regarded as “The 9th Art”.And, Manga became the subject of criticism or research recently.  It is also brought to public attention that the Louvre Museum, the world greatest sanctuary of the art, has opened its door at last in the 21st century to Manga which has both pictorial beauty of visual arts and stylish beauty of linguistic expressions. In the past, Manga has been denigrated as vulgar reading, uncultivated amusement or just sub-culture in“business-first culture”.  However, by the effort of creative Manga writers who pursued originalities and innovativeness, Manga is now owned commonly by the people all over the world as a treasure house of art which represents deep culture or cultural products which depict world view or philosophical principles.Due to this, a boom wherein Manga collections should be enhanced in libraries or museums has broken out in the world, especially in Japan and France. Animation or cinematization of Manga has progressed dramatically by the remarkable evolution of digital image technology.  And it became the latest culture which dominated the world immediately. Globalized Manga and animation culture have built a wonderland like fascinating cosmos which seems to have reached the summit of visual art. It captivated the young in the world.  Readers or viewers of Manga are invited to the unusual daily-life and are enchanted.  Manga and animation are now media to understand themselves or understand others and the world. The Manga-animation culture, which has become a sub-culture of comic magazines or books through paper medium, or animations, goods relating to popular characters and cosplay (dressing up the costume of a character), has now made birth “content industries” of global scale. It caused changes to the main culture of a country, affecting their economic development. We can say that it is the source of our soft-power which changed our life-style dynamically affecting the behavior of people today.  In 2001, the “Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics” was established and it became possible to academically and internationally approach the profound world of Manga from an academic viewpoint.  In 2006, a faculty of Manga was established for the first time in a university where they educate and study Manga there In the same year 2006, the Kyoto International Manga Museum was also established as the world-first “new style institution which has both the functions of a museum and a library.　It attracts attention of the world as a sacred place of contents-tourism for enthusiastic Manga-fans who shall visit there once in their life time. In Taiwan also, a lot of cultural courses in universities which are being opened one after another so that they can deepen their understanding of culture and society of foreign countries through Manga.  Soochow University enhanced their collection of books on comics and set up the “Area for Reading Manga” in their library in 2014. They conducted academic symposia, also searching for possibilities of Manga-Animation culture; and cooperated with a faculty of Japanese language. Ahead of other universities, Soochow University is at the front of Manga-Animation culture which has already spread and has become established globally, and is trying to create its new possibilities looking steadily at the future of their academic researches. In May, 2018, we will have “The 8th Japan-Taiwan Asia Future Forum” in Taipei to be co-sponsored by Atsumi International Foundation and Soochow University.  We will discuss there about the “New Possibility of Global Dynamism of Manga-Animation Research” aiming at promoting academic “Media-Contents Studies”.  We paid attention to an appeal of “Manga-Animation Culture” which has spread on a world-wide level, based on an essay on “screen image culture” which can be owned jointly or felt sympathy as communication tools.In other words, we would like to set up a creative stage for considering processes of progress of “Contents Industry” which can be created together by global citizens of the next generation, as well as a stage for considering so-called “theory of emergence” of  Manga-animation, which we can emotionally support and own jointly as our communication tool for disseminating our culture. In our sessions, we would like to discuss on following themes: collection, preservation and utilization of Manga; translation of Manga-Animation and its communication among different cultures; theory and practice of formation of Manga literacy; Manga-animation and a theory of tales; visual arts theory; theory of pictures; mixing of Manga-animation and media and their multi-use; cultural economy of Manga-animation, Manga-animation culture and sociology etc. In this forum, we aim at finding new possibilities by researchers and participants who decipher “Dynamism of Manga-Animation Research”, which has become global now, from their own standpoints and academic approach.  We hope we can contribute to promoting our mutual understanding and exchange of ideas between Japan-Taiwan and among the East Asian countries.  ＊”Japan-Taiwan Asia Future Forum” is an international conference sponsored by Atsumi International Foundation Sekiguchi Global Research Association (SGRA), Japanese Interest Incorporated Foundation, and operated by an executive committee run by ex-scholarship students, living in Taiwan (members of Taiwan Raccoon-kai).This Forum is in line with the objective of SGRA of promoting academic exchange between Japan and Taiwan, deepening of Japan study and studying a future of Asia. At the Forum, we take up many subjects like language, culture, literature, education, law, history, society and regional exchange, etc. as Taiwan is very liberal and respects freedom of speech, thought and creed.  At the 8th Forum in 2018, we will have an international symposium on Manga-Animation culture co-sponsored by Japanese language faculty and Library of Soochow University. SGRA Kawaraban 544 in Japanese (Original) (Associate Professor, Soochow University)  Translated by Kazuo KawamuraEnglish checked by MacMaquito

Mr. Moon Jae-in was elected the 19thKorean president on May 9, 2017. The election, this time, was held for the presidency, which has been vacant after the impeachment of his predecessor, Park Geun-hye. The former president Park should have been the “symbol of obedience to the constitution and laws” to the Korean people. But, she was impeached at the Constitutional Court because she violated seriously the constitution and the law. She is imprisoned now in the detention house. As everybody knows, she is a daughter of ex-President Park Chung-hee, who   was president from 1963 to 1979. He seized power by a military coup and adopted a strong policy toward the economic development of Korea. The evaluation on his presidency, however, is divided into two.  One is that he was “a great leader” who built the foundation of the present Korean economy having guided Korea to economic miracle from the poor Korea, which had been suffering from the Korean War following after the colonial rule.  It may be an extreme example that there are people who deify and worship him celebrating his birthday as a festival.  On the other hand, he is considered a dictator who kept his post for a long time and having removed his opponents cruelly.  People should review that era and move on, because the present issues in Korean politics, economy and society, to a certain degree, come from the faults of the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee. It is said that a view for Park Chung-hee is a standard for distinguishing between reformists and conservatives.  Park Geun-hye, despite her little success as a politician, won her presidency by the overwhelming support of the conservatives due largely to her father’s prestige. In addition to this, in the slowdown of the Korean economy these several years, people felt a longing for the time of Park Chung-hee when the Korean economy made a great quantitative progress. Such feelings might have affected Park Geun-hye, who claimed the rebuilding of Korean economy during her presidency. On the contrary, during the time of Park Geun-hye, people had a difficult time.Especially, the so-called “Sampo Generation” (three generations of giving-up courtship, marriage and children) became miserable in their life. University students could not indulge in courtship as they had to study for finding jobs. And, even after getting jobs, they could not get married, which cost much and their salaries are not enough for this purpose.  Even if they get married, the couple have to work together for a living (double harness) and have to give up having children because child rearing and education cost much. The words “Sampo generation” appeared around the year 2011, the time of President Lee Myung-bak. The situation of the young, which this new words represent, was getting worse. The minimum wage by the hour in 2017 is Won 6,470 (about Yen 650).  The average lunch price is about Won 6,500. This means that the young worker barely ekes out lunch by working for one hour at convenience stores, etc.. Not only the young but also the most people were disappointed with the government of Park Geun-hye, which showed incapability to guard the lives of the Korean people, as in the case of the “Sinking of MV Sewol” or the outbreak of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in addition to the seriousness of difficulties of living. And, the political scandal of “the Choi Soon-sil–Gate” proved to be the trigger of the impeachment of the president. The Korean people who endured their hardships (not only the people who have never supported Park Geun-hye before, but also those who regret having supported Park) voted this time for Moon Jae-in, who appealed for “burying the past abuse”. Moon’s victory this time signifies a lot.  It is not a simple regime change.It is more a voice of reform against dictatorial presidency which became clear by the impeachment of the former president Park Geun-hye; against the prosecution who pander to the authority; and against collusion between the government and the big businesses. It is also a voice for easing the present economic inequality and consideration for the weak.  SGRA Kawaraban 535 in Japanese (original) Kim Yullee (2015 Raccoon) /Ewha Womans University (Korea), Finished Ph. D program without a Ph. D degree, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo in 2015  Translated by Kazuo KawamuraEnglish checked by Mac Maquito

