2025
January 27th
The Strategic Significance of the Japan-India Corridor in a Shifting Global Order
Harsh Mahaseth (Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University)
In the evolving Indo-Pacific landscape, India has emerged as a key global player, driven by economic growth, strategic location, and its positioning as an alternative to China. Concurrently, Japan has expanded its global partnerships to advance economic and geopolitical objectives. Under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, India-Japan collaboration has flourished in sectors such as robotics, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence, positioning the Corridor as a catalyst for regional stability and sustainable growth. The Japan-India Corridor represents a strategic alignment, fostering cooperation in technology, innovation, and economic development.
A critical aspect of this partnership is its third-country initiatives, which extend their influence to nations like Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, enhancing regional connectivity and development. This model holds significant geopolitical relevance in South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, aligning with frameworks like BIMSTEC and leveraging Japan’s infrastructure expertise through JICA to strengthen India’s Act East policy and counterbalance China’s influence. This talk will explore the strategic importance of the Japan-India Corridor, highlighting its impact on bilateral relations, regional development, and global geopolitics.
February 3rd (Online Meeting)
PFLP, Out of Place, Ghada, Nakba, and Tokyo Reels: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in Japanese Documentary Films
Ayelet Zohar (Tel Aviv University)
The Israeli Palestinian conflict is not a foreign resident in the Japanese discourse. It is dwelling in numerous films since the 1970s, embarking during the post 1970s ANPO demonstrations and the escape of Shigenobu Fusako (重信房子b. 1945) to Beirut on that year. Since then, numerous films have deleved into the conflict, the tragedy, the drama, the trauma, the resilience and persistence of the Palestinian people, from multiple points of view.
In my presentation, I will review several documentary films, trying to answer the question: what makes this conflict so significant and magnetizing to Japanese artists and the public? I will attempt to draw lines between Japanese self-criticism towards attitudes of Embracing Defeat in the immediate postwar era; Indicating the romantic attraction and admiration of the Japanese Red Army to radical Left intellectuals; pointing at the sense of the underdog (hōgan biiki 判官贔屓), in reference to Yoshitsune.
The presentation will look into Adachi Masao’s classic PFLP (1971) filmed in Beirut; Horikawa Ryūichi’s Nakba (2006), created over a period of 26 years, following two Palestinian villages that had become refuges in 1948; Sato Makoto’s Out of place (2004), that looks into the life of Edward Said, along conversations with Palestinian- Israelis; Furui Mizue’s Ghada: Song of Palestine (2005), a film that engages with life and struggle in Gaza under the occupation of Israeli military in the 1990s; and finally, a collection of short documentary films assembled and presented for the first time in Documenta 15 (Kassel, Germany), under the title Tokyo Reels (2022).