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Tue, November 4, 2025Wed, November 5Thu, November 6Fri, November 7Sat, November 8

Conference Venue: Kyoto Research Park, Building 1

09:00-10:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee | 4F Foyer

10:00-10:25: Welcome Addresses & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Science Hall (4F) & Online
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan

10:30-10:55: Keynote Presentation | Science Hall (4F) & Online
The Shōwa Restoration in 1930s Japan: True National Socialism
Brian Victoria, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, United Kingdom
10:55-11:10: Q&A Session

11:15-11:40: Keynote Presentation | Science Hall (4F) & Online
Reshaping the Soundscape: Engagement, Adaptations, Innovations and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels
Padmakumar K, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
11:40-11:55: Q&A Session

11:55-12:05: Conference Photograph

12:05-13:55: Extended Break

13:55-14:55: Panel Discussion | Science Hall (4F) & Online
Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World
Virgil Hawkins, IAFOR Research Centre & The University of Osaka, Japan
Nobuyuki Okumura, Musashi University, Japan
Reiko Tsuchiya, Waseda University, Japan
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

15:00-16:00: The Forum | Science Hall (4F)
Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls
Nasya Bahfen, La Trobe University, Australia (Respondent)
Apipol Sae-Tung, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

16:15-17:15: Conference Welcome Reception & Conference Poster Session | Atrium (1F)

19:00-21:00: Conference Dinner | Yachiyo Nanzenji
This is a ticketed event

Conference Venue: Kyoto Research Park, Building 1

09:00-09:30: Conference Check-in | 4F Foyer

09:10-09:55: IAFOR Information Session | Science Hall (4F)
Matthew Chima, IAFOR, Japan
Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan
Apipol Sae-Tung, IAFOR, Japan

10:00-11:00: Roundtable Discussion | Science Hall (4F) & Online
Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan
Aaron Gerow, Yale University, United States
Yutaka Kubo, Kanazawa University, Japan
Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, Kyoto University, Japan
Timothy Pollock, Osaka Kyoiku University, Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan (Moderator)

11:00-11:30: Networking Coffee Break

11:30-13:10: Onsite Parallel Session 1
Room A (4F): KAMC | Digital Humanities and Cultural Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Performing Arts Practices: Theatre, Dance, Music
Room C (4F): KAMC | Climate Change and Arts, Media, and Culture
Room E (4F): KAMC/MediAsia | Interdisciplinary Media Studies
Room G (4F): KAMC | Literature, Literary Studies, and Theory

13:10-14:10: Extended Break

14:10-15:25: Onsite Parallel Session 2
Room A (4F): KAMC | Digital Humanities, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Performing Arts Practices: Theatre, Dance, Music
Room C (4F): MediAsia | Critical Cultural Studies in Gender and Communication
Room E (4F): MediAsia | Film Criticism and Theory
Room G (4F): MediAsia | Featured Panel: A Review of the State of World News in Japan

15:25-15:40: Coffee Break

15:40-16:55: Onsite Parallel Session 3
Room A (4F): KAMC | Cultural Studies and Communication
Room B (4F): KAMC | Differences, Identity, Ethnicity
Room C (4F): KAMC | Sociology
Room E (4F): MediAsia | Film and Literature

17:00-17:45: Cultural Workshop | Science Hall (4F)
Kimono Workshop
This is a free event open to all registered delegates
Delegates are invited to a special session focusing on the art of kimono dressing, featuring live demonstrations by kimono teacher Satoko Yamada.

Conference Venue: Kyoto Research Park, Building 1

08:30-09:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee | 4F Foyer

09:00-10:40: Onsite Parallel Session 1
Room A (4F): KAMC | Media Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Digital Humanities and Literature Studies
Room C (4F): MediAsia | Social Media and Communication Technology
Room E (4F): KAMC | Communication
Room G (4F): KAMC | Cultural Studies

10:40-10:55: Break

10:55-12:10: Onsite Parallel Session 2
Room A (4F): KAMC | Media and Literature Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Digital Humanities and Cultural Studies
Room C (4F): KAMC/MediAsia | Social Media and Communication Technology
Room E (4F): MediAsia | Broadcast Media, Film, and Literature
Room G (4F): KAMC | Visual Culture and Cultural Studies

