top of page

Event Calendar

NEWS 

A Video logo with a link to ICC's YouTube page
a photo of ICC members' publications

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

MAILING LIST SIGN UP

Thanks for submitting!

112 Union Jack Flag - Preview 3.jpg

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

1940 Dreimaechtepakt Kinder 2.jpg

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

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

Screenshot 2024-09-18 at 13.10.36.png

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

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film

Finding Their Niche:

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

main.jpg

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

Li Huai works.jpg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

Artist as Producer

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

HXL cover.jpg

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

Screenshot 2024-08-30 at 6.17.15.png

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!

external-file_edited.jpg

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

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film

To Whom It May Concern 

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

Yotsuya 20220729.jpg

The ICC office will be closed during the following holidays.

  • ICC Summer Holiday: August 1 - 2, October 3

  • 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.

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film

Ainupuri

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

thumbnail_Tamura Masaki with miniature camera on a pole to shoot planting at mud level Nor

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

Syrians in Japan image 1.jpg

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_2.JPG

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

The Intersections of the Sensory, Multimodal and Ba:

「The Tachinomi Project」

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  

WRD FLYER (3).png

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 

image 240718-19_KASA workshop.jpg

ICC co-hosts a workshop 

Mapping ecological distribution conflicts, framing environmental justice movements

KASA Sustainability Environmental Change Workshop Series (Two-day workshop)

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

image2.png

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  

book cover.png

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

SCANDAL IN JAPAN:

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  

Palestine-Masafer-Yatta-AFP-Hazem-Bardel-scaled.jpeg

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:

https://forms.office.com/r/A0r2bGdVfa

Hiro book cover.jpeg

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  

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film

Between Memories

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 postponedSee 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。

screenshot Tokyo Kurds.jpg

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

Einsamkeiten1 Medium.jpeg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

The Loneliness of Modernity:

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  

Daniel Abbe talk image.jpg

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  

Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 16.05.12.png

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  

240623_Vietnamese_workshop.png

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

Screenshot 2024-05-15 at 5.46.29.png

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  

P7130088.jpg

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  

external-file_edited.jpg

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

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

ICC Sophia University and the Free University of Berlin presents an Online Lecture Series, Migration, Memory, and the Art of Storytelling on Film

Living like a Common Man

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

URBAIN no 1_Murai Masanari.jpg

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

unnamed.jpg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

Past and Contemporary Visual Non-Nuclear Art, with a focus on the Hiroshima Panels in the Maruki Gallery

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

Screenshot 2024-04-23 at 5.25.17.png

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture presents a panel discussion

Women and Cultural Exchange:

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

Screenshot 2024-04-19 at 14.30.02 Large.jpeg

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

Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 5.17.39.png

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)

Copia de Sea coral_2023 Medium.jpeg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

Vertical World:

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

pexels-jimmy-chan-7634285 Small.jpeg

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

thumbnail_China Town Large.jpeg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

Perception and Identity

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

Ways of Eating cover.jpeg

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

Blaze 2014 (1).jpg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2024

“The Girls are Here,”

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 

Image by Aleksandar Pasaric via Pexels (pexels-aleksandar-pasaric-2339009).jpg

An International Workshop

Philosophy of Mind in Tokyo

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 

Screenshot 2024-03-05 at 14.39.42.png

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023

Screening with talks

Modes of Transport:

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 

Screenshot 2024-01-21 at 6.51.55.png

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2023

‘Waking Sleeping Babies’: 

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 

Mark-A-Call-To-Action-5x7-Yotsuya-Campus-V2-PRINT Large.jpeg

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture presents a

 

Film Showing and Discussion

“Mark-A Call to Action”

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

external-file_edited.jpg

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

Screenshot 2023-12-01 at 13.30.14 Medium.jpeg

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

bottom of page