CfP: New podcast series on Japan

The University of Bergen has received generous funding from the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO) for a ten-episode, bilingual (English-Japanese) podcast series on modern and contemporary Japan.

We welcome proposals for semi-structured roundtable episodes on relevant themes in modern and contemporary society. Subjects for discussion are not limited to Japan, but in principle, each episode should have at least one expert on Japan, i.e., someone who can speak about that larger issue in the context of Japan. 

Feel free to base your episode proposal around recent or ongoing research, events in the headlines, etc. 

Please include:

• topic
• names and contact info for ca. 3-4 total guests (including the organizer)
• if possible, list of 3-5 relevant books, articles, etc. (any language)

Proposals should be addressed to nathan.hopson[at]uib.no with the subject line “TIFO podcast episode proposal.”

Diversity
We will prioritize proposals including diverse guests. 
In particular, we are committed to having Japan-based Japanese scholars join our discussions.

Format and Language
Episodes will be scripted or semi-scripted. In other words, the host and producer will precirculate questions so that guests can prepare some or all remarks, but part of each episode can consist of spontaneous, unscripted conversation. This is up to you. Do what is comfortable!

The podcast will be bilingual (Japanese-English) podcast, accompanied by bilingual transcripts and/or subtitles. This is to encourage scholars less comfortable speaking in one language to participate.