The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture - Donald Keene Center Events Calendar Spring 2009



Donald Keene Center
of Japanese Culture
507 Kent Hall, MC 3920
Columbia University
New York, New York 10027

Tel: 212-854-5036
Fax: 212-854-4019




Donald Keene Center Events Calendar Spring 2009

  JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL | JUNE

  • Please check this site for calendar updates.
  • All events at Columbia are free and open to the public.
  • Unless otherwise indicated, all of the programs listed below take place at Columbia University, 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.
  • To view a campus map, click here.


All events are free and open to the public. For reservation-only events, RSVP as requested in the event descriptions below.

 

JANUARY 2009

January 28th, 2009 (Wednesday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"Investments in Japanese 'Cultural Rule': The Politics of Assimilation at the 1929 Korea Exposition"
Todd Henry (Colorado State University)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

* This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Korean Studies.
 

 

FEBRUARY 2009

February 5th, 2009 (Thursday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"The Uses of Disguise, Deception, and Deceit in the Plays of Mishima Yukio"
Larry Kominz (Portland State University)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)

Mishima Yukio was Japan's foremost playwright in the two decades following WWII. He wrote in a multiplicity of genres: tragedy, melodrama, romantic comedy/shingeki, kabuki, and modern noh. Kominz focuses on four plays in his anthology of newly translated works, exploring how Mishima's characters use disguise, deception, and deceit as their strategy of choice to achieve every sort of end, overturning unequal power relationships between men and women, the fulfillment and betrayal of romantic love, thievery and the apprehension of criminal masterminds. The presentation will include video clips from plays in the anthology.
 

February 19th, 2009 (Thursday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"Defining Manga Anew by Way of History"
Miriam Wattles (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

It was only from the 1920s that "manga" came regularly to designate comics and cartoons in Japan. The term had been used from the nineteenth century to title artist collections (particularly sketches of the everyday), but its connotations were malleable enough to suit the objectives of those who began to call themselves manga-ka (manga artists). Retranslations of the past were integral to the redefinition of the word; early histories indiscriminately mislabeled all varieties of past Japanese visual humor manga. Okamoto Ippei (1886-1948), the avatar of the newly formed manga world, performed a delicate task in his book Shin manga no kakikata (How To Draw New Manga, 1928), differentiating past from present while prescribing guidelines for future manga. In proposing new meanings for "manga" at this particular historical moment, Ippei was responding to deep underlying tensions between elite and popular culture, individualism and collectivism, and nationalism and cosmopolitanism.
 

MARCH 2009

March 3rd, 2009 (Tuesday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"Fasting in Film and Literature"
A narrative by Masahiko Shimada, Novelist and Professor (Hosei University)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

Shimada's novella, "A Diary of a Mummy," is based on a real-life account. In remote terrain, a hunter discovers the mummified corpse of a middle-aged man. He also discovers a diary, kept with macabre precision by the man as he starved himself to death. Shimada's work has since been made into a film by the acclaimed Swiss director, Peter Liechti. Clips from this film, "The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy," will be shown, along with Shimada's discussion of fasting, death, and its representation in literary and religious traditions (topics range from Moses and Christ to Buddha and Gandhi).
 

March 6th, 2009 (Friday) and March 7th, 2009 (Saturday)
Symposium: "Censorship, Media, and Literary Culture in Japan: From Edo to Postwar"
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)

This two-day international symposium takes both diachronic (historical) and synchronic (cross-media) approaches, seeking to bring recent research on early modern censorship into dialogue with studies of 19th and 20th century Japanese literary and visual culture. The symposium begins with Edo-period print culture and kabuki theatre, examines prewar literature, analyzes newsreels and popular visual materials from World War II through the Occupation period, as well as Occupation-period literature, film, and popular culture, and finally concludes with research on contemporary linguistic regulations in Japan.

See the complete schedule for this event.

* Reservations are required. RSVP by February 27th by email
( ) or by fax (212-854-4019).

