“Listening to and Writing with Sound: Rethinking Japanese Studies through Sonic Practices” – Roundtable session at the ASCJ annual conference (4-5 July 2026, Sophia University, Tokyo)
How can listening to and writing with sound deepen our understanding of Japan and Japanese Studies? This roundtable brings together contributors to Listening to Japan (Haukamp & Smith, Routledge), which explores how sound mediates culture, identity, and everyday life across historical and contemporary contexts. Rather than treating sound as peripheral, the participants position it as central to Japan’s histories and practices, asking how sonic approaches can reveal dynamics “invisible” within dominant paradigms of text and image in area studies. Taking listening as both sensory and analytical, the discussion asks whether sound—understood as a form of writing—might act as a shared language that redefines cultural and political boundaries and offers new ways of researching and representing Japan. With contributions by Martyn Smith, Irina Holca, Jeremy Corral and Masayuki Iwase, the roundtable participants will consider how listening to and writing with sound can expand Japanese Studies, attentive to the auditory dimensions of cultural life and to the many ways people make sense of the world through sound.’
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“Sonic Efficacy: Mantras, Music, and Placemaking in Global Southern Asia”, National University of Singapore (3-4 September 2026)
DEADLINE: 1 MARCH 2026
This call for papers invites perspectives derived from immersive ethnography, sound studies, sensory anthropology, embodied research practice and historical methods to study efficacious sounds in relation to music, body, place and ritual in global southern Asia.
Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract (maximum 250 words), and a brief personal biography (about 150 words) for submission by 1 March 2026. Please submit your proposal using the form available on the website. For further inquiries, please contact valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg.
The Greatness of Detail: The Work of Yoshihiro Kurata, Researcher of Modern Performing Arts History (Kyoto, 15 February 2026)
This symposium commemorating the retirement of director Shuhei Hosokawa will be held at the Research Institute for Japanese Traditional Music at Kyoto City University of Arts.
Asian Sound Cultures 3: Art meets Science, Performance meets Technology
Date: 1–3 September 2026
Location: Tohoku University, Center for Integrated Japanese Studies (CIJS), Sendai, Japan & Online
Submission deadline for abstracts: 13 February 2026
Submission guidelines
Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words (for individual papers) or 500 words (for panels, workshops, or performances), along with your name, affiliation (if applicable), and contact information, using this Google Form by 13 February 2026. Sessions will be 90 minutes. Papers should be no longer than 20 minutes; panels should not have more than 5 participants (incl. chair).
Sonic Japan Research Association (SJRA) Official Launch Event & Book Launch: The Advent of Sound in Japanese Cinema: A Handbook
Date: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Time: 19:30 JST / 11:30 CET / 10:30 GMT / 05:30 EST
Format: Online roundtable discussion via Zoom
Registration: https://uva-live.zoom.us/meeting/register/RVe7caehR1uEGfQjhxejfw
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International Japanese Studies workshop
Date: 23 May 2025
Location: University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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And Suddenly There Was City Pop…. The Global Dimensions of the Retrograde Formation of A Japanese Popular Music Genre, international workshop
Date: 19-29 March 2025
Location: University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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