"1995: a focal point for rethinking contemporary Japan
The year 1995 is often treated as a turning point in the history of contemporary Japan. First of all, the country was hit by several landmark events, such as the Kōbe earthquake (Hanshin Awaji daishinsai) in January and the attacks perpetrated by the Aum sect in the Tokyo subway in March. It has also been affected by a crisis since the bursting of the economic bubble at the beginning of the decade, which has led to a rethinking of the social and economic model in force until then. Much has been said about the paradigm shift initiated around 1995 towards post-modernity and/or post-industrial society, in the historical, economic, sociological, philosophical and cultural spheres. We hypothesize that 1995 constitutes a matrix that has conditioned subsequent transformations in Japanese society, while at the same time constituting a "black box", i.e., the object of more or less conscious repression. Is there a "before" and an "after" crystallized around this year? If so, what has changed? Are there not, in spite of everything, continuities behind the façade of mediatized "dramas" that characterize this period? What lessons can we draw from the discourses and studies produced on this period to illuminate and rethink contemporary Japan, and indeed the world today?
The aim of this study day, organized 30 years after 1995, is to establish a synthesis on this year and extract the legacy left in contemporary Japan. The day is being held in conjunction with the preceding event in Paris on March 20: "L'héritage de l'affaire Aum à la société japonaise: 30 ans après les attentats au gaz sarin du métro de Tokyo" ("The legacy of the Aum affair on Japanese society: 30 years after the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway"). Both events examine the phenomena and changes that marked the year (or years) 1995 from a common transdisciplinary perspective. Panels on the Lyon day will also bring together specialists in a variety of fields (literature, history, sociology, political science, cultural studies, film studies, etc.).
Program
10am - 10:20am: welcoming remarks
Session 1: 1995: general overview of knowledge
10:20am-10:40am: Kenjirō Muramatsu "Japanese sociology"
10:40am-11:00am: Edouard L'Hérisson "religion, nationalism"
11:00am-11:20am: Chiharu Chūjō "feminism, gender"
11:20-11:40: César Castellvi "media, journalism"
11:40-12:00: Julien Bouvard "popular culture"
12:00-12:20: Antonin Bechler "literature"
12:20-12:40: Discussion
12:40-14:30: Lunch break
Session 2: A turning point in new technologies?
Discussant: Julien Bouvard
2:30 pm-3:00 pm: Alain-Marc Rieu (U. Lyon 3, IETT)
"November 15, 1995: Japan's emergence as a "knowledge society"
In the shadow of cumulative disruptive events, 1995 was also the year of an innovation that marked Japan's place in the evolution of advanced industrial societies and reoriented world history. On November 15, 1995, the Japanese government passed the Basic Law on Science and Technology. Scientific research and technological innovation then officially became the basis for the long-term evolution of the Japanese nation.
No country yet has such an institutional arrangement, such a conception of the evolution of a nation. This is the solution that the Draghi Report proposes in 2024 for the European Union.
The aim is to show the context in which this project was formed. It is inseparable from the energy crisis of the 1970s, the first irruption of the environmental transition. It was first a response to the energy crisis, and now to environmental constraints. The case of Japan shows that geopolitical constraints play a major role. The challenge was, and remains, to transform the conception, organization and function of knowledge-based activities within an economic and social system. Twenty years later, in 2015, the Japanese technostructure launched the Society 5.0 project.
The case of Japan also shows that such a transformation is profoundly disruptive: it requires unprecedented institutional arrangements. Networks of power have so far hindered this mutation.
3:00-3:30 pm: Romain Lebailly (U. Paris 1, Sirice)
"Japanese video games in 1995: a flagship that doesn't know the crisis? "
At first glance, the video game industry seems to offer a counterpoint to the crisis that Japan was experiencing in 1995: the market, buoyed by new consoles and a practice that was becoming ever more entrenched, was growing, while games produced in Japan were being distributed worldwide.
With regard to both the industrial context and the games themselves, we'll try to paint a more nuanced picture of the situation, to show that 1995 actually ushered in significant changes. It marked a reorganization of the industry: the players who had driven the emergence of Japanese video games, such as Nintendo and Sega, appeared to be in difficulty, while new competitors such as Sony, on whom we'll focus, were emerging.
This change in players was not simply a passing of the baton: the logics of these companies differed profoundly, with indirect repercussions on the content of the games offered to players. We will show that Sony's success abroad paradoxically leaves less room for Japanese players. By changing the way the market has been organized since 1983, 1995 also marks the beginning of a rebalancing, and heralds the end of a cycle that saw Japan dominate the video game industry alone.
15:30-16:00: Discussion
16:00-16:30: Coffee break
Session 3: 男も女もつらいよ Suffering of men and women
Discussant: Chiharu Chūjō
16:30-17:00: Claude Leblanc (journalist-editorialist)
"Yamada Yôji, a popular filmmaker attuned to a society in turmoil"
Yamada Yôji, author and director of 90 films, doesn't enjoy a very high popularity rating among most Japanese and foreign film critics, for whom his work is summed up as repetitive, groundless comedies. As the 1990s marked a turning point in Japan's political, economic and social history, the filmmaker made several films (Musuko (1991), Gakkô (1993), Torajirô kurenai no hana (1995)) that tackled the strong themes of the time and had a profound effect on Japanese audiences. Highly sensitive to changes in society, Yamada is capable of modifying the script of his films to respond to the urgency of the moment and address targeted messages to different audiences. The last episode of the Otoko wa tsurai yo (It's hard to be a man) series, released on December 23, 1995, features the inimitable Tora-san addressing the victims of the earthquake that shook the Kôbe region. A sequence which, 30 years later, remains one of the highlights of this series for its millions of fans and underlines the extent to which the filmmaker inscribes his work as a personal response to changes in Japanese society at all levels, including gender relations.
17h00-17h30 : Aline Henninger (U. Orléans, REMELICE)
"1995: from the creation of LOUD to lesbian studies"
In June 1995, Ôe Chizuko and her partner founded LOUD, a proposed meeting place for lesbian and bisexual women: it's a simple studio they rent, on the first floor of a small building. Only the word "LOUD" on the letterbox distinguishes it from a personal dwelling in Nakano. Three decades on, LOUD remains a key place for women to meet, and beyond, to campaign for the rights of LGBT people. 1995 marks both a new visibility and a larger network for lesbian women, as well as the beginning of a convergence between lesbian activists and gay and trans activists. If historians often speak of the birth and visibility of the "LGBT" movement, it remains to analyze what the "L" stands for from this year 1995 onwards, to understand both the distinct visibility, the separate then united paths and the different modes of organization between these lesbian women and activists and other sexual minorities.
17:30-18:00: Discussion
18:00-18:30: Conclusion
Cycle organizing committee:
Antonin Bechler (U. de Strasbourg / IFRJ)
Julien Bouvard (U. Lyon 3 / IETT)
César Castellvi (U. Paris Cité /CRCAO)
Édouard L'Hérisson (Inalco / IFRAE)
Chūjō Chiharu (U. Lyon 3 / IETT)
Muramatsu Kenjirō (U. Lyon 3 / IETT)
Contact : appel.com.jp@gmail.com