Recorders: Ming-Wei Lin, Chen-Yuan Chen, Yang Wei, and Chih-Heng Su
Photo credit: Kuo-Min Lin, Shinaya Saisho
The Departments of Sociology at National Taiwan University (NTU) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) jointly organized an academic exchange forum, held at the University of Tokyo on October 24–25. This year marked the third NTU–UTokyo Sociological Joint Forum and, for the first time, doctoral students from both departments served as the primary presenters.
The inaugural exchange forum in 2021 was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, NTU hosted the second forum, with faculty members from both institutions as the main presenters. This year, the University of Tokyo hosted the third forum under the leadership of Professor Takeshi Deguchi, highlighting research conducted by doctoral students from both departments.
NTU’s delegation consisted of Department Chair Professor Chia-Ling Wu, Professors Kuo-Ming Lin and John Chung-En Liu, doctoral candidate Chih-Heng Su, and PhD students Yang Wei, Chen-Yuan Chen, and Ming-Wei Lin—seven faculty members and students who traveled to Japan for the forum. During the opening session on the morning of the 24th, Professor Yukiko Muramoto, Dean of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology and Faculty of Letters, and Professor Yasushi Sukenari, Chair of UTokyo’s Department of Sociology, delivered welcome remarks expressing their hopes that a doctoral-student-centered symposium would broaden academic exchange between the two departments.
Across the two-day event, three major thematic sessions were held, featuring a total of eleven presenters, with many UTokyo master’s and doctoral students in attendance. The presentations examined institutional change and civic practices in East Asian societies undergoing multiple social transformations. Bringing together emerging research from scholars and doctoral students at both universities, the forum demonstrated how sociology can transcend national and disciplinary boundaries to address contemporary social challenges.
In the first day’s sessions, Professor Akira Yonezawa of UTokyo compared social enterprise policies in Tokyo and Seoul, revealing how different pathways of institutionalization shape public-sector innovation. Professor John Chung-En Liu of NTU examined “Black Bear Nationalism,” analyzing how the Formosan black bear—situated in a specific historical context—has been constructed as a symbolic counterpart to the “panda” associated with Chinese nationalism, and how it has come to represent Taiwanese nationalism. Professor Chia-Ling Wu of NTU then used the case of anticipatory governance in reproductive technologies to explore differences in sociotechnical imaginaries and community politics between Taiwan and Japan.
The afternoon session, titled “Sexuality, the Body, and Social Movements,” focused on social norms and the reconstruction of subjectivity through presentations by doctoral students from both departments. UTokyo’s Shihjhang Huang traced the evolution of Japanese newspaper discourse on counseling related to sexual orientation and gender identity, illustrating a shift from marginalization toward inclusion. NTU’s Ming-Wei Lin applied the concept of “materiality” to examine militarized bodies amid Taiwan’s national defense transformation, highlighting tensions and renegotiations between institutions and individuals. UTokyo’s Kazuya Ishigami reviewed human rights movements in East Asia during the 1970s, showing how activists in Japan and Taiwan reshaped global human rights norms through local engagement. NTU’s Chen-Yuan Chen analyzed illegal factories on Taiwan’s farmland, demonstrating how citizen movements employed data activism to intervene in policymaking and revealing the dialectics among data, power, and environmental justice.
The second day focused on “Nature, Environment, and Culture,” with presentations addressing ecological governance and the social foundations of cultural production. NTU’s Yang Wei examined how East Asian “developmental states” have transformed under the mainstreaming of climate governance, showing how green transitions generate new modes of state involvement while reshaping social movement strategies. UTokyo’s Seungyeong Jeong discussed Japan’s “fragrance-related health risks” (kōgai) movement, illustrating how consumer groups and patient organizations negotiated action frames between public health and environmental issues. NTU’s Chih-Heng Su compared Taiwan New Cinema and Korean New Cinema, highlighting how authoritarian cultural ideologies shaped cultural industries and artistic experimentation. UTokyo’s Shimmei Yamauchi concluded the session by tracing the intellectual development of cultural sociology—from perspectives on cultural production to contemporary methods of measuring culture—and reflecting on how methodological shifts have reshaped the discipline.
Overall, the forum highlighted three key shared concerns: how comparative perspectives can reinterpret the local development of global issues in East Asia; how citizens respond to institutional transformation and social inequality; and how cross-disciplinary collaboration can link academic research with policymaking and civic engagement. The cross-national dialogue not only deepened academic ties between Taiwan and Japan but also underscored sociology’s importance for understanding and addressing contemporary social issues. The presentations sparked lively discussion and received positive feedback from participants. Faculty members from both institutions also exchanged academic publications and explored opportunities for future collaboration.
It has been confirmed that the fourth forum will be hosted by NTU’s Department of Sociology. Faculty and students from both universities look forward to using this academic platform to continue fostering meaningful exchange and intellectual growth, contributing collectively to addressing the new challenges facing East Asian societies.
