Constructing Multicultural Spaces: Being Ourselves Together
20th Annual Conference SIETAR Japan (Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research) (www.sietar-japan.org)
Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan, June 25 & 26, 2005

SIETAR Japan, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and
Research, welcomes a delegation from the Ainu community and their
supporters in Hokkaido and the Tokyo area as it celebrates 20th annual
conference on Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26, 2005 at Rikkyo
University in Ikebukuro. The Ainu, Japan’s unofficial indigenous people,
are at the forefront of the effort to create multicultural spaces within
the majority Japanese culture, and exemplify the theme of this year’s
conference: Being Ourselves Together.

The Ainu have suffered years of discrimination, dispossession, and
assimilation yet have continued to fight for their cultural identity
within Japan. The workshop will look frankly and with balance at the
issues facing the Ainu today as they seek better education and living
conditions, widening generational differences in defining their
identity, and how eco-tourism could create a new chapter in the Ainu future.

Join us to explore what ‘Being Ourselves Together’ means through the
sessions on Contemporary Ainu culture and the history, future and
reality of eco-tourism on the 25th , including group dancing and singing
at the party in the evening, and the wide variety of concurrent sessions
on the 26th.

In the second part of the conference program, SIETAR Japan looks at what
it means to be an interculturalist today. Today’s world is undeniably
global, and all of us are interculturalists—constructing our own
multicultural spaces as we add to our airline mileage programs through
actual travel or working and communicating with colleagues and friends
the world over through electronic means.

The 20th anniversary conference of SIETAR Japan is an excellent
opportunity to step back and re-assess the possibilities and potentials
of the intercultural field in Japan. We bring together some of the
leading experts from the academic and business world to present their
views of the challenges and opportunities ahead during the afternoon
program. Moderated by Professor Jacqueline Wasilewski, International
Christian University, the discussion will be started off with a keynote
address by Professor Kumiko Torikai, Dean of Rikkyo Graduate School of
Intercultural Communication. Following comments by panelists Dr. Jane
Bachnik on Multimedia Training, Professor Masako Hiraga on Intercultural
Pragmatics, Professor Kichiro Hayashi on Intercultural Management and
Training, Professor Mayumi Kubota on Development Communication, and
Professor Shoji Mitarai on Conflict Resolution, the audience will form
break-out groups to continue discussions of future directions for the
field. The symposium will conclude with reports back to the whole group.

On Sunday there will be more than 50 presentations and workshops led by
members. A special lecture supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese
Foundation will be offered from 10 a.m.—12 p.m. on Shame, guilt, and
remorse and reintegration of identities: A comparative study of public
and political reactions to two high profile juvenile cases in the UK and
Japan by Professor David Smith, Lancaster University, UK, and Professor
Kiyoko Sueda, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo.

SIETAR JAPAN
Constructing Multicultural Spaces: Being Ourselves Together
June 25 & 26, 2005
Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan

Saturday, June 25 10:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
AINU Workshop: Iresu Moshiri, Etunanka Ratura
“Helping Each Other Grow With the Quiet Earth Through Exchanges”
Mono-culture or Multi-cultures?
Contemporary Ainu Culture: The History, Future and Reality of Eco-Tourism
Nanako Iwasa, workshop coordinator
Koji Yuki, Representative of the Ainu Art Project
Professor Yugo Ono, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science,
Hokkaido University
Haruzo Urakawa, Tokyo Ainu Association Chairperson

Saturday, June 25 1:00 p.m.—6:00 p.m.“The Intercultural Field in Japan: Possibilities and Potentials”
Keynote: Professor Kumiko Torikai, Dean, Rikkyo Graduate School of
Intercultural Communication

Panel Discussion, moderated by Professor Jacqueline Wasilewski, ICU
Panelists:
Dr. Jane Bachnik, (NIME, Retired), Multimedia Training,
Professor Masako Hiraga, (Rikkyo University), Intercultural Pragmatics
Professor Kichiro Hayashi, (Aoyama Gakuin University) Intercultural
Management and Training
Professor Mayumi Kubota (Kansai University), Development Communication
Professor Shoji Mitarai (Sapporo University), Conflict Resolution

6:30—8:30 p.m. Welcome Party with group participation in AINU dancing
and singing

Sunday, June 26 9:20 a.m.—5:10 p.m.
50 concurrent sessions including Special Lecture
(For program details, please see the SIETAR Japan homepage at
www.sietar-japan.org/)