Researcher Profile and Settings

Affiliation

• Research Faculty of Media and Communication　Division of Modern Japanese Studies　Modern Japanese Studies

Job Title

• Professor

Degree

• Ph.D.（2001/06 University of Vienna）

J-Global ID

• 201701010532314263

Profile

• My name is Susanne Klien. Originally from Vienna, Austria, I am an associate professor at Research Faculty of Media and Communication/International Student Center at Hokkaido University, Japan. I have started working at Hokkaido University in September 2013. I have a broad range of research interests in the modern culture and society of Japan, but I categorise them into three main areas (although there is some overlap between them): 1) Immaterial culture, i.e. the practice and transmission of tradition, 2) Mobility, subjective well-being and alternative lifestyles in rural contemporary Japan, and 3) Regional revitalization and tourism. 4) Urban youth and subculture. More details: https://github.com/susanneklien/susanneklien.github.io

Research Interests

• ethnography   regional revitalisation   alternative lifestyles   mobility   Anthropology   

Research Areas

• Humanities & social sciences / Sociology/history of science and technology / Anthropology

Educational Organization

•  Master's degree program　Graduate School of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies
•  Doctoral (PhD) degree program　Graduate School of International Media, Communication, and Tourism Studies

Academic & Professional Experience

• 2013/09 - Today Hokkaido University Modern Japanese Studies Program (MJSP) Associate Professor
• 2009/12 - 2013/08 German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (DIJ) Social Science Section Senior Research Fellow
• 2007/11 - 2009/11 Waseda University Institute for Political Science Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellow

Association Memberships

• Anthropology of Japan in Japan (AJJ)   Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS)   Vereinigung fuer Sozialwissenschaftliche Japanforschung (VSJF)   European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS)   American Anthropological Association (AAA)   

Research Activities

Published Papers

• "LIving the LIfe of My Choice": Lifestyle Migrants in Rural Japan Balancing between Local Commitment and Transnational Cosmopolitanism

  Susanne Klien

  Asian Ethnology 81 (1-2) 107 - 124 2022/07 [Refereed]
  
• “The young, the stupid, and the outsiders”: urban migrants as heterotopic selves in post-growth Japan

  Susanne Klien

  Asian Anthropology 21 (1) 10 - 23 1683-478X 2022/01/02 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Special issue: Exploring rural Japan as heterotopia

  Paul Hansen, Susanne Klien

  Asian Anthropology 21 (1) 1 - 9 1683-478X 2022/01/02 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Japan’s Younger Generations Look for a New Way of Living

  Susanne Klien

  Current History 120 (827) 240 - 245 0011-3530 2021/09/01 [Not refereed]
   

  As post-growth Japan hesitates between stagnation and change, its young people are opting out of traditional career paths and seeking lifestyles with greater personal freedom. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Japanese society to change in some respects, but institutional and corporate leaders remain reluctant to embrace reforms to work and gender norms and in many other areas. Yet social changes are occurring at the grassroots level, as younger Japanese pursuing new opportunities are moving from cities to the countryside, others head overseas in pursuit of more diverse careers and living arrangements, and some among the growing ranks of social introverts turn themselves into successful game developers and writers.
• “Demographic change in Contemporary Rural Japan and Its Impact on Ritual Practices”

  Susanne Klien

  Journal of Religion in Japan Vol. 9 248 - 276 2020/09 [Refereed][Invited]
  
• Accommodation and resistance in Hokkaido hip hop practitioners: An ethnographic analysis of Generation Resignation in post-growth Japan

  Susanne Klien

  Ethnography 146613812090733 - 146613812090733 1466-1381 2020/02/20 [Refereed]
   

  Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between October 2013 and October 2017 in Hokkaido, northern Japan, this paper explores the trajectories of individuals engaging in hip hop music. Participant observation and narratives indicate that the majority of individuals work as regular members of society (shakaijin) and only pursue hip hop in their free time. The paper highlights the intricate entanglement of individuals in subordination to mainstream values despite their references to elements of resistance. I contend that in contrast to previous generations of hip hoppers who chose to lead lives of open resistance to mainstream values, contemporary youth who largely belong to the “Generation Resignation” (satori sedai) prefer to engage in practices of resistance that may not be evident rather than overt contestation of societal conventions.
• Entrepreneurial selves, governmentally and lifestyle migrants in rural Japan

  Susanne Klien

  Asian Anthropology 18 (2) 75 - 90 2019/02 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• 「ローカル食を通じたグローバルなまちづくりに関する研究」

  スザンネ クリーン

  開発こうほう 北海道開発協会 (649) 16 - 19 2017/08 [Not refereed][Invited]
  
• The Power of Food: Students and Local Women Cooking Together in Rural Japan

  Susanne Klien, co-author with, Stephanie Assmann

  Education about Asia (Association of Asian Studies) Vol. 22 (No. 1) 60 - 62 2017 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Finnische Piroggen, vietnamesische Reisbälle und finger food aus Singapur: Feldforschung und kulinarische Begegnung in Hokkaido

