Name: Japan Conference for Social Scientists
Start: 2026-05-29 09:00:00
End: 2026-05-30 12:00:00

The Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University will host the second annual Japan Conference for Social Scientists on May 29-30, 2026.

The conference will bring together scholars to present research on Japanese politics, foreign policy, the economy, and society. It follows the inaugural one held at the University of Toronto in 2025 and is part of a broader effort to institutionalize an annual conference that rotates among different universities. The goal is to provide a forum for Japan scholars from across the social sciences to network, share research, and receive constructive feedback.

Co-organizers: Charles McClean and Anna Yorozuya, Yale University

Friday, May 29th

8:30 am	Breakfast
8:50 am	Opening Remarks
	Panel 1: Historical Political Economy Discussant: Saori Katada, University of Southern California
9:00 am	Sam Gerstle Boston University	Industrial Mobilization for War: Conversion Distance, State-Business Relations, and Wartime Production
9:15 am	Etienne Gagnon Princeton University	The Political Consequences of Trade: Price Shocks, Peasant Revolts and the Opening of Japan
9:30 am	Shusuke Ioku University of Rochester	Constrain with Their Feet: Jurisdictional Conflict and State Erosion in Early Modern Japan
10:30 am	Coffee Break
	Panel 2: Security & Foreign Policy Discussant: Phillip Lipscy, University of Toronto
10:45 am	Yuji Idomoto University of California San Diego	The Military That Isn't: Legalized Anti-Militarism and Limits of Japan's Defense Policy
11:00 am	Jada Fraser University of Southern California	Rich Nation, Strong Partners: The Geoeconomic Logic of Japan's Official Security Assistance
11:15 am	Charmaine Willis Old Dominion University	The Island of Sacrifice: The Battle of Okinawa and Historical Trauma Framing in Anti-US-Base Activism
12:15 pm	Lunchtime Discussion
1:45 pm	Coffee Break
	Panel 3: Media & Social Change Discussant: Leonard Schoppa, University of Virginia
2:00 pm	Colin Moreshead Harvard University	Selective Exposure Beyond Partisanship: Disaffection and Media Choice in Japan
2:15 pm	Fumiya Uchikoshi Harvard University	Divergent Pathways to Low Fertility: Navigating the Risks and Stakes of Union Formation in Japan and the United Kingdom
2:30 pm	Michael Strausz Texas Christian University	Population Aging and Democratic Representation
3:30 pm	Coffee Break
	Panel 4: Gender & Inequality Discussant: Anna Yorozuya, Yale University
3:45 pm	Megumi Naoi University of California San Diego	Pregnancy-based Discrimination and Women's Support for Redistribution: Theory and Evidence from Japan
4:00 pm	Amy Catalinac New York University	How Distributive Politics Impacts Women's Representation
4:15 pm	Hao Liang Cornell University	Gender Inequality, Intermarriage, and Ethnic Residential Segregation

Saturday, May 30th

8:30 am	Breakfast
	Panel 5: Immigration & Nativist Backlash Discussant: Charles McClean, Yale University
9:00 am	Cecille de Laurentis University of California Berkeley	Foreign Workers and the Deconcentration of Tokyo: Governing Japan's Demographic Change
9:15 am	Jiajia Zhou University of Toronto	Foreign Population and Anti-Foreigner Electoral Support: Causal Evidence from Japan
9:30 am	Hideo Ishima Kyoto University (visiting University of Michigan)	Rhetorical Strategy by a Radical Right-Wing Populist Party: A Multimodal Analysis of Street Speeches in Japan
10:30 am	Coffee Break
	Panel 6: Japan in Transition Discussant: Kristin Vekasi, University of Montana
10:45 am	Alexandra Mathieu Yale University	Testing the Microfoundations of Status Dissatisfaction: Evidence from Japan
11:00 am	Anastasia Gracheva The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania	Institutional Foundations of Corporate Resilience in Japan
11:15 am	Shoko Yamada Princeton University	Vexing Times: Encountering Environmental Histories through Climate Adaptation in Japan
12:15 pm	Lunch

Contact:: charles.mcclean@yale.edu