Thursday, August 22
13:45-14:00 Opening
Judith Vitale and Ulrich Brandenburg, University of Zurich: Opening Remarksa
Raji Steineck, University of Zurich: Welcome Address
14:00-15:30 1. Knowledge and Consumption in the Pre-modern Period
Anna Andreeva, University of Heidelberg
Childbirth, Buddhist Notions of Pain, and Pain Relief in Medieval Japan
Jonas Rüegg, Harvard University
Goblins, Spirits and Mushrooms: Hallucinogens in Japan Before the Invention of ‘Drugs’
Discussant: David Howell, Harvard University
16:00-17:30 2. Commerce and Diplomacy
Ozaki Kōji, Otemae University
Opium and Japan in the Late Tokugawa and the Early Meiji Eras
Ulrich Brandenburg, University of Zurich
Opium in Meiji Japan’s Internationalization: The Cases of Iran and the Ottoman Empire
Discussant: Martin Dusinberre, University of Zurich
18:00-19:30 Keynote Lecture
John Jennings, USAF Academy
Friday, August 23
10:00-12:15 3. Commerce, Consumption and Empire
William Gervase Clarence-Smith, SOAS, University of London
The House of Samuel as Official Supplier of Opium to the Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1926
Timothy Yang, University of Georgia
The Pharmaceutical Business, Empire, and Modern Japan
Hung Bin Hsu, National Cheng Kung University
Poppy Tent as Private Paradise? The Transformation of Social Activities and Spaces of Opium Smokers in Japanese Colonial Taiwan
Discussant: Harald Fischer-Tiné, ETH Zurich
13:45-16:00 4. Pre-War Period
Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, University of Colorado Boulder
Japan’s ‘Belle Epoque’: Narcotics in Japanese Imperial Fiction
Judith Vitale, University of Zurich
Drugs and Inter-War Anxieties
Christopher Szpilman, Teikyo University
Narcotics and the Japanese Right Wing: The Curious Career of Fujita Isamu
Discussant: Mariko Iijima, Sophia University
16:30-18:00 5. Post-War Period
Jesús Solis, Harvard University
Drug Trafficking and the Consumption of Narcotics during the Occupation Period
Jeffrey Alexander, Pueblo Community College
Horrible Hiropon: Anti-Meth Campaigns in Postwar Japan
Discussant: Sheldon Garon, Princeton University
Saturday, August 24
9:30-11:45 6. Recent Trends
William Marotti, UCLA
The Politics of Violence, Glue-Sniffing, and Liberation: Making 1968 in Japan
Oleg Benesch, University of York
Japan’s Magic Mushroom Moment: Legality, Morality, and Identity
Maki Umemura, Cardiff University
Regenerating Medicine in Japan, 1973–present
Discussant: David Chiavacci, University of Zurich
12:00-13:00 Concluding Remarks and Final Discussion
Chair: John Jennings, USAF Academy