12:10-13:10: Extended Break

13:10-14:50: Onsite Parallel Session 3
Room A (4F): KAMC | Film Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Media and Cultural Studies
Room C (4F): MediAsia | Social Media and Communication Technology
Room E (4F): KAMC | Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations
Room G (4F): KAMC | Visual Culture

14:50-15:15: Networking Coffee Break

15:15-16:55: Onsite Parallel Session 4
Room A (4F): KAMC | Media Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Cultural Studies and Communication
Room C (4F): MediAsia | Social Media and Communication Technology
Room E (4F): MediAsia | Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations
Room G (4F): KAMC | Aesthetics and Design

Conference Venue: Kyoto Research Park, Building 1

08:45-09:00: Conference Check-in | 4F Foyer

09:00-10:40: Onsite Parallel Session 1
Room A (4F): KAMC | Visual Culture and Cultural Studies
Room B (4F): MediAsia | Critical Cultural Studies in Gender and Communication
Room C (4F): KAMC | Gender, Sexuality, and Culture
Room E (4F): KAMC/MediAsia | Education/Pedagogy
Room G (4F): MediAsia | Communication Theory and Methodology

10:40-10:55: Break

10:55-12:10: Onsite Parallel Session 2
Room A (4F): MediAsia | Visual Communication
Room B (4F): KAMC | Sociology
Room C (4F): KAMC | Gender, Sexuality, and Culture
Room E (4F): KAMC | Education/Pedagogy
Room G (4F): MediAsia | Journalism, Media, and Education

12:10-13:10: Extended Break

13:10-14:50: Onsite Parallel Session 3
Room A (4F): KAMC | Cultural Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Sociology
Room C (4F): KAMC/MediAsia | Media and Identity
Room E (4F): KAMC | Education/Pedagogy
Room G (4F): MediAsia | Law, Policy, and Media Ethics

14:50-15:15: Networking Coffee Break

15:15-16:55: Onsite Parallel Session 4
Room A (4F): KAMC | Cultural Studies
Room B (4F): KAMC | Language and Cultural Studies
Room C (4F): KAMC | Gender, Sexuality, and Culture
Room E (4F): KAMC | Education/Pedagogy
Room G (4F): MediAsia | Digital Media, Communication, and Advertisement

17:00-17:15: Onsite Closing Session | Room G (4F)

Conference Venue: Online via Zoom

10:55-11:00: Message from IAFOR

11:00-12:40: Online Parallel Session 1
Live-Stream Room 1: KAMC/MediAsia | Visual Communication
Live-Stream Room 2: KAMC/MediAsia | Film, Literature, and Cultural Studies
Live-Stream Room 3: KAMC/MediAsia | Media Studies

12:40-12:50: Break

12:50-14:30: Online Parallel Session 2
Live-Stream Room 1: KAMC | Aesthetics, Design and Art Practices
Live-Stream Room 2: MediAsia | Critical Cultural Studies in Gender and Communication
Live-Stream Room 3: KAMC | Education/Pedagogy

14:30-14:40: Break

14:40-16:20: Online Parallel Session 3
Live-Stream Room 1: MediAsia | Film and Visual Communication
Live-Stream Room 2: KAMC | Cultural Studies
Live-Stream Room 3: KAMC/MediAsia | Digital Humanities and Cultural Studies

16:25-17:40: The Forum | Live-Stream Room 1
Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls
Virgil Hawkins, IAFOR Research Centre & The University of Osaka, Japan (Online Respondent)
Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan (Online Moderator)

17:40-17:45: Closing Message from IAFOR

Accepted Presentations

One of the greatest strengths of IAFOR’s international conferences is their international and intercultural diversity. As of August 6, 2025, KAMC2025 has received over 500 submissions from 60 countries and territories - including: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, the United States, and Vietnam.