The Nobel Prize-winning Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata began his novel Snow Country with the the famous sentence “The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country.” The word “Snow Country“ (yukiguni) is located in Niigata Prefecture, facing the Sea of Japan. Kawabata wrote poetically about a part of Japan that is covered by snow every winter.  But for me, rather than being a “Snow Country,” Japan is a “Flower Country.” Japanese people often try to enlighten me by saying that “there are four seasons in Japan.” Needless to say, there are four seasons in countries everywhere in the northern hemisphere like Germany and the United States. That being said, the four seasons in Japan are special and somewhat strange. Flowers bloom everywhere in the world, of course. But in flower-country Japan flowers play a surprisingly important role. Flowers bloom in every season, like plum trees in winter, cherry blossoms in spring, balloon flowers in autumn and chrysanthemums in winter. People can salvage the beauty of nature all year round.  In Japan, the change of seasons or differences in temperature are not as clear-cut compared to Germany, where I was born, and the United States, where I studied. In Canada, where I have spent my high school days, I cherished the change of seasons. In Canada, you could feel the difference between seasons very clearly.  When winter ends and the snow melts, people leave their houses and rub their eyes like bears coming out of hibernation. It is the time they shout with joy “how nice and warm!” But Japan triggers a similar feeling although the difference in seasons is less distinct. Every Vernal Equinox Day during the four years that I have lived in Japan, I was filled with this incredible and irrepressible joy. I wondered to myself “why?”. I found the answer in the beginning of this year: It is “flowers.” I found my joyfulness in flowers, not in temperature or in sunshine. This revelation was my most important discovering this year. I realized that seeing the flowers blossom around myself made me incredibly happy. In the flower country, Japan, flowers start blossoming shortly after it becomes warm. Flower buds are waiting on withered branches to blossom in spring and they start greeting us during the first days of warm sunshine. In Japan, flowers are cerebrated more than fresh leaves which are synonym for the arrival of the warm season in other countries. The color of the Japanese spring is pink, not green. Plum flowers blossom right in between winter and spring; their flowers are mysterious and have a unique beauty. Plum flowers blossom on knotty branches, which seem to be hundreds of years old.  When thinking of plum flowers, I remember the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, which I visited while studying in Japan for the first time. More than the flowers itself, however, I recall their fragrance. When I visited the shrine in February 2007, I was unexpectedly engulfed by the sweet and gentle scent of the plum blossoms, giving me the feeling that I was reborn in paradise. The wind carried the fragrance of the plum blossoms to my nose.I recalled also a Waka (Japanese poetry – 31 syllable (letter) Japanese poem) by the poet Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241). Among his poems, we find a verse saying “umeno-hana kozuewo – naete, hukukazeni, sorasae-niou, haruno- akebono”. (meaning: the plum blossoms, in the wind which is blowing to wither treetops, is fragrant in the air of daybreak on a spring morning)At this instant, Japan changed, in my feeling, to plum-blossom-country. When I was waiting for the train sometime this February, the wind once again carried the plum blossom fragrance to my nose. Although I could not spot a plum tree nearby, the wind had brought me a present.       Generally speaking, people think spring in Japan arrives together with the cherry blossoms. But, for me plum blossoms, which connect spring with winter embody spring. Cherry blossoms which have come to represent Japan are different from plum blossoms. Plum blossoms herald spring, but cherry blossoms, which fall like a snowstorm, reiterate the winter of Kawabata’s snow country and translate it into spring.  It is strange, for me, that Japanese people change their feeling of seasons by snowfall of cherry blossom from winter to spring. Another strange thing in Japan is the timing of the seasons. Spring arrives every year around the same time and the forecast of the cherry blossoms is usually very accurate. Plum blossoms, on the other hand, give us their beauty silently and without much commotion. I believe that plum blossoms represent Japan. However, as cherry blossom supersede everything in Japan, the value of each seasons may be overshadowed.  In Japan, the word “flower” (hana) is synonymous with “cherry blossoms” since the Heian period (794–1185). But, I think the most appealing aspect of Japan, “the flower country,” is the abundance of flowers that blossom in each and every season. Due to global warming, the climate of Japan is also changing, But what will not change are the flowers in the minds of the Japanese. SGRA Kawaraban 526 in Japanese (Original) Frank Feltens / Anne van Biema Fellow in Japanese Art, Freer|Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.) Translated by Kazuo Kawamura