Annual Conference 2024

The next annual conference on the topic of “Sustainability in Japan” will take place from 15-17 November 2024 at the Japanese-German Centre Berlin. The organising team consists of Harald Conrad (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf), Barbara Holthus (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo) and Axel Klein (University of Duisburg-Essen).

Making human activity on Earth sustainable is currently the greatest challenge of humankind and since the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the topic has gained world-wide popularity. But what sustainability means, how it can be achieved, how it is politically negotiated, and which actors are involved differs widely across the world. The purpose of this conference is to gain a better understanding of how sustainability issues are understood, framed and pursued by different actors in Japan. Focusing on economic, societal, and political perspectives, we hope not only to encourage more social science research and teaching related to sustainability issues in Japan, but also to interrogate more widely what sustainability means for the academic profession.

As usual, the VSJF gender workshop will begin the day before on 14 November 2024 in the afternoon.