International Symposium – Exhibiting ‘Japan’ Overseas: Overseas Contexts and Japan’s Contexts (29 March 2021)

The symposium will take place online (via Zoom) on 

Monday, 29th March 2021
10:30-12:30 Zurich time (17:30-19:30 in Japan)

Please note that the talks will be in Japanese, with the exception of the ETH remote survey panel, where the language is English with Japanese subtitles. 

For questions regarding the symposium, contact Prof. Hans Bjarne Thomsen at: thomsen@khist.uzh.ch 

The symposium is open to the public. Those wishing to attend are required to register using the following link:

Conference Registration on Zoom

The link to register can also be found on the websites of the National Museum of Japanese History and the symposium website (see links section on the right).

Japan’s scholars tend to understand Japanese overseas materials in terms of Japanese contexts and the circumstances in which they came into existence. The focus is on recovering overseas materials in terms of Japan’s lost heritage. However, these overseas materials have also constructed new meanings in the places to which they were brought. A new way of understanding these objects is to combine local with international concerns. 

This online symposium will consider the role of Japanese materials in such overseas contexts. Furthermore, it will also present case-study research on remote surveys carried out in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

This online symposium is organized by the National Museum of Japanese History (National Institutes for the Humanities) and the Section East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich, and will feature the following participants (in order of appearance): 

Prof. Kaori Hidaka, National Museum of Japanese History 

Prof. Hans Bjarne Thomsen, University of Zurich 

Prof. Mariko Fukuoka, National Museum of Japanese History 

Prof. Hiroshi Kurushima, National Museum of Japanese History 

Alina Martimaynova, MA, University of Zurich 

Director Linda Schädler, ETH Graphische Sammlung 

Dr. Susanne Pollack, ETH Graphische Sammlung 

Students of the Section for East Asian Art History, University of Zurich:
Angelika Castelli, Florence Marti, Simone Preiser, Elisabeth Eibner, and Olga Nazarova 

Prof. Makoto Gotō, National Museum of Japanese History 

Prof. Jun’ichi Ōkubo, National Museum of Japanese History 

Prof. Kazuto Sawada, National Museum of Japanese History 

Please note that times for both Japan (J) and Switzerland (S) are given in the programme below.

17:30 - 17:40 (J)    Opening address
10:30 - 10:40 (S)    HIDAKA Kaori (National Museum of Japanese History)

17:40 - 18:05 (J)    Japanese Art in the West and Its Exhibitions
10:40－11:05 (S)    Hans Bjarne Thomsen (University of Zurich)

18:05－18:30 (J)    “Japan”, which the First Japanese Mission to the U.S.A. of
                               1860 wished to display
11:05－11:30 (S)    FUKUOKA Mariko (National Museum of Japanese History)

18:30－18:45 (J)    Comment
11:30－11:45 (S)    KURUSHIMA Hiroshi (National Museum of Japanese History)

18:45－19:10 (J)    Experiments in Remote Surveys
11:45－12:10 (S)    University of Zurich’s East Asian Art History Department,
                               ETH Graphische Sammlung

19:10－19:25 (J)    Comment
12:10－12:25 (S)    GOTO Makoto (National Museum of Japanese History)

19:25－19:30 (J)    Closing words
12:25－12:30 (S)    OKUBO Jun’ichi (National Museum of Japanese History)

(Facilitator: SAWADA Kazuto, National Museum of Japanese History)

This symposium is organized by the National Museum of Japanese History and the Section for East Asian Art at the University of Zurich