ATTENTION:

07 March 2002
Contact: Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations
(510) 643-5651
ckm@pa.urel.berkeley.edu

WHAT:
"Japan: Crossing the Boundaries Within," a two-day colloquium at the University of California, Berkeley, about the changing sociocultural boundaries between Japanese and non-Japanese inhabitants of Japan, where both political conservatism and liberalism are thriving. Topics will include nationalism, race, gender, new immigrants, foreign athletes, tourism, emigration by Japanese women, and the influx of brides from other Asian countries.

Also to be addressed are Japanese business ideology, Japanese identity in an age of decentralization, and the origins and history of the Japanese people and culture.

WHEN:
Friday and Saturday, March 15-16. The conference, open to the public, begins at 4 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, the program begins at 9:30 a.m. and continues until 6:15 p.m.

WHERE:
The Gifford Room, 221 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley.

WHO:
Most of the participants at the conference were trained at, or are associated with, UC Berkeley. All have conducted research on contemporary topics related to sociocultural boundaries as seen and felt by Japanese people and their neighbors. Participants will include:

o Tomoko Hamada, professor, William & Mary College
o Jeffrey Hester, professor, Kansai Gaidai, Osaka
o Yasuko Takezawa, professor, Kyoto University
o John Nelson professor, University of San Francisco.
o Shinji Yamashita, professor, University of Tokyo
o Dr. Gaku Tsuda, UC San Diego
o George DeVos, professor, UC Berkeley

BACKGROUND:
The conference, part of the centennial celebration of UC Berkeley's anthropology department, is being sponsored by UC Berkeley's Center of Japanese Studies, Department of Anthropology, and Institute of East Asian Studies.

For a detailed program schedule, visit http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/anth/japanconference.html.