 

March 12th, 2009 (Thursday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"My Speech Politeness Toward My Emperor and Toward My Girlfriend"
Fourth Shirato Lecture on Japanese Language
Yoshikazu Kawaguchi (Waseda University)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

Each language has its own system of showing politeness when speaking. Japanese is not an exception, as it has one of the most complicated systems of showing politeness among human languages. The speech style toward the Emperor and the Imperial family is breathtakingly formal, while the speech style toward one's boy/girlfriend is overwhelmingly informal and casual. There lies a deep gap between the two speech styles. However, there are several levels of politeness, more precisely four or even five, between the two extremes. In addition, there is a separate system of politeness even in informal speech, so that even very casual speech toward one's partner is full of devices to show politeness. This presentation reveals the system(s) of polite speech in Japanese, discusses its universality and specificity and shows you how to be polite in Japanese.
 

March 23rd, 2009 (Monday) 3:00-6:00 PM
"The Culture and Objects of the Japanese Tea Ceremony: A Demonstration"
Sen Sōoku (Tea Master and Fifteenth Generation Heir to the Mushakōji-Senke School of Tea and Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange 2008-2009)
Location: 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

 

APRIL 2009

April 9th, 2009 (Thursday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"Pilgrimage for Pleasure: Reading the Ki Miidera Sanke Mandara"
Samuel Morse (Amherst College)
New location: 612 Schermerhorn, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

 

April 15th, 2009 (Wednesday) 6:00-7:30 PM
"Comedy Can Be Deadly – or, The Story of How Mark Twain Killed Hara Hoitsuan"
Indra Levy (Stanford University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. and Amsterdam Avenue)

In the April 6, 1903 edition of the Tokyo Asahi Shinbun, bestselling translator Hara Hoitsuan published "Shiiza sansatsu jiken," his rendition of a sketch by Mark Twain titled "The Killing of Julius Caesar 'Localized'." This minor translation of a minor text by a world-famous American author quickly sparked a knock-down, drag-out fight between Hara and another translator, Yamagata Iso'o. Increasingly incensed by Hara's failure to grasp Twain's subtle sense of humor, Yamagata delivered a final, devastating slam: an annotated retranslation of the same text, published in book form along with the original text itself and a blow-by-blow account of his altercation with Hara, replete with verbatim citations from both sides. By the end of the year, Hara had been committed to the Sugamo Tenkyoin psychiatric hospital, with rumors circulating about an attempted suicide. Hara met his final demise in that same hospital on August 23, 1904.

This sensational tale of one translator's demise has become the stuff of legend in the annals of Meiji literary history. While it is common knowledge that comedy is among the first things to get lost in translation, how is it that the (mis)translation of a piece of comic literature could meet with such dire consequences? This presentation will attempt to shed light on this question by considering the Hara-Twain episode as emblematic of the often tortured relationship between literary translation and the concept of literary humor – more broadly, between the rush to attain new knowledge and the propensity for literary laughter – in the Meiji era.

 

April 22nd, 2009 (Wednesday) 6:00 PM
2009 Annual Soshitsu Sen XV Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture
"The Honor of Translating the Tale of Genji"
Royall Tyler
Location: Miller Theater

The 2008-2009 academic year marks the one-thousandth anniversary of that remarkable classic of Japanese literature, Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji. In order to commemorate the occasion, the Keene Center has invited the renowned Genji scholar and most recent translator of that work into English, Dr. Royall Tyler, to deliver this year's Soshitsu Sen XV Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture.

* Reservations are required. RSVP by April 15th by email ( ) or by fax (212-854-4019).

Download the transcript of Royall Tyler's Sen Lecture here.

See photos of the event here.

 

April 24th, 2009 (Friday) 6:00 PM
Award Ceremony for the 2008-2009 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize & the Donald Keene Center Special Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature
Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize Winner: Dennis Washburn
Donald Keene Center Special Prize Winner: Peter McMillan
Location: C.V. Starr East Asian Library (300 Kent Hall)

Please join us for a special ceremony to honor the recipients of two translation prizes administered by the Donald Keene Center.

The recipient of the 2008-2009 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature is Dr. Dennis Washburn of Dartmouth College, who will be honored for his skilled translation of The Temple of the Wild Geese and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen, by Tsutomu Mizukami.

The recipient of the Donald Keene Center Special Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature is Dr. Peter McMillan of Kyorin University. Dr. McMillan is being honored for his superb translation of the classical poetry anthology One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each.

* Reservations are required. RSVP by April 17th by email ( ) or by fax (212-854-4019).