Accepted Presentations

Featured Speakers

  • Nasya Bahfen
    Nasya Bahfen
    La Trobe University, Australia
  • Aaron Gerow
    Aaron Gerow
    Yale University, United States
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Virgil Hawkins
    Virgil Hawkins
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Padmakumar K
    Padmakumar K
    Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
  • Yutaka Kubo
    Yutaka Kubo
    Kanazawa University, Japan
  • Melina Neophytou
    Melina Neophytou
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Nobuyuki Okumura
    Nobuyuki Okumura
    Musashi University, Japan
  • Timothy W. Pollock
    Timothy W. Pollock
    Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan
  • Apipol Sae-Tung
    Apipol Sae-Tung
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Reiko Tsuchiya
    Reiko Tsuchiya
    Waseda University, Japan
  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
    Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
    Kyoto University, Japan

Featured Presentations

  • The Shōwa Restoration in 1930s Japan: True National Socialism
    The Shōwa Restoration in 1930s Japan: True National Socialism
    Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria
  • Reshaping the Soundscape: Adaptations, Innovations, and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels
    Reshaping the Soundscape: Adaptations, Innovations, and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels
    Keynote Presentation: Padmakumar K
  • Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls
    Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls
    The Forum: Nasya Bahfen, Apipol Sae-Tung
  • Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World
    Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World
    Panel Discussion: Virgil Hawkins, Nobuyuki Okumura, Reiko Tsuchiya, Joseph Haldane
  • Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan
    Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan
    Roundtable Discussion: Aaron Gerow, Yutaka Kobo, Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, Timothy W. Pollock

Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.

Conference Programme & Abstract Book

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

Click to download as a PDF

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Virtual Presentations

Virtual Video Presentations

Previous Programming

View details of programming for past KAMC conferences via the links below.

KAMC2024 KAMC2023
KAMC2022 KAMC2021 KAMC2020
Nasya Bahfen
La Trobe University, Australia

Biography

Dr Nasya Bahfen is the postgraduate media and communications coordinator at La Trobe University, Australia, where she is also a researcher with the Centre for Sport and Social Impact. A former journalist and producer whose research looks at sport, media, and diversity, Dr Bahfen currently teaches digital content making and has supervised the completion of higher degrees by research students in the fields of Journalism and Public Relations/Strategic Communication. Her previous academic work includes how race is framed in Australian journalism through sport, interview choice among young journalism students covering diversity, the incorporation of social media in media education, and internet use by southeast Asian and Australian Muslim youth. Dr Bahfen was previously a visiting scholar with NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, where she conducted research comparing social media use among Muslim students in Melbourne and New York City. Her co-authored book Cyber Racism and Community Resilience: Strategies for Combating Online Race Hate (2017) was funded by the Australian Research Council, and explored building resilience among Jewish, Muslim, and other culturally diverse groups targeted by cyber racism.

Forum Discussion (2025) | TBA

Previous Presentations

Featured Interview (2022) | Challenges Faced by Media Covering the Asia-Pacific: A Conversation with David Robie
Presentation (2019) | Australia and Asia: Media and Identity in a Time of Change
Aaron Gerow
Yale University, United States

Biography

Dr Aaron Gerow is Alfred W. Griswold Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies at Yale University, United States. He has published extensively on Japanese and East Asian film history, television, cinema in the Japanese empire, film theory, censorship, and spectatorship, among other topics. His books include Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship, 1895-1925 (2010); Research Guide to Japanese Film Studies (co-authored with Markus Nornes, 2009 [Japanese edition 2016]); A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan (2008); and Kitano Takeshi (2007). His co-edited anthology Rediscovering Classical Japanese Film Theory—An Anthology was published in Japanese in 2018. Professor Gerow has supervised the reprinting of several important prewar Japanese film journals, as well as the English translation of Hasumi Shiguéhiko’s influential book, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1983). He is currently preparing a monograph on the history of Japanese film theory as well as editing an anthology with film producer and curator Aiko Masubuchi on Japanese film director Obayashi Nobuhiko. Professor Gerow also runs his own Japanese film website titled Tangemania, which can be accessed at aarongerow.com.

Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the founder, chairman, and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s global business and academic operations.

Dr Haldane has a PhD from the University of London in nineteenth-century French studies (ULIP/RHUL), and has research interests in world history and politics; international education; and governance and decision making. Since 2015, he has been a Guest Professor at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre since 2017.

In 2020, Dr Haldane was elected Honorary Professor of University College London (UCL) through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, and full Professor in the United Nations Peace University's European Center for Peace and Development in 2022. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for global governance, he holds visiting professorships at Belgrade and Doshisha Universities where he teaches ethics and governance. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Professor Haldane has had full-time faculty positions at the Université Paris-Est Créteil, Sciences Po Paris, and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas), and the Schools of Journalism of Sciences Po Paris and Moscow State University.

