Event Calendar
NEWS
ICC Mission
With a motto of "connecting Sophia to the world," the Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC) promotes interdisciplinary studies in social sciences and humanities from a comparative perspective, building the global networks of Sophia's international researchers, and supporting collaboration with world-class researchers outside Japan. The specializations of ICC members include business, economics, history, literature, art history and area studies, focusing on Asia. All research activities and public events are conducted in English. The central activity of the ICC is funding and organizing research projects initiated by ICC members.
Director: Tina Burrett
Ph.D., Professor
Faculty of Liberal Arts,
Sophia University
Vice Director: Takehiro Watanabe (渡邉 剛弘)
Ph.D., Associate Professor
Faculty of Liberal Arts,
Sophia University
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
What Do the Riots in UK Portend?
Dr. Venkat Iyer, BSc (Hons), LLB, LLM, PhD, FHEA, Barrister
October 29 2024, 17:30-19:00
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only
No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
The German-Japanese Military Alliance in World War II
Bernd Martin, Professor Emeritus of Freiburg University
October 31 2024, 18:00-19:30
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only
No registration required
![Welker-Transfiguring Women [cover].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2edff9_cf600a86979c4a9ea6d6008f52cb145b~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_0,y_240,w_879,h_848/fill/w_53,h_51,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Welker-Transfiguring%20Women%20%5Bcover%5D.png)
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
“Feminists, Lesbians,Boys Love Artists and Fans”:
Rethinking “Women” in 1970s–1980s Japan
James Welker, Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies at Kanagawa University
October 25 2024, 18:00-19:30
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only
No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture presents a documentary film showing of
“A Century of Jazz in Shanghai”
Andrew Field, Associate Professor of Chinese History at Duke Kunshan University in China
October 2 2024, 17:15-20:00
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only
No registration required
ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Unheard Stories of Migrant Women
Screening & discussion with Megha Wadhwa
Megha Wadhwa, Anthropologist, Filmmaker, and Writer based at the Free University of Berlin’s Japanese Studies Department
22 October (Tue) 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
On Zoom
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/YRfdXeybLt
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture based Abe/SSRC project “Consent” in Sexual Violence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Japan and the US presents
Film Screening of “Company Retreat” (w/English subtitles)
with discussion with the director, the actress, and Dr. Machiko Osawa (Nihon Women’s university)
Date: 18th October 2024, 17:00-21:00
Room 1701, Building 2, Sophia U. (Venue subject to change)
No registration required/Free of charge
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Li Huai, Faculty of the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego
October 4, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Women in Chinese Silent Cinema
Paul G. Pickowicz, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego
October 3, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Announcement from ICC
Dive in Tokyo: Nishi-Ogikubo episode with James Farrer
For ten years Sophia Professor of Sociology James Farrer has been studying Tokyo neighborhood foodways in a project supported by the Institute of Comparative Culture and Sophia University.
This month 2024 Prof. Farrer appears on NHK World's "Dive in Tokyo" to guide viewers through the neighborhood where he has been conducting fieldwork. The episode shows how an area that was only farmland a century ago has become a vibrant urban community supporting the types of small food & beverage businesses Farrer studies.
Watch the episode HERE!
Announcement from ICC
Call for Papers: Migrant Foodways in Japan
From James Farrer (Professor, Sophia University Graduate School of Global Studies)
We invite you to submit a proposal for the upcoming workshop, sponsored by the Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture, on the topic of "Migrant Foodways in Japan." If you can not submit a proposal, please share it with people who might be interested and suitable for submission!
Abstract submissions are due October 15, 2024. Please see the Call for Papers for more details.
The workshop will take place at Sophia University on January 24, 2025, and selected participants will also have the opportunity to contribute to a special issue in an international, peer-reviewed journal focused on transdisciplinary food studies.
The faculty organizer is Professor James Farrer, Professor of Sociology and Global Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Global Studies at Sophia University. For submissions and questions, please get in touch with Alejandra Dorado, Research Assistant at the Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture, at madorado@eagle.sophia.ac.jp
ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Screening & discussion with Zakaria Mohamed Ali
Zakaria Mohamed Ali, Somali Journalist, Video-Maker, and Freelance Documentary Filmmaker
17 September (Tue) 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
On Zoom
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/YRfdXeybLt
The ICC office will be closed during the following holidays.
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ICC Summer Holiday: August 1 - 2, October 3
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Sophia University Summer Holiday: August 12 - 19
The members of the ICC would like to thank for all the invaluable support we received from you during the semester.
We hope you will keep supporting us in the Autumn semester which is shaping up to become another eventful one.
Thank you.
ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Screening & discussion with Laura Liverani
Laura Liverani, Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker
13 August (Tue), 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
On Zoom
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/YRfdXeybLt
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
‘Farmer-filmmakers, fieldwork, and growth’
Becca Voelcker, Goldsmiths, University of London
July 29, 2024, 18:30 - 20:00
Room L-821, 8F, Library, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Workshop Series “Insider Perspectives: Scholars Investigating their Own Cultural Milieu in Japan” organized by Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Collaborative Research Unit Refugees and Migrants in Tokyo: An Oral Narrative Approach
A Symposium about Syrians in Japan
Dania Alakkad, Hiroshima University
Yahya Aoyagi (Almasri), University of Hyogo
Suzan Husseini, Waseda University
Mohammed Al-Masri, Waseda University
Date: July 21st, 2024, 14:00-16:30
Place: Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus, Bldg. 10, room 301
In person only
Please register from HERE: https://forms.office.com/r/NrRaB5qXX
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
The Intersections of the Sensory, Multimodal and Ba:
Steven C. Fedorowicz, Asian Studies Program, Kansai Gaidai University
July 17, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 402, 4F, Building 2, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
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ICC co-hosts an exhibition
In celebration of World Refugee Day "Beyond Borders: Voices of Dreams & Hopes in Japan"
A photo exhibition co-hosted by Sophia Refugee Support Group and the institute of Comparative Culture, supported by the Catholic Jesuit Center
At Building 2 Entrance, Sophia University
July 1st – July 30th
ICC co-hosts a workshop
Mapping ecological distribution conflicts, framing environmental justice movements
KASA Sustainability Environmental Change Workshop Series (Two-day workshop)
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Reading Workshop: July 18 (Thu) @ RM. 10-428, 12:00 PM
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Speaker Workshop: July 19 (Fri) @RM. 10-428, 5:00 PM has changed to an online format. Detailed announcement can be read here.
https://www.icc-sophia.com/post/mapping-ecological-distribution-conflicts-framing-environmental-justice-movements -
Time: Jul 19, 2024 05:00 PM Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
Join Zoom Meeting
https://sophia-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/91345447534
Meeting ID: 913 4544 7534
Passcode: KASA2024
Naw Thiri May Aye, Assistant Professor at the Sustainable Society Design Center within the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo
Please register here
ICC co-hosts a lecture
Doing Gender and Doing the Work
Tricia Okada, Associate Professor at the Center for English as a Lingua Franca, Tamagawa University in Tokyo
July 18, 2024, 18:30 - 20:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
TRANSGRESSION, PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
Igor Prusa, Ph.D. et Ph.D. (Ambis University Prague)
July 4, 2024, 17:30 - 19:00
Room 6-407, 4F, Building 6, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Fuses and Structure Leading to “Gaza”:
An introduction to the Question of Palestine
Hani Abdelhadi, Senior Assistant Professor at Meiji University. Ph.D. in Media and Governance (Keio University, 2021)
June 28, 2024, 17:00 - 18:30
Room L-821, 8F, Library, Sophia University
In Person Only
Register from HERE:
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Documenting Migrant Foodways in the Kanto Region
Hiro Kay, NHK Director and Food Media Producer
June 24, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Screening & discussion with Martha-Cecilia Dietrich
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich, Social Anthropologist and Filmmaker
16 July 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
On Zoom
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/YRfdXeybLt
This event has been postponed. See this blog post for details.
このイベントは延期されました。詳しくはブログポストを御覧ください。
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture and Institute of Global Concern presents
Film showing and Discussion: Tokyo Kurds
Date: June 7, 2024
Doors Open: 17:00
Event Starts: 17:30
Closing; 20:00
Location: Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus, Bldg. 2, room 401
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/G1t77UKGV5
This event is supported by Amnesty International Japan.
POSTPONED
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Reading Modernization as an Age of Social Isolation
Dr. Denis Newiak, Research Associate at the Chair of Applied Media Sciences at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
July 17, 2024, 17:00 - 18:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Nakahira Takuma's "Amami" and the Disorientation of Yamato Space
Daniel Abbe, Lecturer at Shiga University
June 6, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Do We Live in a Neo-Colonial World?
Alexander Görlach, Adjunct Professor to New York City Gallatin School of Individualized Study
June 11, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Workshop Series “Insider Perspectives: Scholars Investigating their Own Cultural Milieu in Japan” organized by Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Collaborative Research Unit Refugees and Migrants in Tokyo: An Oral Narrative Approach
Vietnamese Perspectives on Vietnamese Migrants in Japan
Mai Chi Nguyen, Sophia University
Phuong Anh Le, Waseda University
Bao Quyen Tran, Sophia University
Hong Vy Huynh Vu, Waseda University
June 23, 2024, 14:00 - 16:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
Please register from HERE: https://forms.office.com/r/0C1RNj5Bwn
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
What’s So Great About Global Art?