  Susanne Klien, co-author with, Stephanie Assmann

  Minikomi (Akademischer Arbeitskreis Japan), Universität Wien 86 11 - 18 2017 [Not refereed][Not invited]
  
• Ritual, resistance, rebellion? Disaster volunteer experiences in northeastern Japan

  Susanne Klien

  Journal of Ritual Studies 31 (1) 1 - 10 2017/01 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Shinto Ritual Practice in Miyagi Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake The Case of the Ogatsu Hoin Kagura

  Susanne Klien

  ASIAN ETHNOLOGY 75 (2) 359 - 376 1882-6865 2016 [Refereed][Not invited]
   

  This ethnographic study examines the impact of the Great East Japan earthquake on kagura practice, more specifically the Ogatsu Hoin Kagura in Miyagi Prefecture, and shifting notions of the functions and meaning of ritual performance. Referring to Satsuki Kawano's notion of "emplacement," I argue that the disaster has expanded the range of meanings in multiple ways. By demonstrating that practitioners play an essential role in redefining the nature of kagura performances in the wake of the earthquake and that the adaptation of the performance to changing circumstances helps to maintain its relevance, I argue that Hashimoto Hiroyuki's concept of "the authenticity of practitioners," which seeks to understand folk performing arts as evolving rather than "authentic" cultural phenomena, continues to be highly pertinent.
• Katastrophenvolunteers in Tohoku: Lebensinhalt, Strategie, Selbstzufriedenheit?

  Susanne Klien

  Yearbook of the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan 255 - 274 2013 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Von heiligen Bäumen, weiblichen Gottheiten, ritueller Trunkenheit und kollektiver Efferveszenz: Das Waldfest von Fuse, Okinoshima

  Susanne Klien

  Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 35 179 - 192 2011 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Bullfighting in Oki: Post-Retirement Leisure, Social Network or Purpose in Life?

  Susanne Klien

  Asian Anthropology 10 101 - 120 2011 [Refereed][Not invited]
  
• Contemporary art and regional revitalisation: Selected artworks in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000-6

  Susanne Klien

  Japan Forum 22 (3-4) 513 - 543 0955-5803 2010/09 [Refereed][Not invited]
   

  Rural areas in Japan are usually associated with depopulation, aging and stagnation. In order to tackle the widening gap between booming urban and distressed rural areas in Japan, novel revitalisation policies need to be examined. Contemporary art has untested potential as a vehicle for regional revitalization. To illustrate this potential, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial has been chosen as a case study since it constitutes a new type of revitalization with its emphasison human exchange and interaction of heterogeneous players in a rural setting. Three Triennial projects will be introduced in each of them, the extent of artists' involvement on site with residents, local perceptions of the artwork as well as nonlocal impressions will be analyzed. Discussing both emic and etic perspectives, the focus of this study is the 'soft' impact of the festival, i.e. how locals have perceived encounters during the Triennial, how cooperation between artists and locals took place, whether the project gave rise to a sense of autonomy and independence intackling the issues of depopulation and obsolescence. Ultimately, the key question is what constitutes successful revitalisation. It is argued that revitalisation is only sustainable if incentives are created for residents to establish local autonomy. The results outlined in this paper are mainly based on ethnographic research. © 2010 BAJS.
• Collaboration or confrontation? Local and non-local actors in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial

  Susanne Klien

  Japan Jahrbuch 2009: Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 217 - 241 2009 [Refereed][Not invited]
  

Books etc

• Rethinking locality in Japan

  Ganseforth, Sonja, Jentzsch, Hanno (“Localized, yet deterritorialized lives in rural Japan: Fragmented localities, mobility and neoliberalism”)
  Routledge 2021/07 (ISBN: 9780367469481) xvii, 288 p.
• Urban Migrants in Rural Japan (paperback)

  Susanne Klien 
  SUNY Press 2021/01
• Urban migrants in rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society

  Susanne Klien (Single workSole author)
  SUNY Press 2020/02 225 

  Offers an in-depth ethnography of paradigm shifts in the lifestyles and values of youth in post-growth Japan. Urban Migrants in Rural Japan provides a fresh perspective on theoretical notions of rurality and emerging modes of working and living in post-growth Japan. By exploring narratives and trajectories of individuals who relocate from urban to rural areas and seek new modes of working and living, this multisited ethnography reveals the changing role of rurality, from postwar notions of a stagnant backwater to contemporary sites of experimentation. The individual cases presented in the book vividly illustrate changing lifestyles and perceptions of work. What emerges from Urban Migrants in Rural Japan is the emotionally fraught quest of many individuals for a personally fulfilling lifestyle and the conflicting neoliberal constraints many settlers face. In fact, flexibility often coincides with precarity and self-exploitation. Susanne Klien shows how mobility serves as a strategic mechanism for neophytes in rural Japan who hedge their bets; gain time; and seek assurance, inspiration, and courage to do (or further postpone doing) what they ultimately feel makes sense to them. “This book is a valuable contribution to knowledge about diversifying rural Japan and evokes reflection about the future of post-growth Japan. Klien’s study benefits from assiduous and long-term field research and insightful analysis. She excels at locating the specifics of the study in theoretical observations and concepts, thereby setting the work into a larger consideration of Japan’s paradigm shifts in lifestyle and values.” — Nancy Rosenberger, author of Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation
• Ritual and Well-Being