Dr Haldane has been invited to speak at universities and conferences globally, including the UN HQ in New York, and advised universities, NGOs and governments on issues relating to international education policy, public-private partnerships, and multi-stakeholder forums. He was the project lead on the 2019 Kansai Resilience Forum, held by the Japanese Government through the Prime Minister’s Office and oversaw the 2021 Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned study on Infectious Diseases on Cruise Ships.

Virgil Hawkins
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Dr Virgil Hawkins is a professor specialising in world affairs and the news media, and is based at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), The University of Osaka, Japan. He obtained his PhD in International Public Policy from OSIPP, where he focused on international politics, conflict, the UN Security Council, and the news media. He proceeded to work for five years for a non-governmental aid organisation, primarily in Cambodia and Zambia, before returning to the university as a faculty member. He has written and edited a number of books, including Stealth Conflicts: How the World’s Worst Violence is Ignored (2008), and Communication and Peace: Mapping an Emerging Field (co-edited, 2015). His work focuses on furthering our understanding of how and why the vast majority of the world remains relatively uncovered by the news media.

To these ends, Professor Hawkins has since shifted his focus to work at a more practical level. He co-established the Southern African Centre for Collaboration on Peace and Security (SACCPS) [http://saccps.org/] in 2010, which is a network that has brought together researchers and practitioners working on these issues throughout the region. He went on to establish Global News View (GNV) [http://globalnewsview.org/], a large-scale media project that analyses trends and deficiencies in the world news coverage by the Japanese news media, and attempts to compensate for those deficiencies by providing analysis on undercovered global issues.

Featured Panel Discussion (2025) | Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Discussion (2024) | Media and Power in the Asia-Pacific: IAFOR Global Fellows and IAFOR Research Centre Panel Discussion

Featured Panel Presentation (2023) | International News Coverage and The Role of Independent Media
Padmakumar K
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India

Biography

Dr Padmakumar K is a Professor and Head of Post Graduate Programs at the Manipal Institute of Communication located within the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. He teaches courses on podcasting, radio production, media research, brand planning and corporate communication. He is a recognised PhD Supervisor at the Institute and a member of Boards of Studies at several Indian Universities. He is currently the Indian Faculty Ambassador of the International Association of Media & Communication Research (IAMCR). Professor K was awarded the prestigious Australia India Research Student (AIRS) Fellowship in 2023, funded by the Australian Department of Education, to teach and pursue his research as a post-doctoral fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

Before his academic work, Professor K spent ten years in Commercial Radio, in positions ranging from Producer to Programming Director. As a DAAD Fellow, he taught International Media Systems at Hochschule Bremen, Germany and Media and Culture at Volda International University, Norway, and was invited as a plenary speaker at major international forums, including the 2013 Asia Media Forum in South Korea (2013), Broadcast Asia in Singapore (2015), and Youth Communication Day in Indonesia (2020). He has also conducted a number of workshops on voice culture, radio programming, and corporate communication at leading Indian media and communication schools, including IIMC Delhi and Kottayam, Symbiosis International University, XIM University, Bharathiar University, PSG CAS Coimbatore, and KCLAS.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | Reshaping the Soundscape: Engagement, Adaptations, Innovations and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels

Yutaka Kubo
Kanazawa University, Japan

Biography

Dr Yutaka Kubo is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Kanazawa University, Japan. His research centers on queer forms of touch, affect, mourning, foodways, aging, and digital archiving in Japanese visual culture. Dr Kubo earned a BA in English with a Concentration on Film Studies from Framingham State University, United States, and received his PhD from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2017. He is the author of Yūyakegumo no kanata ni: Kinoshita Keisuke to kuia na kansei [Over the Sunset: Kinoshita Keisuke and Queer Sensibility] (Nakanishiya shoten, 2022) and has written chapters for the upcoming anthologies The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), The Japanese Documentary Cinema of Haneda Sumiko (Routledge, 2025), and Screening Postmillennial Queer Film (Routledge, 2026). Outside of academia, Dr Kubo has served as script supervisor for Yasutomo Chikuma’s forthcoming 2025 film ‘The Deepest Space in Us’.

Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Revisiting Keisuke Kinoshita through a Queer Lens
Melina Neophytou
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Dr Melina Neophytou is the Academic Operations Manager at IAFOR, where she works closely with academics, keynote speakers, and IAFOR partners to shape academic discussions within The Forum, bring conference programmes together, refine scholarship programmes, and build an interdisciplinary and international community. She is leading various projects within IAFOR, notably The Forum discussions and the authoring of Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings, and she oversees the Global Fellows Programme.

Born in Germany and raised in Cyprus, Dr Neophytou received her PhD in International Development from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2023, specialising in political sociology, the welfare state, and contentious politics. She received an MA in International Development from Nagoya University, with a focus on Governance & Law, and a BA in European Studies from the University of Cyprus, Cyprus.

Dr Neophytou’s research interests currently focus on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the relationship between state and society. Her current work examines technologies such as facial recognition (FRT) and biometric surveillance, and how these tools impact freedom of expression, protest, and social policy.

Forum Discussion (2025) | Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls (Online)

Previous Presentations

Forum Discussion (2024) | Global Citizenship: Media & Digital Citizenship

Nobuyuki Okumura
Musashi University, Japan

Biography

Dr Nobuyuki Okumura is a Professor in the Faculty of Sociology at Musashi University, Japan, and has been teaching within the department of Media Sociology since 2014. His research interests include Journalism Politics and Media, Media Ethics, and Digital Journalism Fact Checking. He earned a master’s degree in International Relations from Sophia University in Tokyo in 1989, and later joined the news division of TV Asahi, working as a producer for its News Station programme. He also served as a reporter in the station’s political news and editing departments. Professor Okumura has been a visiting scholar at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies within the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, United States, and Professor in the College of Social Sciences at Ritsumeikan University, Japan.

Featured Panel Discussion (2025) | Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World

Timothy W. Pollock
Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan

Biography

Professor Timothy W. Pollock lectures on film and visual culture at Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan. He has presented papers on film, semiotic theory, ethics, and education, all of which were structured around the central theme of the power of multi-modal, dramatic visual narratives. His film research has focused on the development of standards and practices in classical Japanese cinema in general, and on the later films of Ozu Yasujiro in particular, while his work in the field of semiotics has focused on the applicability of social semiotic theory to the analysis of Japanese cinema and Japanese visual culture.

Professor Pollock’s media work includes appearing in conversation with fellow film historian Stuart Galbraith IV on the new Blu-ray releases of the Akira Kurosawa films Sanjuro, Red Beard, and The Idiot from A Contracorriente Films. As a long-time resident of Japan, he has also worked as an assistant editor on the second edition of the GENIUS Japanese-English Dictionary. He has served as a judge for film festivals in the United Kingdom and India, and is currently serving as visiting faculty at the Manipal Institute of Communication in Karnataka, India.

Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

Apipol Sae-Tung
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Apipol Sae-Tung is an Academic Coordinator at IAFOR, where he contributes to the development and execution of academic-related content and activities. He works closely with the Forum’s partner institutions and coordinates IAFOR’s Global Fellowship Programme. His recent activities include mediating conference reports for the Forum’s international conference programme and facilitating the IAFOR Undergraduate Research Symposium (IURS).

Mr Sae-Tung began his career as a Program Coordinator for the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He was awarded the Japanese Government’s MEXT Research Scholarship and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. His research focuses on government and policy analysis, particularly on authoritarian regimes. He currently takes part in research projects on international student education in Thailand, Southeast Asian politics, Japan-Asia digital economy, and AI-language model training.

Mr Sae-Tung holds an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Thammasat University, Thailand, where he studied foreign policy analysis and Thailand-China relations. He also holds a BA in History from the same institution, with a focus on modern Western and Southeast Asian comparative history and historiography.

Mr Sae-Tung has interned for the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) in Japan, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Thailand. He served on the Lifelong Learning Team while with UNESCO, working specifically on projects enhancing education access through online platforms among Thai NEET individuals and supporting Myanmar migrant children, providing shelters and access to proper education along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Forum Discussion (2025) | Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls

Reiko Tsuchiya
Waseda University, Japan

Biography

Dr Reiko Tsuchiya is a Professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University, Japan. She has researched the history of media, focusing primarily on the period from Japan’s Meiji era to the post-war period, with a particular interest in newspapers and printed ephemera. She has published several books including Media and Intelligence in Occupied Japan (2024 Japanese), Chronology of Japanese Media History (2018, Edited in Japanese), The Pacific War Read from Propaganda Leaflets against the Japanese (2010, Japanese), and The Origin of Popular Newspapers in Japan (2002 Japanese).

