Publikationsdetails:

Koma, Kyo­ko (edi­tor) & Barns­kie­ne, Sigita/ Fuji­ta, Keiki/ Gelu­nas, Arunas/ Hono­ré, Jean-Paul/ Onoh­a­ra, Noriko/ Sprot­te, Maik Hen­drik (co-editors) (2008): The Image of Japan in Euro­pe. Kau­nas: Vytau­tas Magnus University,
ISBN 978‑9955-12–347‑7.

„Thanks to the sub­ven­ti­on of Toshi­ba Inter­na­tio­nal Foun­da­ti­on, we have orga­ni­zed the sym­po­si­um “Image of Japan in Euro­pe” as a space for dis­cus­sion about the con­s­truc­tion of Japan’s image with the rese­ar­chers from dif­fe­rent count­ries. On the 13th of Octo­ber 2007, rese­ar­chers were invi­ted to share their know­ledge at Vytau­tas Magnus Uni­ver­si­ty Japa­ne­se Stu­dies Cent­re, estab­lished in 2000. It is situa­ted in the buil­ding of the for­mer Japa­ne­se con­su­la­te, whe­re the famous Japa­ne­se diplo­mat Chi­une Sugi­ha­ra work­ed during the World War II and saved lives of thou­sands of Jewish peo­p­le by issuing them tran­sit visas to Japan.

The main aim of the sym­po­si­um was to exch­an­ge aca­de­mic know­ledge and expe­ri­ence regar­ding Japan’s repre­sen­ta­ti­on in dif­fe­rent Euro­pean count­ries, to detect and fill in pos­si­ble gaps in Japan’s image crea­ti­on that hin­der suc­cessful inter­cul­tu­ral com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween Japa­ne­se and Euro­pean peo­p­le. We are very satis­fied that the pre­sen­ta­ti­ons during the sym­po­si­um could cover various aspects of Japan’s repre­sen­ta­ti­on in Euro­pean count­ries. As a result, we expect that the out­co­mes of this sym­po­si­um will help to find means to impro­ve the repre­sen­ta­ti­on of Japan and its cul­tu­re not only in Lithua­nia, but also in other Euro­pean count­ries. In order to achie­ve this aim, we have invi­ted rese­ar­chers from dif­fe­rent regi­ons of Europe.

We have published the mate­ri­al of the sym­po­si­um to make it available for the insti­tu­ti­ons con­duc­ting Japan-related rese­arch, as well as Japan­re­la­ted public insti­tu­ti­ons on the inter­na­tio­nal level. Moreo­ver, we aim at crea­ting a net­work of rese­ar­chers who work on the same topic and thus to make a con­tri­bu­ti­on to the inter­cul­tu­ral rese­arch bet­ween Euro­pe and Japan.“

Arvy­das Ali­šaus­kas, Head of VMU Japa­ne­se Stu­dies Centre

zum Inhalt / contents: 

HISTORICAL FORMATION OF JAPAN’S IMAGE IN EUROPE:

• BÜTTNER, Tho­mas: Japa­ne­se War­ti­me Eli­tes Through Ger­man Eyes.
• SPROTTE, Maik Hen­drik: Bet­ween Admi­ra­ti­on and Fear – the Con­s­truc­tion of Japa­ne­se Other­ness in the Ger­man Empire (1871–1918).
• BLOMBERG, Catha­ri­na: Isles of Gold or Poli­ce Sta­te – the Wes­tern View of Japan from Mar­co Polo to the Present.

JAPANESE IMAGE THROUGH BRANDING AND ART:

• ZYKAS, Aure­li­jus: Coun­try Bran­ding Stra­te­gies in Japan: The Strength and Trends of Brand Japan.
• GRENDAITE-VOSYLIENE, Gre­ta: Cor­po­rea­li­ty and Con­tem­po­ra­ry Japa­ne­se Art as Pre­sen­ted in Europe.

JAPANESE IMAGE CREATION AND GENDER:

• IWATAKE Mika­ko: Dif­fe­ren­cing Body, Per­forming Race; Nori­ko Show in Finland.
• MACHIDA Juni­chi: From the Mar­gins of Euro­pe: Com­plex Images of Japan in Mal­ta and the Wave of Globalization.

JAPANESE IMAGE CONSTRUCTION IN MASS MEDIA:

• KOMA Kyo­ko: Image of Japa­ne­se Women in Lithua­ni­an News­pa­pers in 1995, 2000, 2005.
• BARANCOVAITE, Kris­ti­na: Con­s­truc­tion of ‚Japa­ne­se Woman‘s‘ Image in Lithua­ni­an Women’s Magazines.
• HONORÉ, Jean-Paul: The 147 Ota­kus. A Japa­ne­se Sto­ry. Ste­reo­ty­pe, Infor­ma­ti­on, and Fable in the Con­tem­po­ra­ry French Media.
• IKEDA Yoshi­ko: Image of Japa­ne­se Men in Ame­ri­can Films from WW2 to the Present.

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS:

• ITO Yu: Expor­ted Japan: on Japan’s Popu­lar Cul­tu­re Policy.
• ONOHARA Nori­ko: Whom do You Dress up for? Gothic Loli­ta Fashion in Japan.
• HATADA Koi­chi: Regis­tered Tan­gi­ble Cul­tu­ral Pro­per­ties of Japan and their Uti­liza­ti­on for Cul­tu­ral Acti­vi­ties: The Case of Hata­da Fami­ly House.