See photos of the award ceremony here.

 

The Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI),
in conjunction with the Donald Keene Center presents
a Japanese film series

Out of the Ashes: Early Postwar Japanese Movies

Film still from PU-SAN 1953
with permission from Toho Co., Ltd.
All rights reserved.
As Japan emerged from the catastrophic wreckage of WWII, many film directors turned to the bleak realities of the postwar to inspire their movies, and audiences flocked to newly-built theaters, hungry for entertainment that spoke to their privations. Ironically, through these stories of poverty, orphaned children, political turmoil and corruption, filmmakers ushered in Japan's golden age of film. Working with a stylish palette of black humor, irony and compassion, Japanese postwar movies-some of the best of which are featured in this series-unflinchingly stared down a ruined nation and championed the unlikely heroes struggling to resurrect it.

 

 

Children of the Beehive (SHIMIZU Hiroshi, 1948)

Tuesday, February 26
6:00 - 8:00PM
Areldge Cinema, Lerner Hall
Alfred Lerner Hall is located at 2920 Broadway (at W. 115th St). Please go to http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/lerner.html for a concept map.

NO RSVP is necessary for Columbia ID holders. For guests to Columbia, please RSVP to by February 24 so that we may add your name to the front desk check-in list.

 

Battles Without Honor and Humanity (FUKASAKU Kinji, 1973)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 6-8 PM
Davis Auditorium, Schapiro Center, 530 W. 120th St. between Broadway and Columbus.

No RSVP necessary.

 

Doctor's Day Off (SHIBUYA Minoru, 1952)

Monday, March 31, 2008, 6-8 PM
Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway (at W. 115th St).

NO RSVP is necessary for Columbia ID holders. For guests to Columbia, please RSVP to

 

Pu San (ICHIKAWA Kon, 1953)

Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 6-8 PM
Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway (at W. 115th St).

NO RSVP is necessary for Columbia ID holders. For guests to Columbia, please RSVP to

 

Black River (KOBAYASHI Masaki, 1957)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 6-9 PM (to be followed by panel discussion)
Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway (at W. 115th St).

NO RSVP is necessary for Columbia ID holders. For guests to Columbia, please RSVP to .

 


JUNE 2009

Donald Keene Center participates in Weatherhead East Asian Institute's 60th Anniversary Event in Tokyo, Japan

On June 3, 2009, the Donald Keene Center was pleased to take part in a very special event in Tokyo. The day-long symposium, co-sponsored with other Columbia organizations, was entitled "Columbia and Japan: A Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute." The event drew approximately 200 participants from an array of backgrounds, including Columbia University alumni, politicians, students, and businesspersons. It highlighted the quality and depth of East Asian scholarship at Columbia University and its significant influence on the region and beyond. Similar events were also held in Beijing and Seoul.

At the Tokyo event, the Keene Center took charge of the morning program. One of the highlights was the presentation of the Third Annual Donald Keene Prize for the Promotion of Japanese Culture, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions toward expanding awareness of Japanese culture in the world at large. Mr. Seiji Tsutsumi accepted the award on behalf of one of Japan’s most innovative private-sector foundations, the Saison Foundation, which focuses on promoting the performance arts. Prof. Donald Keene sent a special video message to the Saison Foundation, congratulating it on decades of "bridging the gap between Japan and the rest of the world."

The award ceremony was followed by a panel entitled "Japan and Columbia: A Bridge to the Future." Audience members listened attentively as prominent cultural figures such as the novelist and critic Shimada Masahiko and Satô Takanobu, fourth-generation president of the historic publishing house Shinchôsha, debated the complexities of cultural production and intellectual exchange across geographic borders, linguistic boundaries, and difference of genre and medium. Another special guest was Dr. John Carpenter, Associate Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), who flew in from London expressly to attend the panel. Dr. Carpenter was the first recipient of a Shinchô Graduate Fellowship.

Hosting the morning session gave the Donald Keene Center an opportunity to focus on achievements by notable individuals and organizations that have significantly contributed to the promotion of Japanese culture in areas such as literature and the arts. The session also provided a forum to reflect on the past and present of the Columbia-Japan relationship and explore new possibilities for future partnership.
 

 



All events are free and open to the public. For reservation-only events, RSVP as requested in the event descriptions above.

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