Professor Tsuchiya is also a co-editor of an English book, Competing Imperialisms in Northeast Asia: New Perspectives, 1894-1953 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia, 2023) and contributed an English paper titled “Japanese Mass Media” for the New Cambridge History of Japan, Volume Ⅲ: The Modern Japanese Nation and Empire, c.1868 to the Twenty-First Century (2023). She has served as Director of the 20th Century Media Research Institute since 2010, organising monthly research seminars and overseeing the editing of the institute’s annual research journal, Intelligence.

Featured Panel Discussion (2025) | Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World

Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Dr Brian Victoria is a native of Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, United States. He holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University, United States.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese titled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Professor Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi Gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Dr Victoria has published numerous journal articles focusing on the relationship between religion, particularly Buddhism, and violence and warfare.

Dr Victoria was a Professor of Japanese Studies and Director of the AEA Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program at Antioch University, United States from 2005 to 2013. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan from 2013 to 2015. His latest book, Zen Terror: The Death of Democracy in Prewar Japan was published by Rowman & Littlefield in February 2020. Dr Victoria is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | The Shōwa Restoration in 1930s Japan: True National Socialism

Previous Presentations:

Keynote Presentation (2023) | To Whom Do the Senkaku (Ch. Diaoyu) Islands Belong and Why Should We Care?
Keynote Presentation (2022) | The “Zen” of Zen Gardens: Fact or Fiction?
Keynote Presentation (2021) | 'Holy War' as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
Kyoto University, Japan

Biography

Dr Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano is Professor of Cinema and Media Studies and Director of the Joint Degree Master in Transcultural Studies programme in the Graduate School of Letters at Kyoto University, Japan. Professor Wada-Marciano earned an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University and a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Iowa, United States. Her research interests include Japanese cinema and media culture, East Asian Cinema, women's documentary, and archive film in the digital period. Professor Wada-Marciano has authored a number of books and articles, including Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008), Japanese Cinema in the Digital Age (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012), and No Nukes:〈Post-3.11〉eiga no chikara, âto no chikara [No Nukes:〈Post-3.11〉Power of Cinema and Power of Art] (Nagoya University Press, 2021), which was translated into English under the title Japanese Filmmakers in the Wake of Fukushima: Perspectives on Nuclear Disasters (Amsterdam University Press, 2023). Her latest research involves film archiving in and outside Japan, and has been supported by the Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) since 2020.

Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

The Shōwa Restoration in 1930s Japan: True National Socialism
Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria

Needless to say, ‘National Socialism' will forever be associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party he led in Germany. However, as numerous scholars have shown, by the time Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933, the term ‘National Socialism’ had become little more than a façade used by Hitler and the Nazis to crush the political left and empower Germany’s corporate elites.

In Japan, the leaders of incidents like the Young Officers Uprising of February 26, 1936 are typically described as simply having been ‘militarists’ seeking an enhanced role, including additional funding for the military, especially the army. This applied term has contributed to a misleading understanding of the motivations of those involved in these incidents, something they themselves described as shōwa ishin: a ‘Shōwa Restoration’.

This keynote presents a new understanding of prewar Japanese history than we currently have. The national socialist-embracing proponents of a Shōwa Restoration sought major domestic economic and social reforms, especially land reform, in 1930s Japan, inspired by the ‘home-grown’ ideology of men like Kita Ikki, whose national socialist writings, especially his seminal 1919 work, An Outline Plan for the Reorganization of Japan (Nihon Kaizō Hōan Taikō), predate those of the German Nazis. The talk will examine how leading proponents of the Shōwa Restoration had clear political goals consisting of domestic social reforms that can only be described as ‘nationally socialist’ in nature.

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Reshaping the Soundscape: Adaptations, Innovations, and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels
Keynote Presentation: Padmakumar K

India has a dynamic radio landscape, with over 380 operational commercial radio stations and more than 480 community radio stations as of 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved the FM Radio Phase-III Policy, a significant expansion of India’s FM radio network in an effort to reach 234 new cities and small towns, an initiative that is expected to enhance the growth of the FM radio industry in India. This expansion is anticipated to address the existing demand for FM radio services in some cities and many small towns that currently lack such provisions, creating a platform for the dissemination of local content in the target locations’ native languages.