Ownership, Nationalism, and Hybridity
Alan Chong, Independent Scholar of Art
June 14, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
The Whaling Issue Will Never End, even if Whaling Collapses
Akamine Jun, Hitotsubashi University
June 10, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
Special Guest Lecture co-hosted by ICC and the Department of English Studies
CROSSING CULTURES, MAKING MOVIES
Eric McEver, Screenwriter & Director
May 29, 2024, 19:30 (Doors open from 19.00)
Library, Room 921, Sophia University
No registration necessary. Open to the public
ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Screening & discussion with Sanderien Verstappen and Darshan Patel
Sanderien Verstappen, Social and Visual Anthropologist (University of Vienna)
June 12, 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
On Zoom
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/YRfdXeybLt
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Abstract Landscapes: Avant-garde Artists and the Negotiation of Self-Expression in Wartime Japan
Jeongwon Yoon, ICC Visiting Researcher, Doctoral Fellow of the Japan Foundation, Ph.D. Candidate in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas
May 23, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration required / In person only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Yukinori Okamura, Curator, Managing Director, Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels
May 31, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration required / In person only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture presents a panel discussion
Memoirs from a Trailblazing Generation
Panelists (alphabetical order):
Janine Beichman, Professor Emerita, Daitō Bunka University
Alisa Freedman, Professor, University of Oregon
Masako Iino, Professor Emerita and former President, Tsuda University
Kate Nakai, Professor emerita, Sophia University
Anne Walthall, Professor emerita, University of California, Irvine
May 23, 2024, 17:30 - 20:00Venue: Room 821, 8F, Sophia Library
Please register from here: https://forms.office.com/r/pqyeZAyBmm
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
“A Sociology of Confucianism as a World Religion”
Anna Sun, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Duke University
May 15, 2024, 18:00 - 19:30
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration required / In person only
ICC Sophia University and the Free university of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series
Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film
Hosted by Megha Wadhwa & David H. Slater
Sanderien Verstappen, Social and Visual Anthropologist (University of Vienna)
12 June 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich, Anthropologist, Filmmaker, Curator (University of Amsterdam)
16 July 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
Laura Liverani, Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker
13 August 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
Zakaria Mohamed Ali, Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker (Vice-president at Archive of Migrant Memories)
17 September 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
Megha Wadhwa, Anthropologist, Filmmaker and Writer (Free University of Berlin)
22 October 2024, 18:00 to 20:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CEST)
Özgür Çiçek, Media and Culture Studies (University of Amsterdam)
12 November 2024, 19:00 to 21:00 (JST)/ 11:00 to 13:00 (CET)
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Creating a World-Beating Peruvian Restaurant in Tokyo
Santiago Fernández, The head of the kitchen Maz, a Michelin two-star restaurant
May 16, 2024, 12:30-14:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration required / In person only
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Hong Kong Identity Past, Present, and Future
Gordon Mathews, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
May 8, 2024, 18:30-20:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Narratives of Indian and Chinese Migrants in Singapore's Multicultural Mosaic
Megha Wadhwa, Free University of Berlin
Ruth Achenbach, Goethe University, Frankfurt
April 24, 2024, 18:00-19:30
Hybrid
Venue: Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
For Zoom Meeting information, please register from here:
https://forms.office.com/r/qz07xeN4bn
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
“Ways of Eating: Explorations in Food History and Culture:”
A Book Talk and an Invitation to Food Studies via Japan
Merry White, Boston University
April 25, 18:30-20:00
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
No registration necessary / In Person Only
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Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024
Hip Hop film showing and discussion with Dr. Natalia Koutsougera
Dr. Natalia Koutsougera, Department of Social Anthropology Panteion University, ICC Visiting Fellow
April 26 (Fri) From 17:30 - 19:00
10-301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
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An International Workshop
Kengo Miyazono, Hokkaido University
John O’Dea, Tokyo University
Richard Dietz Tokyo University
Akiko Frischhut, Sophia University
20~21 March, 2024 / 14:00-17:00 (JST)
10-301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023
Screening with talks
Bois du Rose
Catalina Alvarez, Fordham University
Daniel Fishkin, University of Virginia
March 24, 2024 / 14:00-15:30 (JST)
10-301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023
Building Memorials in Japan to Allied Prisoners of War
Daniel Milne, Kyoto University
Taeko Sasamoto, POW Research Network Japan
February 15, 2024 / 17:30-19:00 (JST)
Room 503, 5F, Building 6, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture presents a
Film Showing and Discussion
Ron Small, Filmmaker
Nagase Osamu, Professor, Ritsumeikan University
Dr. Paul Bookman, Mark Bookman’s father
2pm to 5 pm / Sunday, Feb 25, 2024
Room 401, 4F, Building 2, Sophia University
In person ONLY; Registration from the QR code on the flyer recommended but not necessary. Please see the flyer
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023
'Sexual Violence and Gender Inequality in Japan'
Machiko Osawa, Professor Emeritus and Researcher at the Research Institute for Women and Careers at Japan Women’s University
Jan. 18, 2024, 19:00-20:30 (JST)
Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023
Kyoto Vegetables, Uji Tea, Natori Seri:
Food Producers and Place Branding in Contemporary Japan
Greg de St. Maurice, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University
Jan. 19, 2024, 18:00-19:30 (JST)
Room 301, 3F building 10, Sophia University
Format: In-person only
Registration: Not necessary