  Susanne Klien, Christoph Wulf (Joint editor)
  Paragrana: Zeitschrift fuer Historische Anthropologie 2013
• Special Issue Tourism and Travel in Japan

  Susanne Klien, with Florian Coulmas (Joint editor)
  Contemporary Japan (DIJ Tokyo) 2012
• Tradition within and beyond the framework of invention: Case studies from the Mascarenes and Japan

  Susanne Klien, Patrick Neveling (Joint editor)
  Center for Interdisciplinary Area Studies, Middle East, Africa and Asia (ZIRS), MLU Halle-Wittenberg 2010
• Rethinking Japan's Identity and International Role: An Intercultural Perspective

  Susanne Klien (Single work)
  Routledge 2002 144 

  E-book

Conference Activities & Talks

• Doing fieldwork in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic: Between virtual viscerality and face-to-face anxieties  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS)  2022/07
• Deconstructing the Rural-Urban Divided in Post-growth Japan: Emerging Paradigm Shifts  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  International Tourism Research Salon  2022/03
• Social Entrepreneurs between Self-Determination and Structural Constraints: Examples from Tokushima and Miyagi Prefectures  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Book talk, Wakayama University Center for Tourism Research  2022/01
• Book talk about Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  New Books Network, podcast (host: Dr. John W Traphagan, University of Texas at Austin)  2021/10
• Book talk, Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie,  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Nanzan University, Anthropological Institute, Asian Ethnology Series  2021/02
• Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, precarity and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  AAS-in-Asia Annual Meeting Bangkok, Thailand  2019/07
• "The young, the stupid and the outsiders": Rural revitalization volunteers, heterotopia and survival in post-growth Japan  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Annual Meeting, American Association of Anthropology (AAA), San Jose  2018/11
• Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, alternative lifestyles, precarity and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  World Social Science Forum (WSSF), Fukuoka  2018/09
• Transnational mobility of Japanese to Europe and the Post-Fordist Quest for Subjective Well-Being outside Japan  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Melbourne University  2018/09
• Moratorium migration? Urbanite settlers in rural Japan between hope, self-exploitation and emotional withdrawal  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  British Association of Japanese Studies (BAJS), University of Sheffield  2018/09
• Urban migrants in the Japanese countryside: Creative depopulation, alternative lifestyles and moratorium migration in post-growth Japan  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Oxford Brookes University, Europe Japan Research Centre  2018/03
• Serendipity, small-scale happiness and scarce commitment: Perpetually mobile Japanese professionals between satisfaction and precariousness  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  European Association of Japanese Studies Meeting, Lisbon  2017/09
• Young urban migrants in the Japanese countryside between hope and precarity: Post-growth forms of living and working, creative depopulation and living for the moment  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University  2017/05
• Of Professional Unemployed, Global Citizens and Broken Bodies: Narratives and Experiences of Mobile Japanese Youth  [Invited]

  Susanne Klien

  Young Generations in Japan and Europe: Crisis, Mobility and Creativity Workshop  2016/11
• Reinventing Ishinomaki, Reinventing Japan? Evolving Creative Networks, Alternative Lifestyles and the Search for Quality in Life in Post-growth Japan  [Not invited]

  Susanne Klien

  AAS Annual Meeting  2016/04

Research Grants & Projects

• Anxious but productive lifestyle mobilities? Divided selves in post-growth Japan

  JSPS：

  Date (from‐to) : 2020/04 -2023/03
• Moratorium migration in contemporary post-growth Japan: Lifestyle volunteers between insecurity and fulfilment

  JSPS：Kakenhi C

  Date (from‐to) : 2016/04 -2018/04 

  Author : Susanne Klien
• 「ローカル食を通じたグローバルなまちづくりに関する研究」

  Hokkaido Development Association：Research grant

  Date (from‐to) : 2016/04 -2017/03 

  Author : Susanne Klien
• Workshop "Ritual and Well-Being"

  Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung：Interdisciplinary workshop funding

  Date (from‐to) : 2011 

  Author : Susanne Klien
• Regional revitalization in rural Japan and PPP

  JSPS：Postdoctoral research grant

  Date (from‐to) : 2007/11 -2009/10 

  Author : Susanne Klien
• Post-doctoral grant

  Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg：Graduate School of Asia and Africa in Global Reference Systems

  Date (from‐to) : 2007/10 -2009/10 

  Author : Susanne Klien

Educational Activities

Teaching Experience