The commercial radio sector in India has undergone a major transformation since its inception in the early 2000s. India’s FM radio stations have started moving from completely studio-centric shows over to on-the-ground activations for attracting new listeners and even ’at-home studios’ for post-pandemic programming. Topicality, high interactive content, and quick digital adaptation have been strategies adopted by many stations to ensure and sustain listenership with a few adopting cross-platform strategies resulting in a broader listener base. The traditional aural medium in India is showing signs of hybridisation by shifting its stance from being an anonymous ‘blind’ medium to a hybrid visual medium with the advent of social media.

A preliminary content analysis using the ‘intensive listening’ method revealed that interactive shows are high among Indian radio stations. Are these interactive shows just forms of mere engagement, or participatory in the real sense? How about the quality of participation of the listeners? What are some of the content strategies adopted by these radio channels? How are Indian Commercial Radio stations responding to newer tastes of listeners? This presentation will discuss these questions and explore issues related to the FM Radio Phase-III FM Policy, the challenges these stations face, their show strategies, and insights on creating persuasive audio creatives.

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Generative AI and Legacy Media: Potentials and Pitfalls
The Forum: Nasya Bahfen, Apipol Sae-Tung

Disinformation through social media is at a crisis point in Asia and throughout the world (Surjatmodjo et. al. 2024). Legacy media, or traditional forms of media that existed before the internet, plays a key role in addressing the root causes of fake news and hoaxes by amplifying credible and reputable sources, and providing information to inform the populace. However, as newsrooms rapidly embrace generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools to create content or perform tasks based on input computer data (Fletcher & Nielsen, 2024), ethical concerns arise about whether algorithmic biases tied to structural factors, such as gender, race, or class, will exacerbate misogyny, hate speech, and fake news on and offline (Thompson, 2023). This could lead to stereotyping and physical harm against minorities, migrants, women, gender-diverse groups, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. This Forum session invites delegates to discuss the following questions: Can legacy media play a part in building a future free from misinformation? What are the potentials and pitfalls in the use of AI by legacy media? How can legacy media be used in the institutions and classrooms in which we work and engage with others in an effort to combat disinformation spread by GAI?

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Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World
Panel Discussion: Virgil Hawkins, Nobuyuki Okumura, Reiko Tsuchiya, Joseph Haldane

The major Japanese broadsheet newspapers in circulation today have a history spanning 150 years, but unlike many of their city-focused Western counterparts, these leading newspapers tend to operate at a national level. They primarily focus on domestic issues, allocating a certain amount of page space to world news and maintaining a network of foreign bureaus. But how do they choose to cover the world? It is reasonable to assume a strong ‘home’ lens, in which countries, regions, and events perceived as impacting Japan’s national interests are prioritised when covering global news. We can also assume that powerful Western countries exert influence on what is reported. However, long-term research on how Japanese newspapers cover world affairs remains limited, and our understanding of broader trends in coverage is still developing.

This panel examines how Japanese newspapers construct and prioritise their coverage of the world, with attention to both historical and contemporary patterns. By bringing together new research on the international orientation of the press, the panel seeks to highlight how domestic concerns, geopolitical pressures, and broader media transformations intersect to shape reporting choices.

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Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan
Roundtable Discussion: Aaron Gerow, Yutaka Kobo, Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, Timothy W. Pollock

The academic study of film and film history was developed within the discursive fields of European and American academia, and has consequently often been limited by the assumptions, values, and viewpoints of the scholars in the Western Academy. This roundtable will focus on the panellists’ individual contributions and efforts to broaden the field beyond a Western-centric lens, especially in regards to East Asian film inclusion. Discussion will be drawn from the panellists’ current and ongoing activities: Professor Aaron Gerow’s efforts to incorporate the work of Japanese film scholars into the existing framework of film theory, Professor Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano’s reintroduction of historically significant female documentarians back into the mainstream of Japanese film history, and Dr Yutaka Kubo’s examination of how Japanese film studies and criticism can be reimagined through a queer lens by reflecting on curatorial, academic, and critical practices.

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